Pennsylvania Proud! Afternoon Tea

 This was the first time we offered an Afternoon Tea that featured some of the unique culinary foods and Pennsylvania crops that are grown in our area. PA encompasses a large area, and many regional foods represent the state. Since we are located in south central PA, the menu was influenced by the Pennsylvania Dutch foods since that is what we grew up with also. We did try to include other regions in the menu. To start the tea, we featured a traditional wilted salad with bacon bits, asparagus pieces, hard boiled eggs and tossed with Hot Bacon Dressing. A very sweet salad, many were happy to have enjoyed this special treat! The salad represents Lehigh County.

The savories included a Parmesan Cheese Toast cut out in the shape of Pennsylvania thus representing all 67 counties in our beautiful state. To the right is a potato filled Pierogi with caramelized onions representing Luzerne County and the Polish contribution to our cuisine. Did you know that 68 mushroom farms in PA produce 63% of all white mushrooms sold in the United States? That explains the Parmesan Cheese Stuffed Mushroom (Chester County). The Baked Sweet Corn represents all 67 counties as corn is grown in every county throughout PA. The Triple Apple Chicken Salad Sandwich represents York and Adams Counties. known as the heart of apple country. And the sweet and savory Lebanon Bologna Rollups represent Lebanon County.

Celebrating Cumberland County, we served Sweet Remembrances PA Proud Scones (of course!). The scone was served with homemade slow cooker apple butter representing Montgomery County. Little Pretzel Bites served with Honey Mustard featured Philadelphia County. 

An array of tiny desserts completed the Pennsylvania Proud tea. We served Shoofly Pie, a regional treat associated with Berks County. The controversy surrounding what to call the yummy cream filled pie/cookie/cake - are they Gob Cakes (Allegheny County, western PA) or Whoopie Pies (eastern PA) was not solved at our event nor did we discuss whether they originated in Pennsylvania or Maine. Instead, we just nibbled on them and savored their sweet cream filling. The city of York, PA claims to be the Snack Food Capital of the World. As a nod to that claim, the third dessert featured potato chips, specifically Middleswarth (Snyder County) Potato Chip Shortbread Cookie. Amazing that the crunch of the potato chip is easily discerned while eating this shortbread.

What a fun afternoon - visiting 1/5th of the states counties through this Afternoon Tea.