Tag Archives: The Oklahoma Food Cooperative

Faith, Oklahoma culture

Three Laughs with the Wizard of Oz: A Profile of Bob Waldrop

Editor’s Note – Today across Oklahoma, thousands of citizens are picking up their Oklahoma Food Cooperative orders.  They’ll be assisted by hundreds of volunteers to pick and check their orders from producers all over the state.  We’re re-running this essay we posted last October as a reminder to consider joining this highly positive system of sustainability in Oklahoma.  Later today, we’ll introduce you to a Storm Tracker and his life. Have a wonderful day ~ The Editor

Bob Waldrop - Photo borrowed from his Facebook page with permission.

I recently ran into someone who went to church where Bob Waldrop serves as the Director of Music.  When his name came up they responded, “Oh, yeah…we know him.  We call him the Great and Powerful Oz.  That guy really is something else.”  They laughed and I joined them.  I joined them for the same reason that anyone would join in a joke:  because it was true.  I had never put my finger on a description that fit this man, but people within his congregation at the Church of the Epiphany had summed it up in one phrase.

“The Wizard of Oz” was a character who was revered, feared, was a mystery and who people thought might just have the answers or solutions to every problem they carried with them.  However, the Wizard ended up being a down to earth human being who had done the best he could to build an idea from which hundreds and possibly thousands of people had benefited.  He also, however, contained the notions and practicality of finding virtues in those who sought him out; he was able to pass along something of value to them so that they believed in themselves…and in something bigger than themselves.  Yes, Bob was Oz. Continue reading Three Laughs with the Wizard of Oz: A Profile of Bob Waldrop →

My Little Victory Garden, Oklahoma culture

My Little Victory Garden: Buttermilk Biscuit Throwdown, PLUS Cauliflower Isn’t Cabbage!

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Oh the agony of it all.

I recently received my first delivery from the Oklahoma Food Cooperative system and now I have to think about how to use my food!  In my mind the first thing I knew I had to investigate was the Buttermilk from Wagon Creek Creamery.   I wanted to know if I could bake with it, and how the product would act in a recipe.  My solution?  Have a Buttermilk Biscuit Throwdown and ask my family to judge the results.

Here is the description from their listing on the Coop website:

Our buttermilk is the direct byproduct of our buttermaking process. This buttermilk is not cultured (so it isn’t as thick nor as sour as what you purchase at the supermarket.) We freeze it to keep it fresh. Just thaw and use in your favorite biscuit, pancake, fried chicken, etc. recipes! Packaged in a sealed 8 oz. container. Because it is a by product of the butter making process, it may contain a little salt. Ingredients: buttermilk, salt.

Although I have always been fine using Braum’s Buttermilk, a small voice inside my head said, “Do it.  Order the buttermilk and see what it’s like.”  So I did.  I comes frozen in a plastic pouch.  I set it in my refrigerator on ordering day and noticed the defrosting time was about 48 hours.  This product sells for $1.99, so it’s clearly more expensive than the Braum’s counterpart.

Let’s look at the Braum’s product.  Here is the description of their half-gallon from their website:

Braum’s Grade A Pasteurized Buttermilk is real old fashioned buttermilk! Made with low fat milk fresh from our dairy herd on the Braum Family Farm…you can’t get any fresher than that! Great by the glass or use it as an ingredient in your favorite recipe!

Now for the ingredients: Cultured Grade ‘A’ low fat milk, stabilizer blend (modified tapioca starch, carrageenan, locust bean gum), gelatin, salt.  I’ll refrain from my commentary fighting to erupt out of my fingers right now. Continue reading My Little Victory Garden: Buttermilk Biscuit Throwdown, PLUS Cauliflower Isn’t Cabbage! →