Highlights of the Illinois Product Expo | Food Features

Highlights of the Illinois Product Expo | Food Features

&#13&#13 &#13 simply click to enlarge&#13 &#13 Highlights of the Illinois Product Expo &#13

&#13 &#13 Image COURTESY 7 FORKS FARM&#13 &#13

&#13 7 Forks Farm is owned and operated by Matt and Vanessa Biven, alongside with their 5 kids. The household has been farming in St. Clair County for 5 generations and began growing popcorn in 2019.&#13

The Illinois Solution Expo was held at the Point out Fairgrounds this previous weekend, March 4-5. Sponsored by the Illinois Section of Agriculture, the celebration has been connecting Illinois producers right with hungry clients for over 20 a long time.

When I arrived at the Orr setting up all-around midday on Saturday the parking large amount was packed and the event room was bustling, with long traces for samples of Zio’s frozen pizza and ice product from Rolling Lawns Farm, created in Clinton and Greenfield, respectively. Lots of of the booths had been staffed by the producers by themselves, and as a lot as I liked the array of tasty samples, the genuine take care of was getting to know the people today and households guiding these small, independent corporations. Below are some of my preferred finds from the event:

Glaciers Stop is an agribusiness found in Williamson County. Owned and operated by Derek and Libby Ervin, they use deliver grown on their farm and from neighboring area farms to create specialty syrups, jams, pickles, hot sauces and shrub ingesting vinegars, a concoction with roots tracing back to the 16th century. Prolonged touted for their overall health added benefits, shrubs have come to be ever more well known on stylish cocktail menus. We took home a bottle of Apple Butter Ginger Shrub, which my husband was energized to check out with bourbon, together with bottles of Phantom Honey Plum Fairy Hot Sauce, elderberry syrup and elderflower syrup. Libby Ervin defined to me that they are ready to get two harvests out of their elderberry crop by amassing the petals from the plants as they drop, leaving the immature berries intact to be harvested later. Much more info can be located at www.glaciersend.com

&#13&#13 &#13 simply click to enlarge&#13 &#13 Highlights of the Illinois Product Expo &#13

&#13 &#13 Picture COURTESY ILLINOIS Products EXPO&#13 &#13

&#13 The Illinois Wine Back garden had a significant collection showcasing an amazing vary of wine types.&#13

If you happen to be a popcorn lover, then you will need to know about Seven Forks Farm. Owned and operated by Matt and Vanessa Biven alongside with their 5 young ones, the farm’s identify honors the loved ones of seven’s time close to the meal table employing seven forks as they split bread collectively. The spouse and children has been farming in St. Clair County for five generations and began rising popcorn in 2019, featuring numerous varieties of popcorn, like purple, purple and tender white. They all pop up snowy white, but each and every wide variety has its personal refined nuance of taste. The purple range is slightly sweet although the red is a lot more nutty. All kinds are non-GMO, and since their merchandise is so clean, it pops up incredibly tender but crunchy with pretty handful of unpopped kernels remaining powering. We brought dwelling a bag of their Fireplace Blend, a combination of red and tender white popcorn, which was speedily declared to be our new relatives favored. Seven Forks Farm Popcorn can be bought on Etsy. Far more data at www.etsy.com/shop/sevenforksfarm

Illinois Wine has come a extended way. When I initial became concerned in the wine industry just about 20 decades in the past, most of the Midwest wines that I tasted were extremely sweet and not terribly very well-built. However, I am pleased to report that the industry has manufactured great strides in the earlier few of many years, and right now there are some exceptionally very good wines staying produced in Illinois and bought at competitive selling prices. The Illinois Wine Yard was a common section of the Solution Expo and experienced a large assortment showcasing an amazing selection of wine types.

The Reserve Vignoles manufactured by the Pour Winery situated in Red Bud is dazzling and crisp with grapefruit and lemon aromas, identical in fashion to a sauvignon blanc. They also make an great dry wine made from norton, a grape native to the American Midwest. Sturdy with earthy cherry aromas and well balanced acidity, the Pour Vineyards Norton created me hungry for a char-grilled burger with roasted mushrooms.

&#13&#13 &#13 simply click to enlarge&#13 &#13 Highlights of the Illinois Product Expo &#13

&#13 &#13 Photograph COURTESY GLACIERS Finish&#13 &#13

&#13 Glaciers Conclusion, an agribusiness found in Williamson County, produces specialty syrups, jams, pickles, very hot sauces and shrub ingesting vinegars.&#13

The Flyway Rosé from Kite Hill Vineyards was a mouth watering stand out. Manufactured from the chambourcin grape, the Flyway Rosé is dry and would make superior use of chambourcin’s by natural means high acidity and juicy strawberry and raspberry aromas. The Aeronaut from Kite Hill, a dry crimson wine manufactured from chambourcin blended with a splash of vidal blanc, was also noteworthy.

West of Wise, found just a brief travel away in Petersburg, had various tasty pours, such as Tina’s Purple Mix, a dry meritage-type wine, and their Bourbon Barrel Aged Norton. Not like most of the bourbon-barrel aged wines I have attempted just before, West of Clever managed to lean into the spicy, dim fruit people of norton, complimenting rather than overpowering the wine with bourbon aromas. Come across additional facts at www.Illinoiswine.com.

I was happy to have purchased a number of luggage of Umland’s Crunchy cheese before I ventured into the wine back garden. Designed in Carlock, Illinois, the savory cheese puffs were being a fantastic portable snack to have with my wine. Created utilizing a proprietary system that gets rid of drinking water from the cheese in advance of it reaches its melting level, these little cheese bites mainly appear like freeze-dried cheese curds. We devoured a bag of the crunchy gouda taste as we perused the Expo, and I am currently munching on the pepperjack taste as I sit here typing. Significant in protein, lower in carbs, they even stayed crunchy in my soup. Come across extra data at www.umlandscrunchycheese.com