Big Cheese Stories Jason Allard, Hudson Bay Company clerk, and James W. Robertson, Canadian Dairy Commissioner, contributed to some of the folklore that surrounds “big cheese”. Allard’s Cheese Jason Allard (1848-1931) was born at Fort Langley, BC, the son of Ovid Allard and Justine Cowichan, the sister of a Cowichan confederacy chief T’Soshia. His biographer, […]
Archive | Food Processing and Marketing
Food Processing and Marketing
Chicken Sexing in BC
Chicken sexing is an important part of egg production in BC and most commercial hatcheries employ chicken sexers who separate pullets from cockerels within a day or so of hatching. This is necessary because different feed is needed for female chicks who will lay eggs one day versus male chicks who may or may […]
Bulmans Cannery – the dehydration industry in Vernon
In 1927 Thomas Bulman of Bulman’s Limited spoke to the Vernon Rotary Club about a “dry story” – the development of the dehydration industry in Vernon.[i] The Bulman Cannery dominated the Vernon landscape for fifty years.[ii] Bulman had started the firm in 1916 on a 4,000-acre ranch 16 kilometers north of Kelowna.[iii] The company had […]
Cherry Olives
This final look at mock food considers the use of one ingredient to create a food that is not locally available, for example, the use of cherries to make Cherry Olives. The Okanagan area of British Columbia has an abundance of cherries in the summer months but olives don’t grow there. It’s not clear when […]
Candied and Glacé Fruits
Candied and glacé fruits have a place in food history to remind us of the days that a grocery store was not just around the corner. One of the Christmas gifts that my grandmother cherished getting was candied peel (not something that I ever developed a taste for). The typical fruit in fruitcakes is known […]