Foodcation: Burlington, Vermont

Last weekend, this Foodie Family packed up our vehicle and took a little road trip to visit Mr. Foodie’s parents at a campground. I’ll be honest, my real motivation for going was not the camping itself but its close proximity to an amazing little shop that I’ve heard great things about and was looking forward to checking out myself. Seed to Sausage, in Sharbot Lake, Ontario.

I love their logo. Just love it!

I forgot my camera on this trip (argh! but it was the least of our worries because we also forgot the potty and the kiddo’s hat… and more. Just wait for it!) but if you’d like a taste (ha!) of what Seed to Sausage is all about, check out this youtube video. Do check out their website for photos of the store itself. It’s so cutel!

What a hidden gem. A few local shops in the city sell a limited selection of their products, but it was a super experience going out to the store, tasting the products, talking to the owner and hearing about the store itself, how the products were made, and meeting the people who have helped get local food onto your plate. Their slogan “local. ethical. humble.” really speaks to the type of food that I want to put on plates on my family dinner table. They also had some not-so-common grocery items at the shop that I added to my pile on the counter. (fermented probiotic pickles! YES!!!!!!!) The little shop in the middle of nowhere was empty when we arrived but had a steady stream of traffic in and out shortly after.

Now, most importantly, the taste. Wow. Amazing. THIS is what meat should taste like! I sampled the chorizo, saucisson sec (dried sausage, literally! for the non French speaking readers), and the lomo (I think!). The flavours in the chorizo were especially out of this world. Just a thin slice on the tongue is all it takes to experience the robust taste of the smoked paprika. Phenomenal. I bought several of them and asked how long they would keep for, snickering a bit as I figured it didn’t matter because it would likely all be eaten before that became a concern.

Check out their website to find out more about their products! Not mentioned on their website, but fantastically delicious is their selection of fresh sausage. I think I bought about 30 of them! There were flavours such as apple and sage, pepper and caramelized onion, maple walnut, just to name a few. These blow any other sausages out of the water. And I consider myself quite fortunate to have a grocery store nearby that makes some pretty decent sausage without fillers. They were as delicious cooked fresh on the camping BBQ as they were frozen, thawed and popped on the grill at home. I used a thermometer to temp the insides to 160 degrees when I cooked them. It’s quite easy to overcook sausage if you aren’t careful.

As I went outside to grab my cooler to load up my pile, I had the quite unfortunate discovery that our car wouldn’t start. Say WHAT? It just wouldn’t start. And we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, with a two year old who thought it would also be a good time to pee his pants. It turned out to be a weird battery issue (it’s a 2009 Honda CRV, so not exactly a clunker!!). Thankfully the lovely family at the shop were incredibly kind and had booster cables on hand. And hey, if we were stranded for too long at least there was lots of yummy sausage to eat so we surely wouldn’t starve.

On a more exciting note, did I mention they have the most delicious BACON!? Flavors like garlic juniper and molasses/cracked pepper make for some mighty fine bacon. Even though I overcooked it (thanks for interrupting, two year old temper tantrum…), it was still so tasty!

Just beautiful…

And yes, there is more of this hiding in my freezer waiting to be devoured!

I will definitely be a return customer to Seed to Sausage. You can also check them out on Facebook. The keen eyed readers will note that my new header image is of delicious cured sausage from this shop as well.

Mr. Foodie and I recently went on a little weekend away. We went to Burlington, Vermont – our second trip to this fine city, but this time we went without the kiddo. Good times. I don’t know about you, but I definitely like to eat my way through my travel destinations. Burlington is a Foodie Paradise. There is no other way to describe it. Hundreds of locally-owned restaurants, cafés, food vendors, stores to buy local produce, meat, cheese, ice cream (VT is home of Ben & Jerry’s, folks!). We went to the Burlington farmer’s market (indoor for the winter) and there was so much produce, grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured chicken, raw milk cheese, pastured eggs, wine, spirits, food vendors and more. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. My only bitching point is that both of the cool grocery stores there had no photography signs up. What’s up with that? There is also awesome skiing when it’s winter time (Sure it snowed on our way there, but it wasn’t exactly ski season!) I could drone on for hours about how much I love this place, but I’m not a pro travel critic. So just go there, okay? Put it on your bucket list.

One of the restaurants we visited was The Farm House. A farm-to-table concept restaurant, it had lovely chalkboards around the dining room noting which farms their ingredients came from. They serve local food, and damn, they do it well. When we came here on a weekend at noon we had the brunch menu. Mr. Foodie had the Grass Fed Vermont Highland Beef Burger with Landaff Creamery ‘Landaff’ cheddar, house made bacon, house pickled onions. Ah-maze-ing. Oh man. I only tasted one bite and it was absolutely delicious.

I had the Pulled Tarragon Chicken Salad . . . Salad with roasted local pasture raised chicken, greens, cider vinaigrette, dried cranberries, almonds, Cabot Clothbound cheddar. Again, insanely delicious. The fresh flavours were so well done and the tarragon with the chicken was a great combination.

We also saw some interesting beverages go to the table beside us, so we asked the server. It made us curious enough to try an Apple Carrot Ginger juice, made in house. Great flavour… would have been even better with some gin. Mmmm

There was also a fair bit of nutritional off-roading, but how could we resist indulging in the local delights. If we were only to eat local and in-season it would be damned easy to do it if we lived in Vermont. The local food movement is thriving there, no wonder it has been named the healthiest city in the United States (yes, I realize this is an old link). That said, there is a plan in motion to eat more local foods, but more on that later.

GO TO VERMONT. Or should I say, #vermont. And while you’re there – play our favourite game. See how long it takes to spot 3 Subarus and a Prius…