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!''
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