The Portland Daily Sun has published a report on one Mainer’s inadvertent impact on the US kombucha industry.
“Maine can take credit for the kombucha nationally being taken off the shelf,” said Chris Hallweaver, who thinks he might be personally responsible for sidelining the industry because he applied for a license to sell the drink commercially under the brand name “The Booch” with the Maine Department of Agriculture last December.
Working Waterfront has published a report on Ocean Approved. The Maine seaweed aquaculture venture that received a “$95,000 NOAA Small Business Innovation Research Program Phase I Grant and an experimental lease to raise seaweed near Little Chebeague Island”.
The NOAA grant will make it possible for the company to generate their own seed and raise young seedlings (or sporelings) to put on aquaculture lease sites for growout, a move which Olsen says is necessary if they want to increase productivity. “We have been hand picking seaweed from the wild,” he explains, “always respecting the biomass and making sure we are tending the beds. But kelp can be overharvested, so to expand into larger scale production, we have to begin growing plants from our own seed.” He adds that this move also has the advantages of making possible selective breeding and choosing the ideal environment to put down their seedlings for optimum growth.
The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes check splitting guidance,
Your friend Joe has just spent the last couple of hours downing expensive single-malt Scotch and a lovely filet mignon, side dishes priced separately.
You, on the other hand, had a light appetizer and have been picking at a salad. You’re drinking iced tea – and not the Long Island kind. (There’s a recession on, you know.)
Here comes the bill.
a report on a new set of farmers markets set-up by Cultivating Community with the goal of making organic food more affordable,
Starting last week, the organization that works to supply low-income Mainers with access to locally grown food began opening a series of farmers markets throughout Portland.
Not only do these markets sell organic vegetables and fruits grown in Maine, they offer a double-coupon program for people receiving the federal nutrition benefits SNAP, often called food stamps, and WIC, including the program’s farmers market vouchers and fruit and vegetable vouchers.
and Joe Appel’s wine column where he explains there just aren’t yet any good local wines that are made from native grapes (e.g. Concord),
In response to my column last week on American wines, a reader wrote that he was “bothered” that all the wines I described, while made in this country, used European varietals. “Surely,” he wrote, “there are good Niagara or Concord wines that exist and are worthy of consideration as truly American wines?” No, there aren’t.
A film crew from Man vs Food was in Maine this past weekend. According to the Press Herald, the show’s host Adam Richman made a stop at Nosh to try the Apocalypse Now burger.
On Monday Richman visited the Maine State Pier and took a schooner ride. Richman also spent the afternoon and part of the evening at Nosh Kitchen Bar on Congress Street, where Chef Jason Loring made him an “Apocalypse Now” burger – three times.
The burger, which sells for $20, is made with American cheese, seared pork belly, cured bacon, foie gras, mayo, and macerated orange and cherries. Loring said Richman also tried his pork belly reuben.
Tuesday’s Portland Daily Sun includes a report on Shima’s new lounge area,
Feel like sweet-roasted red pepper? How about Maine shrimp fritter, sauteed prawns or calamari “a la plancha”? The list goes on, including additional entrees and appetizers, ranging from antipasto to cheese plates, from Japanese roast pork to salmon and haddock.
and a profile of the “foot sanctuary and teahouse” that is Soakology,
I’m brought a black almond tea, steamed with milk and honey and “Four Feet” of chocolate. Footprint-shaped wafers of chocolate from Coastline Confections in Cumberland are melted on slices of baguette and sprinkled with seasalt, the perfect internal reinforcement for the detoxifying that the Belgian cocoa is supposedly doing to my blissed out tootsies.
Tuesday’s Portland Daily Sun includes a report on Shima’s new lounge area,
Feel like sweet-roasted red pepper? How about Maine shrimp fritter, sauteed prawns or calamari “a la plancha”? The list goes on, including additional entrees and appetizers, ranging from antipasto to cheese plates, from Japanese roast pork to salmon and haddock.
and a profile of the “foot sanctuary and teahouse” that is Soakology,
I’m brought a black almond tea, steamed with milk and honey and “Four Feet” of chocolate. Footprint-shaped wafers of chocolate from Coastline Confections in Cumberland are melted on slices of baguette and sprinkled with seasalt, the perfect internal reinforcement for the detoxifying that the Belgian cocoa is supposedly doing to my blissed out tootsies.
The Boston Globe has published an article on how lobstermen in Maine and elsewhere in New England are experimenting with alternative ways to market their catch.
In Maine, there are 5,800 commercial lobstermen, many of whom are trying new marketing ideas. “Some go roadside and sell locally,’’ says Patrice McCarron, executive director of the 1,200-member Maine Lobstermen’s Association in Kennebunk. “There are people on Craigslist. Some sell on the Internet.’’
And in a state-by-state round-up of the 50 fattiest foods in the nation, Health magazine selected the lobster roll to represent Maine’s contribution. The funny thing is that rather than pick the roll from Red’s or Haraseeket Lunch & Lobster or Portland Lobster Company to base their dietary evaluation on, they reported the fat levels of lobster rolls from D’Angelo’s and Pap Gino’s.
The Boston Globe has published an article on how lobstermen in Maine and elsewhere in New England are experimenting with alternative ways to market their catch.
In Maine, there are 5,800 commercial lobstermen, many of whom are trying new marketing ideas. “Some go roadside and sell locally,’’ says Patrice McCarron, executive director of the 1,200-member Maine Lobstermen’s Association in Kennebunk. “There are people on Craigslist. Some sell on the Internet.’’
And in a state-by-state round-up of the 50 fattiest foods in the nation, Health magazine selected the lobster roll to represent Maine’s contribution. The funny thing is that rather than pick the roll from Red’s or Haraseeket Lunch & Lobster or Portland Lobster Company to base their dietary evaluation on, they reported the fat levels of lobster rolls from D’Angelo’s and Pap Gino’s.
Tuesday’s Portland Daily Sun highlights the German roots of many popular 4th of July picnic foods.
Oh, the Germanity. Hamburgers and Frankfurters, those Fourth of July grill favorites, are reminders of the roots of classic American picnic food. Sausages, cold cuts, cole slaw and potato salad are as likely to be found on a table in Deutschland as they are in Downeast. Without German brewers like Joseph Schlitz, Frederick Pabst, Adolph Coors, Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch to create the beer establishment, we might have neither cheap beer nor the microbrew revolution. Ach du lieber!
Quimby Colony, the artist-in-residence program established in Portland by Roxanne Quimby, is looking for “accomplished or emerging culinary artists demonstrating creative excellence and a commitment to career development”. According to the information on the Quimby Colony site,
artists will be provided with living quarters, meals, a travel stipend, and the opportunity to pause from the harried pace of a commercial kitchen to allow time to reconnect to inspiration and innovation in our state of the art facilities. While in residence, you may choose to explore a new direction for your culinary repertoire, or experiment and refine a style based on regional and sustainable ingredients.
The program is headquartered in the old Roma Cafe in the West End at 769 Congress Street.