Honey? Check. Cheese? Check. Salt? You betcha.
Welcome to the world of local food a la Vancouver Island. I don’t know whether it’s because we’re separated from the mainland by a huge swathe of water, or that there’s something about island life that attracts creative food connoisseurs, but here food producers have made it possible to enjoy a 100-mile diet without giving up too many of life’s edible pleasures.
Locally-produced meat (including bison!) and veggies are available almost year round as we have oodles of artisan farms up and down the island (during the spring and summer I highly recommend an Island Farmers Market tour). But what about some of the more esoteric but-can’t-live-without items such as honey, coffee, salt and more importantly cheese, because who, honestly, can live without cheese?
Well, have no fear, all of it can be found here. The hum of thousands of bees is what greets you when you enter Freidrich’s honey farm and it’s a sure sign you’re gettin’ the real local thing. But it isn’t just delicious, produced-on-the-spot honey you can get. Freidrich also sells bee pollen and propolis (said to have enormous health benefits), bee bread (a mixture of honey and pollen and ditto on the health benefits) as well as candles and soap.
When it comes to great coffee we are truly spoiled for choice. Okay, I admit, there coffee beans aren't being harvested on the island. But, there are a number of companies that buy beans and create their own roasts. I’ve already waxed lyrical about Drumroaster but there’s also Red Roaster Coffee roasted on Gabriola, available in various Vancouver Island cafés, Peaks Coffee in the Cowichan Valley, Creekmore Coffee in Coombs and Rhodos Coffee in the Comox Valley to name a few.
And yes it's even possible to get salt, thanks to a young business called, well, Vancouver Island Salt Co. And this isn’t just any ol’ salt. You can try maple-smoked salt and roasted garlic, balsamic, Mustard and Banana Pepper Infused Salt. Of course plain Canadian Sea Salt is also available.
Which brings us to our cheeses. Unfortunately, I Ieft it too late as I could write a whole column on the cheeses created on Vancouver Island. So, I will – soon. In the meantime I’ll tease you with a sampling of my favourites: the award-winning Natural Pastures Comox Brie and the Yoo Boo Blue from Hilary’s Artisan Cheeses.
What’s that? You’d like a little wine to go with that cheese? Well, perhaps my next column on the island’s cheese culture will include a few tidbits on where to get local wine to go with all that delicious cheese.
