Heartland Longhorns: A fresher, healthier meat at Du Quoin Farmer's Market
About five years ago Mr. and Mrs. Brad Morgenstern started giving Perry County residents a healthier choice at the dinner table.
Their Heartland Longhorns fresh beef and pork has been a hit all summer long at the Farmers Markets in Du Quoin and Benton.
Longhorn beef is the healthier choice when choosing your red meat. Lower in saturated fat, much leaner, and is also the number one source of vitamin B12, zinc and protein.
Longhorn beef also contain 20-30% of the recommended daily allowance of selenium, which the body needs to help fight off infections and reduce the risk of heart disease. People with high cholesterol can also benefit from eating Longhorn beef, it can actually lower "bad" cholesterol and raise "good" cholesterol.
Longhorn beef only has 140 calories, 3.7 grams of fat, 61.5 mg cholesterol compared to 289 calories, 20.7 grams of fat and 90.00 mg cholesterol in regular ground beef, and 272 calories, 18.5 grams of fat and 87.7 mg cholesterol in lean ground beef. Even our always thought of healthy chicken with 173 calories, 4.5 grams of fat and 85.7 mg cholesterol comes in higher.
Due to Longhorn beef having less fat, the cooking time is reduced quite a bit, and there is almost no shrinkage. The actual size of the hamburger patty you make, you can be assured that it will stay the same size after cooking.
The Morgensterns also sell their beef at the Benton Farmers Market on Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and from their home.
The couple raises the longhorn livestock and has the meat processed at Trenton Processing Center, Inc a quality wholesale and meat processing plant in Trenton, Ill. a small town in Clinton, Ill. just off I-64 on your way to the Fairview Heights area.
On Saturday, the couple was also selling sweet corn by the sack-load. They couldn't keep it on their display table. Their offerings include a variety of steaks, roasts, and ground beef. They also have brats, pork steaks, sausage, and ham slices when available.
The Morgenstern family has been an important part of the area's farming and church community for many years. Not only are they providing a high quality product to Southern Illinois, but they are having a lot of fun doing it.