Farmers Markets

[foodgeek]

Saturday morning I bought at the Farmer's Mkt:

snap peas

early glow strawberries

asparagus

rhubard pie

yellow summer squash

peach butter

roses (not for eating)

[NulloModo]

Sunday's haul:

Big bag of Vidalia onions

Big bag of Shallots (yay, only .99 a lb)

Serrano Chiles

Jalapeno Chiles

Red and Green Italian Frying Peppers

Cilantro

Eggplant

Fresh Garlic

Bok Choy

Fresh Tomatos

[laurenmilan]

Anyone here do Pick-Your-Own berries? I get such genuine pleasure out of it... strawberry season just started, sour cherries in a few weeks...

[Squeat Mungry]

From the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market yesterday (shopping with Carolyn Tillie and her SO, Shawn):

Garlic Scapes

Watercress

French Breakfast Radishes

Lemon Cucumbers

Lavender

From Cowgirl Creamery:

Parmegiano Reggiano

Uplands Cheese Co.'s Pleasant Ridge Reserve

Gorgonzola Dolce

From Acme Bakery:

Ciabatta

Cheers,

Squeat

Edit: How could I have forgotten the beautiful fresh porcini?

Edited June 6, 2004 by Squeat Mungry (log)

[wnissen]

Finally got a chance to try the Ferry Market in San Francisco, and got some good stuff: Toad Hollow peaches (wow) and cherries, pink "heirloom" hardneck garlic, and Russian fingerling potatoes. White nectarines, two pints strawberries (uneven, but very good), raspberries. Fantastic looking and tasting dandelion greens, large green beans, perfect small globe eggplants, and from Cowgirl Creamery, a wheel each of Mt. Tam and Red Hawk. For lunch, I had a half-wheel of Mt. Tam, which was perfectly creamy on the outside and just firm on the inside. The highlight of my day. Ate it at the wine bar, with a 375mL carafe of 2003 l'Hortus rose' (I think it was Coteaux du Languedoc). Also left with a jar of rhubarb preserves (hard to find without strawberries), a piece of un-nitrated ham and a 3 lb. pork shoulder from Niman Ranch. Then I lugged everything a mile down the road to my parking space outside Dee Vine Wines. :)

So, to answer melkor's question above, I would say that the Ferry Market quality is better than Pleasanton, for sure. If you want organic, it's definitely the place to go. However, I have two complaints. First, everyone had greens and fruit, but veggies seemed a little hard to come by. Not that they weren't there, but the market is so big that even if one stand has them, you might not spot it. Second, I would go broke buying $6 a pound peaches and $2.50/lb organic squash. I've come to regard shopping at the Pleasanton market as an essential, affordable luxury, but going from $50/week to $100 is something I would have to consider. It was great fun to visit, and I really like being able to get meats and cheeses, and having access to the top-quality stuff is a great option, but I'm not sure I'd want to live there. If money were no object, it'd be heaven on earth.

Walt

[bleachboy]

This week from the CSA:

Cracoviensis lettuce

"Little Gem" romaine

Sugar snap peas

Snow peas

Swiss chard (multicolored)

Garlic flowers ("scapes"/"pigtails")

Parsley

Beets

Sage

Radishes (these were really spicy - intriguing!)

daylilies

[Malawry]

Dupont Circle market, Washington, DC:

Assorted cucumbers from Wheatland Veg Farms

Sunnyside Farm organic Kobe ground beef

Sunnyside Farm eggs

Okra

Four teeny-tiny green peppers

Butterhead and red leaf lettuces

Blueberries

The last strawberries of the season

I regarded but walked away from baby artichokes--I'd already indulged with the beef and berries and thought they were just too much on top of everything else. I also briefly considered zucchini blossoms but rejected them. I try to prioritize.

My friend regarded the purslane from the greens table with a mixture of admiration and disgust: "That's the crap I'm always trying to pull from the cracks in my driveway."

Sunnyside had a sign on their garlic referring to the price "per unit," which I assume means "per head."

[wnissen]

Please pardon the shameless self-promotion, but my farmers' market purchases this week are documented pictorially on my Foodblog

[Toliver]

Fat ripe red tomatoes

Red, yellow and green bell peppers

White "champagne" peaches

A bunch of basil

Shallots the size of plums!

Garlic

And an apple turnover and a tomato pie(!) from the German woman who sells baked and canned goods.

I saw raisins for sale at one farmer's booth. Isn't August kind of early for raisins? I always hate seeing them because, to me, raisins always meant Autumn was coming and the end of tomatoes and peaches and Summer.

[tanabutler]

Saturday market at Cabrillo College, noonish: a ham and cheese croissant; two oysters; pea shoots; zucchini; a Gravenstein apple for Bob.

Sunday market on East Cliff: two baskets of organic strawberries from Windmill Farm and one pound of yellow wax beans from Dirty Girl Produce.

Edited August 9, 2004 by tanabutler (log)

[hathor]

Sautrday, mid-day at the Union Sq. Greenmarket (NYC). What was I thinking going at 1:00?? It was a zoo!!

Rainbow colored carrots

Rainbow colored heirloom tomatoes

Blonde cucumbers

Zucchini blossoms

Eggs

Lots of greens in all sorts of colors, not just green

peaches

yellow watermelon

gorgeous red onions

striped bass filet, it smelled incredible, briny like an oyster

and somehow I forgot to get okra...!

[Jensen]

Inspired by Laksa's blog and also one of Russ Parson's articles in the LA Times this week:

Clockwise starting with the herbs: parsley, cilantro, Thai eggplants, daikon, burdock root (labelled as “gobo” at the market), loofah squash, bitter melon 1, bitter melon 2, jalapenos, and–on the plate in the middle–raw peanuts.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with these but I plan on having fun!!!

[Toliver]

I was sad to see this time of year roll around again (so soon?). The supply of peaches and tomatoes are slowly dwindling away and raisins, apples and squash are subtly sneaking in. What's a fan of Summer to do?

Purchased this week:

Organic Pluots that taste like green grapes

Organic garlic

Organic shallots the size of nectarines

Organic tomatoes

Yellow and Green Bell Peppers

A jar of locally harvested wild flower honey

And 2 pieces of Linzer Tort and a tomato pie from the German woman who sells baked and canned goods.

[little ms foodie]

We are very lucky as we have a Sat farmers market 2 blocks from our house. I love the changing of the market, week to week.

This Sat. we bought tins of locally caught albacore tuna packed in a wonderful olive oil. Fresh goat cheese. Organic salad greens. Organic blackberries. Walla Walla sweet onions, heiloom tomatoes and corn on the cob and a bunch of red and yellow Dahlias.

And as we do every Sat while the market is going on......struedel from the wonderful woman from Prague who makes very good bakery items!

Edited August 30, 2004 by little ms foodie (log)

[kiliki]

While on a business trip last week I visited the Sacramento farmer's market. While it wasn't the best/most diverse market I've ever been to, I was blown away that almost nothing cost more than $1/lb. A number of varieties of peaches, nectarines, grapes, summer squashes, chilis, etc, all $1/lb or less. Big red, yellow and orange peppers, 4 for $1. I paid all of $1.50 for a basket of strawberries.

[Knicke]

This week: Tomatos, peaches, celery, herbs, and a 1/2 lb. of mixed mushrooms (shiitake, oyster?, and hen-o'-the-woods). I'm going back next week, of course!

[michaeldauphinais]

yesterday, at St. Philip's plaza in Tucson, AZ:

Alaskan wild coho salmon

freshly-roasted hatch chiles - $4 for a very generously stuffed quart-size ziploc bag

quinoa tamales from a bolivian farmer

AMAZING corn chowder

fresh eggs

[Toliver]

There's aren't many vendors this time of year, but I still made some good buys -

Organic stuff:

Baby spinach

Yellow carrots

Grapefruit

Butter lettuce

Turnips

Baby bok choy

And some Linzer Tort, apple raisin scones and two jars of home-canned saurkraut from the German woman who sells baked and canned goods.

[Toliver]

"We sing of Spring, sing joy Spring!..." - The Manhattan Transfer

This was the first week strawberries from Santa Maria have made an appearance this year.

I even saw peaches for sale at the produce broker's stall (boo hiss ) but I don't buy from him so I passed them up.

It's a still mix of seasons. There are a lot of greens around (even brussel sprouts!) and apples & citrus are still present.

The honey man didn't have honey yet. I would have thought with the super abundance of wildflowers this year in SoCal that he'd have a good harvest already but I guess it's too soon in the season for him.

I ended up buying:

A head of organic cauliflower as big as a bowling ball (it's huge, I tell ya!)

A head of organic cabbage, firm and green.

Three bunches of organic carrots (orange, this week)

Organic blood oranges

Romaine lettuce

And some pieces of Linzer Tort, a bag of apple-raisin scones and a bottle of ketchup from the German woman who sells baked and canned goods (her horseradish mustard is wonderful).

[kitwilliams]

My Cauliflower Album

Above is a link to my album in image gullet showing the photos my friend (don't know if I can legally give him a plug here? please advise) took of this week's farmers market purchases. Both purple and "cheddar cheese" cauliflower (I think "butter" would be a more appropriate name), tomatoes and apples. The cauliflower purchased from the organic cauliflower man (his name is Neil -- I don't know the name of the farm) at the long beach marina farmers market. I'll have to post photos on the roasted cauliflower thread after this evening!

I'll try and post one of the pictures here as well...hope it works!

Edited March 14, 2005 by kitwilliams (log)

[tanabutler]

I had the pleasure of introducing my hostess in San Diego to the Hillcrest farmers market yesterday. She bought an enormous amount of produce and fish. To wit:

Smoked salmon

Wild line-caught salmon

Smoked scallops

Kale

Beets

A mess of baby greens

Several heads of lettuce

Pixie tangerines

Loquats

Strawberries

Avocados

Sweet peas

Assortment of mushrooms

Baby squash

Zucchini blossoms

An appetizer combo of artichoke hearts, buffalo mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red bell peppers

She'd never been and now she's a 100% convert.

Yay! Best of all, there are markets six days a week all over San Diego County.

[toto2]

Jean-Talon Market in Montreal has now put its summer dress ! well , spring dress !

[Chris Amirault]

If anyone goes to the Madison WI farmers' market at the State House, please post some photos. I miss it terribly and want to convince a few people that it is, indeed, as spectacular as I've claimed.

[LindaK]

We have some excellent farmers markets here in Boston but their life span is short, end of May thru Thanksgiving. So for now this thread is just a taunt, thank you. I'll be first in line when they open at the end of the month and will report back then.

[callalla]

At the Leichhardt Farmers Market in Sydney on Saturday (it's autumn here...)

Greengage Plums

Pink Lady Apples

Usual juicing carrots (so nice that they're organic - saves on all of the peeling!)

Beautiful tender 'wet' fat, fresh ginger

Organic eggs (with really hard shells which makes me feel that the chickens are in good shape)

Lump of speck (my gran said that speck to her is just the fat, but this had meat too)

No bread this week as we've started to make our own!