Goooo Dave!

More Cross Postings.....but this one is a good one. Dave Gee, our partner who runs Oregon Growers and Shippers just got some crackin' press.......

Go Dave!

By FLORENCE FABRICANT
Published: July 31, 2007
Cooling Off in Montauk With an Assist From New Orleans

In steamy New Orleans, refreshment comes in the form of sno-balls: ice that has been shaved to a powder and drenched with bright syrup. The dense ice absorbs the syrup, making it more sorbet than slush, and more refined than the Italian ices known to New Yorkers.

Eric Tilstra, right, who grew up in the Crescent City, thought it was time for beachgoers in Montauk, N.Y., where he was born, to experience sno-balls. It took him more than a year to get the equipment, the permits and a bright orange truck. Now, on Monday through Wednesday evenings from 6 to 10 p.m., and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. the rest of the week, he dispenses Belly’s Sno-Balls from his truck at the Kirk Park lot at the Montauk Village beach on Route 27.

The sno-balls come in three sizes, which cost $2, $3 and $4, and in 28 flavors, including mango, watermelon, sour apple, vanilla and chocolate. There are mixtures like vanilla-chocolate “yummy-tummy.” A nugget of cream, actually frozen condensed milk, is 50 cents extra.

In the Market: Nature’s Bounty in All Its Colors

Good weather has blessed many crops in the New York region this year, and abundance at the Greenmarkets is a result. “There has been enough rain, but not too much,” said Fred Wilklow of Wilklow Orchards in Highland, N.Y.

Tomatoes, top, and corn are in extremely good shape, as are zucchini. Squashes, including patty pans in various colors, sizes and patterns; herbs; a rainbow of peppers; four or five kinds of eggplant; five kinds of carrots; verdant okra; lettuces; cucumbers; green beans; and shell beans, which are just coming in, fill the vegetable stands. Velvety flat yellow Romano beans are $3 a pound from Berried Treasures in Cooks Falls, N.Y.

Spring was cool, so ramps, garlic scapes and strawberries showed up a bit late, but the scapes will be around most of the summer. Strawberries were still being picked last week, almost a month later than usual. The Tristar variety, which lasts through September, is now available.

Peaches and other stone fruit are benefiting from hot, sunny days. New Jersey expects its peach season to be a long one this year.

Blushing Red Jacket apricots, above left, are also enjoying a richly flavorful harvest right now.

Cherries, including sour ones ($6 a quart from Caradonna Farms in Milton, N.Y.), are having a fine season, and the berries include gooseberries, golden raspberries and red, black and white currants.

Farmers are looking forward to more good crops, including apples and pears.

PB&J Upgrade: Breaking Out the Good Stuff

Stick to your old-fashioned roots and the market will eventually wake up. Take the Koeze Company’s Cream-Nut peanut butter, for example. It has been made in Grand Rapids, Mich., from dark-roasted Virginia peanuts since 1925. Coarsely ground in small batches and lightly seasoned with sea salt, it is neither creamy nor chunky but totally irresistible.

Jeff Koeze (pronounced COO-zee ) runs the company, and is the fourth generation of his family to do so. He uses vintage slow-grinding machines to produce exceptionally nutty-tasting peanut butter, which has been sold nationally for only the past year or so. When freshly made, it is well emulsified into a creamy consistency. The oil eventually floats to the top and has to be stirred back in. This does not affect quality, only convenience.

Fairway and Barney Greengrass stores have new shipments. Zabar’s also sells it, as do Marlow & Sons and Stinky Bklyn in Brooklyn. A list of other stores is at creamnut.com. A 17-ounce jar is about $6.

And to go with your peanut butter? Jelly, of course. These days, many preserves are touted as being “all fruit” with “no added sugar.” All that means is that syrupy grape or apple concentrates are used as sweeteners, with minimal reduction in calories. Oregon Growers and Shippers, which sells a line of preserves that use seasonal fruit grown on small farms in the Pacific Northwest, bucks this trend. Its preserves are sweetened with cane sugar, tipping the scale in favor of fruit.

A dozen flavors include marionberries, huckleberries, cherries and strawberries. Most are $6.50 for a 12-ounce jar from growersandshippers.com. In New York, Ideal Cheese Shop sells the jars for $5.95. The huckleberry is $8.95 but out of stock until next month.