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Farmers' Markets 2015


kayb

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the farmers market in my town on the common is in full swing.  they have a lot of crafts and 'home-made' stuff.  I don't mind

 

there is one stand that I always look forward too:  a Hmong family bring the finest greens Ive ever seen.  many 'oriental'   they started today.

 

they start later than most waiting for their veg to mature a bit

 

this is them :

 

http://blogs.usda.gov/2011/03/31/hmong-farmers-extend-the-chilly-massachusetts-growing-season/

 

todays stuff:

 

Hmong.jpg

 

on the L  bunches of basil, arugula, cilantro.   R  big bunch of lettuce.

 

butterhead for them has to wait a few weeks as its still small.  I get butter head from them as long as they carry it.

 

later  green chili !

 

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market haul 0620.JPG

 

All sorts of goodies at the market this morning!

 

First okra of the year, first sweet corn of the year. Both will be for dinner Sunday. Green peas! I was so excited I bought two baskets. Some will be steamed with butter, some blanched,shocked, and used in salads, some eaten out of hand. A small green cabbage and a small red cabbage; time for slaw. Lots of tomatoes. Lots of green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, new potatoes. Gorgeous carrots. Radishes. Peaches, blueberries,blackberries (I didn't get any because I'm going to the you-pick place tomorrow), raspberries. Peppers, as I've taken the notion to make some salsa.

 

I love this time of year.

 

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www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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I did. They're shelled and in the fridge. Not as sweet, raw, as I had expected/hoped, so I think I'm going to briefly steam them and then toss them with butter.These, according to the farmer I got them from, were snow peas he'd allowed to grow larger; don't know that I've ever heard of that. They look like a sugar snap but don't taste like it. 

 

I wish I could find the old-fashioned, long-pod "English peas," as I grew up calling them. Haven't seen them at a market anywhere. 

 

A little later in the summer, there will be what I've heard called "ladypeas," a small, cream-colored pea that tastes something like a crowder, but milder. Love those as well. And then it'll be the crowders and purple-hulls.

 

I am presently delighted because I've found a semi-local grower (an hour or so away) who raises Silver Queen corn, a white sweet corn that is the best, in my opinion, in the world. I've ordered 10 dozen ears, which I'll cut off, cook briefly (longer than blanching), and freeze. Can't wait. Should be ready next week or the next.

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High market season, and a big crowd out for the Fourth of July market.

 

market 0704.JPG

 

Sweet corn, crowder peas, pink-eyed peas, green beans, peaches, tomatoes, okra, yellow squash, zucchini, tomatoes, eggs....and cinnamon rolls, which I have successfully resisted all summer. I caved this morning.

 

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Last year I asked at the farmers market I go to about Silver Queen corn and he said that farmers don't like to grow it because it doesn't keep or travel well.  My mother always insisted on Silver Queen corn in the 40's and 50's but she used to buy it at a farm stand a few miles outside of Woodbury . The stand took up a small area between the shoulder of the road and a big field of Silver Queen corn.

Yesterday the farmers market I go to had the first tomatoes they grow  for sale.  I bought some, and today I bought the bacon, and iceberg lettuce . Tomorrow morning or Saturday morning I'll be baking a loaf of pain de mie. Astronomers may get excited about the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus, but I find the conjunction of locally grown tomatoes, plus mayo, lettuce bacon and toast much more exciting.

Edited by Arey (log)
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"A fool", he said, "would have swallowed it". Samuel Johnson

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I visit two farmer's markets. I am in the Boston area.  On Tuesday and Fridays, I go to the market in Copley Square on my way to the commuter train.  This is a very nice market with a good variety, but it is definitely pricy.  It is all food vendors this year.  In previous years there were some crafters but not this year.  This market has meat, fish, cheese, and produce.

 

On Saturdays, I go to a farmer's market at a dairy farm near my home.  It is a pretty large market and less expensive than Boston's.  There are a good amount of crafters at this one, and more bakers of sweet treats than is probably necessary, but there are also a decent amount of vegetable vendors, sometimes a wood fired pizza maker, and a knife sharpener.  Here is what I bought today:

 

farmers market.jpg

 

kale, cherry and slicing tomatoes, bell peppers, summer squash, walla walla onions, scapes, scallions, blueberries, beets, a loaf of multigrain bread, three soft pretzels, 2 types of cheese, maple syrup, and you cannot see it because it is under the cheese, but a container of pretty amazing guacamole.  This cost $100, half of which was the maple syrup and cheese.

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Huiray,

Was thinking of you yesterday when I found a recipe,well not so much a recipe as a serving suggestion for shishito peppers. I see from your recent FM purchases you have some. It suggests searing them in some olive oil in a hot skillet and then serving them dressed/topped with a nice flakey sea salt, lime zest, a squeeze of lime juice and bonita flakes.

Have you ever had or seen them this way? I've never had them at all but they do look good. Just a thought :-)

And this old porch is like a steaming greasy plate of enchiladas,With lots of cheese and onions and a guacamole salad ...This Old Porch...Lyle Lovett

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Huiray,

Was thinking of you yesterday when I found a recipe,well not so much a recipe as a serving suggestion for shishito peppers. I see from your recent FM purchases you have some. It suggests searing them in some olive oil in a hot skillet and then serving them dressed/topped with a nice flakey sea salt, lime zest, a squeeze of lime juice and bonita flakes.

Have you ever had or seen them this way? I've never had them at all but they do look good. Just a thought :-)

 

Caroled,  I've treated shishito peppers in various ways including pan-seared with salt, although I don't think I've dressed them additionally with lime zest or juice or bonito flakes.  See here (scroll down to the 5th sub-entry) or here (scroll down also to the 5th sub-entry; as an accompaniment to blue marlin "steak") as examples.  Seared shishitos (sometimes stuffed) are common in places like izakayas. They make nice additions to soups and soupy noodles too (like here as an example) or in various stir-fries (see here as one example, with red shishitos), and so on.  I have not done it yet (non-confluence of availability and desire) but they should be excellent stuffed w/ surimi as an item in yong tau foo (see here for my latest prep where I mixed in ground pork as well; I've done others without pork in the past).

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Here is what I bought at the farmer's market today:

 

farmers market saturday.jpg

 

wine (I actually bought six bottles), cabbage, eggplant, black raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, six ears of corn, peppers, tomatoes, peaches, pretzel rolls, summer squash, gouda spread flavored with onion and chives, and mostly unseen in this photo green beans and guacamole.  

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Forgot to take photos of this past Saturday's haul, as we were in hurry to stash it and get to Amazing Grandson 1's third birthday party! But the goodies included a small watermelon, a BIG cantaloupe, green beans, purple hulled peas, two dozen ears of corn, okra, tomatoes and zucchini. I love summer.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Worked overnight in Dunnville - hit the farmer's market as I left this morning.

 

Had the tiny raspberries in the freezer heading to be freeze-dried before I remembered to take pictures.

 

IMG_0972.jpg

 

The market.

 

IMG_0974.jpg

 

Green beans.

 

IMG_0976.jpg

 

Peaches.

 

IMG_0978 (1).jpg

 

Lovely beefsteaks

 

IMG_0979.jpg

 

On their way to being Provencale tomatoes

 

IMG_0975 (1).jpg

 

1 1/2 dozen peaches and cream - 1 already in my gut. Some will be eaten today, others cut off and freeze dried.

 

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market haul.jpg

 

Tomatoes, raspberry rolls (!) (like cinnamon rolls, except with raspberry jam instead of butter/sugar/cinnamon), a weird sort of squash that has a firmer texture than zucchini or yellow squash, that I thought would be good to spiralize, purple hulled peas (in the basket, barely visible) that I'll shell and freeze, eggs, sausage, yellow squash to blanch and freeze.

 

 

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www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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