The food industry isn’t new to Sean Redden, managing partner of Redden Fine Meats. He started working in restaurants at age 15 and spent more than 25 years working as a chef before pivoting into restaurant sales. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit and uncertainty surged everywhere, especially in the restaurant industry, he knew it was time for a new adventure. In the heart of downtown Madeira, a historic train station built in 1860 sat vacant…

The Little Miami Scenic Trail. one of the county’s original “rail to trail” projects, has never been more vibrant. But it and others are currently under threat from political forces.

You might not know that the Little Miami Scenic Trail, which wends across five counties from Springfield, OH, to Cincinnati, is the nation’s fourth longest paved walking and biking trail. And you might not know there’s a 486-foot elevation drop along its 78 mostly wooded miles along the grade of an early Ohio steam railroad that followed its namesake river.

We might never have known the Little Miami Scenic Trail (LMST) at all. In the 1970s and ’80s, an era of rail consolidation that left this and thousands of other railroad lines fallow, the conservation organization known today as the Little Miami Conservancy spearheaded a campaign to secure federal funding for this early “rail-trail.”

The organization brought a Federal Bureau of Outdoor Recreation leader to Ohio for a helicopter ride and canoe trip along the river—and coaxed $1 million out of $5 million budgeted federally for the newly born Rails to Trails initiative. The bipartisan Ohio General Assembly approved a $1 million match, and in 1984, the first 13.5 miles of asphalt were laid…

Use as a spread in a sandwich or wrap with accompaniments like pickles, kraut, shredded carrots, pea shoots, or microgreens; or serve over dressed salad greens.

Blanching and shocking can be a great method for par-cooking produce to preserve freshness, while also making ingredients more tender.

There are actually two types of mulberries in North America: the red and white varieties. The berries themselves look identical—in fact, there are only subtle differences that distinguish the trees at all—but they followed widely divergent paths to get here.

You can swap the pearl couscous for another small pasta shape or even switch it with a cooked whole grain like wheat berries or farro.

Funke’s Greenhouses in Spring Grove Village has a history that spans more than 120 years in Cincinnati. Today, the business is run by Al Funke, who has been at the helm since 1991.

Blanching the mint and spinach helps keep their color vibrant. Instead of mint and spinach, you can substitute other herbs and greens like parsley and arugula. These alternatives may have slightly different blanching times and will change the flavor profile.

Even food is not immune to disinformation and opacity. And that’s why our Edible team is so grateful to be in a position to share real, meaningful stories about dedicated, hardworking people from across our local food landscape.

In The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South, Michael W. Twitty writes, “Food is an archiver, a keeper of secrets.” Yet Twitty, a culinary historian, scientist, cook, writer and reader, and justice seeker, shares everything, beginning with his Afroculinaria blog. With ancestral lines that span three continents and more than a dozen states and cities, Twitty speaks not about “from” but “of.” He is “of” these places, of parents born and raised “South by Midwest” and of people who liked to tell stories.

Most accounts suggest that cornmeal, also known by its Indigenous name maize, originated 8,000–10,000 years ago in an area of Mexico termed Mesoamerica and arrived in North America via the migration of Native Americans. In the New World, writes Elisabeth Rozin in Blue Corn and Chocolate, corn was a “beloved and worshipped grain that had nourished and nurtured the aboriginal populations for many thousands of years.” Indigenous peoples introduced corn to different parts of America, and eventually to Africa and Europe, through a system of trade routes. These cultures used intricate methods for farming, including the

images by Mary Jo Hoffman from her book Still, published by Phaidon

Artists and poets explore the ways gardening helps us experience the wonders of nature, tap into our unconscious minds, and bolster our creativity.

How interesting it is that so many artists, writers, poets, and musicians gravitate to gardening. One creative act begets another, after all. And gardening, like art, is process oriented. “It involves creative problem-solving, which is an important aspect of art,” according to artist and Turner Farm Community Gardens Director Peter Huttinger, who gardens alongside potters, jewelers, photographers, and even a puppeteer.