CityFood Magazine - Verjus From Vinegar Works at Valentine Farm

In the photo at bottom: John Gordon and Kim Stansfield of the Vinegar Works at Valentine Farm.

Valentine Farm was officially announced today as the venue for the first Okanagan Feast of Fields (early bird tickets for the August 23rd event are now on sale). That’s good news indeed, because the lovely little working farm in Summerland, is the home of an even lovelier couple, John Gordon and Kim Stainsfield , who are best known locally as the producers of a line of artisan quality condiments.

As one might guess by their company name of the Vinegar Works , fruit-based, fine vinegars are their specialty, however they also produce an item that is not only prized by French chefs, it's something tres difficile to source in Canada -- Verjus!

Literally translated as “green juice”, verjus (pronounced vair-ZHOO), can be the unfermented juice of many kinds of fruit. Although in most cases, it is crushed from the semi-ripe bunches of wine grapes that are snipped away from the vines during pre-harvest crop thinning – a seasonal viticultural practice designed to improve wine quality. Normally these perfectly good, albeit high acid/low sugar grapes are discarded, but Gordon and Stainsfield are turning a waste byproduct of wine production into a useful culinary ingredient.

At Valentine Farm they create their verjus from Pinot Meunier and Gewurztraminer grapes, which lend its typically tart, crisp apple flavour an additional spicy nuance. Neither as aromatic or fruity as wine, nor as intensely sharp as white vinegar, it falls somewhere in the middle of the acid spectrum, making it more effective than either wine or vinegar for the job of balancing a butter-rich dish or an oil-based sauce (such as Hollandaise). Verjus can be a friend to the wine drinker's palate as well. Because they share the same tartaric and malic acids, verjus in your food won’t clash with the wine in your glass in the way that vinegar would.

Historically, verjus is an ingredient of medieval European cooking, and it’s still very much a staple of Middle Eastern Cuisine. Here at CF Central, we use it most often to deglaze a pan after cooking poultry or fish, but it also works well in a salad dressing, splashed over rice or seafood, in a mignonette sauce for oysters, or as the main ingredient in a palate cleansing sorbet. Many is the time a spoonful has rescued an overly sweet drink, and we figure there is more than one cocktail out there that depends on the stuff for that little bit of kick.

Basically, you can use it anywhere you might add a squeeze of lemon, but with the expectation of a more subtle result. However … just a little goes a long way, and that can be part of its drawback. Unlike vinegar, verjus will start to spoil just as soon as it comes in contact with air. You’ve got about 90 days to use it up after opening the bottle, and that’s only if you keep it well refrigerated.

Given that Valentine Farm is located in the heart of the Okanagan wine growing region, you might expect there to be more competition on the market for their Verjus , yet Vinegar Works’ is only one of the two commercially produced labels we have found in BC. (The other is made in three different styles by Venturi-Schulze winery on Vancouver Island.)

A certified organic product, we buy it from Valentine Farm’s stand at the Penticton Farmers Market , and we're keeping the one bottle we have in stock unopened until fresh sorrel is in season as we’ve heard an infusion will tinge it a lively green colour. That could be fun.

You can purchase all Vinegar Works products at better Okanagan food shops or directly from Valentine Farm’s own little tasting room. Just call ahead at 250-494-7300 to be sure they are open to receive you. $20 for a 750 mL bottle. And they ship to “anywhere”.
Email: veggies@valentinefarm.com .

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