Melissa started selling her Pitchfork Preserves at the
Dorset Farmers’ Market in the winter of 2010. “I love
the relationships I develop through the market, with
customers, farmers, and other vendors.” Her prod-
ucts are also available at select retail locations around
Dorset and Manchester including H.N. Williams
General
Store,
Dorset
Union
Store,
Al
Ducci’s,
Sissy’s
Kitchen
in
Middletown
Springs, Merck Forest Visitors Center, and the
Killington Market. Customers can also purchase
online through Farm Fresh Connect in the Rutland area.
farmf reshconnect.lo calfo o dmarketplace.com
Preserving Vermont’s Bounty
Melissa makes all her products by hand at a
commercial kitchen in the area. She dreams of the day
when she can have her own commercial kitchen at the
farm. “That would definitely make things less hectic,”
she laughs. Produce comes from local farms such as
Little Flower Farm in Middletown Springs, Yoder Farm
in Danby, Mighty Food Farm in Shaftsbury, and several
excellent You-Pick berry farms in Castleton and Danby.
“Farmers let me know how much produce they
have so I can plan batches accordingly. I aim to
process about a hundred pounds at a time, and I
rent a commercial kitchen when the produce is at
its peak and put in long hours to get everything into
jars. We preserve in the spring, summer, and fall to
capture the freshness of the vegetables and fruit.”
When Melissa refers to pickles, that encompasses
all her pickled veggies, not just cucumbers that she
prepares as sweet bread and butter, garlicky sandwich
dills, or spicy spears. Pickles are either hot-packed
or cold-packed and hot water-processed. When
cold-packing she fills the sterilized glass canning
jars with the prepped raw veggies and spices and
then pours in a just-boiled brine of vinegar, salt, and
sometimes a little sugar. She caps each jar and places
them into a hot water bath to remove any air and to
heat-set the lid’s rubber seal. The acidity preserves the
contents.
These are truly your grandmother’s pickled treasures,
a perfect blend of sweet and zing, with just the right
amount of tenderness and snap. Spicy pickled carrots
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