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2 days ago

The Heritage Table
Do you love our bread pudding and chicken pot pie & have always wanted to make them at home? The latest fall issue of Edible Dallas Fort Worth features several classic The Heritage Table recipes as well as an article by Jessie 'Kerr' Hagan giving insight to what drives our passion daily for what we do. Pick up a copy when you join us for dinner or read online! ... See MoreSee Less
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2 days ago

Edible Dallas Fort Worth
RECIPE ALERT!! Kvarøy Arctic Salmon #adDive into this flavor-filled Kvarøy Arctic Salmon dish that brings together a delectable trio of tastes...the citrusy-spiced salmon filet “en papillote” is paired with roasted seasonal veggies, on top of a hearty traditional bulgur salad full of locally-grown goodness. Even better, it’s quick to make!We teamed up with Kvarøy Arctic Salmon and Almog Peleg at Collin College Culinary to craft an autumn meal that’s delicious, beautiful and healthy. Kvarøy Arctic is a third generation family salmon farm in the Arctic Circle, where the waters are cool and clear, giving this beautiful fish a pristine, clean flavor. Add to this the wide range of health benefits you get by adding salmon to your weekly diet, and our recipe gives you more than just an elegant, tasty meal. Rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and various vitamins and minerals, this salmon is an excellent addition to any healthy diet and can help improve heart health, brain function, and overall well-being.You can find this yummy recipe (and learn more about where you can purchase Kvarøy Arctic Salmon) on our website: www.edibledfw.com/recipe/entrees/mediterranean-salmon-en-papillote/📸 by Jessie Hagan photography- - - - -#TasteTheArctic #KvaroyArctic #ArcticSalmon #SustainableSeafood #SustainableSalmon #Salmon #Sustainability #SustainableAquaculture #EdibleCommunities #EdibleDFW ... See MoreSee Less
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3 days ago

Edible Dallas Fort Worth
One of the best annual Chef Competitions in the area! Okrapalooza 2023, benefitting Promise of Peace Gardens, held this year at Dallas College Culinary Pastry Hospitality, was again a showcase of local culinary talent and creativity!Hats off to the many volunteers, and to Favorite Brands, Crazy Water, Mijenta Tequila, Remington Vodka, T-Rex Pickles, Dallas College, and everyone who donated to the Silent Auction! Also thanks to Judges who had the hard job of deciding on a winner! #foodfestival #okrapalooza #edibledfw #chefcompetition #supportlocalfood #dfwfoodies ... See MoreSee Less
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3 days ago

Edible Dallas Fort Worth
35+ wineries in the North Texas Wine Country welcome you to each of their unique tasting rooms for a special tasting of award-winning wines during the entire month of October! Wine tastings include a minimum of 3 tastes at each winery. Visit any or all wineries during the month of October and taste up over 100 wines made in the beautiful North Texas Wine Country! Scan your printed or digital QR code at your first winery visit to check-in and redeem your wine tasting passport. TICKETS and more info here: www.eventbrite.com/e/fall-wine-trail-tickets-663811085827Visit northtexaswine.com/wineries for a list of participating wineries, addresses, and hours of operation. ... See MoreSee Less
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The Grape Man of Texas

Editor’s Note: In the late 1800s, T. V. Munson of Denison brought Texas worldwide acclaim when he identified native grape rootstock from chalky central Texas soils for a French delegation, giving the French their first success in the battle against the disastrous vineyard disease Phylloxera.

Thirty years ago, I got a call from a client, originally from Bordeaux, who had a wine bar in Dallas.

“My father is visiting from France and would like to go to Denison, Texas, to see where Mr. Munson lived and worked. Would you take him to visit it?”

My friend’s father was Raymond Chandou, who studied and worked with the father of modern French winemaking, Emile Peynaud, and who ran one of the largest and most successful wine cooperatives in France. His son, Francois Chandou, was then-owner of La Cave wine shop. “I’d be honored,” I said.

People who know about Thomas Volney Munson recognize him as one of the Americans who helped Europe overcome its vineyard-destroying phylloxera crisis in the late 1800s. Years before, as an amateur winemaker, I went to Denison myself to investigate some of the hidden Thomas Munson vineyards scattered over North Texas. One of them, an ancient field of Carman grapes, became my favorite vineyard for making wine, garnering honorable mentions and silver medals in the amateur division at the Texas State Fair two years in a row.

More than a century after some of those vineyards were planted, the work Munson did still influences grape growers and winemakers as far away as France. The reasons for this are recounted in compelling detail in Grape Man of Texas, Thomas Volney Munson and the Origins of American Viticulture, by Sherrie S. McLeRoy and Roy E. Renfro.

Munson’s influence now may be felt most profoundly in the voiceless French vineyards that he helped save, as the many vignerons whose lives he immediately impacted are long gone. But the vineyards live on. Without him, that might never have been the case. Munson’s beginnings, however, weren’t so clearly preordained as it now appears in retrospect. He was searching the American frontier for the perfect place to plant wine grapes. He wandered from Kentucky to Nebraska to Arkansas before settling in North Texas, all along the way looking for his El Dorado. Texas finally provided him with the right environment in which he would set about his life’s work.

Meanwhile, the 1880s saw the peak of the phylloxera, a plague of aphids that burrowed into the roots of European grapevines and destroyed them. The French were frantic, as one solution after another failed. Their winemaking legacy hung in the balance.

Almost by chance Munson met with Pierre Viala, the French government appointee from the viticulture institute in Montpellier. Viala was on a six-month mission to find grape stocks that would grow in “marly and chalky foundations” and save the dying vines. On what seemed a last minute change to his plans, Viala headed to Denison to see Munson. That meeting would change everything.

Americans were already sending rootstock to France, but none were successful. Munson’s genius was in pinpointing several specific rootstocks that could be hybridized successfully in France. Munson told Viala that these rootstocks could be found in the Texas Hill Country. This was the pivotal event that saved the vineyards of France. Munson geared up his lab in Grayson County, where he started preparing thousands of cuttings on American rootstock which were impervious to phylloxera, sending them to France under Viala’s directives which ultimately helped rescue the vineyards of France and greater Europe. That day when Raymond Chandou and I went to the Grayson College experimental viticulture station in Denison, we met with Jack Dempsey, its vineyardist. Jack was a tall Texan with a welcoming smile. As he and Chandou got to talking, we discovered that when Dempsey fought in WWII, his final mission included a role in the liberating army.

Comparing notes, the two uncovered that Dempsey had liberated the area where Chandou lived. Gladdened by this reunion of sorts, Dempsey went into his office and brought out an ancient and ragged book, Thomas Munson’s Foundations of American Grape Culture. Mr. Dempsey pressed the copy into Chandou’s hands as a parting gift. As we said our good-byes with tears and hugs, you’d have thought he had given him a long-lost copy of the Gutenberg Bible, Chandou was heartened. An American had, once again, forged a lasting bond with a Frenchman, reinforcing an enduring historical connection between their two peoples. And it all started right here in North Texas.

Italian wine blogger Alfonso Cevola writes “On the Wine Trail in Italy,” one of the top 10 wine blogs in the world.

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