2023 Holiday Issue

Imagine getting a knock on your door from a stranger on a random weekday afternoon, and being asked to provide that person with a meal and a bed to sleep in for the night. No, you don’t run a tavern, just a home in a city they happen to be traveling through.

is actually used to happen all the time. Before the era of modern tourism, the road for travelers was paved with a series of unwritten rules about hospitality—even among complete strangers—and many of these ancient customs have evolved to become the rules of etiquette for inviting folks into our homes today.

In Biblical times, tired travelers were often welcomed into the homes of strangers with not only a bed and a meal, but also clean clothes and a bath, or at least water to wash their feet. Upon leaving, the visitor would sometimes get enough supplies for the following day and an escort to guide them to the edge of town.

Similar customs took place in ancient Greece, where the standards of hospitality were known as xenia, a word that translates into “guest friendship.” Guests and hosts would share a gift, a symbol of a unique relationship that obligated both people to welcome each other into their homes for life.

Of course, a similar set of practices applied to friends and family members, who were routinely invited into the home for celebrations and life’s milestones. Even the practice of o ering a drink to a guest when they rst arrive is rooted in traditions thousands of years old.

In this issue, we take a look at “invitations” and the various ways we welcome people into our homes, and even our lives, more broadly.

We’ve put together a series of really useful guides, mostly to help you nd the best local food both for parties and for gifts. ere’s a list of local bakeries to get desserts, pastries and chocolates, as well as a list of local farms to get turkey and ham for holiday meals. We’ve also provided a directory of North Carolina’s artisanal food producers—all of whom o er handcrafted, small-batch goodies, from jams and spices to cured meats and cheeses—that should be required reading for anyone looking to buy gifts for co-workers or clients, overnight guests or dinner party hosts.

Meanwhile, Features Editor Brook Bolen caught up with Mike Guggino of the popular local band Steep Canyon Rangers and found out more about the “Italian Nights” he hosts with bandmate Barrett Smith. Drawing inspiration from his Italian heritage and the music of his grandfather, a classically trained violinist, Guggino invites his guests to immerse themselves in the magic of this country.

As we enter the holiday season—a time when many of us host or attend gatherings—I hope you’re presented with the opportunity to invite people into your life and share the moments of joy that follow.

Tennille T. Legler Publisher

The Olio-inspired egg salad (above); Suzanne Nolter of Blazing Star Flowers (right); Cúrate co-owner Felix Meana in the restaurant’s wine room (bottom right); Mike Guggino of Steep Canyon Rangers (below)

Contributors

Erin Adams - Photographer

Erin Adams is an Asheville-based food and lifestyle photographer. In addition to Edible Asheville, her work appears in Our State, WNC Magazine, Southern Living Magazine, and Garden & Gun Magazine. She shoots commercially for Biltmore Wines, e Biltmore Estate restaurants and many small businesses in the area. Go to www.erinadamsphotography.com to see her work.

Brook Bolen - Features Editor

Born and bred in WNC, Brook Bolen is a writer, editor, home cook and ravenous eater. Her work has appeared in Salon, VICE, WNC magazine, and more.

Nate Burrows - Photographer

Nathan is a commercial and editorial photographer with a love of narrative imagery. He is currently living with his partner and child in Asheville, but enjoys traveling anywhere the job takes him. He is passionate about humanizing his subjects through authentic, engaging and dramatic photography.

Tommy Dott - Contributor

Tommy Dott is the former senior contributing editor to Edible Cape Cod. He and his partner, Ali Pitcher, owned and operated a four-diamond Relais & Chateaux property in New York’s Hudson Valley that featured a menu dedicated to all things local. Tommy has received three national Eddy writing awards and is a two-time runner-up.

Michele Gentille - Recipe Editor

Michele Gentille grew up in food-diverse Toronto, received a culinary degree from La Varenne in France and moved to the WNC countryside in 2012. She works as a food stylist and private chef, has written about food for publications including e Wall Street Journal and T Magazine from the New York Times and has been a culinary assistant on Food Network shows.

Anne Fitten Glenn - Contributor

Anne Fitten Glenn has been writing about Western North Carolina’s people, beverages, foods, history and traditions for a variety of publications since she moved to Asheville in 1997. She has penned two regional history books, Asheville Beer and Western North Carolina Beer.

Madeleine O’Toole - Contributor

Madeleine is a local food and farm enthusiast based in Asheville. When she’s not exploring new restaurants, farmers markets, festivals or co ee shops, she can be found hiking the Blue Ridge Mountains with her beagle Bennie. She’s currently the market manager of Asheville City Market and Event Coordinator for ASAP.

Chris Smith - Contributor

Chris Smith is executive director of the Utopian Seed Project, a crop-trialing nonpro t, and co-host of “ e Okra Pod Cast.” His book, e Whole Okra, won a James Beard Foundation Award in 2020. He’s received the Organic Educator Award from the Organic Growers School and was named a Champion of Conservation by Garden & Gun. More info at blueandyellomakes.com and utopianseed.org.

Gina Smith - Features Editor

Gina Smith lives in Asheville and has been writing about food and agriculture for local, regional and national publications for more than a decade. When she’s not writing, editing or gardening, she coordinates the Asheville-Buncombe Food Policy Council.

Terri Terrell - Recipe Editor

Born in Mississippi, Terri Terrell is a Delta chef in the Appalachian tradition. She has been an active voice and participant in the culinary scene for over two decades. She was one of the rst Asheville chefs to highlight local and consciously grown ingredients, leading to her current mission to build a more collaborative and equitable culinary scene in the ever-evolving WNC foodscape.

Kay West - Contributor

Kay West covered food and restaurants for over 30 years in Nashville and since 2019 in Asheville. She has written ve books, including Around the Opry Table: A Feast of Recipes and Stories from the Grand Ole Opry.

Nationally Recognized Excellence with an Asheville Vibe

Feast Mode

Local farms o er quality meats for the holiday season

While large holiday gatherings may be joyful and exciting, pulling together the perfect meal can be stressful, especially when it comes to the star of the show: the meat. To maximize avor and make things easier on yourself, we recommend preordering your main from local farms for the freshest, tastiest fare. Whether your main entree is ham, turkey or duck this holiday season, these local meats will transform your holiday meal.

Wild East Farm

Turkey preorders wildeastfarm.com/preorder-now/p/turkey

Wild East Farm is a regenerative farm in nearby Marion, NC, that sells chicken at local markets such as the River Arts District Market and Asheville City Market. is farm is known for its “relational agriculture” model, ensuring that they are working with their

land and moving their animals through their pastures daily. You’re in luck for the holiday season as Wild East Farm is raising turkeys speci cally for anksgiving preorders. eir turkeys are organic-fed and soy-free, so the avors will be incredible. Preorder through their website to snag your fresh turkey before anksgiving Day.

Good Wheel Farm

Turkey and duck goodwheelfarm.com

Good Wheel Farm is well-known for their chicken and egg sales at North Asheville Tailgate Market each Saturday, but you may not know that they also have turkey and duck on o er for the holidays. is farm is self-described as a “contiguous landscape of wild spaces, orchards and pastures,” and they focus on maintaining biodiversity within their land and ensure that their sheep, cows and poultry move daily to fresh

pastures. To place your holiday duck or turkey orders, email the farmers at goodwheelfarm@gmail.com.

Hickory Nut Gap Farm

Ham, steak and turkey hickorynutgap.com

What started as a small-scale operation in 1916 has grown into one of this region’s bestknown meat farms. This fifth-generation farm sells almost every meat imaginable, but our favorite is their uncured, boneless carving ham. Be sure to check out their storefront in Fairview to get a deeper look into their agriculture practices and additional meat offerings. Visit their website to place your order (direct shipping available).

Jamie Ager of Hickory Nut Gap Farm (center)

Whether your main entree is ham, turkey or duck this holiday season, these local meats will transform your holiday meal.

Colfax Creek Farm

Beef, ham and turkey colfaxcreekfarm.com

Colfax Creek Farm began in 1901 as an orchard and has now been transformed into a meat farm that raises 100% grass-fed beef, pastured pork and pasture-raised poultry. Their ham and steak are available yearround, and they also have turkey preorders for anksgiving this year. Support them by ordering through their website. Colfax Creek ships to both North and South Carolina.

Darnell Farms

Steak and pork darnellfarms.com

Darnell Farms is an agrotourism powerhouse in nearby Swain County. Make a day trip for a visit and not only purchase some amazing meats for your holiday table but also experience a hayride through the twinkling lights with their Christmas Wonderland event. No time? Preorder your meats and pick them up at their farm stand. ey have hundreds of products at this stand, so you might even nab some side dishes there as well. You can even pick up some of your favorite local eggnog from Mills River Creamery.

6

The Decadence of Heirloom Seeds

WRITTEN BY CHRIS SMITH

There is something about nature that speaks to the infinite. A root will fork and each fork will fork and so on until tiny roots reach out in thousands of directions. Trunks, limbs, branches and twigs spread in a similar way toward the sun. Mycelial networks spanning hundreds of hectares form the largest living organism on Earth. When mushrooms sporulate or plants set seed, the recombination of genetics always speaks to what could be, and over a long enough time frame it seems as though anything is possible.

In this light, I want to talk about the decadence of heirlooms.

An heirloom, by de nition, is a historic object passed down from generation to generation. When the term is applied to seeds, it also indicates varieties that have been around a while. Many sources say that to be consid-

When seeds are saved over time by people in families, communities or tribes, a relationship develops where those seeds will shift and change in a dynamic dialogue of weather, climate and culture.

ered an heirloom, plants have to have been grown and passed down for at least 50 years. Opinions vary on that, but the cuto is often before a time when humans started seriously screwing with seeds. Perhaps pre-1920s, when it was all the rage to zap seeds with X-ray machines to induce random mutations. Or around the 1930s-’40s, when mastery of hybridization in commercial seed production was really taking o , especially with corn.

Another commonly used definition of heirloom is pre-World War II, after which massive amounts of ammonia nitrate were diverted from producing bombs to fertilizing elds, which fueled the high-yielding hybrid boom. Certainly the term applies only to seeds grown before the 1980s, when techniques for genetic modi cation were being tested. ( ere is general consensus that heirlooms must be open-pollinated, meaning not hybrids or GMOs.)

One thing to be clear on is that heirlooms were at one point new. A seed can’t begin life as an heirloom, just as a baby can’t be born a grandma. For heirlooms to still be around today, somebody must have saved those seeds from one generation to the next. When seeds are saved over time by people in families, communities or tribes, a relationship develops where those seeds will shift and change in a dynamic dialogue of weather, climate and culture. is seed-human relationship is thousands of years old, and over that time an amazing range of food crops have been developed.

e very recent commercialization of seeds has changed that fundamental relationship, and I think something important has been lost.

When seed catalogs arrive this winter—as seasonal as seeds themselves—we’ll be confronted with hundreds if not thousands of heirloom seed options and their single-sentence stories. As seed savers, we are often taught to preserve the genetic integrity of those varieties through a range of techniques that keep each plant locked into an image of what it once was. We do this in the name of preservation, rarely questioning the concept of heirloom purity. e seeds are e ectively anchored in a single—and often somewhat arbitrary—point in time.

But what was the plant before *insert a date between 1840 and 1920*? And more importantly, what could that plant be in the future?

I’m not saying that heirloom seeds and seed preservation are bad, but the longer I work in deep relation with seeds, the more I’m compelled to relax my control over them.

e story of seeds should be real and ongoing. I agree that you don’t want your hot peppers mixing with your sweet peppers, but who cares if your red okra mixes with your green okra? Or a little yellow squash pollen nds its way into your zucchini? In fact, wouldn’t it be fun to see what could come from that mix?

I think as gardeners we can have a little more fun and exibility, and relax a little on the rigid rules of seed saving. Perhaps in the process, we’ll stumble across a genetic recombination, a new variety, that could be celebrated as an heirloom of the future.

Supporting Beekeepers On Their Journey

23 Merrimon Ave • Weaverville NC • honeyandthehivenc.com

The Equal Plates Project

Asheville nonprofit o ers a uniquely local solution to food insecurity

WRITTEN BY TOMMY DOTT

Twenty chickens are bronzing in an oven at the Central United Methodist Church on Church Street in downtown Asheville. At the moment, the entire commercial kitchen is under the watchful eyes of chef Chad Holmes. The chickens, which were organically raised by Fiddler’s Green Farm in Marshall and Wild East Farm in Marion, were processed earlier the same morning, making them about as fresh a meal as you can find. In fact, it can be said that every meal created by the Equal Plates Project is about as fresh as it gets.

food that they might otherwise struggle to get.

Nearly 70% of Equal Plates Project’s food budget goes to roughly 20 small WNC farms and every meal created averages 60–70% of local ingredients, including veggies, fruit, eggs, grain and meat.

“We pay our farmers the same wholesale prices as restaurants do,” says the Project’s Executive Director Madi Holtzman. “Paying fairly to farmers is the only way to sustain a viable local food system.”

Good food is good medicine.

The Equal Plates Project is an Asheville-based nonpro t that has a simple and yet profound twist on a common mission. Like many organizations, it provides food to local residents who are struggling with food security. But the di erence is, the Equal Plates Project purchases its food from local farmers, paying fair market rates for fresh ingredients, and then turns those ingredients into scratch-made meals.

It’s a win-win situation. By buying food locally, the Project supports the network of regional farms. And by creating prepared meals, it provides local residents and families with wholesome and nutritious

Lyric Antio owns Wild East Farm and feels that by working with Equal Plates she can merge her farm’s commitment to organically raised animals and food accessibility. “Each week, we deliver meats to the Equal Plates Kitchen, where the chefs craft gorgeous meals to distribute for free to the community,” Lyric says. “It is truly a joy to watch the creative expression of such talented chefs, often combining our meats with vegetables grown by fellow farmer friends.”

e project, originally called We Give a Share, was started in 2020 in response to the pandemic by farmer and current board member Aaron Grier of

Left: Volunteer Charles Wise works with Chef Chad Holmes. (Photo by Julie Douglas).

Right: Assistant Chef Vinnie Grossi and volunteer Amy Miller. (Photo by Tommy Dott).

Gaining Ground Farm in Leicester. With farmers facing nancial hardships during restaurant and outlet shutdowns, it was a way to purchase local produce to keep small family farms in business. By partnering with the Southside Kitchen, local produce was transformed into more than 500 meals per day to share with residents living in the Southside community through the City of Asheville’s Housing Authority.

Since those early days, the Equal Plates Project has grown and now operates a second commercial kitchen. It partners with over a dozen community organizations, including Homeward Bound, United Way’s Community Nights, and the Buncombe Partnership for Children, to distribute thousands of local meals weekly.

Particularly exciting, the Project is also now participating in an innovative state-wide program called the Healthy Opportunities Pilot. Acknowledging that a person’s health and well-being is in uenced by their diet—along with other things like access to housing and transportation—the pilot program is using Medicaid funding to help supply fresh, healthy food to those who need it.

“We're really excited about this rst-in-the-nation pilot program,” Holtsman says. “We can now deliver 14 meals a week directly to the doors of referred Medicaid clients.”

Results from the pilot suggest that meal delivery programs such as Equal Plates Project are not only e ective in providing food security, but that home delivery also promotes trust and community cohesion, and can hinder feelings of isolation. As they say, good food is good medicine.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Equal Plates Project relies on individual donations to purchase fresh food from local farmers and transform it into nourishing meals for our neighbors facing food insecurity.

If you would like to support this mission, go to EqualPlatesProject.org. A donation of $100— whether made once or quarterly—provides funding for 50 meals and supports the local network of farmers. You can also gift meals in someone's honor for the holiday season.

Equal Plates Project is running a capital campaign to equip a second kitchen with walk-in cold storage—a project that will significantly increase the number of meals the organization can share, and therefore the impact on both small farms and community members who rely on these meals.

AQMangia to the Music

A Q&A with Steep Canyon Rangers’ Mike Guggino, who serves up an inviting blend of Italian folk music and food

WRITTEN BY BROOK BOLEN | PHOTOS BY ERIN ADAMS

Brevard resident Mike Guggino is a member of the Grammy Award–winning bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers. When the group is not on the road, he and fellow bandmate Barrett Smith host “Italian Night” events at restaurants, music halls and other venues across Western North Carolina, playing traditional Italian folk music on the guitar and mandolin—often alongside the creation of creative Italian dishes.

Edible Asheville: is is such a unique tradition you’ve started. How did this all begin?

Mike Guggino: Barrett and I started hosting Italian Night shows at Jordan Street Café in Brevard about 20 years ago. I know the owners of the restaurant really well and I approached them about the concept. ey would prepare an entire menu of Italian food and wine specials, and we would play a set of all Italian folk music. We basically turned the restaurant into a dinner theater.

We did it several times a year, usually in the fall and winter when the Steep Canyon Rangers had some time o . It became so popular that we started having two shows per night. About 10 years later, we took the concept to [the erstwhile] Isis Restaurant and Music Hall in Asheville. We also host an Italian Night Concert at the Brevard Music Center every December where we bring in a special guest artist.

How have the events changed or evolved since you began?

I would say the biggest evolution over the years has been the shift from playing background dinner mu-

sic at restaurants to giving full-on concert performances for captivated audiences. We even recorded our rst album in 2020.

Your family roots are in Italy. Are any of the meals served during these events based on family recipes?

My grandfather loved to cook, as did my father. ey both de nitely inspired me to learn to cook. ey both made homemade pasta and sauces. I can remember many Sundays as a kid rolling out fettuccine with my dad while eating the leftover raw dough ends. My nonno made the best salad dressing I’ve ever had, too. It’s basically red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice and parmesan cheese. It seems highly inspired by [my grandfather’s] Sicilian heritage.

Your grandfather was a classical violinist, and your recent album of instrumental Italian folk music, Mia Dolce Farfalla, was inspired by a melody your grandfather played for you. You’ve said it also helped to launch this Italian musical journey. Can you tell us more about the music you were exposed to?

e song he played for me is called “Delirio D’Amore” and was written and published by Onofrio di Bella in 1917, the same year my grandfather was born. He couldn’t remember the name of the tune when he played it for me. He told me he remembered musicians in his Italian neighborhood in Tampa (where he grew up) playing songs like that on mandolins, guitars and accordions. He may have also heard it on Italian-language radio shows broadcasting from

“Thankfully, our audience has always trusted us to both put on a show that will entertain and to create an atmosphere that puts the listener right in the ‘Italian’ frame of mind.”

—Mike Guggino

places like Philadelphia and New York.

I learned what the name of the tune was from Sheri Mignano Crawford. Sheri is an accordian player, historian and author living in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has published several books on Italian mandolin music and composers and has become quite a resource for Barrett and me learning this music. We now play “Delirio D’Amore” in our shows in honor of my grandfather.

Are there any similarities between traditional Italian folk music and the type of American bluegrass music you’re known for with your work with Steep Canyon Rangers?

ere are actually more similarities in the music than di erences. In both cases, the music was written and performed largely by extremely talented and often poorer musicians.

Bluegrass and Italian music both require a high level of technical prowess. Both styles are known for their clean, fast picking and a lot of musical intensity. I nd that playing one only helps the other.

When you host Italian Nights, how do you decide which music you will play? And do the dishes inspire the music, or vice versa?

We have always had the creative freedom to play the songs we want at our shows. ankfully, our audience has always trusted us to both put on a show that will entertain and to create an atmosphere that puts the listener right in the “Italian” frame of mind.

Barrett and I talk a lot about how our music can really take people to another place. Some folks have been to Italy and our music takes them back. Others have never been, and Italian Night gives them a glimpse of what it might be like to visit. All of the places that we have hosted our shows have had excellent chefs. We give them the same creative freedom we have to come up with a menu that our audiences will enjoy. So far, it’s really worked out.

As the holidays approach, are there any Italian dishes your family enjoys preparing and serving?

My parents’ neighbor always brings them pizzelles for Christmas and we love them. I’ve always wanted to do a Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas dinner.

How can folks keep up with you and catch a future Italian Night show?

Our main form of advertising for these shows is our email list. You can visit our website, mikegugginoandbarrettsmith.com, to join our email list and buy our music. We are also on Instagram and Facebook.

Far left: Mike Guggino and bandmate Barrett Smith of the Steep Canyon Rangers host “Italian Nights” at venues across WNC; Left: The pair played at The Farm in Candler in September 2023.

PRESENTED BY THE INGLES TABLE

Photos by Erin Adams

Honey Baked Brie

RECIPE

BY ABBY JACKSON

Icreated this recipe as an appetizer for my guests at Blackhawk Fly Fishing. After a day of fishing for trout, my guests always gravitate toward elevated foods that have really delicious flavors. For this dish, the deep sweetness of dried fruit balances the rich and earthy flavors of the brie cheese, creating a perfect and easy holiday appetizer. Serve with crackers or a sliced baguette—andyou’redone!

Abby Jackson has transformed her passions for cooking and fly fishing into two successful businesses. She is the founder of Abby J’s Smoking Hot Gourmet and owner of Blackhawk Fly Fishing. Check out her cookbook, Abby J’s Farm Style Living Cookbook, for more delicious recipes.

Honey Baked Brie

Serves 6

3 tablespoons fig jam (or honey), divided

¼ cup dried mission figs, sliced

¼ cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

1 (13.2-ounce) round French brie

2 tablespoons chopped dried apricots

1 tablespoon dried cranberries

½ cup frozen cranberries (or raspberries, if cranberries are unavailable)

Fresh rosemary, for garnish

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Place fig jam in a microwave for 30 seconds, to soften. In a small bowl, combine the dried fruit with the nuts.

Add half of the fig jam and mix well to coat the fruit/nut mixture.

Place the brie in a small seasoned castiron skillet. Using a small knife, coat the cheese with the remainder of the jam or honey. Top the brie with the dried fruit/ nut mixture. Add the frozen cranberries around the brie.

Place the skillet on the top of a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes (or until brie softens). Remove from oven and let brie sit for 5 minutes. Serve with your favorite bread or crackers.

Photo by Baker Davenport

ALifeHack

for Good, Easy Meals

How to incorporate heat-and-eat dishes into a week of family meals and casual dinner parties.

WRITTEN BY TENNILLE T. LEGLER | PHOTOS BY ERIN ADAMS

It was a Tuesday evening, and my husband and kids were thrilled and perhaps a bit surprised to see a beautiful spread of hot food on the dinner table. A duck ragu lasagna, with meat from North Carolina–based Joyce Farms, and a fresh green salad topped with a balsamic vinaigrette. For dessert, brown butter sea salt chocolate chunk cookies, featuring flour from Farm & Sparrow in Mars Hill and eggs from Dry Ridge Farm in Marshall.

Normally, Tuesday meals can be a bit thrown together. We often play tennis as a family after work and school, which leaves me scrambling to get something—anything—on the table before we hustle our boys into pajamas and o to bed at a reasonable hour.

ey’re used to frozen pizzas and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

is week was di erent. I had picked up heat-and-eat meals from the Asheville-based gourmet grocery store Red Fiddle Vittles, in part to relieve the stress of making dinner on busy nights but also to be able to treat ourselves to the food of a talented local chef. I won on both fronts.

I picked up my food on Tuesday afternoon, which is the rst day of the week for their new take-home dinner menu. ey post a new menu each week on their website Sunday nights, along with an option to pre-order (which they suggest doing - especially if you're planning to pick-up later in the week). Farr was there and packaged my food in a sturdy, resealable bag, with everything clearly labeled and easy heating instructions.

Later that week, we invited family friends over for dinner. It was a casual gathering, a chance to catch up after a few months of not seeing each other, and I told them to bring their appetites. While I typically cook for dinner parties, and enjoy doing that, I have to admit I’m often disappointed with the amount of time I get to spend with guests. More often, I feel tethered to the kitchen, sometimes rushed, and then struggle to look composed and feel relaxed when we all sit down to eat.

It’s not often you find something that makes life easier and better—and yet Red Fiddle Vittles is doing both.

Launched in 2018 by husband-and-wife team Matt Farr and Erica Beneke, Red Fiddle Vittles o ers a rotating menu of scratch-made frozen and heat-and-eat meals—all of which feature a stunning variety of seasonal local ingredients—as well as grocery items created by the region’s farmers and producers. eir charming store, located on Hendersonville Road in a small shopping plaza with plenty of parking, is a veritable who’s who of local food, featuring nearly 100 di erent producers from Western North Carolina. It’s a gold mine of holiday gifts for local foodies, by the way.

is time, I … well, I turned on the oven. Each of the dishes I picked up from Red Fiddle Vittles came in oven-ready containers and reheated at the same 350° temperature. So all I had to do was pop the dishes into the oven at the right time. I poured myself a glass of wine and joined our friends in the living room. I set a timer on my phone to remind myself when to add a new dish to the oven, and planned it so everything would nish at the same time.

We started with a kale and chioggia beet salad with apples, aged cheddar and pumpkin seeds, topped with a muscadine vinaigrette. It presented a lovely mix of sweet and savory avors, and featured fresh produce from the WNC Farmers Market, as well as farms in Burnsville and Hendersonville.

e main course was a savory bison meat loaf with mushroom gravy, an absolute home run with meat from Dr. King’s Carolina Bison in Leicester and a collection of earthy mushrooms from Asheville-based Wild Goods. It was served with mashed potatoes made with Blue Ridge tru es and creme fraiche (warranting an extra round of twothumbs-up), as well as roasted butternut squash and sweet corn with pickled ramps, featuring an Emerald Mountain Dust seasoning from Canton-based Well Seasoned Table.

For dessert, we had a perfectly baked apple-blackberry sonker—a bit like cobbler—made with fruit from Hendersonville and served with a side of ice cream from Meadowsweet Creamery in Mars Hill.

e evening went smoothly and I enjoyed the rare experience of serving my guests a tremendous meal that elicited all the oohs and aahs I like to hear, while also getting to enjoy their company.

After starting with a catering business, Red Fiddle Vittles is now enjoying a growing base of loyal fans for its prepared meals. It’s not often you nd something that makes life easier and better—and yet Farr and Beneke are doing both. Beneke is a professionally trained chef, who

also achieved a bit of fame as a contestant (and winner) on the TV cooking show “Chopped,” and both she and her husband show a genuine commitment to sourcing local food. eir dishes are thoughtful and well executed, delivering avors that achieve high marks.

By the time Saturday morning rolled around, we were bracing for a busy day. Both of my kids had sports in the afternoon—hockey for the 13-year-old and soccer for the 9-year-old—and I was looking to pull together a hearty breakfast that would fuel them through the coming hours. I waved them o the cereal and told them breakfast would be ready in 20.

In addition to prepared meals, Red Fiddle Vittles o ers an impressive selection of locally grown food and they pull together a group of items for what they call an All-Star Appalachian Breakfast: a dozen eggs from Dry Ridge Farm, thick-cut bacon from Colfax Creek Farm, their own house-made buttermilk biscuits and sausage gravy, yogurt from Wholesome Country Creamery and granola from Pete’s Granola. I also grabbed a bag of coffee beans from Sharewell Co ee and a jar of Berry Best Jam from Imladris Farm.

is was a treat for the whole family. I scrambled the eggs with chopped spinach and swiss cheese and cooked the bacon to crispy perfection. e biscuits bloomed in the oven, and I reheated the sausage gravy in a small saucepan before topping it over the biscuits. I set out the jam, along with the yogurt and granola, and sipped on a piping hot cup of co ee while everyone dished up heaping mounds of food on their plates. After an easy cleanup (thank you, paper plates), everyone decamped for the day of sports and lasted throughout the day with only a small batch of snacks before dinner.

Before this week, I hadn’t had much experience with frozen or heat-and-eat meals. I have friends who incorporate them regularly into their weekly menu plans—and I know they’re popular among working professionals, as well as retirees, who value high-quality food and yet don’t have the time or energy to shop or cook for elaborate meals.

But going forward, I’ll be adding them to my own list of “life hacks.” As a mom and a wife, I value mealtimes together with my family. It’s a time of sustenance for growing kids, as well as an opportunity to help them expand their palates with new dishes, and also a time of joy and laughter. And I discovered that when I wasn’t being tasked with the jobs of planning, shopping, prepping and cooking the meal, I was better able to focus on those valuable moments more easily, which makes life both easier and better.

Asheville-based Red Fiddle Vittles offers head-and-meat meals, featuring seasonal local ingredients, including this dish of roasted butternut squash and sweet corn with pickled ramps.

Dessert & Baked Goods Directory

Fill your holiday table with sweet treats and savory bites from some of the region’s most talented bakers and chocolatiers.

BAKED PIE CO.

bakedpiecompany.com

4 Long Shoals Road, Arden

Accepts phone orders

Baked Pie Co. o ers scratch-made pies and uses premium local ingredients, making it a favorite among food lovers for holiday gatherings and meals. ey o er several varieties of crowd-pleasing apple pie—including traditional, Amish and cheesecake options—all of which feature the fruit of Creasman Farms in Hendersonville. Another top seller is the honey pecan pie, made with a aky handmade pie shell and topped with caramelized pecans using brown sugar, honey and butter.

e bakery itself is a charming destination, a welcoming spot with vintage decor and multiple tables where visitors often settle in for a “pie ight” and a cup of co ee. A special note: Baked Pie gets busy during the holidays and advance orders are encouraged.

CHOCOLATE FETISH

chocolatefetish.com

36 Haywood Street, Asheville Accepts phone orders

The Chocolate Fetish has been a popular downtown staple since 1986 and just recently changed ownership to enjoy new life under the leadership of Celeste King, a well-established chocolatier who also owns Van’s Chocolates in Hendersonville. e Chocolate Fetish is known for premium handmade chocolates that often appear at weddings, birthdays and parties—often in the form of custom-designed sculptures—but have also become a classic gift for all chocolate lovers. Its European-influenced Ecstasy Truffles come in 16 avors, including Chai Moon and Lavender Vanilla Latte, and the downtown café beckons a near-constant stream of visitors. During cold months, make sure to order a cup of the European Sipping Chocolate, a rich version of hot cocoa topped with freshly shaved dark chocolate.

frenchbroadpantry.com

Accepts online orders

FRENCH BROAD PANTRY

Available at multiple farmers markets

French Broad Pantry is a go-to option for breakfast and brunch pastries—a gem during the holidays when home cooks are often busy feeding family and friends and looking for easy wins between big meals. Frenchborn chef Dune Michel crafts a menu of both sweet and savory pastries, and the croissants are particularly popular. O ered plain or with llings like chocolate, raspberry, ham and cheese or smoked salmon, the croissants can be served with fresh fruit and locally roasted co ee, and voila! You’re done! e dessert options are just as delightful and include fruit tarts, cream pu s and chocolate ganache tarts. A beautiful almond twist (Sacristain in French) is made with a mix of almond cream and vanilla custard and also gets a special shout-out.

From weekly meals, retreats, and corporate catering to personal chef services, experience Asheville through our catering and prepared meals services. Let Chef Katie take care of your menu, so you can enjoy spending more time with your friends and family.

(828) 458-8481

CHEFKATIE@FIOREOUSLYDELICIOUS.COM

Seasonal

715

Jargonrestaurant.com

O昀昀ering

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE WNC FARMERS MARKET

The Adventures of a North Carolina Christmas Tree

A pair of Fraser firs, born and bred in Western North Carolina, will serve as the o cial White House Christmas trees for the next two holiday seasons.

WRITTEN BY ANNE FITTEN GLENN

About 20 years ago, the Church family planted a young seedling in their field of Fraser fir trees, in the fresh mountain air of their farm in Ashe County, about two hours northeast of Asheville. There it grew tall and strong, stretching more than 18 feet into the air.

Later this year, that same tree will be cut amid quite a bit of fanfare, loaded gently onto a truck and sent to the White House, where First Lady Dr. Jill Biden will welcome it and set it up as the o cial White House Christmas Tree, marking the uno cial start of the holiday season in the nation’s capital.

e tree is in good company. Ever since the tradi-

tion of a White House Christmas Tree started in 1966, a North Carolina Fraser r has been chosen 16 times—more than any other variety. Just last year, the Church family’s Cline Church Nursery presented Vice President Kamala Harris with a Christmas tree after winning a state contest and then the national competition.

And for anyone looking to challenge the dominance of Western North Carolina tree farmers, it should be noted that the White House Christmas Tree for 2024 will come from Cartner Christmas Tree Farm in Newland, NC, and will be selected next year

e Fraser is the only native North Carolina r and grows wild above a point about 4,000 feet in a small area of the Southern Appalachians. It has a cult-like following among Christmas tree lovers for its fragrant piney scent, classic pyramid shape, sturdy branches and beautiful blue-green color.

The family of Cline Church Nursery, award-winning growers of local Christmas trees. Pictured left to right: Josh Scott, Amber Scott, Violet Scott, Annabelle Scott, Jackson Church, Sawyer Church, Ashley Church and Alex Church

“Ever since the tradition of a White House Christmas Tree started in 1966, a North Carolina Fraser fir has been chosen 16 times—more than any other variety.”

“We take a lot of pride in the quality of our trees,” says Amber Scott of Cline Church Nursery. “North Carolina has the best growers and the best support for our industry. It’s a close-knit, community-minded industry, and we all try to promote it. North Carolina is the envy of other Christmas tree states because of this supportive network.”

Cline and Ellen Church started planting Frasers on family farmland in the 1970s. Cline Church Nursery now includes 700 acres of trees, and the business ships trees wholesale all over the country, even as far as Las Vegas. e Churches’ children, Amber Scott and Alex Church, formally joined the family business about 15 years ago, adding a seasonal garden center that’s open to the public.

Pictured top left, left to right: Amber Scott, Violet Scott, Annabelle Scott, Sawyer Church, Jackson Church, Ashley Church and Alex Church

e White House Christmas Tree, which must stand between 18 and 19 feet tall, is displayed in the majestic Blue Room, located on the rst oor of the White House and often used for receptions and small dinners. It’s also a part of the White House that’s open to public tours.

e Cline Church Nursery has only a handful of trees that large at a time. “We usually don’t deal with trees this big,” Scott notes. “We’re going to have to gure out how to move it and to manually wrap and protect it. We will have most of our crew on hand just to carry it uphill to the trailer. ere will be a lot of grunting involved, I’m certain.”

To send the r o on its journey, the nursery will hold a celebratory cutting ceremony. e event includes tree industry and community

members as well as family and friends. e N.C. Department of Agriculture provides a trailer truck, wrapped with a photographic scene of Fraser rs, for the tree’s trip to the nation’s capital. “ en we bless that tree before it makes its journey to the White House,” Scott says.

e Church family, including the third generation, aged 7 to 10, will y to D.C. for the White House welcoming of the tree that Scott’s family has nurtured since she was in high school.

“ e kids are at prime ages to really make some cool memories with this,” she says.

e arrival of the o cial Christmas tree traditionally kicks o the White House’s holiday season. A horse and carriage delivers the tree onto the White House grounds, where Dr. Biden inspects it before it is gently set up in the Blue Room. Sta and volunteers, and perhaps even President and First Lady Biden themselves, will then decorate the tree in accordance with an annual holiday theme

Meanwhile, next year’s White House Fraser r awaits its turn at glory in the eld at Cartner Christmas Tree Farm in Avery County. Started in 1959 by Sam and Margaret Cartner, the farm is managed by the Cartner brothers—David, Jim and Sam Jr.

e North Carolina Christmas Tree Industry is ranked second in the nation for the number of trees harvested and produces more than a quarter of all Christmas trees in the U.S. In the western part of the state, there is ample rainfall and ideal temperatures and climate for the trees to thrive. But as soil temperatures rise—an e ect of climate change—root rot can spread to the elds. “But we plan to stay here where we grew up and keep planting trees and raising our families,” Scott says.

is is the Cline Church team’s rst time chosen as Grand Champion grower, although the nursery won the title of Reserve Champion in 2022, and the family traveled to D.C. to present a 10-foot Fraser to Vice President Kamala Harris at her residence.

“ e National Christmas Tree competition gets more press and media coverage than anything else in the industry,” Scott says, “and it brings a lot of attention to North Carolina and our Fraser rs.”

Get your own North Carolina Christmas Tree at the WNC Farmers Market!

Starting in late November, the WNC Farmers Market transforms into the regional mecca for Christmas trees. It hosts more than 20 regional tree farmers, o ering a stunning variety of holiday beauties—from Fraser firs to white pines.

After you choose your tree, the farmer will trim, wrap and load your tree onto your car, with ample parking just steps from the vendor stalls. There are also tons of fresh wreaths, both decorated and plain, as well as aromatic greenery, to deck the halls.

Holiday Gift Guide

PRISM Skin-Care Serums, $78

PRISM Skin-Care (prism-skincare.com)

Indulge in skincare serums from Ashevillebased Prism, owned by a medically licensed esthetician, for products that are made with all-natural ingredients and CBD.

Chakra Candle with Sunstone Gemstones, $48

Adoratherapy (1 Page Ave Unit 145A, Asheville)

Scented with mandarin, ylang ylang and myrrh fragrance oils, light your candle to make your room smell beautiful while also healing and balancing your sacral chakra

Buttered Brulee Cocktail Kit, $50

Cultivated Cocktails Distillery (25 Page Ave Suite 103, Asheville) is kit provides all main components for this popular cocktail—which is light and refreshing, and yet creamy and comforting— and improves any holiday occasion.

House-Made Infused

Honey Gift Set, $20

Honey & e Hive (23 Merrimon Ave, Weaverville)

ese popular house-made infused honey avors come packaged with a beeswax candle & honey dipper for the bee lover in your life.

Mushroom Honey & Mushroom Cacao, $30

e Wild’s Craft (thewildscraft.com) is medicinal mushroom-infused clover honey & cacao blend is a wonderful adaptogenic treat for those who live a healthy energized lifestyle.

Dining Gift Set, $45

Shanti Elixirs (shantielixirs.com)

Elevate your holiday with a Shanti Elixirs gift set! Receive one ne dining bottle, matching art print by label artist, and two tasting glasses.

Artisan Charcuterie Platter & Butcher Block Cutting Board, $150-$475

Eli Tomalka Woodworks (elitomalkawoodworks.com) is custom colored epoxy & hardwood charcuterie platter is a beautiful addition to any home cook’s kitchen, coming in a variety of designs and sizes.

Seasoning Sampler, Wild Reishi Hot Chocolate, & Magic Garlic Dust, Well Seasoned Table (wellseasonedtable.com)

Add excitement to holiday dinners with a sampler of local seasonings and nish the night by the re with a lip-smacking cup of hot chocolate.

“Appalachian Forest Friends”

Letterpress Print, 2024 Full Moon Calendar & Letterpress Note Cards Packs

Print, $40

Calendar, $30

Note cards, $25

Macon York Press (maconyorkpress.com)

Celebrate the mountains with a local fauna letterpress art print, a beautiful 2024 calendar, & colorful letterpress note cards. Custom projects available.

Up All Night Hot Sauce, $9-$12

Up All Night Bottling Co. (upallnightbottlingco.com)

Add some spice to your stockings with all four avors - Tokin' Swinger, Smoke and Burn, Carolina Bee Sting, & Super Soft

Star Cluster Necklace, Mini Tennis Bracelet, Gem in the Woods Ring, $125-$825+

Je rey, e Jewel of Asheville (20 Artful Way, Asheville) is stunning trio of custom pieces is on everyone's gift list. Designer pieces are available & can be customized to your preferred precious metal. Choice of diamonds or moissanite.

Box, $69 & Variety of Quality

Wines, Prices Vary

South Slope Cheese Co. (11 Southside Ave, Asheville) is grab & go charcuterie box is lled with fresh local meats, cheeses & crackers, which pairs perfectly with a variety of quality wines, also o ered at the store.

HOW TO

PRESENTED BY THE JOHN C. CAMPBELL FOLK SCHOOL

The Best

Chocolate Cake Ever

A baking instructor at the John C. Campbell Folk School shares her secrets for the best chocolate cake she’s ever created ... and no one will know it's vegan.

Ruth Drennan is a North Carolina luxury cake designer and a baking instructor at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown. So when she said she had a recipe for the “best chocolate cake ever,” we were inclined to believe her. And when she said it was a vegan recipe to boot, we knew we had to share the recipe.

Drennan developed the dairy-free cake recipe after being contacted by a vegan bride-to-be who needed a wedding cake that would wow her guests—but also steered clear of eggs, butter, milk and all other animal products.

“My husband and I are the guinea pigs for my recipes and I’m really critical of things,” Drennan says. “After small modi cations, I thought this was a really great recipe.”

Since then, Drennan has made the cake for several more weddings, replacing the standard American buttercream frosting with a frosting that uses vegan butter and oat milk. For more casual events, she’ll bake it as a Bundt cake and sprinkle it with powdered sugar.

“It’s super moist and avorful—and you don’t need a mixer or any esoteric ingredients,” she says. “Seriously, no one will know it’s vegan unless you tell them.”

HOW TO

The Best Chocolate Cake Ever

Prep time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 35–45 minutes

Servings: 12

I like to serve this as a Bundt cake, but you can also use two 8- or 9-inch round pans (bake 30 minutes), a 9- by 13-inch pan (bake 35–40 minutes), or two 12-cavity cupcake pans (bake 20–25 minutes) and decorate as desired.

2 cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder*

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder**

1 cup dairy-free buttermilk (1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice plus oat milk***)

2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons ground flaxseed meal**** plus 6 tablespoons hot water)

½ cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling hot water

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Prepare large Bundt pan or other fluted pan by spraying with nonstick spray or thoroughly brushing pans with vegetable oil. “Flour” the pan with cocoa—not with

flour—and shake out excess. Make sure that all surfaces are greased!

Sift flour and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl; add sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and espresso powder. Whisk together.

Prepare your dairy-free buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon vinegar, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to your liquid measuring cup and then adding oat milk to bring the amount to 1 cup total. Set aside for 5–10 minutes to curdle.

Prepare the flax eggs by adding 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed to a bowl and adding 6 tablespoons hot water. Stir it together and let sit for 5 minutes to thicken and become a bit gloopy.

Add the buttermilk, flax eggs, oil and vanilla extract to the bowl with the dry

ingredients and stir into a thick batter. Add boiling water to the bowl and whisk it into the batter with a hand whisk. Batter will be thin and a bit runny.

Add batter to the prepared pan and bake for about 35–40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan for about 10–15 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Transfer to a plate. Sprinkle cake with powdered sugar and serve.

Cake can be stored covered at room temperature for 3–4 days, in the fridge up to a week, or in the freezer up to 3 months.

NOTES

*If you want to make a darker chocolate cake, use ½ cup cocoa plus ¼ cup black cocoa, available from kingarthurbaking. com or on Amazon.

**I use King Arthur brand instant espresso powder purchased from my local supermarket. If it’s not available at your market, you can get it from the King Arthur website or substitute any instant espresso co ee like Ferrara Instant Espresso Co ee.

Luxury cake designer Ruth Drennan (pictured at right) is a baking instructor at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC.

***I like to use Califia Extra Creamy Oat Milk, which is found with the other plantbased milks in the refrigerated milk section of the supermarket. If you can’t find it, or if you would prefer another kind of nondairy milk, you can use coconut, almond or soy milk—just make sure to get the unsweetened variety from the refrigerated section and not the boxes from the regular shelves.

To make buttermilk, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup and then add nondairy milk to the cup to measure 1 cup total. Set aside for 5 minutes to curdle (though it may not look very chunky).

**** I use Bob’s Red Mill Ground Flaxseed. You can find this in almost any supermarket or on Amazon.

To make 2 flax eggs, combine 2 tablespoons ground flax with 6 tablespoons hot water in a bowl. Stir and set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.

Located on a beautiful 270-acre mountain campus in Brasstown, NC, about two hours west of Asheville, the John C. Campbell Folk School o ers weeklong and weekend-long courses on hundreds of subjects—from cooking and pottery to printmaking and jewelry design—encouraging students in a relaxed environment to continue learning new skills and hobbies that make life rewarding. Meals and lodging are included, and students can enjoy tours, concerts and performances in their down time.

Cake designer Ruth Drennan will be teaching two courses at the John C. Campbell Folk School in coming months: “Cake Like a Boss” in February and “Fabulous Fruit Desserts” in May.

2023F漀漀dLovers

Gift Guide

Celebrate the holidays with sweets, snacks and sips from North Carolina’s food artisans.

Stocking Stu ers For Food Lovers

From backyard grill masters to home cooking enthusiasts, everyone loves a perfectly avored sauce or seasoning to elevate their next dish. Treat the food lover in your life with North Carolina’s delightfully unique avors in their Christmas stocking.

SAUCES & SEASONINGS

3P Hot Sauce

Hot sauce 3psauce.com

Bare Foods, Inc.

Salad dressings and seasonings barefoodsinc.com

Battle Tested, LLC

Veteran-owned craft BBQ sauce battletestedbbq.com

Beach Season, LLC

Salad dressing ilovebeachseason.com

Billy Bub’s BBQ Sauces & Dry Rubs

BBQ sauces and rubs billybubs.com

Billy’s Family Enterprises, Inc. BBQ and cocktail sauces billyssauces.com

Bob’s Smokin’ Southern BBQ LLC

BBQ sauce, seasonings and rubs, jerky smokinsouthernbbq.com

Boss Bell’s BBQ BBQ sauce bossbells.com

Broad Street Deli and Market, Inc.

Salad dressing broadstreetdeliandmarket.com

Bud Sauce - BBQ Royalty, LLC

BBQ sauce budsauce.com

Bull City Pepper Company

Hot sauce bullcitypeppercompany.com

Cackalacky, Inc.

Sauces, nuts, co ee cackalacky.com

Celebration Time NC

Dressing, marinade, pizza sauce Celebrationtimenc.com

CW Dressings

Date-based dressings, sauces and marinades cwdressings.com

Ethiopian Gourmet Foods Company LLC

Hot sauces ethiopianhotsauce.com

Flavor Seed, LLC

Small-batch, craft, USDA organic, blended seasonings flavorseed.com

Ford’s Foods

Sauces, seasonings, rubs, salsa, wine nuts, pecan brittle bonesuckin.com

Gentlewoods Foods

Gluten-free and preservative-free BBQ sauce jimsownsauce.com

Indulgent Essential Spices LLC Vegan, gluten-free and organic spices and sauces indulgentessentialspices.com

Jabba’s Creations LLC

BBQ and dipping sauces, rubs jabbascreations.com

Kimo’s ONO Grindz

Hawaiian hot sauce kimosonogrindz.com

King’s Pepper

West African spice blend kingspepper.com

Little Black Dressing Co.

Salad dressing littleblackdressingco.com

Lusty Monk Mustard

Spicy, course-ground and old-school mustards lustymonk.com

Mike D’s BBQ, LLC

BBQ sauce, dry rubs, grills and smokers mikedsbbq.com

Nons Salts

Seasoning salts made with fresh herbs, garlic and pepper nonssalts.com

Oak City Hot Sauce

Hot sauce

oakcityhotsauce.com

Old Mule Company

BBQ, marinade and dipping sauces oldmule.com

Outlaw Smoke BBQ

Veteran-owned BBQ catering company, BBQ rubs outlawsmoke.org

Rising Smoke Sauceworks

BBQ sauces and hot sauces risingsmokesauce.com

RJ’s Sauce BBQ sauce rjssauce.com

Sea Monster Sauces LLC BBQ sauce seamonstersauces.com

Shipwrecked Seasonings

Seasoning blends and rubs shipwreckedseasonings.com

Still There Shine Sauce

Moonshine BBQ sauces and rubs stillthereshinesauce.com

The Spicy Hermit

Artisan and traditional Kimchi spicyhermit.com

edibleasheville.com

Gifts For Overnight Guests

e holidays are a perfect time to invite out-of-town guests to stay in your home, and there’s nothing more welcoming than a basket of North Carolina treats. Small snacks will allow your guests to munch whenever they get hungry, and a few pantry items will give them something to take home as a souvenir!

SNACKS & NIBBLES

A&B Milling Company

Gourmet nuts auntrubyspeanuts.com

America’s Best Nut Company

Gourmet peanuts americasbestnutco.com

Ashter Baking Company

Cheese straws 350cheesestraw.com

Baker’s Southern Traditions

Peanut snacks, candy bakerspeanuts.com

Bertie County Peanuts

Gourmet peanuts pnuts.net

Carolina Kettle/1 in 6 Snacks

Kettle chips, tortilla chips, salsa, popcorn, cookies, peanuts 1in6snacks.com

Floury Apron, LLC

Tomato sauces, handmade pastries, crackers

flouryapron.com

Ginny O’s Inc.

Cheese snacks ginnyo.com

Hampton Farms

In-shell peanuts, gourmet nuts, raw peanuts, pouches, nut butters hamptonfarms.com

Haw River Mushrooms LLC

Mushroom jerky, frozen mushroom “crab” cakes hawrivermushrooms.com

JOY Filled Foods, LLC

Pecan and other traditional snack products joyfilledfoods.com

Mackeys Ferry Peanuts and Gifts

Peanuts, peanut candies, cookies, peanut butter

mfpnuts.com

Outer Banks Granola

Small-batch, handmade granola outerbanksgranola.com

Piedmont Pennies

Cheese snacks

piedmontpennies.com

Ripe Revival

Gummies snacks and other innovative products made from “excess” crops riperevival.com

Ritchie Hill Bakery, Inc.

Cheese straws, shortbread cookies ritchiehillbakery.com

SIPPIN SNAX

Gourmet bar snacks sippinsnax.com

Sugared Spoon, LLC

Cheese straws, sweet and savory snacks, seasonings sugaredspoonnc.com

Truly Good Foods

Snack mixes, bulk candy, nuts tropicalfoods.com

Wicked Crisps

Baked vegetable chips, gluten free, non-GMO, kosher and low fat wickedcrisps.com

CUPBOARD CLASSICS

8th Wonder Spice

All purpose seasoning 8thwonderspice.com

18 Chestnuts

Vegan soups 18chestnuts.com

Alta Foods

Tortilla wraps altafoods.com

Ashanti Styles

(Dba Queen’s Jollof Sauce) Handcrafted Jollof Sauce queensjollofsauce.com

Big Spoon Roasters

Nut butters, snack bars bigspoonroasters.com

BJP Food Group

Pear relish mamajunesmagic.com

Brew Naturals

Elderberry Products brewnaturals.com

Bruce Julian Heritage Foods

Bloody Mary mix, sauces, jams, jellies, preserves, snack mixes, ham slices, mu n mix, pickled vegetables, grits brucejulianheritagefoods.com

Cape Fear Pirate Candy, LLC

Candied banana peppers and jalapenos, salsa capefearpiratecandy.com

Carolina Gold

Cold-pressed, non-GMO and gluten-free sunflower oils carolinagoldoils.com

Check for many of these items at your favorite retail locations across the state!

Carolina Pickle Company

Pickles, jams, jellies carolinapicklecompanyinc.com

Chengers

Soups, smoothies, juices, apple sauce, baby food chengers.com

Cherry Orchard Foods

Gourmet food mixes, rubs, seasonings cherryorchardfoods.com

Cottage Lane Kitchen

Pepper relish cottagelanekitchen.com

Crew Family Orchards

Extra Virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, vinaigrette creworchards.com

D’Vine Foods

Jams, jellies, pickles, cider, juice, sauces dvinefoods.com

Fogwood Food, LLC

Jams, jellies, syrups, shiitake mushrooms, mushroom products fogwoodfood.com

Food Cravings

Handmade artisan salsa foodcravingscompany.com

Gotta Be Penelopes, LLC

Fruit-based hot pepper jellies and spreads, charcuterie boards gottabepenelopes.com

Happy Heart Elderberry Elderberry products happyheartelderberry.com

Heaven’s Gate Orchard, LLC

Artisanal fruit spreads and nut butters heavensgateorchard.com

Herb’s Honey

Local raw honey, honey products herbshoneypot.com

Heritage Fresh Market

Artisanal foods, co ee, teas, meats, cheeses, baked goods, frozen take-and-bake meals heritagefreshmarket.com

Julz’s Creations, LLC

Artisan hot sauce, pickles, mustard, BBQ sauce cwdressings.com

Jodi’s Elderberry Syrup Elderberry products jodiselderberrysyrup.com

Kitcheneez, LLC

Gluten-free, sodium-free and MSG-free mixes for baking, dips, soups, beverages and quick meals kitcheneez.com

Kokada

Coconut spread eatkokada.com

Mrs. Ruth’s Jams Jams mrsruthsjams.com

Ms. Mary’s Specialties, LLC Pickles and relishes msmarys.com

NOFO @ The Pig

Artisanal foods, gift shop, cafe nofo.com

Nonni’s Gourmet Kitchen, LLC

Condiments, pickled vegetables, jellies, nut brittles, candy nonnischiavonefoods.com

Norm’s Farms

Elderberry products normsfarms.com

Nurture By Nature Elderberry products nurturebynaturenc.com

Olive Oil Grove

Artisanal olive oil and vinegar drizzlethis.com

Peggy Rose’s Jellies, LLC

Artisanal jellies and condiments peggyroses.com

Plantnrgy

Plant-based protein and superfood mix plantnrgy.com

Sarges, LLC

Shrimp and grits sauce sargesshrimpandgrits.com

Saucy Company

Salsa (onion and garlic free) saucycompany.com

Selina Naturally, Home of Celtic Sea Salt

Gourmet salts, therapeutic sea salts celticseasalt.com

Sweet’s Elderberry

Organic elderberry products sweetselderberry.com

The Museum Shop/N.C. Museum of History

Gift shop ncmuseumofhistory.org

Tryon Mountain Farms

Salt blends, simple syrups tryonmountainfarms.com

TurmericZone

Turmeric-based natural, organic and ayurvedic products turmericzone.com

Valley Brook Farms LLC

Gourmet pickles and preserves valleybrookfarmsllc.com

Yo Momma’s Style LLC

Jams, jellies, spice rubs, Colorado style green chile, beverage mix, cornbread mix yomommasstyle.com

Gifts For Party Hosts

Make sure to arrive at your next dinner party with a thoughtful gift! A batch of treats from one of North Carolina’s food makers will always be welcomed (and maybe even allow you to contribute to the evening’s dessert options) while a nice beverage is a great way to say thank-you to your host.

BEVERAGES

Alley Twenty Six

Gourmet craft cocktail syrups, tonics, shrubs alleytwentysix.com

Carolina Co ee Company

Gourmet co ee, co ee accessories carolinaco eecompany.com

Fair Game Beverage Company

Ciders and spirits fairgamebeverage.com

KimBee’s, Inc.

Gourmet teas, co ees, peanut brittle kimbees.com

Panacea Brewing Company, LLC Kombucha panaceabrewingcompany.com

Rock of Ages Winery & Vineyard, Inc.

Dry red, dry white, fruit and sweet wines rockofageswinery.com

Sweet Vine Products

Muscadine juice products - ciders, juice, dressings, salsa, jelly, etc. sweet-vine.com

Wow! What A Drink, LLC

All-natural lemonades and tea cafeatrevolution.com

SWEETS & TREATS

Anna's Gourmet Goodies

Gourmet cookies and brownies annasgourmetgoodies.com

Bear Creek Candy Kitchen, LLC Artisan candies bearcreekcandy.com

Berry Best Jams, LLC

Freezer jams made from fresh ripe fruit (o ered in regular and reduced sugar) berrybestjam.com

Bobbee Bottling, Inc.

Honey cotton candy, honey stix, honey and candy bobbeesbottling.com

Butterfields Candy, LLC

Gourmet hard candies butterfieldscandies.com

Chocolate Smiles

Premium handmade chocolates chocolatesmiles.com

Dew Drop Chocolates

Chocolate nut clusters, chocolate dipped fruit dewdropchocolates.com

Elizabeth's Pecans

Pecan products elizabethspecans.com

Killer To ee

Handcrafted to ee killerto ee.com

KLG Candies, LLC

(DBA Chapel Hill To ee)

Handcrafted to ee klgcandies.com

Made in NC, LLC

Irene’s Peanut Brittle irenesbrittle.com

NC Fudge, LLC

Homemade fudge ncfudge.com

Opal's Candies, LLC

Peanut brittle, candy-coated nuts opalscandies.com

Sweater Box Confections

Cookies and sweet treats sweaterboxconfections.com

The Durham To ee Company

To ee, brittled nut clusters, to ee snack mix durhamto ee.com

The Macalat Company

Organic sugarless dark chocolate (dairy free, Stevia free, soy free, bitter free) macalat.com

Corporate Gifts

When selecting gifts for clients, customers, employees and co-workers, there's almost nothing better than the gift of local food. Explore the small and independent North Carolina artists who are making cheeses, meats and baking products that bring a smile to everyone’s face—and nd the best way to show your gratitude for these valuable relationships.

BAKING & PASTRY

Big Boss Baking

All-natural granola bigbossbaking.com

Boozie Bakes

Cakes, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, pies booziebakes.online

G&G Gourmet, Inc.

Brazilian cheese bread rolls cheenies.com

Harvest Time Foods

Gluten-free products, frozen dumplings, meat and vegetable bases, sauces annesdumplings.com

JP’s Pastry

Gluten-free breads, cakes and pastries jpspastry.com

Kalo Foods, LLC

Gluten-free bakery products and mixes kalofoods.com

Mimi’s Mountain Mixes Baking mixes mimismountainmixes.com Unbelievabread, LLC

Gourmet high-protein, low-carb burger buns unbelievabuns.com

CHEESES, DIPS & DESSERTS

Boxcarr Handmade Cheese

Hand-crafted, artisan, European-style cow and goat milk cheese Boxcarrhandmadecheese.com

Cafe Frutta Fresca Gelato LLC Gelato, sorbet cafefruttafresca.com

Darë Vegan Cheese

Dairy-free cheese darevegancheese.com

Fading D Farm

Authentic Italian Style Water Bu alo milk products, Water Bu alo meat fadingdfarm.com

Nana’s Porch Pimento Cheese Pimento cheese nanasporch.com

OM Goodness Pimento Cheese, LLC Pimento cheese

Omgoodnesspc.com

Red Clay Gourmet Pimento cheese redclaygourmet.com

Relish Craft Kitchen & Bourbon Bar

Pimento cheese, new “Southern” style restaurant relishraleigh.com

Robert Carey Food Group LLC

Cheese dip, Creole cheese biscuits, lace cookies robertcareyfoods.com

MEAT & SEAFOOD

San Giuseppe Salami Co. Salamis salamisbymail.com

Sunburst Trout Farms

Fresh and smoked filets, jerky, dip, pimento goat cheese, tomato jam Sunbursttrout.com

Decadent Brunching

RECIPES AND STYLING BY TERRI TERRELL AND MICHELE GENTILLE | PHOTOS BY ERIN ADAMS

Since founding our brunch pop-up, “Ladies Who Brunch,” along with baker and pastry chef Beth Kellerhalls, we have spent a lot of time re ning our brunch o erings … and a lot of time testing other people’s—all in the name of research and development, of course. For us, brunch o ers the mother lode of options, as savory and sweet get seated at the same table with impunity. So here are three dishes to share with you for this holiday season—all decadent, beautiful and celebratory.

Olio-Inspired Egg Salad with an Appalachian Twist

On a recent trip to St. Louis, we had an amazing lunch at an Israeli restaurant called Olio. One of their standout dishes was called simply Famous Egg Salad. This egg salad was not on the table at the Sunday church social when we were growing up; it’s a more luxurious version, and this has everything to do with technique and the addition of a surprising amount of slow-cooked mild onion.

Serves 4–8 or more if you serve as canapes

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

1½ pounds white onions, peeled and sliced (approximately 3 medium onions)

7 large eggs (at least a week old)

2 tablespoons Duke’s mayonnaise

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

Kosher salt to taste

Fresh ground white pepper to taste

Fresh-baked rye bread (we like SISU rye bread)

2-ounce jar trout roe, original or smoked

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon

Zest of 1 lemon

Place oil in a heavy-bottomed pan set over low heat. Heat oil until it is warm and shimmery. Add onions and cook slowly for approximately 40 minutes, until soft and translucent (we are not looking to caramelize). Remove from heat and set aside until cooled. Refrigerate the onions until they become firm.

Place eggs in a large pot and cover with cold salted water and lid. Bring water to a rapid boil. Turn o heat. Wait 10 minutes, then drain. Run cold water over the eggs for 30 seconds. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then peel the eggs.

Cover and chill completely.

Weigh out equal amounts of egg and onion.

There might be a little onion left over. Put eggs and onions into a food processor fitted with the blade. Pulse the eggs and onions three times. Remove the lid and scrape down the sides. Replace lid and pulse three more times. Empty egg mixture into a bowl.

Stir in the Duke’s mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. Season with kosher salt and fresh ground white pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning. Chill salad until ready to serve.

To serve, scoop the egg salad onto lightly toasted rye bread, top with smoked trout roe and garnish with chopped tarragon and lemon zest.

Persimmon Walnut Crumble Dutch Baby with Whipped Sorghum Butter

The Dutch Baby is a kind of large popover and something you have to make at the last minute but, as it’s baked in the oven and has simple ingredients, it’s very manageable. The toppings can be made ahead, and with flavors of persimmon and walnuts and buttery sorghum on top, the presentation and aromas of this dish are simply grand. Serves 4

3 large eggs, at room temperature

½ cup whole milk, at room temperature

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

⅛ teaspoon Spicewalla five spice

⅛ teaspoon kosher salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Heat oven to 425°F.

Combine eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla extract and five spice in a blender and blend until very smooth. You can also use a food processor or mix it by hand, but the blender works best. Make sure you are using room-temperature eggs and milk; if not, the pancake will not rise.

Place butter in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet and place it in the hot oven. When the butter has melted, remove the skillet and swirl the butter around to coat the surface. Pour in the batter and return to the oven for 19 minutes, until the pancake is pu ed and dark golden. Lower the oven temperature to 300° and bake 4½ minutes longer.

Remove the pancake from the oven and slide onto a round serving platter. Cut into four pieces. Top with warm Persimmon-Walnut Crumble and a dollop of sorghum butter.

Persimmon Walnut Crumble

Softened butter to coat baking dish

1  pound Fuyu persimmons sliced into 1-inch pieces

1  teaspoon lemon juice

2  tablespoons granulated sugar

2  tablespoons light brown sugar

1  teaspoon Spicewalla five spice

1  teaspoon cornstarch

¼  teaspoon salt

For the topping:

1

½

¼  cup light brown sugar

¾

½  cup melted unsalted butter

½ cup chopped walnuts

¼  teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 10- by 7-inch baking dish.

Toss the persimmon slices with the lemon juice. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients together and add the persimmons, evenly coating them with the mixture. Add to the buttered baking dish.

In a separate bowl, combine all the ingredients for the crumble. Mix until it comes together. Spoon the crumble on top of the persimmon filling.

Bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes, or until the crumble is golden brown.

This can be made ahead of time and reheated.

Whipped Sorghum Butter

1 stick unsalted room-temperature butter

½ tablespoon sea salt

⅛ cup sorghum syrup

Place butter in a bowl. Whip butter with a hand mixer until flu y. Fold in salt and sorghum.

Can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to use. Serve at room temperature.

Trout Gravlax on Greens with Fresh Fennel, Preserved Lemon and Pomegranate

Local Sunburst trout makes wonderful gravlax, the simple cured fish delicacy that can easily become addictive. We like to present it on a single large platter of fresh greens with thinly sliced fennel for crispness, pickled lemon for zest and pomegranate seeds for color and sweet crunch. The dressing, a combination of walnut oil and good sherry vinegar, completes this indulgent dish in the best possible way.

Serves 4–8

For the trout gravlax:

2 trout, approximately 1 pound each, fileted and boned with skins on 1 tablespoon whole white peppercorns

1 cup rock salt

1 cup organic white sugar

2 tablespoons botanical gin

1 big bunch dill, roughly chopped

Note: This is a two-day project, but not a hard one! You should have two trout for a total of four fillets with skins on one side. Rinse quickly in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Put aside.

Crush the peppercorns in a zip-top bag with a rolling pin, or use a mortar and pestle. Combine them in a bowl with the salt and sugar.

Place two sheets of plastic wrap 6 inches longer than the fish on your work surface so they overlap lengthwise. Spread 1/5 of the salt mixture (you can approximate it) in the shape of your fish and place one fillet skin down. Sprinkle flesh side with another 1/5 of the salt mixture, half the dill, 1 tablespoon gin. Place the second fillet down, flesh side to flesh side, so you are reassembling the fish. Now add a third 1/5 salt mixture to the skin side of that fillet, top with the skin side down of the second fillet. Repeat by adding a fourth 1/5 salt mixture to the second fish flesh side, plus the rest of the dill and gin. Place the last fillet down, flesh side to flesh side, so you again reassemble your second fish. Now add the rest of the salt mixture to the top skin side of the pile.

It’s easier than it sounds! You have basically made a salty dill sandwich of two fishes that are on top of each other. Now wrap the pile tightly with cling wrap. Wrap a second time. Place in a deep dish that it can lie flat in and place a small cutting board on top. It’s going to release liquid into the dish, so make sure your dish is deep enough to contain it. Put it in the fridge and place something heavy on top, like three large tomato cans or even a brick or two.

Refrigerate about 12 hours, then turn the fish over to the other side and replace weights. Refrigerate another 12 hours. Repeat so you have a total of about 36 hours curing in the fridge.

Unwrap the fish, scrape o the salt, then rinse. Pat dry. Return to the fridge uncovered for 3 hours or more, so it dries out some. To serve, cut as thinly as possible on an angle against the grain. Discard the skins.

For the salad:

4–8 handfuls fresh leafy salad greens

2 bulbs fennel, cut as thinly as possible ¼ cup walnut oil

2 tablespoons good sherry vinegar Freshly ground salt and pepper to taste Sliced trout gravlax from recipe above 1 preserved lemon cut in half lengthwise, then sliced paper-thin with sharp knife

Seeds of 1 pomegranate

2 tablespoons fresh chopped dill

Assemble the greens on a large serving dish or individual plates as you prefer. Toss the fennel in a separate bowl with a teaspoon of salt and allow to sit while you finish preparing the lemon and seed the pomegranate. The pomegranate will give up its seeds more easily if you tap it all over with the back of a spoon before breaking it open.

Distribute the fennel equally over the greens and drizzle it all with the walnut oil and sherry vinegar, then add salt and pepper.

Arrange the trout on the salad, then the preserved lemon slices, the pomegranate seeds and the fresh dill.

Common Ground

As WNC farmland disappears, growers and communities seek strategies to preserve land

and access

WRITTEN BY BY GINA SMITH

It’s a bright September afternoon, and Suzanne Nolter’s flower farm in rural northwest Buncombe County is radiant with color. Against the backdrop of green mountains and blue sky, rows of pink dahlias, sun-colored marigolds and tangles of jewel-like celosia paint a dreamlike scene.

Early fall is the season for weddings and events in Western North Carolina, and for Nolter’s farm business, Blazing Star Flowers, this means nonstop action. “You’re surrounded by owers, but the work itself is still farm work,” she says.

But on top of the endless tasks of operating a farm and oral design business on her own, Nolter is engaged in another challenging undertaking: She’s looking for land.

“Unfortunately, the topography that makes this area gorgeous is also what makes it di cult to nd a couple of growing acres,” Nolter says.

To be sure, as increasing development devours WNC’s precious farmland, the region’s young and beginning farmers are nding it

tougher than ever to access the land they need to start or expand their businesses.

e good news is that several nonpro t groups and government agencies are acknowledging the struggle and taking steps to preserve the local farmland and make it easier to access. For their part, the growers themselves are leveraging their creativity and connections to nd innovative solutions.

Growing a Farm

Nolter is a rst-generation farmer with about 15 years of experience growing organic vegetables in New England. She moved to the Asheville area about four years ago and now farms a 1⁄2-acre plot, and runs it as Blazing Star Flowers, through participation in Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy’s Farm Incubator Program. e goal of the Farm Incubator Program is to provide growers with a ordable land, infrastructure and other resources for up to ve years to help them establish their business while they seek a more

The second installment in a two-part series examining the loss of farmland in Western North Carolina

Photo by Nate Burrows

permanent situation.

“We hope that farmers who graduate out of the program will be able to secure their own land or long-term leases and transition to successful continued production,” says SAHC Community Farm Manager Chris Link.

Along with farmland, the growers in the incubator program have access to much of the equipment they need to get on their feet: four greenhouses, multiple water wells, eld irrigation, fencing, watering tanks, tractors, hand tools, a walk-in cooler, a value-added commercial kitchen, technical assistance and help with land and farm management. Plus, SAHC’s Farm Incubator is part of Farm Pathways, a partnership with Organic Growers School and the N.C. Cooperative Extension’s NC FarmLink that supports aspiring farmers with training, mentorship and land-access resources.

For Nolter, the SAHC Farm Incubator Program o ers a stable starting point for her farm business. She even used the property’s commercial kitchen to develop an o -season business crafting handmade chocolate bars using her sustainably grown herbs and edible owers.

But while the SAHC Farm Incubator provides a solid launchpoint for a handful of edgling WNC farms, such programs are rare. Link is aware of only four in all of North Carolina, outside of less-structured lease arrangements o ered by independent landowners. And even the programs that do exist are limited. e SAHC program typically receives up to 30 inquiries per year, but is able to welcome only about one new grower per year.

For Nolter, she has just two years left in the program, and she’s starting to prioritize the hunt for land. Aware of her business’s need for expensive infrastructure like hoop houses and walk-in coolers, and hoping to plant elds of perennial herbs and owers that take years to establish, Nolter is reluctant to consider a lease situation that could potentially hold an element of uncertainty.

Ideally, Nolter would like to buy a 5-acre lot with about 2 acres of farmable land within easy driving distance of Asheville. And while constantly rising land prices are also daunting, she’s hopeful that within the next two years the market could shift in her favor. “I don’t go into it naively but I’m hopeful that, given some time, I might nd something that could work.”

PROTECTING WITH POLICY

As development spreads across the state and pushes up land prices, North Carolina is now ranked second in the U.S. for projected agricultural land loss by 2040, according to the American Farmland Trust. And yet a 2022 survey by the Asheville-based Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project shows that nearly 60% of its member farmers either want or might want to buy or lease land for growing. In other words, the region’s farmers are increasingly seeking a dwindling asset: access to land.

In a study by the National Young Farmers Coalition, about 60% of farmers aged 40 and younger described finding affordable land as very or extremely challenging. Among farmers of color, the rate is nearly 70%.

With the average age of U.S.

farmers steadily climbing—now at 57.5 years—it has become increasingly important to pave the way for young farmers to thrive. Which is part of the reason why state and local governments are now focusing their e orts to conserve agricultural land.

One key tool for government agencies is the use of Farmland Protection Plans. ese plans can help put land in conservation easements, which protect it from development and can encourage conservation and agricultural uses. Between 2010 and 2022, the number of counties in North Carolina that had created Farmland Protection Plans jumped from 11 to 64, with nine of those counties being in Western North Carolina, according to the state’s agriculture department.

Interestingly, Buncombe County was the rst county in North Carolina to create a Farmland Protection Plan, laying out its set of initiatives in 2007. Drawing on feedback from local farmers, it put forth a set of new policies, including one initiative that allows agricultural or forested land to be taxed at a lower value. Another part of the plan provided bene ts to landowners who agree not to develop or use their property for nonfarm activities for 10 years.

A 2020 revamp of Buncombe County’s plan recommends ongoing support for those existing policies, as well as increasing county funding to stimulate new farm enterprises and promote agricultural economic development.

Another part of Buncombe County’s plan involves an e ort to help older farmers navigate succession planning. “A lot of times, that next generation isn’t tied to the land as closely, and sometimes they’re the ones selling it to a developer for the highest price,” says Ariel Zijp, farmland preservation manager for Buncombe County Soil & Water Conservation District.

Zijp, who is one of three trained farmland succession coordinators in Buncombe County among a handful in WNC, says the process involves working one on one with landowners and local land trusts, including SAHC, to establish conservation easements. Over the past couple of years, Buncombe County has signi cantly increased its budget for all types of conservation easements. And in 2022, county residents voted overwhelmingly to pass the $30 million Open Space Bond, which provides funding for, among other things, farmland conservation.

Left: Suzanne Nolter working in her flower farm, Blazing Star Flowers. Top Right: Crow Fly Farms operates on land in McDowell County that is both leased and owned by farmer Jake Puckett.

Photo courtesy of Crow Fly Farms.

“With Buncombe County being a leader in the western part of the state, other counties can start replicating some of our e orts and maybe that’ll keep moving the message,” Zijp says.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

Feeling locked out of opportunities to purchase their own land, many young farmers look to lease land from existing landowners, often crossing their ngers they can nd a suitable, long-term arrangement.

NC FarmLink, a program of the N.C. Cooperative Extension, is a statewide database that connects these landless farmers with regional landowners who are either looking to lease their land or searching for workers to help with ongoing operations. Sometimes, the database can also connect buyers and sellers, and facilitate the transfer of farmland ownership.

NC FarmLink is like a “dating website for farm owners and land seekers,” says Zijp, who notes the usefulness of the database as a succession planning resource.

But, like dating in general, sometimes it’s not a good match. Stephen Bishop, who covers 45 counties as NC FarmLink’s western region director, says cultural and generational gaps can be a tricky challenge when connecting new farmers with landowners who are older.

“If you’re in a rural area and you’ve lived there your whole life, maybe you’ve never heard of organic or regenerative farming,” he says. “But the truth is, a lot of what these young farmers are trying to do, like small market gardens where they sell at the farmers market, there’s nothing new about that. ey were doing that 50–60 years ago, and it was called truck farming. It’s just a di erent vocabulary.”

Bishop also notes that skill and experience levels vary with beginning farmers, making careful matchmaking crucial. “Somebody who’s just decided to farm and hasn’t worked a summer in 95° heat yet, they’re

About 18% of Buncombe County’s 420,000 acres of land are currently protected. This includes privately owned land that is protected through conservation easements, as well as land held by the federal, state, and county government.

Source: Buncombe County

probably not going to be a good t for a larger farm that needs someone with a lot of experience and quali cations to work it,” he says.

Aaron Bradley, a fth-generation farmer who recently purchased the 74-acre regenerative beef, pork and poultry operation Colfax Creek Farm in Rutherford County, agrees that intentional relationship-building and open communication between older and aspiring growers are key to ensuring that tools like succession planning and conservation easements succeed. A mentor over the past few years for many aspiring farmers, Bradley says that leading up to the purchase of his farm in 2018, he and his wife, Nicole, spent a lot of time “tracking down landowners, talking with people, getting insight from longtime farmers.”

Bradley also volunteered on various farms over several years while working full time as a re lieutenant. “Young people need to nd a farm, even if it’s not the type of farm they want to work on now, and just prove themselves, develop a reputation, learn and put themselves in a position that they can be thought of [by older farmers doing succession planning] when the time comes,” he says.

Getting Creative

Even with the introduction of state and local programs to preserve farmland and make it easier to access, young growers have to get creative. In addition to considering land leases, they also develop collaborative arrangements with other young farmers and work with existing landowners to swap their services for use of the land. en, when they’re in a position to purchase property, they’re putting together a patchwork of federal loans and grants to help nance the buy.

First-generation farmer Jake Puckett, for example, owner and operator of Crow Fly Farms, both owns and leases land in McDowell County, and has found ways to both save money and secure diverse funding sources for his operation.

With a small nest egg from the sale of a home in Colorado, he and his partner, Luna Mikos, found themselves completely priced out of property sales in Buncombe and Haywood counties when they began searching for farm land about four years ago. Eventually, Puckett and his partner bought 80 acres near Marion— an area that was, at the time, slightly more af fordable—for their regenerative cattle, hog and sheep operation. He accessed loans through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a Virginia-based nonpro t named FoodShed Capital, as well as grants through the National Resources Conservation Services program.

But with only about 20 of those acres currently suitable for grazing, he has also leased additional parcels of land to expand his business. Rather than exchange money with the landowners, Puckett, who is accredited in holistic land management through the Savory Institute, is providing free services to improve the property’s environmental health with regenerative agriculture techniques.

“Because we’re using really good land-management practices, we’ve been able to secure our leases at no charge,” he says. “We’re basically maintaining the land for the landowners, and we’re improving it through our management.”

Puckett also had a successful run farming collaboratively for a time, leasing some of his land and infrastructure at an a ordable rate to rst-generation farmers Dana and Jordan Choquette (see “Losing Ground,” Fall 2023 issue, Edible Asheville) while they searched for a permanent home for their regenerative beef, pork and poultry farm, Old North Acres. Puckett found this arrangement to be mutually bene cial to both parties, bringing in some income for him and providing land and resources to new farmers.

With many up-and-coming growers interested in nding new ways to collaborate and share resources and knowledge, he envisions some kind of support group for young farmers as one possible solution. “I don’t really know what the answer is,” he says. “Finding a way to get usable farmland into the hands of these people who want to farm is critical, or it’s just going to continue to disappear and we’ll have nothing but little mansions speckled across North Carolina.”

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Dine by Design

Tasting menus leave the choosing to the chef and the enjoyment to you

WRITTEN BY KAY WEST

Intrinsically, dining out is a treat. Casual pizzeria, boisterous burger joint or full-service table linens and Riedel stemware, the very fact that someone else is planning, preparing and presenting your meal—not to mention cleaning up after—is a gift.

Several Asheville restaurants take that dining experience and give it extra nesse with chef-curated menus, multiple courses, paired beverages and private rooms. Amid the pressure of holiday shopping, decorating and entertaining, what could be more of an indulgence than a leisurely meal of dreamy dishes and personally attuned service?

Whether gathering with friends, hosting family, gifting that person who has everything or simply treating yourself, these three local tasting-menu experiences are a perfect t.

FIRED UP

e Art Deco décor re ective of its address in the historic Grove Arcade—marble oors, plush seating, warm lighting and ames leaping from a custom-made live- re grill—signal a luxe experience to diners when they arrive at Asheville Proper. e name announces chef-owner Owen McGlynn’s intention to create a timeless, classic, sophisticated restaurant, properly done.

Nearly every item on the menu has an element of re, ember or smoke, and the steak lineup is rst-class. Narrowing it down to a starter, steak and side is a challenge.

Asheville Proper Executive Chef Jason Sweeney creates the Chef’s Tasting Menu Sunday through Thursday nights. Photo by Carrie Turner.

Let go and let Jason do it.

Sunday through ursday nights, Executive Chef Jason Sweeny creates the Chef’s Tasting Menu: an amuse-bouche, bread starter and ve plated courses with an intermezzo between three and four. e format is exactly how Sweeny prefers to dine.

“When I go to a restaurant for the rst time, if they o er a tasting menu, that is absolutely what I order,” he says. “It gives you a good overview of the restaurant and is fun because you get to try lots of things.”

Sweeny came on board as chef de cuisine at Asheville Proper just as it was opening in 2020, plunged into the Covid headwinds. He recalls the rst year as just trying to stay on their feet and establish themselves. He found inspiration on a trip to Austin, where he ordered the restaurant’s tasting menu and was reminded of what a great experience it can o er. “I felt like we had the product and the talent in-house to do something really special, so I put together a menu, priced it and presented it

to Owen and Mindy [McGlynn, co-owner with her husband]. Chef said he had been thinking about adding one and gave the go-ahead.”

Since introducing the Chef’s Tasting Menu in early 2022, Sweeny says they have ne-tuned the logistics but also rely on spontaneity according to what’s available. He also encourages his sta to o er contributions. One thing that is consistent is nothing is taken directly from the Proper menu. “ ere will be items, of course, but we present them in di erent ways every week,” he says.

Similar to a wine tasting, the dinner begins with the lightest thing: a single bite. Amuse-bouche may be emu tartar on a house-made sourdough cracker. e bread of the day is always served with the restaurant’s house-made tallow candle, which is lit and melts on the plate for dipping. e meal progresses through small plates, always with a sh of some type, usually followed by duck, and builds to the steak fourth course—recently it was grilled Wagyu Zabuton steak with sweet potato dauphinoise potatoes and grilled local squashes. e meal ends with dessert, and all courses can be paired with wine, served in half-pours.

“Tasting menus make the meal an occasion,” Sweeny says. “ e less time you spend making decisions, the more time you have to enjoy each other’s company.”

Right: Cúrate co-owner Felix Meana in the restaurant’s wine room. (Photo courtesy of Cúrate). Bottom Right: Chef Eric Morris of Cultura. (Photo courtesy of Cultura).

CULTURE CLUB

Wicked Weed Brewing rst opened Cultura restaurant in the South Slope in 2019, making a splash with a trio of unique culinary experiences dubbed Bacchanal, Grand Bacchanal and Dine Like a Chef. The first two were family-style feasts; the third, a multi-course tasting menu. In March 2020, Covid shut down indoor dining in Asheville, which gave Executive Chef Eric Morris and general manager Candice Dvoran time to ne-tune the concept. When Cultura reopened in September 2022 with a freshly painted tropical exterior mural and gorgeously reimagined dining room, they debuted the Tasting Menu, a seven-course dive into Morris’s commitment to local farmers, foragers and fermentation.

“For us, the idea was re nement, to create a space in Asheville that can be both casual and elevated, and create a magical experience for our guests,” says Dvoran. “It gives our chefs the opportunity to put their artistry into individual plates.”

“ e idea is to give people the option to have lots of di erent textures, avors and experiences in one meal,” adds Morris. “I come from a small-plates restaurant in New York, and this is an expression of that dining culture. Here, our goal is to o er that in a way that allows us to be exible with seasonality.”

If the rst and second courses—Eric’s larder + fermentation chamber and bread service—announce the theme (in September it was Spain), the third, fourth and fth courses celebrate the seasons.

e larder course is three small bites—typically one is fermented and one preserved— followed by a regional bread by Sous Chef Daniel Rider. In the Spanish theme, the bread was toasted squares of pan de cristal rubbed with fresh garlic, grated heirloom tomatoes and Manchego cheese.

While the entire table is required to commit to the tasting menu, within the third, fourth and fth courses guests select one of four options. For instance, within the fthcourse offerings were a porcini mushroom tart, dry-aged NY strip, smoked lamb shank or skate; portion-wise, that course is not an entire steak or lamb shank but smaller cuts plated with locally sourced items like cipollini

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mushrooms and house-made Oaxacan corn tostadas. “With the four options in those courses, we can replace one or two things at a time as things become available and give a true re ection of seasonality,” Morris explains. “ e format of the menu allows us to be adaptable and move things in and out. Plus, it gives our team the opportunity to contribute. Brooke Adams, one of my sous chefs, has two dishes on the menu now that are fully hers.”

e sixth course is always a one-bite cleanser made by local artisan bakery Beeswax & Butter, known for their whimsical macarons. For Cultura, they made rye alfajores—a Spanish confection—with goat milk caramel. e grand nale is a dessert created by Morris, Rider or Adams.

With level one and level two sommeliers on sta , wine pairings are expertly chosen as requested; often a Wicked Weed beer is suggested with the larder and bread courses.

e full tasting menus are presented Friday and Saturday nights and diners can linger as long as they like.

Dvoran says from her point of view at the front of the house, she loves watching guests sit back and relax into the full tasting menu experience, which she compares to a performance. She encourages Morris to come out of the kitchen, visit the tables and take a bow. “ e guests really love that interaction and meeting the chef,” she says. “ ey get that heart eye emoji when he comes to the table to say hello.”

ROOM SERVICE

It’s hard to believe, but even as accomplished a chef as James Beard Award winner Katie Button gets anxious entertaining at home. “When you’re hosting people in your home, there’s a level of comfort and privacy and familiarity, but you can’t fully enjoy yourself because you’re running around taking care of all the things running around in your own head,” she says. “Who needs what? Who needs another glass of wine? Is the main course ready? It’s hard to relax into the experience.”

Curate, the Spanish tapas restaurant Button chefs and owns with her husband, Felix Meana, offers relief for the harried host in a cozy, sumptuously furnished, subterranean room accessed

through their wine cellar. “You’re in your own private room totally separate from the restaurant where you can laugh and have fun and not worry about disturbing the table beside you. And you’re not responsible for making sure everyone’s wine is re lled and food is on the table.”

Curate’s private dining experience includes one fully dedicated server per every 12 people, the opportunity to provide your own music and seasonal set menus of three courses each. Every course has three different dishes, for a total of nine, plus dessert. As Button points out, no matter how ambitious or skilled, most home hosts would not cook 10 di erent dishes.

“The dining experience begins the minute you arrive, because everything has already been decided,” Button explains. “You can start with your sangria or wine and once you’re seated, the best thing about the tapas experience is there is always food dropping on the table. Everyone can self-select what and how much they want.”

Whatever the season, two of Curate’s most popular items are always in the rst course—pan de cristal con tomato (toasted bread with tomato) and paleta cinco jotas (cured shoulder-cut Iberian ham). “People would get very upset if those two things weren’t on the table,” she says with a laugh. “ e second course will almost always have the pulpo unless people tell us they really won’t eat octopus. But it’s so delicious we hate to switch it out!”

e second course will also have Curate’s signature piquillo peppers stu ed with Spanish goat cheese; the third course features a rotating cut of beef from local Apple Brandy Farm. Each course is rounded out with seasonal vegetables and salads. e dessert will be chocolate because, well, nobody says no to chocolate.

“It's just the perfect way to gather with family and friends. You’re tasting and talking, relaxed and enjoying food and wine and each other.”

Left: Cúrate o ers a private dining experience in a subterranean room accessed through its wine celler. Below: Cúrate co-owner Katie Button. (Photos courtesy of Cúrate).

The Gemelli Pasta Dish at Gemelli

The best pasta dishes are often hearty, simple and made with premium ingredients that allow authentic flavors to shine. So it is with the signature “Gemelli” dish at Gemelli restaurant in Asheville, where both the dish and the restaurant—whose names mean “twins” in Italian—are fitting tributes to the twin daughters of chef and owner Anthony Cerrato, who also owns the popular downtown eatery Strada Italiano.

e foundation of the Gemelli dish is the pasta—a shape also called gemelli, with each piece made from a double strand twisted together. Here it’s made in-house and infused with paprika. But many of the avor proles, reminiscent of Southern Italian cuisines, come from the beautifully aromatic sauce and a housemade lamb sausage, which is mixed with tender orets of broccolini to create a nice texture.

As one of the more substantial pastas, gemelli is often prepared with sausage and can hold its own against bigger bites of avorful meat. In this case, the sausage is made from lamb sourced from a sustainable farm in Pennsylvania and then seasoned and cured for two days for a rich warmth.

The sauce, meanwhile, blends butter and white wine (a private label Gemelli wine from Italy) with the salty and umami heaven of white anchovies from Sicily. e dish is then topped with shavings of a sharp grana padano from the Po River Valley in Italy.

Gemelli, the dish, is served year-round at Gemelli, the restaurant, and has become a fan favorite with what Cerrato calls “fresh and simple, and yet evocative avors.”

“Pasta is always well-loved, but there’s a real di erence when it’s handmade and fresh—and then we get the brightness of the anchovy popping against the hearty warmth of the lamb,” Cerrato says. “It’s really a perfect pasta for any season.”

Photo by Andy Lukacs-Ormond

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