Brewing Locally
Brewing locally is valuable to Valkyrie Brewing Company (Formerly known as Viking Brewery). They feel that it is important to cultivate and strengthen culinary relationships between the local producers themselves and between local producers and consumers in order to sustain a healthy local food community. In doing that, we all gain a better understanding of what our local food community has to offer to us and what we can offer in return. Beer is food, too.
Valkyrie Brewing Company has been “Brewing Locally” since its very first batch of beer many years ago. This beer, called Mjød, was in fact the very first Brackett produced commercially in the United States. In it, VBC uses honey harvested locally, thus giving it a uniquely Northwest Wisconsin flavor of wildflowers, apple blossoms and clover. Valkyrie also brews a second Brackett call Honey Moon, which is much like a light, sparkling honey wine. Both will be available on the market within a year.
Available now from Valkyrie is their War Hammer, a Coffee Porter brewed with coffee beans that are roasted locally at “The Raw Deal” in Menomonie, Wisconsin. Brewing coffee with their dark roast coffee beans makes for an awesome brew. Brewing beer with their coffee beans makes for a powerful beer with that ultimate, rich coffee flavor. Fresh, Locally Roasted Coffee — Fresh, Locally Brewed Beer. What a great combination.
Developing new recipes for brewing locally in Northwest Wisconsin is easy. This area is so bountiful. Valkyrie is working on a new brew, a Saké that features some of our best known foods: milk (lactose), wild rice and cranberries. That’s right — Valkyrie is brewing Saké Wisconsin style. The name of this new brew will be…Cow-A-Saké. Just wait until you see the label!
Chip Magnet Salsa
Why I decided to build my business on the GMO-free platform.
Several years ago, when I first heard the term ‘genetically modified’, it really didn’t mean much to me. Of course, our family, like most out there, had always tried to eat healthily, but I was completely clueless that my family and I had been consuming these little poisonous tidbits of “food” for years.
According to Wikipedia, a genetically modified organism can be defined as “an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one molecule to create a new set of genes. This DNA is then transferred into an organism, giving it modified or novel genes.”
Sounds harmless, right? It might be if they were splicing a kiwi with strawberry DNA to create a yummy fruit that didn’t have to be peeled, or an orange with banana DNA for easier peeling. However, it just isn’t that simple.
The main reason that things like plants are genetically modified is so that tons and tons of pesticides can be sprayed on them without killing them. That’s got to be safe, right?
Another horrifying example is that of the so-called suicide seed: a plant that does not produce any usable seeds, leaving the former reliant on the GMO giant Monsanto to purchase more plants.
GMOs for human consumption came onto the radar all the way back in 1982 when they reared their ugly head in a synthetic insulin drug called Humulin, which is a laboratory strain of E. coli — yes, the same E. coli that kills people and has been genetically altered with recombinant DNA. They have since gained ground and literally infiltrated our entire food system. They can be found in cookies, cereal, bread, milk, chips, oil, and just about everything else you can imagine. In fact, it has been estimated that a full 80% of everything on grocery store shelves contains something that is genetically modified.
Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the FDA does not think GMOs need to be labeled, even though most authorities agree that significant testing has not been done and the majority of people living in the US (90-95% based on numerous polls) want them to be labeled.
When I started Chip Magnet Salsa, I unwaveringly knew I could not, in good conscience, put anything genetically modified into my food. No compromises. I purchase organic and local whenever possible and I never put anything in my condiments that contains any GMOs.
For more information about GMOs, please visit the following sites: www.nongmoproject.org www.responsibletechnology.org www.nongmoshoppingguide.com
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