Food Blog Forum Asheville: Day 2

Day two of Food Blog Forum showcased the Asheville food scene from farm to fork. We arrived at Highland Brewing Company to what essentially amounted to a sea of food and beer.

At 11 a.m.

On a Tuesday.

To say I was happy is an understatement.

Creative. Delicious. All-around amazing. I am not sure how to best describe the food at the tasting event, but any of those will do. I hope I have struck the right balance between enjoying it in the moment and sharing it with you here.

Montadito en Escabeche by Cúrate – Toast with mussels, a roasted tomato, garlic vinaigrette, and pickled seaweed.

Appalachian Okra by Green River Pickles – Slightly spiced with cayenne peppers and garlic. Enjoy straight up or stuffed with pimento cheese.

Sunburst Mountain Trout by Red Stag Grill – Trout paired with seasonal vegetables and topped with heirloom tomato jam and lemon balm creme fraiche.

Mimosa Fried Chicken Biscuit by Biscuit Head – More than fried chicken on a biscuit, their signature dish includes sriracha slaw, sweet potato chai butter, and cheerwine bacon. A personal favorite.

Citrus Kale Salad by Green Sage Cafe – Kale with beets, carrots, avocado, and raisins.

Duck Liver Pate by King James Public House – Served with pickles on lavash (a crisp flatbread). Quite possibly the prettiest dish of the day.

Foraged Mushroom Gratin by The Market Place – Mushroms, roasted shallots, and a parmesan herb crust served atop crostini. Another personal favorite.

Duck Terrine Biscuit by The Junction – Duck leg and liver terrine on a buttermilk biscuit, peach-pepper jelly, shaved jalapeño. This was a crowd favorite.

Dessert Empanada by The Cantina – Stuffed with strawberry cheesecake and topped with a Nutella molé sauce.

Not pictured but another personal favorite was the sweet corn pudding with spicy peppers from 12 Bones Smokehouse. An Asheville local told me 12 Bones makes the best barbecue in the city.

Want to make some of these dishes at home? Download a sampling of Asheville Recipe Cards. (They may take a while to load, but they will eventually.)

There were other food artisans present as well. Remember French Broad Chocolates from Day 1? They were there with trays of caramels and tiers of Mocha Stout cupcakes made with Highland’s Black Mocha Stout. It got me thinking about my Oktoberfest menu…

One of the more interesting experiences I had was provided courtesy of the Asheville Bee Charmer. They brought their honey tasting bar of local and artisan honey with them, providing me the chance to try honey varieties like nothing I had every tasted. I started with a honey from Idaho that was derived from Fireweed, which is an herb common to the Pacific Northwest. I then tried a honey from Oregon that tasted like vanilla marshmallows.

Tastes do not typically move me to much emotion beyond the spectrum of “that was really good” or “I didn’t much care for that.” This honey, however, moved me. I wanted to try them all but moved along out of fear of a sugar coma.

So that was Highland. A little about the brewery, by the way. Highland was established in 1994 and the first brewery to open in Asheville since prohibition. It is now one of 19 breweries in Asheville. I have only visited five, so I guess you could say I have some work to do.

Our next stop was Hickory Nut Gap Farm. Husband and wife duo Jamie and Amy Ager operate the farm, and Jamie took time out of his day to talk about what goes on there. The farm offers grassfed beef, pork, chicken, and turkey, as well as you-pick berries. In a few weeks, they will have apples, a corn maze, and a pumpkin patch. I got the sense that the Ager’s are passionate about what they do and are committed to their community.

We traipsed through the field to find the cows.

Found ’em!

Looking Glass creamery was our final stop. When I heard the word “creamery,” I immediately thought, “ice cream!” Nope, not this creamery.

Founded in 2009 by Jennifer and Andy Perkins, Looking Glass creamery makes cheeses from both cow and goat milk. The Ellington pictured in the bottom left is an ash-coated goats’ milk cheese. It placed second at the American Cheese Society competition in 2012. Impressive.

I also tried their Chocolate Lab cheese (pictured center) and Ridgeline (pictured right). I was glad I left my wallet on the bus, or else I probably would have bought one of each.

Cheese is not their only forte. Looking Glass also makes small batch caramel sauces, and they graciously provided a jar of Carmelita goats’ milk caramel sauce to Food Blog Forum attendees. I am saving mine for apple dipping. At least that’s the plan for now. I could very well end up eating it straight out of the jar.

They had a lot of hops growing too.

In addition to the cheese, we were treated to sake by Blue Kudzu, trout from Sunburst Trout Farm, and bread from Farm & Sparrow wood-fired bakery.

And that was the day. Festivities continued into the night with a culinary tour of restaurants downtown, but I had to hit the road to get to work the next day. That was my excuse anyway. Missing out really just gives me a reason to go back. Sooner rather than later.