Berries plentiful for pickers

Crabtree’s, a popular pick-your-own blueberry spot in Sebago, opened to the public a week later than usual this year. But the early picking is good, with ripe fruit practically dripping from the bushes. “It’s almost like you put the bucket under the bush and just will the berries to fill up your bucket,” said Allen […]

Food is fresh and natural, but payment can be plastic

Portland’s farmers markets will begin accepting credit cards, debit cards and food stamp benefit cards on Aug. 3.

The cards can be used at the Monument Square market on Wednesdays, the market in Deering Oaks park on Saturdays and at the winter market at the Maine Irish Heritage Center.

Cookbook Corner: ‘The Maine Summers Cookbook’

The Greenlaw women are at it again. “The Maine Summers Cookbook: Recipes for Delicious, Sun-Filled Days” (Viking Studio, $30) is the latest from swordfish boat captain and author Linda Greenlaw and her mother, Martha. There are some swordfish preparations, of course –Linda’s Blackened Swordfish with Blueberry Chutney sounds amazing – but you’ll also want to […]

Scraps – Stuff we’ve heard about this ‘n’ that, July 20, 2011

• F. Paul Pacult of Spirit Journal has named Maine’s Cold River Vodka one of the “Top Five-Star Spirits in the World” for 2011. The 140 spirits on Pacult’s list, he writes, “capture the magic of distillation like no others in their category at present.” • Miyake moved last week to its new location at […]

Soup to Nuts: Kneading Conferencerolls up its sleeves in Maine

Mary Burr and her husband Bob were so inspired by the first Kneading Conference in Skowhegan that they went home and grew three acres of barley on their sheep farm in Mercer.
They began converting their sheep operation into a vegetable farm, and started thinking about what was next.
“We’re both avid foodies, my husband and I, and we kept rehashing what was good for the (farmers) market, that needed improvement on, what was missing,” Burr said. “And we kept coming back to the theme of fresh pasta.”

Kneading Conference: Highlights of the schedule

KNEADING CONFERENCE

(For the full schedule, go to kneadingconference.com)

Food & Dining Dispatches, July 20, 2011

STATEWIDE Farms welcoming visitors Sunday for displays, demos Milk a cow, take a hayride or go on a barn tour at farms across the state on the 2011 Open Farm Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. Farms will have displays and demonstrations, and some will sell farm products. For a list of participating […]

Portland’s first gluten-free bakery to open in August

The bakery will open in the space formerly occupied by Green Furniture Design on Commercial Street.

Cookbook author to appear on Martha Stewart Radio

Dana Moos will share recipes and tips on entertaining on the “Morning Living” show.

Cookbook Corner: ‘The Wild Blueberry Book’

It’s not quite time for blueberries, but if you just can’t wait for these late-summer treats, you can learn about Maine’s wild blueberry industry and pore over 16 mouth-watering recipes in “The Wild Blueberry Book” by Virginia M. Wright (Down East Books, $14.95). The book includes interviews with a blueberry raker and a blueberry queen, […]