Savour Ottawa

The Red Apron has been a Savour Ottawa Member for the last 3 years.  Savour Ottawa works to develop and promote the Ottawa Region as a premiere, year-round culinary destination offering a robust assortment of locally grown and locally produced foods to residents and visitors alike.  They maintain a close working relationship with Just Food, an organization that works to strengthen the local agricultural economy and increase access to locally grown food for all.

Our relationship with Savour Ottawa has resulted in many excellent buying agreements with farmers and producers in the area.  Each year, Savour Ottawa and Just Food host the Chef-Farmer Meet & Greet, which we have attended each of the last 3 years – including this week!

The Meet & Greet is a fantastic event that has has been the beginning of many of our long-term relationships with cherished farmers and producers, including Ken Stewart from Fitzroy Beef Farmers, Colin from Jambican Studio Gardens, Bill from Heavenly Honey, and the list goes on.

This year ’s event was particularly fruitful.  We met the owners of the Fromagerie Les Folies Bergères, who raise sheep for milk, using the milk to make a selection of spectacular cheeses.  We decided to introduce their Fou Fou Feta (a creamy, smooth traditional Greek feta) to our select in-store assortment of outstanding local and regional cheeses. 

The crazy couple (their own description) who own and operate the Fromagerie produce a full line of lovely cheeses, and over the next few months we hope to introduce more of their products into our store.

We also met up with the Glengarry Cheese folks from Lancaster, who make an enticing assortment of cow’s-milk cheeses using milk from neighbouring family farms.  We sampled their blues, their washed rind cheeses, their semi-soft and bloomy rind cheeses, and their variety of Dutch- & Welsh-style pressed cheeses.  Since our space is limited we had to select one.  Our favourite was their Aged Lancaster, a beautifully aged, firm cheese that fills the mouth with its rich, round flavour.  Some decisions are hard to make.

We met a lovely woman from Donegal Farm in  Eganville who raises Organic & Heritage breeds of sheep, cows and pigs.   We talked to the folks at Trillium Meadows who raise red deer & wild boar.  We talked to Bill Barkley from Barkley’s Apple Orchard and placed an order for Apple Cider Vinegar and Apple Jelly.  We tasted some lovely wines from the Domaine Perrault, who grow their own grapes in Navan!  And we placed our first order with Andrew from Major Craig’s Chutney.

Starting with recipes from his great-great grandfather (Major Craig), Andrew has developed a line of four exciting chutneys, each loaded with local ingredients.  Two of his chutneys have received the Savour Ottawa stamp of approval, which assures that either the major ingredient or at least 50% of the ingredients are sourced from local growers and producers.

The most interesting of Andrew’s four chutneys was the Winter Butternut & Beer Chutney, made with local apples, butternut squash and Beau’s Lug Tread Ale.  Doesn’t get any more local than that!  My favourite, though, was the Date with Cranberry Chutney, made using Upper Canada Cranberries.  This chutney paired marvelously with a nice sharp blue cheese.

It was a great day and we are truly excited about our new food partners.

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