FOOD REVIEW: Taste of Columbia County Bounty

Smoky braised goat with Vadouvan spices and roasted eggplant. Barbecue short ribs and sweet corn soufflé. Chicken curry with minty yogurt sauce. Dutch apple pie. Chocolate plum cupcakes. Amber ale. Iced lavender tea.

 

If this sounds like the menu for a food fantasy, you’re not too far off. These are just a few of the selections offered at the second annual Taste of Columbia County Bounty, held on August 3 at the Chatham Fairgrounds in Chatham, New York.

 

The event, a fund-raiser for Columbia County Bounty, a nonprofit that promotes networking between local agricultural producers and culinary businesses and helps to educate the community about local foods and farm preservation, pairs top chefs and farmers in creating gastronomic alchemy. Featuring forty-one farms, twenty-nine chefs, two wineries, and one brewery, the Taste of Columbia County Bounty is a don’t-miss event for any serious foodie or locavore.

 

Lori Selden, president of Columbia County Bounty and owner of the wildly popular Mexican Radio in Hudson, New York, says, “We started this event because there’s nothing like it in the county, and we needed to bring together chefs and farmers. The chefs and farmers both love it. And we have about three hundred visitors, who really enjoy tasting a variety of foods from so many different sources.”

 

Considering the recent flooding that has all but crippled some farms in upstate New York, it’s amazing the event could even be held, let alone with such extraordinary produce and meats. With everything from a vegetable frittata cooked by children from the Hudson Youth Center’s gardening program (with produce from the center’s own Garden of Incredible Edibles), to pot roast with red cabbage and potato pancakes from Ghent, New York’s White Stone Café, and an array of delectable fresh and aged cheeses and cultured milk products from Coach Farm of White Plains, New York, the Taste of Columbia County Bounty provided an impressive feast of comfort foods and high-end recipes.

 

Other standouts included tortilla chicken (mushrooms, Swiss chard, and Roquefort cheese rolled in chicken breast and encrusted in crushed tricolor tortillas) from the Carolina House of Kinderhook, New York; Coli’s Creation pizza (featuring freshly harvested garlic, arugula, and red onion, plus amazing tomatoes that miraculously survived the recent blight, from Stephentown, New York’s superior Berry Patch farm) from Baba Louie’s in Hudson; rhubarb cake bites from Tanzy’s in Hudson; and -- count ’em -- five different pies (sour cherry, fudgy chocolate, peach raspberry, original Dutch apple, and strawberry rhubarb) from the European-style Dutch Desserts in Kinderhook.

 

Tisha Mulligan, co-owner of Tanzy’s (a true family operation, with Mulligan’s sister and cousin also running the business), observes, “For us, this has been a great opportunity to advertise and to get to know other restaurants and farmers. It’s really increased our exposure. And what’s so nice is that there’s no competition. We’re all glad to be here, doing what we do best.”

 

For more information on Columbia County Bounty, visit columbiacountybounty.com.

 

Robin Catalano is a contributing editor to Berkshire Living.