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The Art of Food

A look at the South County artisans making a mark on our tastebuds

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Families have been driving to beaches in southern Rhode Island for decades. During most that time, they could stop at roadside farm stands on their way down for fruit and snacks or on the way home for sweet corn. That tradition never completely died, even as the ‘70s and ‘80s saw many of South County’s backyard greenhouses razed for new houses or long-term farms turned into developments.

However, the farmers’ market movement of the ‘90s and early 2000s spurred on small farmers, home cooks and food artisans to make a go of it and sell their harvest – their jams, pickles or baked goods – at local farmer’s markets, in neighborhood retail markets and, once again, at roadside farm stands. Of the ten South County food producers we’ve highlighted, some offer classic items, such as the Rhode Island staples coffee syrup and jonnycake meal. Others found a niche with consumers wanting newer food favorites, such as smoked fish or wild mushrooms, goat cheese or salsa.


Nectar of the South County Gods
What started as a hobby ten years ago has grown into a part-time job for South County Honey owners Jeff and Meg McGuire, who have “day jobs” as a firefighter and a teacher, respectively. Daughters Mary Kate and Ellie also pitch in at local farmer’s markets where they sell their honey, beeswax candles, lip balm and hand cream.

The McGuires have approximately two dozen hives around South County, and they market three seasonal honeys: spring, summer and fall. The bees find different sources of nectar in each of those months. Spring honey is made from the nectar of blossoming fruit trees, black locust trees and dandelions. Summertime nectar comes from sweet pepperbush, the blossoms of melons and squash in local gardens and the many wildflowers in bloom. Fall’s honey draws on asters, goldenrod, Japanese knotweed and other fall-blooming wild plants.

With 1,500-1,800 pounds produced each year, the honey is packaged in glass or plastic containers, from eight ounces to two pounds. Exeter’s Celestial Cafe buys it in bulk, in five-pound containers. South County Honey is available at the South Kingstown Winter Farmer’s Market, Charlestown Farmer’s Market, Church of the Holy Spirit, Charlestown in the summer months; and at seasonal farm stands at Goose Pond Farm, Carpenter’s Farm and Highland Farm. 789-1144, www.SouthCountyHoney.com

Loaves of Love
In 1975, when Daddy’s Bread was founded, it was actually baked by the “daddy” of the Hopkins’ family. Everett Hopkins loved baking bread so much that he eventually set up a roadside stand for neighbors in the Moonstone Beach area.

His cottage industry closed in the ‘80s, only to be resurrected by Hopkins’s daughter, Jennifer Hopkins Manzo, in 1996. In the back of a tiny gray-shingled cottage, she uses only one machine – a mixer – as she hand chops apples, the family’s homegrown watercress and other fruits and herbs to produce 19 different breads (eight to ten available on any given day). Her breads have no preservatives, dairy or eggs, and each loaf has its own “character and personality and sometimes even a mind of its own,” according to Jennifer.

Her breads are not sourdough boules, nor artisan baguettes. In texture, taste and look, they are more akin to the great Aunt Fanny’s rectangular loaves, with a lighter heft and chew to them. The cinnamon scents swirl through the air of the tiny, low-ceilinged retail room, and the bread-print cloth on the table – where notes and payments are left – could transport you back to Fanny’s kitchen. Jennifer’s loyal fans obviously taste that homey feeling in the loaves as well. Open daily through the last week in October. 8am-6pm. Closed Tuesdays. 809 Moonstone Beach Road, Matunuck. www.DaddysBreadRI.com

Sweet and Versatile Syrup
With coffee milk as the official state drink, what could be more quintessentially Rhode Island than homegrown coffee syrup? Over the past decade, many local, self-roasting coffee businesses have sprung up. But only one has produced its own elixir – Dave’s Coffee Syrup – in regular, decaf, Madagascar vanilla and mocha. Dave’s roasts a Brazilian bean for the syrup, lets the beans rest for two days, then cold-brews the coffee for 18 hours before mixing it with cane sugar (no corn syrup, no artificial flavors).

That potent blend is then simmered down to a syrupy thickness. To showcase the syrup’s versatility, Dave’s posts culinary and mixology suggestions at their coffee shop, online and even on tags around the amber glass bottles. Dave’s Coffee Syrup is suggested for baking (coffee cakes), for glazing veggies or barbecue (espresso-infused sauce), for mixed drinks (the Wired Friar) and milk (hot or cold), or, on a hot day, an Italian affogato – ice cream “drowned” in espresso – or in this case, local coffee syrup. Available at Whole Foods Markets, McQuades and Belmont Market, through Dave’s online store or at Dave’s Coffee Shops. 5193 Old Post Road, Charlestown; 314 S. Main Street, Providence. 322-0006, www.DavesCoffeeStore.com

Get Sauced on Salsa
Steve Siravo’s passion for creating salsas and sauces with a “very clean, very simple flavor – no sugar and no powdered spice” – continues at a steady pace with his homemade pizza sauce currently leading the pack of Poblano Farm products. “It’s our runaway best-seller at the moment,” Steve explains, “and it’s just organic plum tomatoes, tomato purée, basil and sea salt.” Usually it’s Poblano’s pasta and pizza sauces that sell the best in the fall and winter, the salsas in the spring and summer.

Steve’s roasted salsa is his original recipe, appropriately made with poblano peppers and just a touch of jalapeños. It was followed by a milder salsa, a chipotle salsa, a traditional pasta sauce (in addition to the plum tomatoes, there is fresh garlic, parsley and red pepper flakes) and the pizza sauce.

A couple years ago, Steve was contacted by a producer for chef Ming Tsai to create a Sriracha condiment. Steve came up with a sambal (a chili-based Asian mix) for him. In the process he developed a more fiery plum tomato Sriracha and decided to market it because “I fell in love with it, and so did my customers,” he says. Its primary ingredient, plum tomato purée, lends the necessary sweetness to which he adds two kinds of chili peppers, rice vinegar, sunflower oil, fresh garlic and sea salt to finish. Available at Whole Foods, Dave’s Market, Belmont Market, Roch’s, Food for Thought, South County Food Coop, Sandy’s in Westerly, the Fishermen’s Memorial Farmer’s Market and Coastal Growers’ Market. 261-5716, www.PoblanoFarm.com

Udderly delicious
When Miriah Reynolds turned four, her mother Melody, who’d grown up with a pet goat, thought it was time to start the family dream (along with husband Don) of raising goats. Thirteen years and 18 goats later, the Reynolds Barn farm became the first state-licensed and certified goat diary in Rhode Island in August 2009. That was when the family (including Mariah’s brothers Holden and Hudson) began to produce nine kinds of goat cheese for wholesale and retail distribution. (They had already been using the goat’s milk to make soaps.)

The three kids and their goats won many ribbons at agricultural fairs around New England. Their current goats are all registered Saanens who produce large quantities of milk. Within hours of milking these pure white goats, the cheese is made with local herbs and spices in small vats, hand-packed and labeled by the Reynolds family.

The Reynolds Barn goat cheeses are best used over salads and pasta, in lasagna and stuffed shells fillings or, as Miriah likes it best, “right out of the container.” Varieties include plain, horseradish, roasted garlic, sun-dried tomato and – two recent gold medal winners, in a New England competition – blueberry-lemon and Pappa’s Peppadew. The Reynolds family also still makes goat’s milk soap in a butter bar, oatmeal, rosebud, lavender and cinnamon options. Reynolds Barn products are available at their farm store, the Coastal Growers’ Market and their cheeses are served at the Celestial Cafe. 1240 Tower Hill Road, North Kingstown. 294-6972, www.TheReynoldsBarn.com

From the Sea to Your Pantry
When John and Hali LaFountain took over Fox Seafood in 2007, they had certain standards in mind: use local seafood whenever possible; brine the fish with kosher salt, which has no nitrates; use only wood smoke and natural seasonings. They get all their bluefish and mackerel from Point Judith and their tuna from New Bedford or Point Judith. In addition to “plain” smoking those three, they also make a peppered version before the fish is smoked (in large German-made stainless steel ovens).

The LaFountains import their scallops, mussels (sometimes local) and trout (the latter from an Idaho farm). They sought out farm-raised salmon from Scotland and Norway to smoke and season because of their safer aquaculture practices. For the honey-maple salmon, there’s honey in the brine and maple wood for the smoke. But everyone’s favorite, including John’s, is the smoked bluefish.

Sustainable and inexpensive, this fish has a layer of dark meat that challenges cooks. But in the smoking process, that oiliness “makes layers of flavor and turns into a whole new product,” says John, whose customers tell him, “I didn’t know bluefish could be this good!” Available at Belmont Market, Dave’s Markets, Whole Foods, Champlin’s Seafood and the South County Food Coop. 24 Walt Way, Narragansett. 783-4646, www.FoxSmokedFish.com

Ground to Perfection
Rhode Islanders’ obsession with gristmills and jonnycakes has persisted for more than 300 years. At the only water-powered gristmill currently operating in Rhode Island that produces a marketable product, Diane and Bob Smith have been grinding white-cap flint corn since the mid-’90s, after a complete restoration began in 1988. In 2012, the Smiths gifted the Samuel E. Perry Grist Mill (built by Perry in 1703) and its surrounding 3.28 acres to the South Kingstown Land Trust (SKLT). They remain the operators of the mill, overseeing the training of new millers (such as Rob Lyons) and the stone-grinding of the corn, which is grown by Stuart Sherman (whose fields are protected by the SKLT). The Smiths still invite schoolchildren and families to the mill to watch how it works and to learn about its history.

The jonnycake meal itself – the no “h” spelling was mandated by the state legislature in the 1890s – makes terrifically tasty gluten-free jonnycakes, cornbread (using a no-flour recipe) or a coating for fish or chicken. A fierce controversy about how to cook jonnycakes (West Bay thick-style or East Bay thin-style) broke out in the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1922, when one of the legislators declared that the West Bay recipe of pouring boiling water over the cornmeal “scalds the pep out of it!” (East Bay cooks use milk and/or cold water.) The Smiths also grind Rhode Island yellow flint corn.

Catch the Smiths at the Celebration of the Harvest at the SKLT in Matunuck October 24, from 2-4pm. They will be making West Bay jonnycakes. The jonnycake meal is available at many South County farmer’s markets or at the South County Food Coop. Diane Smith’s jonnycake recipe is right on the package. 364 Moonstone Beach Road, Perryville. 783-5483.

Fun With Fungi
When Bob DiPietro, with a background in the restaurant world, and Mike Hallock, with experience working on farms, met at a farmer’s market a few years back, they decided to start a pilot project growing mushrooms at Sweet Berry Farm in Middletown. The 2013 pilot was so successful that by January 2014 they were incorporated as the RI Mushroom Co., to cultivate and distribute exotic mushrooms to restaurants and specialty markets throughout the region. Just 18 months later, the business has grown by 500%, and there are 69 Whole Foods markets that carry their mushrooms.

During that time, they expanded their mushroom “factory” in West Kingston, and they reached out to sell at several farmer’s markets around Rhode Island. They grow blue oysters, golden oysters, maitakes (hen-of-the-woods), shiitakes, crimini, portabellas and pioppini, with maitakes being their biggest seller. They also import mushrooms from wild foragers across Europe and the US, especially morels and chanterelles. Bob credits the farm-to-table movement with their success, as more consumers want to buy locally-grown and organically-certified foods (their mushrooms are both).

From the “leftover mushrooms” they collaborated with Steve Cory of Cory’s Kitchen to create five kinds of tomato sauce: roasted mushroom ragout, Provencal or Moroccan simmer sauces, mushroom Fra Diavolo and a Romesco sauce with grated almonds. Mushrooms available at Whole Foods, Roch’s, South County Food Coop, South Kingstown Farmer’s Market, Coastal Growers’ Market and many Rhode Island restaurants. Sauces are only available at the farmer’s markets. 141 Fairgrounds Road, West Kingston, 250-3999. www.RIMushrooms.com

Picked at the Peak of the Season
After Anthony and Donna Pelloni bought a 96-acre property in Ashaway in 1984, they raised six children and a lot of vegetables, and in 2002, they planted berries. Very quickly after, they opened the Pelloni Farm Stand in 2007, and their baked goods and jams (made from their berries) became a big hit with neighbors and tourists alike. Three years ago, they even received Hugh Jackman’s praise, after he’d tasted their jam at the Ocean House. “You have the best jam in America,” he proclaimed. And, indeed, the Pelloni’s homegrown berries, rhubarb and beach plums, plus fruits from local orchards, have led to 30 delightful combinations – with rhubarb making not only a strawberry combo but also a blueberry and a raspberry duo. Peaches match up with blueberries and raspberries, and all the berries dance in the popular Berry Patch jam.

Son Tom Pelloni has a culinary degree from Chariho High School, and he helps Donna come up with new pastry ideas, including this summer’s peaches and cream cupcakes with peachy butter-cream frosting. And then there are the seasonal pies, again with inventive combinations, such as blueberry-cherry or Patriot Pie, with apples, raspberries and blueberries. In the fall, the Harvest Pie, with apples and berries, is popular, along with cran-apple, sweet potato and, of course, pumpkin. “We just keep coming up with new ideas,” says Anthony, with a grin. The Pelloni Farm is open year-round, except for January, Thursday through Sunday, 8:30am-5pm. 56 Ashaway Road, Ashaway. 377-8975.

Heating up Barbecues and Cocktails
Rich Nassaney had been doing barbecues for friends and family for several years before it dawned on him that party-goers were actually requesting take-home baggies of his homemade sauce. His wife Melissa suggested he turn those sticky pans in her kitchen into a retail product, and Rich’s Sweet Heat was born. The sauce is sweetened with molasses, brown sugar and honey, allowing its fiery spices to gradually wake up your taste buds. It’s great for steak, chicken wings, sausage, grilled portobellos, roasted quahogs, pasta and rice.

The original sauce now has two siblings, Sweet Heat Superheated and Chocolate Heat Mixer. The first grew out of customer requests for something hotter, so Rich adds two extra hot peppers, one that gets hot quickly and one that hits the tastebuds a bit later. The chocolate mixer, made with Ghirardelli chocolate and hot pepper spice, is a winner to glaze pork or chicken, to spark up cheesecake and cocoa, or as a dip for fresh strawberries. Rich and friends also discovered the delight of making adult cocktails, such as chocolate martinis, mudslides or mixing it with peppermint schnapps. Find them at independent grocers around the state including Belmont Market, McQuade’s Market, Hope Valley’s Ma and Pa and online. 265-2667, www.RichSweetHeat.com

South County Honey, Jeff McGurie, Meg McGuire, South Kingstown Winter Farmer’s Market, Charlestown Farmer’s Market, Church of the Holy Spirit, Goose Pond Farm, Carpenter’s Farm, Highland Farm, Daddy’s Bread, Everett Hopkins, Jennifer Hopkins Manzo, Dave’s Coffee Syrup, Steve Siravo, Poblano Farm, Ming Tsai, Miriah Reynolds, Melody Reynolds, Don Reynolds, Reynolds Barn, Saanens, John LaFountain, Hali LaFountain, Fox Seafood, Diane Smith, Bob Smith, jonnycakes, Samuel E. Perry Grist Mill, Celebration of the Harvest, Bob DiPietro, Mike Hallock, RI Mushroom Co., blue oysters, golden oysters, maitakes, shiitakescrimini, portabellas, pioppini, Steve Cory, Cory’s Kitchen, Anthony Pelloni, Donna Pelloni, johnette rodriguez, so rhode island magazine, Pelloni Farm Stand, Tom Pelloni, Rich Nassaney, Melissa Nassaney, Rich’s Sweet Heat, Sweet Heat Superheated, Chocolate Heat Mixer, McQuade’s Market, Belmont Market, Hope Valley’s Ma and Pa, barbecue sauce, honey, mushrooms, salsa, goat's milk, coffee syrup, artisinal foods, rhode island foods, rhode island grown

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