Photo: ampersandyslexia

There’s a wonderful article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal about Clear Creek Distillery in Portland, Oregon. I first discovered Clear Creek, and their fruit brandies, fifiteen years ago when I was the general manager of Marsee Baking, one of the first European-style bakeries in the Pacific Northwest. At the time, our bread baker, Nilos Nevertheless (she legally changed her name), was very much into combining traditional techniques with experimentation. One of those tests yielded a “Clear Creek Pear Struan.” As I recall, the bread was made with wild yeast collected in the Clear Creek fermentation room and some of the fermented eau-de-vie pear mash replacing water in the recipe. I can’t say it was a huge commercial success, in part because it wasn’t sweet as customers expected, but rather slightly sour and with an essence of pear…not unlike the sweetness dilemma described in the above WSJ article.

I’ve been enjoying Clear Creek products ever since and have also been tracking the recent growth of “micro-distilleries” here in the Pacific NW. A few other producers of note include:

• Rogue Spirits
  
• McMenamin’s Edgefield Distillery
• Victoria Gin

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I’ve said it before, salmon runs through our blood here in the Pacific Northwest. If there’s one food that sums up our culture I’m certain it would be salmon. In our home we always have fillets in the freezer, and eat it regularly (who needs Omega 3 supplements?!). Smoked, grilled, poached, burgers, sashimi, sushi, in bouillabaisse. Everything short of salmon sorbet, and I wouldn’t even put that past us.

We went with an Asian flavor in our latest preparation and glazed our fillets with miso. Then, we served it on top of forbidden rice (a tiny grain rice, but more on that later) and garnished it with seaweed salad and tsukemono (Japanese pickles).

For the simple glaze we used equal parts miso to mirin and coated the fillets on all sides. Then we popped it under the broiler for a few minutes on each side.

Delicious and easy!

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Many of you may think I’m talking about the scandalous former mayor of Washington, DC, Marion Barry, but I am not. I’m talking about the succulent Pacific Northwestern fruit, the marionberry.

The marionberry was introduced in 1956 at my alma mater, Oregon State University, and developed in Marion County. While they grow throughout the Pacific Northwest, 90% of the world’s crops are grown around the Marion County area. There are few spots in the world where caneberries (the blackberry family) grow and thrive, and the Willamette Valley in Oregon provides the perfect climate: a moist spring followed by hot summer days and cool nights.

These aren’t just any old ordinary blackberry, their flavor is far superior, even to Boysenberries. The marionberry is a cross between two hybrids – the smaller, tasty Chehalem and the larger high-producing Ollalie – and is big, fat and distinctively sweet.

Marionberries usually reach their peak around mid-July, but since we experienced a much colder spring this year in the Pacific Northwest, all berries are just starting to come out in their full glory. Soon marionberry aficionados like myself will be out picking ’til our lips, tongues and fingers are stained purple. Our pantries will be filled with marionberry jams and syrups, and our tables laid with pies and fresh home-made ice cream.

Oh, summer in the Pacific Northwest is grand!

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Hard cider is a wonderful, bubbly and crisp drink with growing popularity in the United States. Made by

fermenting fruit juice or cider, there is a whole new crop of high quality ciders coming on the market. Not yet what you could call a “craze,” cider is still somehow reminiscent to me of the microbrew boom that took off in the early 1990’s. The Pacific Northwest is once again leading the nation in developing new brands in this emergent beverage category. Also made in small batches, brewers are combining beer experience with one of the worlds largest apple growing industries in Oregon and Washington.

Though unfamiliar to many Americans today, hard cider was one of the most popular alcoholic beverages here until the mid-1800’s. Check out this interesting article on the demise of cider in America. Hard cider is still quite popular in the U.K., available in many pubs, which is where I first had it on tap about 6 years ago. Known as Sidra in Spain, it’s an inexpensive alternative to champagne often drunk at celebrations.

With alcohol content similar to beer, ciders range from sweet to quite dry. While some producers are experimenting with other fruits, including pears, I’m really enjoying the ones made from different heirloom varieties of apple. Similar to a fine sparkling wine, hard cider pairs well with cheese or a roast of pork.

Our newest discovery is from Oregon, with the wonderfully itinerant name “Wandering Aengus Ciderworks.”

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