Culinary Tours & Schools

Shopping in Ganges

Best place to see what's growing week-to-week is Ganges' famous downtown Market in the Park (Saturdays between early April and late October). Or drop into main street's Salt Spring Natureworks (116 Lower Ganges Road) any day of the week. This health food store identifies Salt Spring products - apples, garlic, walnuts, etc. - with red "locally grown" labels. Over in the spice section, Monsoon Coast Exotic World Spices are roasted, ground and bottled on Salt Spring. In the cooler will be new bricks of organic smoked tofu made the island-based Soya Nova Tofu.

Specialty Producers

Among Salt Spring's better known food and wine resources are the following:

• Apple Luscious Organic Farm: This south end farm east of Fulford Harbour grows 150 types of apple along with garlic and blackberries. Owner/operator Harry Burton is a driving force behind Salt Spring's annual apple festival in early October. (All told, some 350 varieties of organic apples are grown on the island and hundreds can be sampled during the one-day fest at Fulford Harbour Hall.)
• Garry Oaks Winery (1880 Fulford-Ganges Road): Award-winning Pinot gris and Pinot noir along with Austrian and Bordeaux-style blends can be sampled in the tasting room. Visitors are invited for a contemplative walk in the winery's labyrinth.
• Moonstruck Organic Cheese (1306 Beddis Road southeast of Ganges): Blue cheeses and ash-ripened camembert are among the creamy delights produced by Julia Grace. The farm store is open four days a week in the summer.
• Salt Spring Island Cheese: Local foodie legend David Wood and his wife Nancy handcraft creamy varieties of sheep and goat cheese. Farm shop is open daily year-round. (285 Reynolds Road, five minutes past Fulford Harbour off the road to Ruckle Park).
• Salt Spring Vineyards: Blackberry port, an organic dessert wine known as "Apple Pie", and other award-winning varietals. Open daily in the summers. At the Ganges-end of the Fulford Valley on the Fulford-Ganges Road.

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