We Heart Local…All Year Long

Here at the Co-op we’re all about supporting local farmers and producers. While the variety on offer fluctuates throughout the year, you’d be surprised at how easy it is to incorporate local products into your diet even during the harshest of winter months. That’s why we started our We ♥ Local Recipe Contest, now in its eighth year running!

This year, we’ve chosen butternut squash as our featured ingredient. You can find local butternut squash from a variety of farms in our produce department including Rockville Market Farm, Burnt Rock Farm, Pitchfork Farm and Intervale Community Farm. As part of our efforts to keep Burlington eating local all year long, we’re challenging you to share your tastiest, most creative butternut squash recipes! We will be kicking off the contest in-store on January 26^th (South End) and 27^th (Downtown) with our Butternut Squash Hummus recipe. Be sure to swing by and grab a sample, then enter your own recipe online!

After our team of judges reviews all of the submissions, we will select the top 3 for you, our community members to vote on in both stores and at the Winter Farmers’ Market. The top vote-earner will receive a $100 gift card and a Le Creuset 8 quart Stock Pot and apron from Kiss the Cook.

Not a big butternut squash fan? No problem. There are plenty of other ways to eat local this January. From bulk items like Morningstar Farm’s dried beans and Nitty Gritty Grain Company’s flour and cornmeal to dairy products like Butterworks Farm yogurt and Monument Dairy Co-op Milk, we’ve got you covered. Looking for local meat and eggs? Try some chicken from Maple Wind Farm or bacon from Black River Meats.

For our plant-based friends, don’t fret! Our produce department has more variety of local offerings than you might imagine thanks to season extension technology and hearty veggies like winter squash and root crops. Check out the full list of local produce items as of 1/17/18:

Fruit:

-Apples

-Pears

*Adam’s Berry Farm Frozen Berries available in the freezer section

Vegetables:

-Beets

-Burdock

-Cabbage

-Carrots

-Celeriac

-Garlic

-Herbs

-Kohlrabi

-Lettuce

-Microgreens

-Mushrooms

-Onions

-Parsnip

-Potatoes

-Radishes

-Rutabaga

-Shallots

-Sweet Potatoes

-Tomatoes

-Turnip

-Watercress

-Winter Squash

Pretty impressive for mid-winter, right? We hope this list inspires you to get creative with the seasonal offerings and join in on our We ♥ Local Recipe Contest!