My neighbor and long time customer, Corbie Mitleid, invited me to join her for a discussion about unplugging the Thanksgiving holiday this week on Empower Radio. Feel free to check it out here. Meanwhile, back to one of our annual holiday traditions…

 

The Truffles

 

Chocolate truffles have nothing to do with pasture-raised turkeys. They have nothing to do with Thanksgiving. But one Thanksgiving, my wonderful foodie friend from grad school, Julie Carpenter, came to to the farm to join us for the holiday weekend. She brought us chocolate truffles. Upon my begging and pleading, she divulged to me the secret of the perfect ganache.

 

A few years later, shortly after Bob and I were engaged and we’d bought our little cabin, he was fired on November 1st. The bill for our first mortgage payment came due that day. We began to see that we’d need to find ways to bring in extra cash if we didn’t want to give up our house. Taking advantage of our farm’s processing facilities, I began stirring up ganache and selling truffles to our farm customers who were coming to pick up turkeys.

 

Sap Bush Hollow grew. Our product line expanded. We paid off our mortgage. We wrote and published books. We got more customers. Since the truffles were a lot of work, I stopped making them for Thanksgiving.

 

And boy, did I hear about it.

 

Our customers had come to count on this delectable treat when they came to pick up their turkeys. And so, to be ready for this weekend of turkey pick-ups, we’ve spent the week stirring up, scooping up and dipping up these chocolate truffles. I hear that the ritual is for the hosts to serve up dinner to their guests, send them all home, then sit quietly with a glass of brandy or good red wine and nibble them safely hidden away from anyone who might ask them to share…