SigMT

SiG MT 85 Ninety five percent of the food—from bison and trout to coonwood ice cream and rosehip garnishes—is local. Farms and suppliers in Bozeman, Loma, Ulm, and the Flathead Valley provide the basics, while accoutrements are foraged by Executive Chef Joshua Boyd and his young sons. at foraging yields dandelion greens, juniper berries, and sunflowers—"my favorite of all plants," Boyd says. "Sunflowers thrive where they shouldn't and they're 100 percent edible, from the root on up." e petals "taste kind of like pistachios" and the stamens, which Boyd grinds into powder, taste like cumin, he says. Fermented sunflower adds an unexpected twist to roasted trout and hunters' sausage. Another abundant, totally edible food source is the coonwood. "Coonwood trees have so many great properties," Boyd says, pointing to anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. "e leaves, when young and tender, have a sweet and bier espresso flavor. I've used the buds to flavor honey. And the coon, if you can catch it on the tree, you can chew like bubblegum." Coonwood bark is used in making ice cream—a house favorite, sometimes served with a plum tart. Other desserts include a Flathead cherry cobbler and a red wine Bosc pear, garnished with sugared almonds and honey from Dyer Honey Farms. Supplied Photo Supplied Photo The beautifully restored entrance to the Grand Union Hotel was in the late 1800s a portal to the "bloodiest block in the West." Joshua Boyd (left) and Sous Chef Jay Hollinger source locally grown Montana foods. Cottonwood ice cream is made from the bark of the cottonwood tree.

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