Fresh Sheet: Slow Food stocks Ark of Taste

Have you ever eaten Inchelium Red Garlic, Washington Marbled Chinook Salmon, or Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherries?

Slow Food members hope you will. The international group, formed to celebrate and protect the food traditions, wants to preserve “endangered tastes” – foods on the brink of extinction – with its Ark of Taste. The idea is to call attention to delicious traditional foods or foods linked to the memory or identity of a group by including them in its Ark of Taste catalog. And they hope the attention will eventually put those foods on your plate.

Slow Food Spokane River members got a chance last week to help consider the Zuni Tomatillo for possible inclusion on the Ark. The tasting was organized by Jennifer Hall, who is a member of the national Slow Food Ark of Taste board. Tasters compared the flavor of heirloom Purple Tomatillos, Zuni Tomatillos and Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherries.

“So much of our culture is based on food shared at the table or in preparation,” Hall says.

The Zuni Tomatillo, according to the Slow Food nomination, was used by Native Americans and can be traced back to pre-Columbian times in Mexico, where it was originally domesticated. The smaller, husk-covered fruits drew praise from tasters Eric Rau and Jim Schrock, who also grew the tomatillos and other heritage fruits and vegetables in their gardens this summer.

Tasters considered the raw flavors of the tomatillos and ground cherries. Some said the Zunis were more aromatic, more acidic and more flavorful than the Purple Tomatillos. “They’re total eye openers,” Shrock says.

The ground cherries, which are actually tomatoes, have already been included on the Ark. They drew praise for their sweet, cantaloupe-like flavor. Others often describe the tomatoes as tasting like pineapple or vanilla. Rau offered the most unusual flavor description of the night, saying they reminded him of Twinkies. Shrock made a pie with the yellow-orange tomatoes from his garden.

Rau and Shrock grew several other Ark of Taste fruits and vegetables in their gardens this summer, including Cherokee Purple Tomatoes, Amish Pie Squash, Jimmy Nardello Peppers and Wenk’s Yellow Hot Pepper. Their crops were part of the menu featured at last night’s salmon dinner at Hill’s Restaurant, which included Amish Pie Squash Bisque, Cherokee Purple Tomato Sorbet, Broiled Wild Marbled King Salmon and Wenk’s Yellow Hot Pepper and Chocolate Truffles.

For more information about Slow Food Spokane River send a note to the local group at sf.spokaneriver@gmail.com. More information about Slow Food USA and the Ark of Taste can be found at www.slowfoodusa.org.