Sat Jul 31 2010
By Diane Smith
Record-Courier staff writer
When area residents sit down for holiday meals or shop for unique Christmas gifts they may be surprised to see how much food on the table or under the tree comes from Portage County farmers.
From apple pie to goat cheese to fruit baskets, many items on the table this holiday will be coming from local farms.
And at Mackenzie Creamery, it's all about the cheese.
The Hiram farm is the place where nine varieties of goat cheese, or "chevre," are produced for stores, chefs and the occasional local buyer. Workers were in the shop putting together holiday jars of the cheese, packed in jars with roasted red peppers, olives, olive oil and pine nuts and wrapped with red ribbon.
"They're really cute," owner Jean Mackenzie said.
Another new favorite is "You Say Tomato," a cheese packed with a tomato jam. There's also "Sweet Fire," which combines organic black raspberry jam with habenero sauce.
"It's sweet, but spicy," Mackenzie said.
Other favorites include black truffle, garlic chive, cranberry walnut cinnamon, "Herbs de Provence," and toasted pumpkin, sold exclusively in Heinens stores. She described a blend called "Sweet Piquante" as "a red bell pepper on steroids."
Jim Zella of the creamery said the cheese is marketed to 17 Heinen's stores, West Side Market in Cleveland, West Point Market in Akron and local chefs.
"We generally sell at farmers markets, and if someone calls ahead, we'll sell to them," he said.
"We have 'Hiram Ohio' on our label, but nobody reads that close," Zella said. "We were at the Fabulous Foods show and had our banner out. People kept saying, 'Hiram? You're right here in Ohio.' "
At Beckwith's Apple Orchard, people came early to pick up the pies they had ordered for Thanksgiving. Sally Beckwith had stopped counting at 400.
As people picked up pies, which were organized by name, they were given the opportunity to order pies for Christmas. An extra 40 were on hand that week for people who had forgotten to place orders.
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Email: dsmith@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-298-1139
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