food
Chilled, it was President George Washington’s favorite dessert. Today, rural folk throughout the eastern U.S. hunt this delectable wild fruit each fall, keeping their favorite pawpaw patch as secret as they would their best spring morel mushroom woods.
Chris Chmiel first became interested in pawpaws while in college at Ohio University. “I like to hike, and I began noticing pawpaws on the ground in the woods, just rotting, going to waste,” he says.
While many travelers regard Holmes County as the crux of Ohio’s Amish Country, few realize that Walnut Creek is its cradle. In 1809, Amish farmer Jonas Stutzman migrated from Pennsylvania to present-day Holmes County as the area’s first white settler. More Amish folks soon followed, putting down roots that blossomed into the world’s largest Amish-Mennonite community.
Springtime can only mean one thing: It’s the beginning of festival season in Ohio, a time when there’s a celebration to honor just about any hobby, haute cuisine, and historical happening in hamlets across the state. Here’s a look at some of the more interesting festivals happening this spring and summer.
When Dawn Combs whips up an herbal matcha for visitors at Mockingbird Meadows Farm, she starts by selecting one of the jars arrayed on simple wooden shelves in the space of her home that serves as a combination shop, herb apothecary, and classroom.
The jars, called TEAshots, are powdered herb blends she developed from whole plants — including bark and roots — she and husband, Carson, raise at Mockingbird Meadows.
Heading along Ohio’s Interstates and limited access highways, we sometimes forget there are amazing attractions at some of the exits.
Just off US Route 23 is Wyandot Popcorn Museum, located in downtown Marion. Famous for collecting and restoring the world’s largest collection of popcorn antiques and peanut roasters, the collection will fascinate anyone interested in antiques, collectables, and wonderful memories of another time. Two examples are more than 100 years old.
