Here in Colorado, most of us are as accustomed to buying local goods as we are to reveling in the inordinate amount of sunshine. So right about now, as snow falls, winter winds blow and daylight hours number fewer than ten, some of us can get pretty darn surly. Inevitably, as I paw through the pitifully meager remains of local vegetables at my favorite grocers, and Colorado peaches become a fond but distant memory, I’m on a mission to find offerings grown and produced within a 200-mile radius of my home.

Lucky for me, lots of Colorado farmers, beekeepers, mushroom growers and more are still putting out their close-to-home wares. Some of my favorites:

Dried fruit and applesauce. In the darkest, coldest depths of winter, visions of summer plums (and apples, and peaches) dance in my head. Last year, none of our trees bore fruit, but we were able to forage plenty of wild plums for daily consumption. Sadly, I wasn’t able to collect enough to make the usual jars of plum butter and bags of dried apples. So I was delighted to find Ela Family Farms dried apples and applesauce. What sets them apart (besides the clear, sweet, flavor): their unsweetened, preservative-free organic applesauce and organic dried apples come from apples grown only on their farms. Other organic applesauce and dried fruit blends come from orchards all over the United States – meaning lots of trucking and distribution. We eat the apples right out of the bag, or cut them up and add them to salads or stuffings.

Sauces, salsas, and preserved vegetables. Though our winter pickings are slim, we’re lucky enough in Colorado to enjoy a beautiful array of tomatoes, beets, cucumbers and other fruits and vegetables in the summer. A hundred years ago, many of our winter meals were composed of finds from the root cellar – fruits and vegetables from the summer and fall that we’d canned, pickled or preserved to last us through the cold winter months.

You’ll find a few companies that still do that; MMLocal has one of the best selections of pickled, canned and preserved Colorado crops. You’ll find preserved pears and pear sauce from Paonia and Hotchkiss pears, pickled beets, dill pickles and jarred heirloom tomatoes and basil – all the best of our delicate summer crops, year-round.

Mushrooms. Years ago, in the spring, we made it a ritual to go mushroom hunting in the Uncompaghre National Forest. We would bring bags of our treasured fungi home, then thinly slice them, cook them in butter and cream, and serve them over angel hair pasta. You’ll find plenty of foraging opportunities in the spring, but be sure to go with someone who knows how to safely identify edible varieties. Otherwise, Hazel Dell Mushrooms in Fort Collins is open year-round, offering a variety of mushrooms, including shiitakes, oyster mushrooms, king oysters, maitakes, lion’s mane, and portobello. You’ll find them in various Colorado natural grocery stores like Alfalfa’s in Boulder.

Grass-fed meat, dairy and eggs. It’s really confusing in the animal protein world, especially with the ever-increasing variety of labels: pastured, organic, grass-fed, naturally raised, free-range, cage-free, and so forth. Many of these are arbitrary labels that may or may not be regulated. So I always go for meat, eggs and dairy that come from animals raised traditionally – that means roaming free or on pastures, eating food they were meant to eat (which for cows, incidentally, is not soy or corn). You’ll find many of these suppliers throughout the state, and some offer their goods in local natural grocery stores. The three I use most often are High Country Highlands in LaSalle, Grant Farms in Wellington and Windsor Dairy in Windsor. And I was lucky enough to recently discover Jacob Springs Farm, a small farm in Boulder; they offer duck eggs and ducks, and they’re taking orders now for lamb shares in the spring.

Honey. Several years ago, I discovered raw, unfiltered honey. Dense and creamy, rich with the hints of flowers, it’s completely unlike the transparent stuff in the plastic honey bear. One of my favorites is Highland honey; it comes from a local family bee business that makes artisanal blended honey only from Boulder County apiaries. In the spring and summer, they move the hives around to expose the bees to a variety of pollen sources, thus creating a honey with the rich, complex flavor of many different kinds of nectar. The honey is never heated above the natural temperature of the hive, so it’s truly raw. The honey is also creamed (a process used extensively in Europe, but not in the United States), which creates a thick, smooth and spreadable texture. Co-owner Tim Brod describes it as a “salubrious elixir.”

On the web
Find out more about these local food purveyors, including location, prices, and availability.

Alfalfas.com
Elafamilyfarms.com
Grantfarms.com
Hazeldellmushrooms.com
Highcountryhighlands.com
Highlandbees.com
Localharvest.org/ jacob-springs-farm-M44528
Mmlocalfoods.com
Windsordairy.com

Recipe

Kale, Roasted Beet and Shiitake Salad with Goat Cheese
Serves 6

6 small beets or 4 medium beets (mix of red and golden, or as available),
1 pound mushrooms, tough stems removed and discarded, caps sliced
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons minced shallot
1 tablespoon raw honey
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup olive oil
1 head kale
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Wrap beets loosely in foil, arrange on a baking sheet, and roast until tender (35 to 45 minutes for small beets, or 45 minutes to 1 hour for medium). Remove from oven and let cool until easy to handle, but still warm. Unwrap foil and rub skins off beets with a paper towel. Slice beets into thin wedges and set aside.

3. About 15 minutes after beets have started cooking, toss shiitake mushrooms with coconut oil and paprika. Spread in a single layer onto a second baking sheet, being careful not to crowd. Bake for 30 minutes until crispy, stirring and turning pan once during cooking.

4. While beets and mushrooms are roasting, whisk together vinegar, shallots, honey and thyme. Add 1/4 cup of the olive oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly, until dressing is thickened. Season with sea salt and pepper.

5. Holding the stem of the kale in one hand, strip the leafy part off of the thick stem with the other hand. Discard the stems. Stack the leaves in a pile, roll into a log and cut crosswise into thin strips. Place the kale into a large bowl and drizzle with just enough dressing to lightly coat leaves. Massage the dressing into the greens with your hands and set aside.

6. To assemble salad, add warm beet wedges to kale and toss to mix. Scatter warm mushrooms and goat cheese over the top and lightly toss to mix. Serve immediately, with additional dressing on the side.

Lisa Turner is a food writer, intuitive eating coach, and cooking and nutrition instructor at Bauman College of Nutrition and Culinary Arts in Boulder. Visit her websites at www.TheHealthyGourmet.net and www.InspiredEating.com.

Check out Lisa's New Inspired Eats iPhone app featuring hundreds of original recipes--from creative appetizers and salads to clean, beautiful desserts--for every dietary choice.