From Our Larder to Your Pantry

In our last post we learned about the role of the larder on the farm. Today technology has largely replaced the larder for most American homes. We have refrigerators, freezers, pressure canning and dehydrators.

However if you want to eat local and seasonal your local farmer still may represent a large portion of your family larder. We have several hundred families that purchase a large portion of their produce from us.

The Larder

Did you know that larders were a common feature of large homes before the refrigerator came into wide spread use. The essential features of a larder are as follows:

• as cool as possible
• close to the kitchen
• exclude insects and rodents
• easy to clean
• shelving and containers adapted to the food to be stored
• good air circulation

In North America larders were typically on the north side of the house, where they received the least amount of sun.

Farm families only 50 years ago were intimately familiar with the larder (ask your grand parents). The larder is the precursor to the modern day pantry, which is making a comeback in modern architecture.