Food For Thought

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Tomatoes

| Food, Food For Thought, Nutrition

The first tomato of the season is a treasure that all of us impatient tomato worshippers yearn for, that first taste of a vine-ripened tomato, not from a greenhouse but from plants grown in the great big outdoors! It is a true marker of the arrival of the glorious Vermont summer. Juicy and sweet as candy, we all hope that they will grow in abundance each summer. Nothing compares to the locally grown tomato and it complements many foods so well! Tomatoes are very versatile. Some of my favorite ways to consume them are sliced with fresh basil and chives, and fresh mozzarella cheese (preferably from Vermont too), or in a salad with a small amount of greens, and last but not least, fresh salsa—all mouth-watering delicacies! Fresh tomato soup on a cool fall day is very tasty too—with plenty of fresh garlic, basil, and parsley, you couldn’t ask for more!

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Green Mountain Creamery

Tucked away on Route 5 in Brattleboro, Vermont Commonwealth Dairy produces Green Mountain Creamery Greek yogurt and has many connections to the local, national and global dairy industry. These connections were very clear when I met with Plant Manager Mike Hassay and Green Mountain Creamery Brand Manager Ann Pratt. From the local Vermont milk they process to their international global partnership with a German company Ehrmann, it is quite a

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A New Dawn

| Food For Thought, GM Report

On July 15, the BFC staff represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1459, voted to ratify a new three-year contract. This is the second contract for our staff, and this one was arrived at by a group of folks from both management and the bargaining unit who met nearly every week since March 30 to work through an understanding, using the principles of “interest-based problem-solving.” This methodology first identifies the interests of each side,

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Recipe: Yogurt Cheese Berry Pie

| Food For Thought, Recipes

Ingredients

  • 1 baked 9-inch graham cracker crust, made with butter or the low-fat way with yogurt
  • 2-3 cups yogurt cheese (instructions below) (You can substitute non-dairy yogurt if needed)
  • Berry mixture, 2-3 cups cooked berries mixed with thickener and sweetener according to your taste (instructions below)
  • Fresh berries for the top
  • Chopped walnuts (optional)
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Berries

Berry season is now upon us as the first-of-the-season local berries are coming in: the luscious, mouth-watering strawberry has come and gone, and soon to follow will be blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Hurrah!! You can find all of these berries either wild or cultivated in our beautiful Vermont countryside throughout the summer and even into the early fall! How lucky we are to have all of these delicious and nutritious berries readily available to us locally! Even if we can’t pick them in our backyard, we have

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