South & Passyunk Market Opens May 8

[rlibkind]

The South & Passyunk Market opens tomorrow, May 8. Here are the details:

Dear Local Food Fans,

The South & Passyunk Farmers' Market opens tomorrow, Tuesday May 8th!

The market opens early this season with Livengood Produce and Rineer

Family Farms offering the spring produce items, asparagus, lettuces,

radishes, rhubarb, and greens, and hanging flower baskets. Dwaine

Livengood will have his aged Angus beef and Daryl Rineer his eggs,

too.

Then, within several weeks the market will have the full selection of

local food and flowers with the addition of:

Fruit: Beechwood Orchards, a new farm this year has a great selection

of tree fruit, berries and cider, throughout the season starting when

their strawberries are ready, perhaps in a week or so.

Baked Goods: Big Sky Bakery also will return in a week or so with its

great selection of breads, rolls, and desserts.

Grass-fed Meat, Chicken, Dairy: This year we are lucky to have

Forrest Acre Farm and Highfield Dairy to bring us beef, pork,

chickens, eggs, dairy products, and prepared foods made from cow and

goat milk. These farms will start in mid-to-late May, early June. All

their products are from grass-fed animals; no supplemental hormones

and no antibiotics. I urge all (who are not vegetarians) to try these

products; they are very different in taste from products coming from

concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs, aka feed lots and

factory farms) because they come from healthy animals. They are

better for you too with lower cholesterol, higher omega-3 fatty acid

content and more favorable omega-3/omega-6 ratios.

Cut Flowers. Pumpkin Ridge Creations returns on May 15th or 22nd

depending on when flowers are ready to cut.

I hope you can make it down to greet your farmers tomorrow and

throughout the season, every Tuesday. And please forward this message

to others who may be interested.

Thanks.

Bob Pierson

Farm to City

[Andrew Fenton]

Woo hoo! Good news; I thought it wasn't going to be starting up for another couple of weeks.

Thanks for passing along the information, Bob.

[TarteTatin]

Went today. There were three stalls. Livengood, which had rhubarb (that I bought), lettuce, spinach, scallions, pretty flowers, asparagus...probably a few more items.

Another veggie stand that was there last year. I bought beautiful romaine from them at $3.25. They also had gorgeous red leaf and green leaf, asparagus, rhubarb, scallions, eggs. They said they would have strawberries starting next week.

Also, Highland Dairy was there. Lots of Goat items. I bought goat yoghurt (pint, $3.00) and a homemade little tart. Sausage, grits with goat milk, swiss, potatoes, etc. (I think it was $5.50?).

And, I bought their country ribs, ($5.50 a pound), which I had from Bob Pierson's winter harvest, and loved. Meatier than regular ribs. Tasty.

[rlibkind]

Another veggie stand that was there last year. I bought beautiful romaine from them at $3.25. They also had gorgeous red leaf and green leaf, asparagus, rhubarb, scallions, eggs. They said they would have strawberries starting next week.

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That would be Rineer's.

[ColleenD]

Do you know what the hours are? That is right in my neighborhood--hopefully, I can check it out before or after work.

[philadining]

Yesterday, they were pretty much packed-up by 7pm, but I saw people with produce not much before that.

Those people shall go nameless, just so that the Fentons don't have to fight off hungry eGulleteers that heard rumors of rhubarb pie. Oh, wait, ooops...

[mrbigjas]

for the love of god don't adulterate that rhubarb with strawberries, andrew!

[rlibkind]

Do you know what the hours are?  That is right in my neighborhood--hopefully, I can check it out before or after work.

←

The official hours are 3 p.m. - 7 p.m., however, if business is slow they will pack up a little early. That shouldn't happen once the strawberries come in (unless they sell out before closing time!).

[Andrew Fenton]

for the love of god don't adulterate that rhubarb with strawberries, andrew!

←

Unadulterated rhubarb? And risk the wrath of an angry, strawberry-deprived wife? A terrifying prospect...

Edited May 9, 2007 by Andrew Fenton (log)

[ColleenD]

Thanks for the hours info. Will check it out soon.

[mrbigjas]

for the love of god don't adulterate that rhubarb with strawberries, andrew!

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Unadulterated rhubarb? And risk the wrath of an angry, strawberry-deprived wife? A terrifying prospect...

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you have a very good point there. but i still say there's only one real sweetener for rhubarb: sugar, and plenty of it.

i'ma make a rhubarb pie this weekend.

[TarteTatin]

Sam took that rhubarb and added vanilla bean, lemon zest and juice, and sugar, let it macerate for awhile and baked it. Then he served it next to plain vanilla ice cream from Basset's. Unbelievable!

[Andrew Fenton]

I bought the biggest, most beautiful head of red-leaf lettuce EVAR from Livengood's. Sam was showing off his lettuce; it's been a good spring.

Also, more rhubarb! Going to stew it up a la TT's method, which sounds great.

And one of Livengood's NY steaks. Yum!

[Andrew Fenton]

Livengood's has had beautiful, tiny eggplants this summer:

Each is an inch or two long; they're just adorable and perfect. I've sauteed them for pasta alla Norma, but they lose the color when cooked. I don't like raw eggplant, so I'm sort of stumped on how to prepare them without losing the color. Any recommendations?

[wkl]

maybe blanch quickly, then shock in an ice bath. i believe this helps brighten and hold the color. then maybe roast? or put on a grill away from the flame or coals?

just a guess.

[mrbigjas]

the color purple in vegetables seems to be water soluble and affected by heat, too. i don't have my mcgee here to look it up, but my experience cooking purple okra, purple green beans, purple cauliflower, purple carrots, they all turn green in boiling water, or in steam, or in hot oil.

well, not the carrots. they turn orange.

i tried adding acid -- you know how adding vinegar or lemon to red cabbage when you cook it keeps it red? -- but that didn't help. edit: but i haven't roasted those things to see what would happen in heat with no liquid. i should, but i feel like the purple of the thing and the brown from the roasting would make whatever it is look like a bruise, and that's not real appetizing...

on the other hand, regular eggplant skin and grapes don't lose their purple color when you cook them, so maybe there are a couple different purples.

Edited August 2, 2007 by mrbigjas (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

I feel like whenever I roast eggplant, the skin browns or blackens, which as you say, isn't so pretty.

I'm wondering what would happen if I tried pickling them whole. Maybe if there's enough acid, the color would stick around?

[serpentine]

I'm wondering what would happen if I tried pickling them whole. Maybe if there's enough acid, the color would stick around?

I bet they'll still lose their color, but would dye any other more-absorbent veggies in the same bath purple. Similar to what happens with radishes.

However, you might get to keep some color if you slice them in half and put them skin-side up on a grill. They should cook through quickly without turning, since they're so little.

Edited August 3, 2007 by serpentine (log)