This past weekend was the 8th Annual Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello. For the third year in a row I’ve had a major conflict meaning I couldn’t attend the actual festival (giving birth, Mazen’s first birthday and this year, a wedding), but I had the honor of attending a preview event on Thursday night.
The event was held on Montalto, Monticello’s taller mountain neighbor. The views from the top are spectacular!
{You can see more in the two posts I wrote when we sliced Great Harvest bread during the Montalto 5K Challenge!}
I was invited along with the press and many of the speakers to get a taste for the weekend ahead – literally! I rode the shuttle up with Aaron Keefer, the Culinary Gardener of The French Laundry. We had lots to talk about since I had just come from Napa!
This was my first time inside the building on top of Montalto. It is used for events and weddings. A wedding up there would be completely magical!
The Heritage Harvest Festival celebrates Thomas Jefferson as “America’s first foodie” and honors the revolutionary gardener that he was. The focus of the weekend is on gardening, local food, and sustainable agriculture.
We had lots of beautiful food to taste inside, including an array of heirloom tomatoes. The Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is a partner of the event and provided many of the tomato varieties.
But there were some from the Monticello gardens as well – a Presidential treat!
The other end of the table featured spreads by A Pimento Catering, and they were all out-of-this-world delicious. My favorite was one that had to be beet based but was sweet like apple and a little vinegary as well. I’m guessing the base was pickled beets!
We also tasted some local fruits, including the new-to-me pawpaw.
It tasted like a blend of coconut, mango and mashed banana. Why aren’t these the most popular fruit in the world!?
My plate and some delicious chardonnay.
Lastly, there was a table featuring products sold in the Monticello Shop, including chutney, cheese straws, heritage chocolate (remember this tasting?), candied pecans, peanuts, salsas and more. If you’ve never been to the shop, they carry tons of Virginia specialty food.
I had a lovely time getting to know some of the other guests, including Holly Shimizu, former executive director of the United States Botanical Garden!
Mark your calendars for the 9th Annual Heritage Harvest Festival, and I hope to see you there next year!
Kaila @healthyhelperblog! says
Wow what a special event and a perfect setting! Monticello is definitely on my ‘to visit’ list. So much history and beauty there.
Becky says
Paw-paws are a native fruit. They bruise easily, have a shelf life about about two days after being harvested and aren’t considered pretty, so therefore, have never been cultivated for our grocery stores. They are one of those wonderful little known foods that one must forage for. They are commonly found on along the banks of rivers & creeks in this area, although Thomas Jefferson was known to try to cultivate them because he was such a fan.
They make an excellent custard pie, which is what I’ll be doing with the ones sitting on my counter Pat brought home after his day on the river this weekend.
KathEats says
Comin’ over!
Louise Matthews says
What a lovely selection of fresh food. Those photographs are fantastic and the colours are so rich and deep it just made me want to reach out and grab food straight from the screen. I have never tried Paw Paw, but now I really want to. Will have to have a good search around for some.
Anne Marie says
What an incredible event! We lived in the DC region for four years and somehow never made the trip down to Monticello…so next year’s festival is the perfect excuse to travel back! 🙂
Vanessa says
Looks amazing, Kath! I can’t wait until my calendar is full of foodie events! 🙂
Jenna says
My former coworker just opened a culinary brewery (beer infused with seasonal ingredients) called the Moody Tongue (check it out http://www.moodytongue.com/) – one of the first beers they made was with paw paws- delicious!
KathEats says
Whoa cool!
Alex @ True Femme says
How fun! Pawpaw is actually really popular as a cream/lotion kind of thing in Australia! I never ate it while I lived there though!
Kate says
We have a Pawpaw Festival here in Athens! I just attended the 16th annual fest this past weekend — I go every year. The pawpaw beer is the BEST.
http://www.ohiopawpawfest.com/
Jeri says
I’ve never been to Monticello. Are the tomatoes, the same seeds/offspring from when Thomas Jefferson was gardening? Did I say that right? Or do you have to plant new seeds each year?
Annie says
I just learned about pawpaws yesterday — how funny you mentioned them! Apparently they can grow in my boyfriend’s native Missouri (where we are this week), so I’m on a mission to find one.
Melissa @ HerGreenLife says
Annie, you might be a little too late. We visited some pawpaw trees this past weekend to forage, and they were already finished for the year. We’re going to try to remember to look about two weeks earlier next year. We also planted two pawpaw trees, but they’re just babies, so no fruit from them for a couple more years.
Connie says
Looks like an amazing event! Monticello is high my list of places I would like to visit. I remember some posts a ways back when you and Faith visited the gardens there. Do you still see her at all? She hasn’t been on the blog in a while.
KathEats says
We get together every now and then : )
Katrina says
My husband and I were just at Monticello last week! Also visited Charlottesville!