Summer is a great time at Isaac’s because we are able to make our Fresh Cut Corn Chowder from locally grown sweet corn. Buying local sweet corn for our soup fits into Isaac’s mission statement of supporting our communities where we work and live. We are pleased we can support local farmers and think the soup tastes great! We’re selling it now, and we’ll probably have it through early September.

Our sweet corn this year is coming from Cedar Meadow Farm, Holtwood, PA. The owners of the 200 acre farm, Steve and Cheri Groff, are passionate advocates for sustainable agriculture, soil conservation, soil health, and food quality. You should check out their really cool web site at http://www.cedarmeadowfarm.com. After reading about Steve and Cheri’s farming techniques, I bet the corn chowder will taste even better to you, because you’ll know it comes from a sustainable farm that is improving the quality of the soil, air and water.

Cedar Meadow Farm delivers the corn to Kegel’s produce, http://www.kegels.com/, where the ears are husked, de-silked, and triple washed. About five hours before delivery to Isaac’s, the corn is cut off the cob by hand, and sealed in tamper-proof five-pound buckets. This insures that we are using the freshest possible product for our Corn Chowder that we make from scratch everyday in each restaurant. I love everything about our Fresh Corn Chowder. Can you tell?

(We are also buying local tomatoes for our sandwiches and salads this summer. Currently, they are coming from a farm in Washington Boro, but our buyer will purchase from various farms throughout the season.)

Our goal is to increase our usage of local produce as much as possible, while still delivering food to our customers that is delicious and consistent. We need to take care of the earth we live in, and eating local is one piece of the puzzle to keep the planet healthy. I suggest visiting http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/food_matters/foodmiles.shtml if you are interested in learning about food miles, http://www.100milediet.org/category/about/ if you want some stories from people trying to live on food produced within 100 miles of where they live, and of course http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_miles for a good description, discussion and lots more links.

I hope reading this makes your Chowder-slurping experience even MORE pleasurable! I’m proud that Isaac’s can give you this satisfying experience.

Sunday 7/28

This morning I was out jogging through the country roads around my house, and I took this photo of corn with my cell phone.  A thunderstorm had just blown through and the corn was dripping wet and I could hear it growing!