Who's that trip-trapping into the farmers' market?
When the Baltimore Farmers' Market opens for the season next weekend, a new vendor will be there selling goat meat.
Jeanne Dietz-Band raises the animals on Many Rocks Farm in Washington County. I had the chance to visit her there last week and found a scene out of "Heidi," with a herd of goats grazing on hilly green pastureland.
It was the kind of setting we'd like to think all of our food comes from, though we know better.
In addition to grass, the goats eat locally grown barley and soy. Dietz-Band does not give the animals hormones. Nor does she routinely administer antibiotics.At the market, Dietz-Band will sell loin chops ($11.99 a pound), stew cubes ($10.99), ground goat ($7.99). She'll also offer several varieties of goat sausage, all at $10.99 a pound: sweet and hot Italian, chorizo, English-style bangers and onion-garlic brats.
Dietz-Band thinks people will like goat if they give it a try. She describes the meat as having a “much milder, sweeter flavor than lamb, lower in fat than skinless chicken breast and higher in protein and iron than beef.” She'll provide recipes so customers will know how to cook it.
She does not make goat cheese. (She already has three friends in that line of work and figured they didn't need any more competition.)
But she does make soap with goats' milk, vegetable oils and herbs. She'll be selling that as well at the market. That will set you back $6.50 a bar.
Photo courtesy of Many Rocks Farm
Comments
me gusta mucho. muy sabrosa.
Posted by: chupacabra | April 24, 2010 7:53 AM
I love goat, particularly in Indian and West Indian cuisine and would be interested in seeing the suggested recipes. I remember going to Joe Squared pretty soon after it opened and they were selling a goat meat lasagna, which just didn't seem right.
The only downside: the goat my mom cooks (I'm assuming it's stew cubes) is really bony. I don't know enough about anatomy or butchering to understand why.
Posted by: Liz Kay | April 26, 2010 3:06 PM