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Ohio Culinary Cruise for Food and Wine Lovers

December 8, 2007 on 9:40 am | In Adventure Travel, Cabinweb, California, Chicago, Cruise Boats, Dine Drink, East Coast, Florida, Great Lakes, Los Angeles, Miami, Midwest, New England, New York City, Orlando, Pacific Northwest, Plains States, Rockies, San Diego, San Francisco, Southwest, Texas, The South, USA |

Put on your John Deer Green jeans and pull out Grandma’s apron for a culinary experience of the freshest kind. Where else but the Heartland, Bucyrus Ohio can you find the freshest grown flavor in the center of the true production agriculture in the farmland of the country. Experience food at its freshest where Chefs, and farm wives walk out their back door to gather the freshest ingredients for everyday meals.

Leave the hustle and bustle of the city with its plastic wrapped pre packaged foods to simple country life. As you step out in to the quiet fresh air seeing stars for the first time. Step into our kitchen. The qualified staff with show you where everything is located and share cocktail time together, exchanging stories, laughing and taking the time to just enjoy yourself. Then get ready…. as the staff gives you a quick lesson on some of the basics of kitchen gadgets, knives for class one of the 3 day experience.

The next morning you arise to a delightful aroma coming from the kitchen. Ahhh breakfast. Dawn your HideAway apron, hat and gloves as your first class begins with preparation for lunch. Class 2 will feature hints and instruction from your chef as you work in groups of two preparing your luncheon entrees.

During lunch you will be met by your cruise director and given your passports to the “Farm to table Cruise” for the afternoon. You will have a chance to visit with each farmer and or farm wife to ask questions, tour, touch, see, smell and possibly help with the activity at hand for the day on the farms. Your ports of call will include: Eyestone Flower Farm, Spring Creek Farms, Cooper’s Mill, Carle’s Bratwurst, The Bratworks, D. Picking Kettle Company, Shamrock Vineyard, Crown Tower Coffee, Coon’s Candy, and Elkridge Pheasant Farm.

Eyestone Flower Farm

Four generations have tended the land of this Bloomville (really) flower farm, which currently grows about three acres of tulips, irises, calla lilies and celosias, to name a few. It’s a family affair, and owners Chris and Andrea Schimpf will treat you as such, taking you on a personal tour through the colorful fields and possibly even putting you to work. Blooms start with May tulips, and continue through the season, and visitors can buy cut flowers, or (with advance notice) pick your own. The best months for color are August and September, when the gladiolus and sunflowers are so big you can see them from down the road.

419.284.3522.

Spring Creek Farms

Family farms have been the foundation of Northwest Ohio’s economy for generations, and as Jerry Harrer, owner of Spring Creek Farms tells it, his has been here “well over 100 years.” Spring Creek has a crop farming history, producing corn, soybeans and other foods for decades. Recently, they added perch to their list of commodities.

Take a peak into this fascinating fish farm operation, and get a first-hand lesson in how the farming industry is changing. Harrer is great with the details, even explaining how he cleverly converted two old harvesters into fish tanks.

419.284.3074.

Cooper’s Mill

Cooper’s Mill is all about instant gratification. Weekday tours take you through the creation process –cooking, canning, labeling — of their lip-smackingly good homemade jams, jellies and apple butters. Now that you’re hungry, head to the storefront, where free samples let you taste before selecting one of the 50-some varieties from the store’s well-stocked shelves. Flavors range from traditional black raspberry to the somewhat unusual banana jam, plus a pantry’s-worth of Cooper’s pickles, relishes, chutneys and hot pepper butter (“I eat it on everything,” confesses owner Miriam Cooper). The Coopers got their start as a roadside fruit stand almost 40 years ago, and have been a local favorite ever since.

419.562.4215, http://www.coopersmill.net/

Bucyrus Bratwurst

Bucyrus has a population of less than 20,000. Except in August, when the smell of sizzling brats lures an additional 100,000 visitors to the annual Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival, earning the town its nickname of “The Bratwurst Capitol of America.” Get behind the scenes of this German tradition at two local institutions. Carle’s Bratwurst has been making brats since 1929, and sells their product from their fully stocked meat and deli counter.

A window from the storefront lets guests watch their in-house brat making (if they’re done for the day, they’ll pop in a videotape of the process instead). 419.562.7741, http://www.carlesbrats.com/ The Bratworks is in its 20th year of operation, and during your tour of their production plant, you’ll learn about their commitment to preserving traditional German practices and keeping their special seasoning blend a secret.

888.853.3632, http://www.thebratworks.com/

Shamrock Vineyard

Hear Ohio, and you might think corn but in the mid-1800s, wine was just as common of an association. Back then, Ohio was the biggest wine-producing state in the country. Today, we’ve dropped back to tenth, but this history still grows in the 70-some vineyards throughout the state.

One of Ohio’s oldest continuously operating winery is just down the road in Waldo. Family-owned Shamrock Vineyard has been producing their estate-grown wines since 1971, and their wines get better with every vintage. Relax and enjoy the view of the vineyard while you sample selections made from French-hybrid, native labrusca and prestigious vinifera varietals.

740.726.2883, http://www.shamrockvineyard.com/

Crown Tower Coffee & Teas

You might not realize it when you see the endless shelves of neatly displayed tea sets, gourmet foods and other products, but coffee is king here, and they make no bones about their expertise. You’d be wise to trust them. The owners have dedicated more than 20 years to delivering the freshest and most flavorful coffee beans available, and you’ll taste this uncompromising commitment in every cup.

Crown Tower does its own roasting, so go early when you can see the mammoth machine in action.

740.382.2002, http://www.crowntower.com/

Elkridge Game Farm

Stuffed, roasted or barded, pheasant makes a delicious gourmet meal. At Elkridge, Dennis and Terri Courtad owners hatch more than 75,000 pheasants each year, shipping most to farms throughout the United States and raising the rest. The adult pheasants often make their way to the Elkridge Hunt Club, where visitors can hunt ringneck pheasant, chukar partridge and Hungarian partridge.

419.562.0195 http://www.elkridgegamefarm.com/

Now that you have returned from a day in fresh air, worked up an appetite, our humble Chef will show off just a little….. Okay, a lot!!! Your dinner will include goodies you now have a first hand know-how of the ingredients grown. Dessert, Oh Dessert is class 3. The Chef will teach you how to take ordinary items and turn them into WOW desserts to amaze your family and friends. That is both appealing to your palette, as your eyes. You have been given special hints and secrets from the Chef during the entire cruise, now is the time to ask any questions to expand your culinary experience.

As exhaustion from the day sets in, you still have time for some relaxation, a massage, and whirlpool before turning in. As you watch the sun setting on the oceans waves of grain.

Final port of call; Brunch. The breakfast cook will treat you with specialties of the Inn, as you prepare brunch for your fellow cruisers and yourself. A great time to ask any questions from the Farmers, as you will be sharing your bounty with them.

So as you return to real life; Take a deep breath can you smell the corn growing? Can you hear the quiet rush of pheasant nesting? Can you smell the clean air after a summer rain?

Do you remember the farmer looking at the sky and being able to predict the weather for the next day?

To book your Culinary Cruise; contact HideAway Country Inn, 1601 State Route 4 Bucyrus, Ohio 44820 http://www.hideawayinn.com/ or 800-570-8233.