Eat First

(Empire) Buffalo: It’s what’s for dinner

They look like beef patties.

And that looks like a regular old burger, stuffed in a roll and topped with melted cheese and caramelized onions.

Surprise: The patties and burgers were made with ground buffalo, also known as bison, from Empire Buffalo, in Madison County.

Empire Buffalo is a buffalo farm, home to a herd of 40 non-domesticated animals, near Chittenango Falls State Park.

Farm owners Aileen Randolph and Joe Lazarsky sell bison products direct from the farm and at area farmers markets, primarily in the Madison County area.

I met Aileen in March at the Circa Winter Farmer’s Market, featuring vendors that supply the local products on Circa's menu and in its market case.  She offered an array of grass-fed bison products for sale: ground bison, bison breakfast sausage, Italian sausage, stew meat, steaks, tenderloin, etc.

Aileen is friendly and  knowledgeable and an excellent saleswoman. I headed home to Syracuse with a pound of ground bison ($8) – something new and different for us.

Buffalo has become an increasingly well-known in food circles in recent years. It’s often marketed as a healthier alternative to beef.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a three-ounce serving of top sirloin buffalo meat contains 5 grams of fat, 73 mg of cholesterol and 145 calories. A three-ounce serving of top sirloin beef, trimmed of fat, contains 9 grams of fat, 76 mg of cholesterol and 186 calories.

Aileen says most folks who’ve never sampled bison start with ground bison and make burgers. She also suggests meatballs, like the Asian-Style Bison Meatballs on the Empire Buffalo website.

We added some salt, pepper and breadcrumbs to the ground bison, formed it into patties and double-wrapped the extras for the freezer. We pan-fried a couple for a Saturday supper, adding cheddar cheese and a top layer of caramelized onions to make a somewhat sloppy burger that took two hands to eat. Bison burgers are no doubt delicious grilled, but it was still too cold, at the time.

You’re probably wondering what ground bison tastes like. It’s a deep, red-brown in color, full-flavored like beef, but slightly softer in texture/consistency. Aileen said bison doesn’t taste gamey, and she’s right. It tastes, well, meaty.

Next time, I’ll be more adventurous – and try bison steak or sausage. We’re also looking forward to taking Aileen up on her invitation to “come out and see the herd!’’

Central New York: Where the buffalo roam!

Empire Buffalo is at 1351 Falls Road,
Fenner. For more information, call
315-655-4429.

Photo courtesy of Empire Buffalo

Aquaponic farmers: A growing community in Central New York

Inside Aqua Vita Farms, Sherrill

It’s that time of year: The farmers who grow our food can’t wait to get outside on a daily basis, feel the warmth of the sun, dig in the nutrient-rich soil and plant their first crops.

And then there are those who can’t wait to get outside because they’ve been inside all winter, where it’s balmy and 70-something degrees, growing Swiss chard, pea shoots, salad greens, herbs and other produce.

 “It’s always spring in here,’’ says Mark Doherty, the founder of Aqua Vita Farms, an aquaponic farm launched in 2011.

AquaWHAT?

For the uninitiated, aquaponics is a sustainable system of food production that combines aquaculture (raising fish in tanks) with hydroponics (growing plants in water) in an interactive indoor environment. The wastewater from the fish tanks is used to fertilize the plants and the plants, in turn, clean the water. The purified water is then circulated back to the fish.

At Aqua Vita, row upon row of grow beds are stacked in tiered systems resembling bunk beds in a 13,000 square foot building that was once part of the Oneida Limited manufacturing facility in Sherrill.

The advantages of aquaponic growing are many, Doherty says: It uses far less energy and far less water than traditional agriculture. The food is fresh, tasty and pesticide free, designed to be used in surrounding communities, so it doesn’t travel far.

Thanks to aquaponic growers, even if it’s snowing outside – and the first of our local tomatoes are still months away – you can enjoy fresh, local greens in your salad bowl.

The greens on plate or on your sandwich at Turning Stone Resort and Casino and restaurants like Circa in Cazenovia this time of year are probably from Aqua Vita Farms. Aqua Vita's tilapia, meanwhile, has been featured on the menu at The Tailor and the Cook, in Utica.

The “clamshell’’ containers of Boston lettuce you’ve seen at stores such as Wegmans, Tops and the Syracuse Real-Food Co-Op? Those are from Ithaca’s Finger Lakes Fresh Food Hub. The supple spring mix and bright butterhead lettuce that may have caught your eye at the Central New York Regional Market this winter is probably from Main Street Farms, Homer, or Refresh Farms, East Syracuse. 

Jamie O’Hern, who owns Refresh Farms and runs the emerging venture with help from family and friends, harvests her lettuce early each Saturday morning and brings it to the market. She usually sells out before noon.

“It doesn’t get any fresher than that,’’ O’Hern says. “The taste is amazing.’’

Six ounces of lettuce packed in an eco-friendly bag with the root ball still attached costs $3. Stored properly, it will last for almost a week. The whole fish on ice at her market stall is equally fresh: That’s the tilapia raised in tanks as part of the aquaponic process. The tilapia sells for $5 a pound.

“Most people have never seen what tilapia really looks like,’’ O’Hern says.

It’s pretty new to O’Hern, too. Tilapia is firm fleshed, mild flavored and versatile – it can be adapted to many styles of cooking. The tilapia raised in aquaponics reach full maturity (one and a half to two pounds) in about a year.

O’Hern got her introduction to aquaponics at Sunset Hydroponics and Home Brewing in Syracuse, where she worked as a manager. She grew tomatoes, basil and lettuce in the basement of her family’s house in Syracuse before moving to a small space in the building occupied by Syracuse Tile and Marble in East Syracuse.

She says with a smile that she learned how to fillet fish by watching a YouTube video. She recommends that customers bake the tilapia whole. Clean and scale the fish, slit it in several spots and marinate it for a short time in a vinaigrette dressing made with oil, vinegar and mustard. Stuff the cavity of the tilapia with herbs and bake it in a sealed foil pouch (or parchment paper) until the fish flakes easily with a fork – about 18 to 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

O’Hern, who also works part-time as a server at Ironwood Pizza in Manlius, has high hopes for the future of aquaponic farming – and for Refresh Farms.

She would like to build a greenhouse aquaponic system to reduce the use of artificial lighting and add solar panels to the building to help reduce electrical expenses. She also would like to add more grow beds in order to supply restaurants with fresh produce. She also would like to help restaurants grow their own food.

“I don’t have it all figured out,’’ she says, “I’m learning a lot as we go, by trial and error.

“I do think this is a lot better way to grow food. We need to rethink how we farm. This is more sustainable.’’

Note: There are several aquaponic farms of varying sizes in Central New York and the Finger Lakes. Most welcome visitors and offer education programs.  Some, like Aqua Vita Farms, offer aquaponics training and consulting. Call or email to inquire about visitor programs and rates.

Do you know of an aquaponic grower not included here? Please leave details in a comment (below) so I can add them. Thank you!

Aqua Vita Farms, Sherrill

Phone: 315-941-3535; email, [email protected]

Products: Lettuce and other salad greens; Swiss chard, sorrel; basil and other herbs; pea shoots; tilapia

Retail: Oneida County Public Market; Westmoreland Summer and Winter Farmers Markets; Arnie’s Produce and Craig’s Kegs, Oneida.

 

Refresh Farms, East Syracuse

Products: Butterhead lettuce, green and red romaine, basil, pac choi; tilapia

Phone: 315-447-4315; email, [email protected]

Retail: Central New York Regional Market (Saturdays)

 

Main Street Farms, Homer

Products: Lettuces, spring mix, Swiss chard, kale, herbs, etc.

Phone: 607-218-2101; email: [email protected]

Retail: Syracuse Real Food Cooperative, Natur-Tyme, Green Planet Grocery, Central New York Regional Market and other locations.

 

Finger Lakes Fresh, Ithaca

Products: Boston lettuce, romaine, arugula, baby pac choi, salad bouquet

Phone: 607-347-6767; email: [email protected]

Retail: Wegmans, Price Chopper, Tops, Syracuse Real Food Cooperative, Green Planet Grocery

Winter salad with Refresh lettuce

Buy local in Oswego

Last year’s apple crop was less than abundant, due to widespread hard freezes early in the growing season. But something told me I would find my favorite, Cortlands, at Ontario Orchards in Oswego.

Ontario Orchards was my first food detour on a trip to Oswego on a wintery day a couple weeks back.  The farm store, on Route 104 in Southwest Oswego, is open seven days a week, year-round. In addition to fresh local produce (and imports like romaine and tomatoes from warmer weather states), the store features pies, cookies and other homemade baked goods, nuts, grains and bulk foods, local cheeses, local rubs, seasonings and marinades, and more.

Second stop was Stone’s Homemade Candy, another must-visit for old-fashioned, local flavor.

Third stop was Garafolo’s Importing, a combination butcher shop, sandwich shop and neighborhood grocery on East Bridge Street. If you’ve ever had Garafolo’s Italian sausage, you go out of your way to get to Oswego, on occasion – cooler in hand to carry home a couple pounds of it. If you haven’t tried it, you should – but be forewarned, the XXX hot is flaming!

Last stop was the Canal Commons in downtown Oswego. Craving a caffeine kick before the drive home, I remembered Taste the World, a coffee roaster-food shop we stumbled upon during last year’s Harborfest.

The shop features a nice array of local foods, like Flour City Pasta and Ramona’s dressings and sauces, as well as a fully stocked case of domestic and imported cheeses. The smell of freshly roasted coffee is intoxicating.

A few doors down in the same building is Andrew’s Wine Cellar. I sipped my coffee and browsed the numerous selections from around the wine world before deciding on a bottle from close to home – Billsboro Winery dry Riesling (Seneca Lake). Finger Lakes Riesling goes well with just about everything.

It was too cold and blustery to even contemplate a trip to Rudy’s, a seasonal stand on the Lake Ontario shoreline, already open for the 2013 season. Next time, perhaps.

We’ll also be back to visit Green Planet Grocery (formerly the Mustard Seed),  Port City Cafe and Bakery, The Red Sun Fire Roasting Company, La Parrilla and Man in the Moon Candies.

As the saying goes: "You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy local!''