SLC Food Field Trip

What a great day full of new and interesting things introduced to me. Our instructor took us on a field trip to explore some of the companies we use to get our products from. First, we went to Copper Canyon Farms which has been providing regular and specialty produce around Utah for over 100 years. One awesome thing about them is that they also take the time to cut the produce down, so julienne or dice for a customers convenience. And, at the request of the customer, they will divide cases into smaller parcels so that the customer doesn't have to waste a whole case of an item. Within the last few years, they have started carrying baking items, cheeses and meats as well as fruit purees.

We then went to Creminelli Fine Meats. Walking into the front door, a sweet smell lingered. I was already excited to just get into the room where the salamis were hanging and even sample some! We had a nice tour around their facility, which is huge. Their production area seems like a fun place to be, a group of people with different tasks... butchering the meat off the bone, cutting and mixing and then stuffing it into natural beef casings and tying. Their salamis are made with the pig's sirloin and belly, no by products, which makes the price of each salami more worth it. I'm a supporter of people that want to make their products stand out from the rest, and they really do that at this company. The meats are hung in climate controlled rooms and age dried for 30-90 days depending on the salami. The smells in the hallways between each room was great, it almost smelled like a ripe piece of brie. Luckily, we did get samples of coppa, sopressata and {the one I can't remember}. I loved the coppa because it's just capicola that hasn't been cooked. Mmmm.

We didn't have enough time to go to Wasatch Meats, so instead, we headed to Ocean Beauty Seafood. This awesome company provides ton of fresh seafood to Utah, including our program. We watched one of the employees fillet a halibut, salmon and sea bass... I was so amazed by how accurate and beautify he did it. One nice thing is that Ocean Beauty is open to the public to make orders, the same goes for Copper Canyon!

And for the grand finale, we went to eat lunch at Tony Caputo's Market and Deli. I'm so glad we went there because I've heard great things about their products and have been wanting to explore it. It's a very popular spot for lunch and has a great selection of salads, sandwiches and pastas. I had 'The Soprano'. My first reasoning was because it had capicola {my favorite!} and then a red pepper spread. It was a great sandwich and I hope to eat it again. After lunch, we did a little shopping. I picked up some great items that I've been missing. One of them being duck pate, and of course you can't have pate without a fresh baguette. The bread supplied to Caputo's is from Crumb Brothers Artisan Bread and reminds me of when we baked great bread in class. I also picked up a smoked habanero white cheddar and creminelli sopressata salami for Timmy. The cheese has a nice kick to it and I love the salami because it's complimented by garlic. I also picked up some lady fingers for tiramisu!

After visiting all of these great places, I've come to realize that Utah isn't as uneducated in terms of food, you just have to know where to look for it.

I am such a happy girl right now!

Ashley