Savor

Savor visits the Alexandre Family Farm to learn the ins and outs of the organic dairy business.

What food connects you to your family? For Midori Uehara, that food is miso, the fermented soybean paste used in many Japanese foods. She started making her own miso after moving to Oregon a few years back, and the labor of love turned into a business, Mido's Miso. From the base in Cave Junction, Mido's Miso travels to store shelves from Ashland to Eugene.

Will Smith, food stylist and the host of our Savor podcast, had a chance to visit with Midori Uehara, to get to know her and her business. Hear the details of making miso, along with the flavors and feelings it can engender in people.

Think of baked treats that remind you of childhood, home, or rolling dough with your grandmother. That's what Jennifer Marie Plitzko aims for when creating her baked goods for sale at Rogue Valley grower's markets, sold under the name Heim.

Heim comes from the German word heimat, meaning a feeling of home; not attached to a physical place but to a memory, a sensation, a longing.

Plitzko, a trained pastry chef, talks with host Will Smith about her work and creations inspired by her personal history.

Meet Flora, the Farm Bus, a fully licensed mobile educational kitchen and greenhouse. So food is grown, harvested, and prepared in the bus. Farm Bus Bistro owner and teacher/farmer Michelle Calascibetta travels to Rogue Valley schools offering fun and educational opportunities to connect, eat, and grow. She sits down with Savor host and food stylist Will Smith to talk about her work and why its important for kids to connect with the food they consume.

One of the advantages of warmer weather coming is that it makes it easier--okay, more comfortable--to cook outside.

If you like barbecue, you'll want to hear the latest edition of our Savor podcast. It features a chat with Skye Elder, who has worked at several notable Rogue Valley restaurants, and now focuses on barbecue, and wood-fired barbecue, at Ashland-based Company BBQ. The outfit does catering and pop-up work, including at company barbecues.

Food stylist William Smith, the Savor host, visits with Skye Elder about what makes great barbecue.

Valentine's Day came and went, but maybe the desire for chocolate did not leave with it. Not a problem; there's plenty left in the world, and a lot of it will be available for sampling at the Oregon Chocolate Festival, coming to Ashland this weekend (March 1-3).

So guess what's featured in the latest edition of Savor, our food podcast? Will Smith, food stylist and our podcast host, brings in Karolina Lavagnino for a visit. She was present at the conception, and talks about how her creation has evolved over two decades of chocolate love.

The city of Phoenix (Oregon) has long struggled with how to fill "the hole" in town. That's one of several names for the space between the northbound and southbound lanes of Oregon 99 in town. In this age of food carts, why not provide a one-stop-shop for places to eat?

Thus was born the concept for the Phoodery (because PHoenix...). Plans call for the place to open to the public at the beginning of May, so a lot of work is left to do before the first glass of beer is drawn and the first bit of food is bitten. Our resident phoody (sorry), food stylist Will Smith, catches up to the planning process in the latest edition of Savor, our food podcast. Will visits with Phoodery co-owner Eric Herron about the vision and the participants.

Some of the flavors may seem exotic to newcomers, but a fermented-food diet is good for the gut. Science points out how the bacteria in our digestive tracts thrive with the introduction of fermented foods.

You don't have to convince the owners of U Ferment in Talent, a store devoted to helping people make their own fermented food and beverages. Food stylist, Will Smith, host of our Savor podcast on food, discovered the work of U Ferment's Alissa and Brian Kolodzinski and invited them in for a longer chat. If you are not a "fermentista," the breadth may surprise, everything from kimchi to coffee.

More fun: this is the weekend (January 12-14) of the Brine, Brew & Barrel Fermentation Festival in Ashland.

Our latest Savor podcast with host Will Smith is about cheese. And beer. In the same glass, it turns out... a couple of years ago, Crux Fermentation Project, a craft brewery in Bend, invited Southern Oregon's Rogue Creamery to take part in Crux’s fermentation program.

The brewers and cheesemakers came up with a plan to brew a beer inoculated with Rogue Creamery’s famous Rogue River Blue cheese. The result is Crux's latest release, Coolship #6, described by Crux founding brewmaster Larry Sidor as a slightly sweet and oaky lambic ale.

Sidor and Rogue Creamery's Marguerite Merritt join Will Smith and JPR Operations Manager Dave Young to talk about the beer and give it a taste.

We can almost smell the turkey already. Thanksgiving is America's big eating holiday, kicking off a season where many people are in danger of gaining a few pounds.

The JX has been asking for recipes from listeners, and we have several in hand to talk about as Thanksgiving approaches. And who better to have along for the conversation but Will Smith, the host of our Savor podcast? Will and Nick Stevenson, one of the leaders of Medford's Dunbar Farms, talk about recipes, good food, and how to enjoy the season without maybe gaining the weight.