Holiday Food & Nutrition

Looking to purchase local products to serve at the holidays?

The holidays are a great time to eat locally in the Finger Lakes and with Christmas right around the corner, it’s a good time to start thinking about doing a local Christmas Dinner.

Wine/Beer/Cider

Don’t forget to enjoy one of our many local wines, beers or ciders with your Christmas dinner.  Cayuga Wine Trail Seneca Lake Wine Trail Keuka Lake Wine Trail Finger Lakes Beer Trail Finger Lakes Cider Makers

Cheese/Eggs/Meat/Produce/Market

Autumn’s Harvest Farm -5170 Kings Corner Road, Romulus Big M - 7174 Main St, Ovid Bostrom Farms - 2200 State Rte. 5&20, Stanley Country Side Market - 3215 Munson Rd, Interlaken Lively Run Dairy - 8978 County Road 142, Interlaken Muranda Cheese - 3075 State Route 96, Waterloo Peachey Produce - 5641 State Route 414, Romulus Sauders Market - 2146 River Rd, Seneca Falls Schrader Farm Meat Market - 1937 Somerville Road, Romulus Stoltzfus Farm - Ovid Westwind Farms - 2470 NY-96, Ovid (Home to Happy Hens eggs, they are one of the largest hatcheries in New York State!) Wise

Squash

New York State has a strong squash growing industry, with a value of $38 million in 2013, which was the third highest state, following Florida and California. There is a variety of squash types grown, with Butternut and acorn being the most common. Most of the squash being sold now in grocery stores should be local, but check the labeling or ask your grocer to be sure.

Farm to School Squash recipes:

• Butternutty Mac & Cheese
• Butternut Squash Noodles and Veggies
• Butternut Squash Risotto
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Butternut Salad

Potatoes

New York State does produce a large crop of potatoes. There are about 17,000 acres of potatoes grown in New York State. New York is the 13th largest potato producing state in the country and accounts for about 1.7% of the US production. The NY potato industry is valued at $66.5 million and it is the top ranking vegetable in economic importance produced in New York State. The main areas of potato production in the Finger Lakes region are in Wayne, Steuben, Ontario and Livingston Counties. About 55% of New York’s Potato harvest goes to the fresh market, with about 40% going to potato chips and 5% going to seed potatoes.

Some of the more popular potato varieties do not grow well in New York State including Yukon Gold and Burbank Russet. Most of the other varieties found in our local supermarkets were probably grown in New York: check the packaging to be sure. Cornell University has an active potato breeding program and has released several varieties that taste great and grow well in our climate.

Farm to School Potatoes recipe:

• Loaded Roasted Potatoes
• Potato and Root Veggie Mash
• Potato Leek Soup
• Skillet Breakfast Potato

Sweet Potatoes

Do to the long growing season required, sweet potatoes are not widely grown in New York. However, they can be grown in raised beds with black plastic and New York has about 200 acres of sweet potato under cultivation. These are mostly available from CSAs and Farmers' Markets. Some winter farmers markets in the area are the regional market in Syracuse the Rochester Public Market and the Ithaca Farmers' Market. Sweet potatoes purchased in grocery stores are not likely to be locally grown.

Flour

Making Christmas cookies? Most of the wheat grown in New York State is soft red winter wheat, which is used to make high quality, low protein flours used in pastry, crackers, cookies and breakfast cereals. A small amount of soft white winter wheat is also grown. There are two places making local flour in the Finger Lakes:

• Farmer Ground Flour in Trumansburg
• Star of the West in Churchville

Apples

Or is apple pie your thing? New York is the 2nd largest producer of apples in the country, only Washington produces more. Wayne County is actually the second largest apple producing county in the U.S. Almost all the apples currently available in local supermarkets should be local this time of the year.

Farm to School Apple recipes:

• Apple Cider Cheddar Biscuits
• Apple Cinnamon Oat Muffins
• Autumn Sausage, Veggie, and Apple Sheet Pan Dinner
• Baked Apples with Crisp Topping
• NY Apple Waldorf Salad
• Brussels Sprouts and Apple Salad

Cranberries

There is not a large cranberry industry in New York, but there are two cranberry farms, one in Oswego County and another in St. Lawrence County, totaling about 288 acres of cranberry production. You’ll have trouble finding cranberries from these two operations in the Finger Lakes area. The farm in St. Lawrence County sells mostly to apple orchards and stores in Northern New York and cranberries from the farm in Oswego County go to a processing plant in Quebec. There’s hope that local cranberries will someday be available in the Finger Lakes, there is a small test-plot at Cornell University, but they are not currently selling to the public. The vast majority of the cranberries produced in the United States come from Massachusetts and Wisconsin and those you buy in supermarkets likely from one of those states. Cranberries are also produced in New Jersey, Washington and Oregon.

See the following links to articles about the New York State cranberry farms.

• http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/canadian_firm_turns_oswego_cou.html
• Where to get locally grown cranberries in St. Lawrence County (northcountrypublicradio.com 2014)

Learn all about those cranberries that might be on your Christmas table. Watch until the end for a Fresh Cranberry Sauce recipe!

Last updated December 20, 2023