Farm Fresh

DINING Farm Fresh

3 ways to sample Gwinnett’s agricultural bounty

BY TESS MALONE

hether you’re looking to add a new culinary skill W to your repertoire or just fill your tote with fresh produce, there are plenty of ways to get close to the earth in Gwinnett. Here are a few of our favorites.

Toast of Gwinnett

Braselton’s 3,500-acre Château Élan brought wine back to the region for the first time since the Prohibition era. Get an exclusive look at the historic vineyard with its behind-the-scenes Grandeur Tour. Up to a dozen guests receive a 90-minute private tour through the vines and production facility. Finish the afternoon with a semi-private tasting of eight premium vintages paired with cheeses. Tastings start at $75. chateauelan.com

Fromage on the Farm

Husband and wife Juan and Pilar Quintero run Alegre Farm and consider educational workshops on sustainable and healthy living to be as important as the animals they raise organically on their 15 acres in Dacula. Learn the secrets of the softest mozzarella and freshest farmers cheese at their hands-on cheese-making workshop. Pilar teaches the 20-person, 90minute class, in which students see the entire cheese-making process from milk to curd: Warm the milk, add rennet (the enzyme that separates the curds from the whey), and cut curds that create different types of cows’ milk cheeses. Students can take their creations home for a snack. Classes start at $39. alegrefarm.com

Market Days

Taste the flavors of Gwinnett at farmers markets across the county. Kick off the weekend with fresh veggies, breads, and jellies at Lilburn Farmers Market, running after work on Fridays from June to August at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Snellville Farmers Market Church. Make an evening of it at Peachtree Corners’ Night Market, held from 6:30 to 9:30 one Friday a month and featuring live music, artists, and fresh food. Norcross Community Market brings community-supported agriculture and up to 40 farmers to Lillian Webb Park on Saturdays from June to August. Besides produce, the Snellville Farmers Market offers meat, baked goods, and craft vendors on the first Saturday of the month on the Towne Green, June through September. Suwanee Farmers Market runs on Saturday mornings from May to October at Town Center Park, while weekday shoppers can visit the Grayson Farmers Market, which invites local farmers and makers to Grayson Community Park once a week throughout the summer. Due to COVID-19, many summer 2020 markets will be curbside.

CommunitySupported Agriculture

For $100 a month, get a weekly box of the best produce that Loganville’s Wrecking Barn Farm grows. Each box will vary, but customers can expect tomatoes, kale, blueberries, melons, peppers, okra, potatoes, radishes, turnips, chard, salad greens, squash, strawberries, and more. Pick up a share from May to fall at the farm itself or at its sister restaurant, Atlanta’s Wrecking Bar Brewpub.