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Food

Sugaring Season: Maple Sap Runs On Gas

March 11, 2021 by Paul Hetzler Leave a Comment

firing an 1890s sugar boiler by Shannon HoulihanSome foods give you gas, but March is the time of year when gas gives you a delicious food. Maple syrup, which is nutritious enough to be listed by the US Department of Agriculture as a food, is carbon dioxide-powered. If it wasn’t for a bunch of little gas bubbles in the wood or xylem tissue, maple sap would not flow.

Who knew that trees were carbonated? [Read more…] about Sugaring Season: Maple Sap Runs On Gas

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Food, Nature Tagged With: Food, Maple Sugaring, Maple Trees, nature

Microgrants Available for Adirondack Farms, Food Producers

March 2, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Wild Work Farm in Keene provided by Adirondack CouncilThe Adirondack Council’s Essex Farm Institute (EFI) is seeking applicants for micro-grants up to $1,500 for environmentally beneficial and sustainable projects on Adirondack farms and by value-added producers. [Read more…] about Microgrants Available for Adirondack Farms, Food Producers

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Food Tagged With: Adirondack Council, Food, Grants, local farms, local food

The Oreo Cookie’s New York Origins

January 28, 2021 by A. J. Schenkman 11 Comments

National Biscuit Co. Bldg., 15th St. & 10th Ave.-c.1913 LOCThe Oreo is over one hundred years old. The delectable cookie with the creme center –  a worldwide favorite – traces its origins to New York City.

According to Katherine Martinelli, writing for Smithsonian Magazine, NABISCO was formed in the city of New York in 1890, when some local bakeries merged to form the New York Biscuit Company and located in what is today Chelsea Market. Later, the company merged with rivals in Chicago and became the National Biscuit Company, NABISCO.

[Read more…] about The Oreo Cookie’s New York Origins

Filed Under: Food, History, New York City Tagged With: Culinary History, Food, Industrial History, New York City

Twelve Tavern Rules, Thirteen Toasts and America’s 1814 Anthem

December 21, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 11 Comments

Sampler by Martha Cooke Twelve Good Rules 1811Many eighteenth century publicans framed a list of pre-conditions for the “perfect” tavern which was displayed in full view in British public houses and drinking dens.

The advice to customers consisted of “Twelve Good Rules” that dated back to the rule of Charles I: [Read more…] about Twelve Tavern Rules, Thirteen Toasts and America’s 1814 Anthem

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, Capital-Saratoga, Food, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: beer, Cultural History, Food, Holidays, liquor, Performing Arts, Social History, Taverns, wine

Poetry: Father’s Breakfast

December 19, 2020 by George Cassidy Payne Leave a Comment

Father’s Breakfast

He ate a crustacean
every morning
the pure wild ones

He called the lobster
a sacrament and cleaned
his table with a napkin

his grandmother sewed
when she was 14 in Idaho
I watched him eat

and the embers from the stove
cooked into crystalline spheres
I once told him that I loved him

just loud enough
so he would not hear

Read More Poems From the New York Almanack HERE.

Filed Under: Arts, Food Tagged With: art, Food, Poetry

A Plague of Potato Bugs in 1877 Washington County

November 25, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

Colorado potato beetle courtesy Scott Bauer USDAThe weather at Granville, in Washington County, in June 1877, was ideal for agriculture.

“This is the weather that makes farmers happy,” The Granville Sentinel reported.

Corn and flax crops looked promising, but “vigilance and perseverance is to be the price of potatoes.” [Read more…] about A Plague of Potato Bugs in 1877 Washington County

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Food, History, Nature Tagged With: Agricultural History, Food, Granville, insects, local farms, local food, nature, Washington County, Wildlife

Hunters Can Help Fight Food Insecurity

November 21, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Venison Donation Coalition logoEach year, DEC partners with the Venison Donation Coalition and Feeding New York State to help provide food for those in need.

Through a cooperative relationship involving the New York State Department of Health, non-profit organizations like Feeding New York State’s regional food banks and deer processors, hunters contribute nearly 40 tons of venison each year to needy families across the state. [Read more…] about Hunters Can Help Fight Food Insecurity

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Food, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: DEC, Food, hunting, whitetail deer, wild food

Stewart’s Shops History: Eisenhower’s Ice Cream Cake

November 8, 2020 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Ike Cuts a 150-Lb Ice Cream CakeElection week seems like an appropriate time to share this Presidential Story.

On June 22, 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower visited the Vermont State Dairy Festival in Rutland. The Festival held a barbecue that day in the President’s honor. When it was over, they presented the President and his Presidential Party with a 150-pound ice cream cake. The cake represented a day’s work for twenty cows. [Read more…] about Stewart’s Shops History: Eisenhower’s Ice Cream Cake

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Food, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Vermont

Forest Fungi: Native Mushrooms and Forest Health

October 31, 2020 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

TOS_Fungi_AmanitaVernaA walk in the woods during fall is likely to reveal an array of forest fungi. Ranging from delicate, tan mini-umbrellas to fleshy, white softballs to foot-long, orange-yellow shelves growing out of rotten logs, they come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. Fungi are critical to the health of the forest, decomposing woody debris and helping trees obtain required nutrients. [Read more…] about Forest Fungi: Native Mushrooms and Forest Health

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Food, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, Nature, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Food, fungi, nature, wild food, Wildlife

NY Farmer Named to USDA Organic Standards Board

October 15, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

NOFA NYA founding member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY), Brian Caldwell, was recently appointed to a five-year term on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). [Read more…] about NY Farmer Named to USDA Organic Standards Board

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, Food, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: agriculture, Food, local farms

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