Resources

Good Works

American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. The nonprofit ALBC (first discussed in AoE 26) works to preserve traditional breeds of North American farm animals, all but a few of which were abandoned in the last half of the 20th century, as agriculture focused increasingly on mass production. Yet compared with their successors, the traditional breeds are well-adapted to the areas where they originated. In general, they are more hardy and healthy, more fertile and give birth more easily, and they thrive on pasture, which means less plowing and erosion and a big savings in fuel and labor. All these qualities lend themselves to sustainable agriculture. At least as important, the old breeds add enormously to the genetic diversity of our livestock: they will likely contribute important characteristics that will benefit future agriculture. It’s true that the old-fashioned animals tend to grow more slowly and produce in lower volume. But their meat, milk, and eggs tend to taste better, and their more concentrated milk gives higher yields of cheese. The ALBC focuses on 150 or so breeds, including Milking Devon cattle, American Mammoth Jackstock asses, Buckeye chickens, Narragansett turkeys, Pilgrim geese, Santa Cruz sheep, and Red Wattle hogs. A tax-deductible membership is $30 a year and brings the bimonthly ALBC News, which reports on issues, breeds, and projects.

          American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
          Pittsboro, North Carolina
          tel 919.542.5704
          www.albc-usa.org

Seed Savers Exchange. Local species and varieties of plants are the foundation of traditional eating around the world. The nonprofit Seed Savers Exchange (first discussed in AoE 7) was founded in the 1970s by Diane and Kent Whealy and a handful of other gardeners with the aim of preserving traditional North American vegetable varieties. Without SSE, many would have disappeared. Over the years, the organization has expanded enormously; it now also covers grains, fruits, herbs, and flowers. In the Seed Savers 2011 Yearbook, 694 gardeners list 13,876 different varieties of vegetables and fruits, most of them available to any member who requests seed and encloses a fee. Besides, through its catalogue and website, the SSE sells seed of a number of traditional varieties raised on its Heritage Farm in northeastern Iowa as well as some seed bought from other growers. Profits benefit SSE operations. In addition to the Yearbook, SSE members receive the Spring, Summer, and Harvest editions, magazines with thoughtful, often thought-provoking articles on gardening and varied agricultural topics. A tax-deductible membership is $40 a year.

          Seed Savers Exchange
          3094 North Winn Road (farm, gardens, and shop)
          Decorah, Iowa
          tel 563.382.5990
           www.seedsavers.org

Books and Publications

Kitchen Arts and Letters. This, the finest food and wine bookshop in the United States, has a helpful and extremely knowledgeable staff. The selection goes far past the mainstream to include many unusual, foreign, out of print, and rare books.

          Kitchen Arts and Letters
          1435 Lexington Avenue (between 93rd and 94th streets)
          New York, New York
          tel 212.876.5550
          kitchenartsandletters.com

Prospect Books. This small publisher in Devon, England, specializes in books on food history and produces the periodical PPC (Petits Propos Culinaires). Among the more contemporary cookbooks on the list is one of the finest ever written: Patience Gray’s Honey from a Weed (see AoE 5 and 69).

          Prospect Books
          Blackawton, Totnes, Devon
          United Kingdom
          www.prospectbooks.co.uk

Simple Cooking. Written by John Thorne with his wife Matt, this eight-page letter is close to home and kitchen. The approach is relaxed yet serious; the writing is opinionated and unusually fine. Five issues are $25.

          Simple Cooking
          Northampton, Massachusetts
          www.outlawcook.com

Tong. The quarterly wine magazine Tong, first published in 2009, runs about 48 pages, is printed on matte paper, has no ads, no electronic edition, and provides information that its publisher hopes will remain useful for a long time (all similar to AoE). But Tong is set apart from other wine magazines above all because it contains no reviews of any kind and because each issue is devoted to a deep exploration of a single topic: to date Sauvignon Blanc, terroir, Spain, Champagne, Red Burgundy, ripeness, Chile, oak, and German Riesling. Tong, Flemish for “tongue,” is published in Belgium in English, and the contributors, who change completely each time, are all experts in their narrow fields. Filip Verheyden, the editor and publisher, explains that as his reaction to an age in which we are drowning in information and have no way to separate the trash from the truth. Considering the price these days of an even slightly interesting bottle of wine, Tong is, at 25 euros or a little more per copy, a good value. A one-year subscription (four issues) is 100 euros (104 euros outside Belgium, 108 euros outside Europe); a single copy or back issue is 28 euros.

          Tong
          Ghent, Belgium
          tel +32.3.789.9719
          www.tongmagazine.com

Food

(a few of the better-known North American suppliers from past issues; one or more suppliers, often small and not widely known, appear in most issues of AoE)

Coffee

George Howell Coffee Company. This coffees offered by this purist roaster surely form the most discriminating selection in the US. George Howell (first described in AoE 20) combines the skills of a longtime professional with the passion of a disinterested connoisseur. He stresses geographic origin, preferring the crop of a single farm where that is available. The roasts, apart from espresso, are moderate — light by most current standards. Howell seeks that carefully calibrated point where the beans’ aromatic qualities show fully.

          George Howell Coffee Company
          312 School Street
          Acton, Massachusetts
          tel 866.444.5282
          www.terroircoffee.com

Earthenware

Henderson’s Redware. Ken Henderson produces, by hand, traditional American earthenware (redware), including bean pots, colanders, bowls, preserve jars, lard pots, pipkins. (See AoE 59 for more information.)

          Henderson’s Redware
          53 Downing Road
          Bangor, Maine
          tel 866.376.4475
          www.hendersonsredware.com

Meat

R.M. Felts Packing Company. Producer of my longtime favorite bacon, cured with only salt, then pepper-coated and smoked with damp oak sawdust. The similarly cured jowls are also good. Either one is shipped properly wrapped in greaseproof paper, not in plastic. You can order the bacon sliced, but slab bacon holds its flavor much better. All the bacon comes, as it should, with the rind on, and you can still get a "rib side," which is a whole slab with the ribs in. I have never tried the dry-cured hams, which are sold young, after only ninety days.

          R. M. Felts Packing Company
          P.O. Box 199
          Ivor, VA 23866
          tel 888.300.0971
          no website

Father’s Country Hams. The Gatton family ham cure contains salt, sugar, sodium nitrate, and sodium nitrite. On the website, many other “gourmet” foods have joined the original cured items, but you can still find the uncooked whole country ham, which is smoked with green hickory and aged nine to twelve months, sometimes longer. The bacon, smokier than some, comes without the rind, and you can still buy a whole, unsliced eight- to nine-pound slab or four one-pound slabs.

          Father’s Country Hams
          6313 State Route 81 (Gatton Farms store)
          Bremen, Kentucky
          tel 877.525.4267
          www.fatherscountryhams.com

Jamison Farm. John and Sukey Jamison produce lamb in a tender pale style that recalls milk-fed. They buy just-weaned lambs from surrounding farms and raise them on their 160 acrres of intensively managed pasture. The lambs are finished on grass, not grain, and carefully slaughtered at four to six months. Normally the meat is shipped frozen to retail customers — be sure to ask for fresh. (See AoE 53 for more information.)

          Jamison Farm
          171 Jamison Lane
          Latrobe, PA 15650
          tel 800.237.5262
          www.jamisonfarm.com

Spices

Penzeys Spices. It’s no secret that the Penzey family sells high quality spices and that, as a matter of course, the ground spices are extremely freshly ground. (I don’t like the herb and spice mixtures containing dehydrated onion and garlic.)

          Penzeys Spices
          19300 W Janacek Ct
          Brookfield, Wisconsin 53150
          tel 262.785.7637
          www.penzeys.com

Tea

Camellia Sinensis. The partners in this Canadian tea company visit key growing areas and import directly; they emphasize freshness. There are two shops in Montreal and one in Quebec City.

          Camellia Sinensis
          351 Emery, Montreal
          tel 514.286.4002

          7010 Casgrain (near the Jean-Talon Market), Montreal
          tel 514.271.4002

          624 St-Joseph East, Quebec City
          tel 418.525.0247
          www.camellia-sinensis.com

Upton Tea Imports. Tom Eck’s company offers a wide and discriminating selection of fine teas.

          Upton Tea Imports
          34-A Hayden Rowe Street
          Hopkinton, Massachusetts 01748
          tele 800.234.8327
          www.uptontea.com