Hearth
haondme
Pioneer farmers create
a prairie garden cuisine
THE LAND OF MILK AND GRAIN is filled
with lush pasturelands, rolling prairies,
wheat and cattle ranches, craft festivals,
state fairs crammed with award-winning pickles,
preserves and giant pumpkins, and plenty of
hearty eaters.
The region is our country’s main source for
most food crops, producing 75 percent of all
tart red pie cherries, nearly half of all butter and
cheeses, and a majority of beef and wheat. Here,
culinary treasures aren’t as much new or trendy
as they are tried-and-true, reflecting contributions
of pioneers from Sweden, Scotland, Germany,
Ireland, Poland and Switzerland, and also Native
American tribes, all of whom have brought basic
dishes to the cuisine.
Midwesterners proudly claim that their corn
is the tenderest, beef the most flavorful, sausages
the most succulent, honey the sweetest and red
pie cherries sublimely balanced with just the right
amount of tartness and sugar.
Midwest Costco warehouses report that
there’s a great appetite among members for
traditional Chicago deep-dish pizza, quality sausage
and confectionery cuisine. (See www.costco.com’s
Judith Fertig
Author Judith Fertig, a caretaker
of Midwestern recipes, keeps
her larder full of unsalted butter,
garlic, fresh lemons because
lemon juice makes anything taste
better, blue cheese because she
loves it, and always a frozen raw
pie ready to bake, as well as
various kinds of frozen fruit that
can be whipped up into a dessert
at the last minute.
