At Thanksgiving, Load Your Plate With Connecticut-Grown Products

HARTFORD — Plan holiday meals, including appetizers, main courses, and desserts — and even decorate the home for the season — with Connecticut-grown items. Connecticut’s farms are year-round operations, offering a rich variety of homemade products that are grown, produced, or manufactured locally.

For the Thanksgiving table, consider relishes, breads, fruit, veggie spreads or dips, salsas, cheeses, and crisp seasonal vegetables. Purchase fresh Connecticut-grown turkeys, complemented by acorn, butternut, and other kinds of winter squash, sweet corn relishes and all the “fixins,” also grown locally.

Connecticut farms produce homemade apple, peach, pumpkin, cherry, blueberry, and combination pies, fruit crisps, breads, muffins and cookies, ice cream and toppings, such as Connecticut maple syrup. Additionally, enjoy freshly produced candies, dipped apples, popping corn, chocolate treats, and more.

There are local Connecticut wines for every palate — from full-bodied cabernets and merlots to crisp, buttery chardonnay or sweeter dessert varieties. For those who prefer nonalcoholic beverages, there is fresh-pressed cider, and locally produced milk and juices.

Look to Connecticut farms, as well, to decorate the home with seasonal items like corn stalks and wreaths, dried flowers and floral arrangements, as well as candles and hand-crafted gifts.

“There’s nothing better than home-grown fruit, vegetables, and dairy products, especially as we head into the holiday season,” said Kelly Fuerstenberg, chair of the Connecticut Agricultural Business Cluster’s Marketing Committee. “Connecticut’s farm establishments offer an abundance of food and seasonal items for table and home, as well as wonderful, creative gift ideas. Residents and visitors can remain close to home and still connect with the many treasures available at our state’s farms.”

Prepare for the holiday season at the following Connecticut farms, all members of the Connecticut Agriculture Business Cluster, which is committed to Connecticut’s nutritional and economic health: Wettemann Farms, Lamothe’s Sugar House, Rose’s Berry Farm, The Farmer’s Cow, Lyman Orchards, Belltown Hill Orchards, Bishop’s Orchard, Gouveia Vineyards, Stonington Vineyards, Hopkins Vineyard, and Blue Jay Orchards.

Add these Connecticut Farm Thanksgiving recipes to the holiday list of “things to do”:

Wettemann Farm’s          Oyster Stuffing

1 stick of butter melted

1 small onion cubed

2-3 garlic cloves cut up small

Good amount of celery sliced thin (¾ to 1 cup)

Big bunch of fresh parsley chopped

Sauté until clear

Add: 1½ lbs Connecticut oysters, shucked, with the liquid

Leave whole and let cook a bit.

Add kosher salt & fresh black pepper

Fold in

½ loaf of white stuffing bread

½ loaf yellow potato bread

Pull into smallish pieces

Spray or butter a casserole dish and add stuffing

Bake at 350 degrees with cover on for 45 minutes.

Take the cover off to make it crunchy towards the end if you like.

Belltown Orchards’        Pear Cranberry Crisp

½ cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup dried cranberries

¼ cup cranberry juice

½ cup rolled oats

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp cloves

½ cup packed, light brown sugar

2 lbs ripe pears, cored, peeled, chopped (about 4 cups)

½ stick butter, chopped into bits

1 can whipped cream

Grease a 9-inch baking dish, combine flour, sugar, and oats in medium bowl. In a small bowl, toss pears, arrange on the bottom of the dish, pour fruit juice over. Cut the butter into the flour making coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over fruit. Bake at 400 degrees, 35 to 45 minutes until browned. Top with whipped cream.

For apple recipes, visit the Connecticut Department of Agriculture’s website at www.ct.gov.