Written by Lynzie Schulte Owner of Foster the Plant Café
Foster the Plant Cafe on Market Street in Potsdam opened in December of 2019. Our aim is to bring healthy, plant-based food options to the North Country community while maintaining our mission of environmental awareness, local sourcing, and highlighting other small business owners, artisans, and associations. We love to teach the community what kinds of food can be made with locally farmed items and how meals can be delicious and filling even when there are no animal products used. One of the menu items that we make year-round with local ingredients is our pesto. Our pesto veggie wrap consists of housemade pesto, zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, and lettuce. We love it when we can get all our veggies locally during peak harvest season, but we are able to make pesto all year long!
Pesto originated in Genoa, Italy, and means “to crush” which is how pesto is made. Traditional pesto that people think about is made with basil, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan, olive oil, and salt and pepper. We like to rethink pesto using fresh local greens that are in season. In the summer we love making garlic scape pesto, yum, it has got a little kick to it that makes it shine in a wrap of fresh veggies. We also make carrot top pesto (Yes, you can use carrot tops, they’re delicious!) in the summer and fall and kale pesto in the winter and spring. You can also use greens such as arugula, parsley, cilantro, and really any greens depending on what flavor profile you would like. Then you need to blend it with a nut or seed, currently, we blend our pesto with sunflower seeds so people with nut allergies can enjoy it! You can also make pesto with almonds, cashews, or pine nuts. Garlic is a must-have in pesto, unless you are using garlic scapes, and there are many varieties of garlic you can find at farms all around the North Country. The last items to be crushed in the pesto include vegan parmesan cheese, organic olive oil, and salt and pepper.
Make pesto at home using local farm-grown ingredients. The hardest part is going to be deciding how you are going to incorporate it into your meal, pesto pasta, pesto grilled cheese, pesto on a cauliflower steak, pesto pizza, or even pesto potatoes. If you are ever in need of more suggestions, recommendations, or ideas, stop in at Foster the Plant Cafe in downtown Potsdam!
Foster Plant Cafe provides plant-based menu options and is located in the Village of Potsdam. They strive to source local ingredients and work to promote healthy lifestyles.