WHAT’S NEW
Recipe: The Springiest Rhubarb Crisp
Spring is bursting with activity, farmers’ markets, and local fruit. This strawberry-rhubarb crisp showcases the best of NJ’s strawberry and rhubarb with a butter, grainy topping.
Are you enjoying the spring sunshine as much as we are? There’s a flurry of activity all around, from merry birdsong to kids’ baseball games to trees bursting into flower. One thing we’re most excited about is the local food that’s once again becoming available after the long winter. Farmers’ markets are starting up again for the season, featuring the first spring foods like ramps, salad greens, and mushrooms.
You can find River Valley Community Grains at a number of area markets; check out the full list here. We hope you come by and say hi!
Here in New Jersey we tend to get very excited about strawberry season—and for good reason! Who can resist those tender, juicy berries that are leaps and bounds tastier than anything you’ll find at the supermarket? But don’t sleep on the vibrant and reliable rhubarb, which is one of my favorite harbingers of spring. Its crimson shoots are one of the first things to pop up in my garden, and in the kitchen it’s much more versatile than you might think.
Try this strawberry-rhubarb crisp recipe, loosely based on one by Deborah Madison, and tell us how it turns out! The grainy, buttery topping really showcases fresh, local flour and oats, as well as packing a nutritional punch. And make sure to use salted butter, since salt enhances the other flavors at this party—fruity, vanilla, citrus, and spice.
Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp
For the crisp topping:
6 tablespoons salted butter, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
3/4 cup of brown sugar, unpacked
2/3 cup RVCG all-purpose flour
1/2 cup RVCG raw rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
For the filling:
2 pounds of rhubarb, sliced into 1-inch pieces
1 quart of strawberries, sliced
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one orange
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Using your fingers or the paddle attachment of a mixer (I like to use fingers, and it’s a great task for children), work the butter with the rest of the ingredients so that each piece is coated and you have a coarse, crumbly mixture. Set the topping aside.
Toss the fruit with the remaining ingredients and arrange in a 2-quart gratin dish or deep 12-inch pie plate. Arrange fruit in the dish and cover with the topping. Set the dish on a sheet pan to catch any drips (this is important!) and bake until the fruits from the fruit are bubbling and the topping is brown, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Enjoy with ice cream, whipped cream, custard, or even for breakfast!
Farewell Red Barn, Hello Marksboro Mills
It was bittersweet to spend our last night of milling and rolling wholesome flour and oats at the Red Barn Kitchen Incubator. But now the next phase of our journey begins at Marksboro Mills!
It was bittersweet to spend our last night of milling and rolling wholesome flour and oats at the Red Barn Kitchen Incubator in Long Valley, NJ. We started here in February 2019, wow! We will miss it here, lots of great memories and many a night of meeting our friends and followers who would stop by to pick up their orders.
While we will miss the Red Ban and all the memories associated with it, we are excited beyond words to move into our new space. It is now time to begin the next journey of grains at Marksboro Mills!
Our Very Own Movie Trailer
Catch a sneak peek of a video in the works that captures the anticipating we’re all feeling right now.
This fantastic glimpse of a video in the works by our friends at Weston Filmco captures the anticipating we’re all feeling with the arrival of spring, the planting of crops, and the flurry of activity at Marksboro Mills as we put the final touches on everything and get ready to open our doors!
Recipe: Maple & Olive Oil Granola
It's maple sugaring season in New Jersey, so we're sharing our favorite recipe for homemade granola using River Valley Community Grains rolled oats, pecans, coconut, and nutrient-rich pumpkin and sunflower seeds, flavored with maple syrup and a dash of sea salt.
It's maple sugaring season in New Jersey, so I’m sharing my favorite recipe for homemade granola using River Valley Community Grains rolled oats, pecans, coconut, and nutrient-rich pumpkin and sunflower seeds, flavored with maple syrup and a dash of sea salt.
I’ve been making this recipe for 10 years and haven’t found one a better one yet. Naturally, we’re going to recommend you use River Valley Community Grains raw rolled oats—they really do make a difference.
If you eat this granola with your own homemade yogurt and jam, you may even feel for a moment like you’re winning at life. But no matter how it’s served, it can be your elevated energy boost at any time of day (or night—try sprinkling on ice cream).
300 grams (3 cups) rolled oats
125 grams (1 cup) raw hulled pumpkin seeds
130 grams (1 cup) raw hulled sunflower seeds
50 grams (1 cup) unsweetened coconut chips
135 grams (1 ¼ cup) raw pecans, whole or chopped
85 grams (packed ½ cup) light brown sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt
175 ml (¾ cup) maple syrup, preferably Grade B
120 ml (½ cup) olive oil
Preheat the oven to 300°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut chips, pecans, light brown sugar, and salt. Stir to mix. Add the olive oil and maple syrup, and stir until well combined. Spread the mixture in an even layer on the prepared sheet pan. Bake, stirring every 15 minutes, until the granola is golden brown and toasted, about 45 minutes. Remove the granola from the oven, and season with more salt to taste. Cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.
Yield: about 7 cups
Adapted from Nekisia Davis, Early Bird Foods
Marksboro Mills Update
Our future home at Marksboro Mills continues to make progress at a slow but steady pace. This former auto repair shop in Warren County is the capstone of our vision to create a grain hub in NWNJ. Check out what we’ve been up to!
Our future home at Marksboro Mills continues to make progress at a slow but steady pace. This former farm equipment repair shop on Route 94 in Warren County is the capstone of our vision to create a grain hub in northwestern New Jersey. The property is perfectly situated across from Ruthie’s Farm, where right now she’s growing 10 acres of Redeemer winter wheat that will be harvested in July. It doesn’t get any more local than that!
At Markboro Mills we started with the site: grading the site, putting in a parking lot, fixing stone walls and replacing the garage doors. We found a historic millstone and installed it at the entrance. Supply delays have slowed us down a bit, but we’re proud of what we have accomplished thanks to Ruthie and the amazing team working on this project. New windows have been installed, and we are preparing the space for our first health department inspection. Next up is polishing the inside, getting our name up on the building, and landscaping.
We can’t wait for Marksboro Mills to become our new home. Not only will we soon be able to offer you even more of the best heritage grains in the region, but we will also grow into this new space with educational opportunities and partnerships with local bakers. Stay tuned!
Many thanks to Maryellen Stadtlander for taking some of these photos.
Find Us at the Winter Markets
We bring our grains to tri-state area farmers' markets year round. Find us on weekends at these great spots for local products.
We bring our grains to tri-state area farmers' markets year round. Find us on Saturdays and Sundays at these great spots for local products—on Saturdays in Easton (PA), Hastings (NY), and Pleasantville (NJ); and Sundays in Ramsey and the Grow It Green Morris Winter Market.
While you're there, make sure you check out our fellow growers and artisans. It’s pretty exciting that fresh and local foods are being made available even in the winter months. We try our best to show appreciation by patronizing these producers, and we hope you do, too.
100% NJ Pizza
Watch our friend Joe Grant make pizza from ingredients all sourced in New Jersey, including River Valley Community Grains flours, and visit our partners at Cold Brook Farm.
We had the pleasure to meet our friend Joe Grant when he ordered our products online and then visited the Ramsey Farmers’ Market, eager to try new ingredients and share what he does with them. He has a new YouTube series called Cooking New Jersey, and in this video he makes pizza from ingredients all sourced in New Jersey, including River Valley Community Grains bread flour and all-purpose flour.
In this video Joe also visits our partners at Cold Brook Farm in Oldwick, where they tour the fields where they grow wheat organically and regeneratively, then invite him inside to grind some flour and taste bread made with the grains grown on the farm.
Joe shows us how every ingredient in the pizza is sourced locally, from sauce to cheese to basil, and even sea salt from Cape May. The results are delicious, and it’s inspiring to see our small but mighty state making such great strides in sustainable agriculture and food production!
Recipe: Whole Wheat Sables with Cacao Nibs
These cookies, served at the first River Valley Community Grains community gathering six years ago, really let the nutty flavor of our whole wheat pastry flour shine.
Whole wheat Sablés with Cacao Nibs
These cookies, served at the first River Valley Community Grains community gathering six years ago, really let the nutty flavor of our whole wheat pastry flour shine.
2 cups (9 oz.) whole wheat pastry flour, OR 1 cup (4.5 oz.) all-purpose flour plus 1 scant cup (4 oz.) whole wheat flour
14 Tbsp. (1 ¾ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup (3 ½ oz.) sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup (about 1 ¼ oz.) roasted cacao nibs
If using the two flours, combine them in a bowl, and mix with a whisk or fork.
In a medium bowl, with a large spoon or an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar, salt, and vanilla until smooth and creamy but not fluffy, about 1 minute (with the mixer). Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, and add the nibs. Beat briefly to incorporate. Add the flour, and mix until just incorporated. Scrap the dough into a mass and, if necessary, knead it a little with your hands to make sure that the flour is completely incorporated. Form the dough into a 12-by-2-inch log. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Use a sharp knife to cut the cold dough log into ¼-inch-thick slices. Place the cookies at least 1 ½ inches apart on the prepared sheet pans.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies for a minute on the pans, then transfer them (with or without their parchment) to a rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
These cookies are good on the first day, but they’re best with a little age, after at least a day or two. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a month.
Yield: about 48 cookies
From Alice Medrich’s Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies
Six years in
Exactly six years ago, the first meeting of River Valley Community Grains convened in a little old church in Middle Valley, across the street from the South Branch of the Raritan River. We weren’t exactly sure where we were headed, but we knew we had a winning formula—encourage New Jersey farmers to devote small amounts of their land to growing heritage grains, guarantee them a fair price for their crops, and then mill those grains for sale.
Farmer Kent Kimball (left), of Kimball’s Farm in Belvidere, with Mike Hozer and Leonard Bussanich. Photo by Thomas Robert Clarke.
Exactly six years ago, the first meeting of River Valley Community Grains convened in a little old church in Middle Valley, across the street from the South Branch of the Raritan River. We weren’t exactly sure where we were headed, but we knew we had a winning formula—encourage New Jersey farmers to devote small amounts of their land to growing heritage grains, guarantee them a fair price for their crops, and then mill those grains for sale.
In 2018, River Valley Community Grains was beginning to build momentum, and Fran McManus wrote a great article about us in Edible Jersey:
“On January 21, 2017, as millions of women marched in Washington DC and cities around the world, a small group of farmers, bakers and local food advocates gathered at Long Valley’s Middle Valley Community Center to plot their own disruption of the status quo. Billed as a gathering to explore “re-establishing our agricultural heritage by creating a local, organic grain hub,” the meeting highlighted the challenges and successes of River Valley Community Grains, a fledgling company working to re-localize the growing and processing of wheat and other grains. Eighteen months later, despite the enthusiastic reception their flour has received from artisanal bakers, River Valley Community Grains remains more a dream than a reality—a testament to the significant challenges of rebuilding the infrastructure and market for local grains.
(Click here to read the entire article.)
It’s gratifying to see how far we’ve come, the community we’ve built, and how much growing we have yet to do. There are some very exciting developments in the works this year, so keep an eye on our website and social media!