Glynwood Center for Regional Food & Farming
presents
EYE ON RYE
rye-grain events for industry and the public
celebrating New York Rye Week 2024

Sunday October 20 11am-1pm
The Place of Rye
Workshop & Baking Class
Essex Market, New York NY

Monday October 21 5pm-9pm
The Taste of Rye
Industry Symposium
(limited public tickets)
NY Distilling Company Brooklyn NY

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EYE ON RYE: The Place of Rye
Essex Market Kitchen
88 Essex Street, New York NY 10002
Sunday October 20 11am-1pm
 Tickets $20 purchase here
proceeds benefit Glynwood Grains & Staples program

What’s your favorite bread?  Ever wonder what grain makes the best chocolate chip cookie? Can we use rye flour in cakes - or pie dough?

Join rye scholar and professional baker Laura Valli, PhD, to explore the potential of rye in cooking and baking. The interactive class includes a sensory workshop where you’ll sample a variety of baked goods to better understand how rye influences  flavor and texture. You’ll also enjoy a step-by-step demonstration where you’ll learn to bake traditional Estonian rye bread (made with 100% rye flour) using everyday equipment and home ovens. Laura will also discuss the functionality of rye flour and the implications and benefits of growing and using rye, both on the environment and human health.

We are thrilled to host this event at Essex Market, a beloved neighborhood landmark in the Lower East Side since 1818. Today’s Essex Market revives the tradition of public markets as civic institutions that improve the quality of life for whole communities. Rye bread holds special relevance in this neighborhood,once home for many thousands of immigrants from Eastern Europe who brought their rye baking traditions with them.  

EYE ON RYE: The Taste of Rye
New York Distilling Company
5 73 Johnson Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11237
Monday October 21 5-8 pm
Public Tickets $40 purchase here
Free to Industry Professionals: register here

Eye on Rye: The Taste of Rye is a business-to-business symposium for farmers, distillers, beverage managers, retailers and other industry participants in the emerging regional rye ecosystem. This afternoon of tasting workshops, talks, and networking takes place at New York Distilling Company’s brand new distillery - Jaywalk - in Bushwick, Brooklyn. This event is open to the public, rye enthusiasts and the rye-curious. Programming includes:

  • Sensory Workshop Roy Desrochers of UVM Extension will facilitate a session including  a range of interactive aroma and flavor exercises to explore the basics of objective descriptive sensory analysis (taste and smell) with a focus on distilled rye whiskey. He will cover the sensory properties that are most important to consumers and success in the market. We will also join the ongoing conversation on taste variation stemming from different grain cultivars as well as how terroir specific to each growing area also influences flavor.

  • Farmer / User Panel Led by Dr. Heather Darby from the University of Vermont, this panel will feature a lively discussion between rye farmers and end-users including Stuart Farr of Hudson Valley Hops and Grains, Thor Oeschner of Oeschner Farms, Josh Pitts of Caledonia Spirits, and Bill Potter of New York Distilling Company.

  • Keynote Conversation: Reminders from Rye Professional baker and rye scholar Dr. Laura Valli will discuss how the resilience of rye once contributed to humans being able to move north, even as recent decades have seen a significant decline in the consumption of rye. Why has this happened? And what can the current lack of rye teach us about our food systems, food production and eating preferences? What would it take to have more rye?

  • Rye Bread Table No rye symposium can be complete without a sampling of the grain in one of its most classic formats: 100% rye bread, served with complementary toppings. With rye-based cocktails by New York Distilling Company.

Industry Professionals register here


Why Rye?

New York City is at the center of a vast region that is highly suited to growing rye grain. Only 100 years ago, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania were in fact among the top rye producing states in the country, as shown on the 1908 map above.

Rye is a resilient and reliable grain that withstands both drought and excess rain, helps build soil, and reduces erosion. Rye is naturally weed-repellant, can be grown without chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides, and is an ideal winter crop –an important niche in holistic, regenerative, and organic farming systems. By growing more rye, our region will have healthier soils and cleaner waters.

By learning more about rye, and its unique qualities both as a crop and an ingredient in food and drink, we will help build demand and create new markets for this grain --a tasty and nutritious food source that benefits the natural environment, supports our health, and builds regional economies.

To learn more about our work visit Glynwood Grains and Staples. Read more about rye and its benefits at Rye Revival

These events are partially funded by  the USDA’s Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (NESARE) program (LNE22-437), in collaboration with the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming and the University of Vermont.

NY Rye Week celebrates the rich history and promising future of rye in New York. Rye has deep roots in our state's agricultural and culinary heritage and is poised for a resurgence as a popular and versatile crop that benefits human and environmental health.