Here, Sara shares a recipe passed down from her husband’s Latvian grandmother, Zelma Stiebrs, who came to Washington state in 1949. Seventy-five years later, her Latvian piragi remain a family favorite.
For the dough
2 packages yeast
½ cup warm water
3½ to 4 cups flour
3-plus tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening or butter, plus more for greasing bowl and baking sheet
Potato chips. Cookies. Candy. A burger, fries, and soda from your favorite fast-food restaurant. Most people know these are processed foods. But even apples, the classic healthy snack that keeps doctors away, are processed.
“‘Fresh’ apples are actually picked several months to a year before they show up in the supermarket,” says Soo-Yeun Lee, director of the School of Food Science at Washington State University. “They’re washed, coated with an edible wax, and stored in a very specific condition before they’re distributed. That’s all processing. Without it, apples would shrivel up or rot within a few weeks.”
Of course, the best place to get fair food is the fair itself.
But you can also make your own at home, putting your deep-frying, powdered sugar-dusting skills to the test with recipes for everything from corn dogs to funnel cakes.
Here’s a round-up of recipes to try if you can’t wait for next year’s fair fare.
“When I get introduced to people for the first time and I tell them I make Cougar Gold cheese, they don’t believe me,” says Sarah Beale, head cheesemaker at WSU Creamery. “It’s kind of fun. Especially locally, everyone knows Cougar Gold.”
Beale has managed WSU’s day-to-day cheese-making operations for three years. One of the most difficult parts of the job: training and scheduling the approximately 40 student employees.
“Scheduling is crazy,” Beale says. “If we’re doing a double-batch day, a cheesemaker and pasteurizer need to be here by 3:45 a.m. on Mondays and 4:45 a.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The rest come in … » More …
Photo detail by E.J. Armstrong
