The Milk Of Human Fortitude

Photos by Kim Keitner

Jeanita and Rick Rand work hard.

They are the brains and the muscle behind Fox Hill Farm and Cheese House. Their cheese and milk products have been served to the Queen, won awards, and are gobbled up by Nova Scotians on a daily basis. Jeanita found a few moments to sit down and answer a few questions for a Passable Interview.

How did Fox Hill Cheese come about?

Fox Hill Cheese House came about in 2002 when our son decided he wanted to farm. It forced us to look very seriously at our financial picture; our cash flow wasn’t great because of the various infrastructure changes we had made to the farm over the years. My husband is the entrepreneur and always wanted to add value to our milk to make cheese, yogurt and ice cream. Late on a Sunday evening in 2002, an elderly lady knocked on our door and asked if we were the people that wanted to make cheese. She knew of a cheese maker going out of business and connected us. This was the beginning of our journey into cheese making. In 2006 we added natural yogurt to our product base and then in 2007 gelato ice cream. All products are made from Foxhill milk.

The Golden Apple

Every time I show someone a quince, they almost always give me the same look (befuddlement) and ask the same question (“What is it?”). But on rare occasions, someone will know what it is, smile, and tell me how their grandmother would make jellies with this strange, hard fruit.

The quince is an old fruit, and is rumoured to be the mythic golden apple of Greek myths and the Fruit Of Knowledge that is named in the Old Testament. The quince is indeed old and ancient, and its secrets can be unyielding to an impatient and unwilling cook. If you were to bite into a raw quince, it would immediately suck all the saliva out of your mouth, as it is highly astringent, almost tannic in its raw state. It is this lack of preparedness that may have made the quince fall out of favor for home chefs over the last hundred years. It is a fruit made for preserving. Quinces are high in natural pectins, and were often used in making preserves. In fact, the term “marmalade”, originally meant a type of quince jelly or jam. The portugese term for the fruit, marmelo, belies its gastronomic and etymological secret; “melo” meaning honey, as it is indeed a sweet and fragrant fruit that smells of honey.

Indochine Sub Standard is Not Substandard

Big news for Halifax’s Vietnamese sub lovers. Indochine Banh Mi has apparently been hard at work with 24 Carrots Bakery—a partnership in the works long before my review in The Coast which suggested a bakery get on board with the restaurant—and they have a new baguette for their sandwiches. Though it’s not a by-the-books authentic Vietnamese baguette, it’s apparently lighter and crispier, baked in a brick oven that 24 Carrots recently installed.

Another exciting development: they’re adding pho to the menu! Within the week there should be beef and vegetarian variations of the noodle soup on the menu as a standalone item and as a part of what will surely be a pretty darn good soup and sandwich combo.

Now… about that pâté…

Natalie’s Feast

Two years ago, Natalie Smith and her husband Paul bought 50 acres of land on Roberts Island, just outside of Yarmouth. They had lived in Ontario and Michigan, but wanted something different. The former tech geek who had worked for Motorola and AT&T found herself pulling weeds, growing veggies the local population had never seen, and starting the first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in Yarmouth County, along with several other farmers, called The Yarmouth Food Basket Guild. The CSA is now supplying locally produced food baskets for customers in the area, 17 at last count, but for Smith, this is only the beginning.

Photos via Natalie Smith

The whole world in one cup.

Philip Holmans loves tea.

What sounds like a simple statement, is in fact, a vast misunderstanding of what gets this man excited. To you, it may be your morning pick-me-up, but for Holmans, it’s a trip around the world.  Just add water.

Philip’s entry into the world of tea started out as a caffeinated necessity – forced to stop drinking coffee due to medical problems, he soon progressed from grocery store teabags to premium loose leaf teas.  His love of tea grew so large, that he started his own online company, World Tea House , just so that he could get access to those wonderful tea leaves from around the world. His storefront soon went from virtual to reality, with the opening of his store in downtown Halifax. The store boasts over 100 varities of teas, including green, black, white, rooibos, all available in a myriad of flavours. Holmans took some time out to talk to Passable.