Another Farmers’ Market Haul!

This week’s haul

The trip to the Farmers’ Market almost didn’t happen today – Someone felt the need to complete watching the entire book dramatization (read: TV series) of Lethal White last night, which made getting out of bed a major production. Somehow, though, the Great Feat of getting dressed, organized, and out the door happened before 830 A.M. in spite of a “certain knowledge” that the lines would be horrific at this point.

The weather in the area has been quite warm and humid, with storms building and finally arriving yesterday. The result of this is that this morning, the temps were much cooler and the humidity lower. In practical terms, it meant that it was much easier to breathe as the Amazing M Planet opened the door and stepped out to make the trip to the Farmers’ Market. This was a refreshing surprise. No. It was much more than refreshing. It was amazing, and a bit of a joyful-soul-WOW! moment to step out the door and not be instantly drenched in sweat as the sauna hit.

The general feeling among the vendors, farmers, artists, and consumers present this morning was one of relief, with commentary about the lovely weather this morning being an overarching theme of conversation.

Today’s haul was fruit-heavy. This is because the Mileur Orchard farmers had seconds available, both in peaches and in nectarines. Seconds are a great way to support a local farmer and yet be easy on the budget. Sauces, chutneys, juices, and jams do not require picture-perfect fruit. These seconds are small and have interesting shapes, but the flavor is out of this world. They also had small apples available. Many of the apples will be dried. Dried apples can be used in granola, muesli, tea blends, tisane blends, and as a single-note tisane. A hot apple tea in the autumn is a marvelous thing, and easy to prepare: Add boiling water to the dried apples, let sit ~10 minutes, and decant. Apple tea is popular in many cultures, but most of the commercial products are powders. M Planet experienced apple tea made from actual dried apples in Iceland one November, drinking it while looking out over the moor across from the National Museum of Iceland. The peaches and nectarines will also be dried and used in the same ways.

One of the vendors, Meyer Produce, had small cherry tomatoes and blackberries. Some of the nice things about the smaller tomatoes are that they are a nice snack, have a full flavor punch, and are easy to portion. Larger tomatoes are great when canning, slicing for sandwiches, and salads, but if a household is watching their food budget, sometimes only half a large tomato is used, and the rest put in the fridge for later. Tomatoes taste best when stored at room temperature, but leaving a half-used tomato out is not plausible option – although the fruit flies, post-harvest pathogens (aka molds) do love a left-on-the-counter-overnight tomato. The beautiful color of Meyer’s tomatoes was outshone by the full flavor profile; a great investment. Salad toppings, taco toppings, bruschetta (yes, a bit of a pain with a small tomato but with bruschetta, lots of flavor makes the best end result). The blackberries were a bit of an impulse purchase, because they are tasty, but some will be dried and used in a blackberry, sage, rosemary, and black tea blend experiment.

The Amazing Kountry Fresh / Koss Farms people had basil available today, which is driving the bruschetta conversation. They have packets of green and purple basil; TGTW prefers the purple for bruschetta, but the idea of making a small amount of pesto has come to mind. TGTW is not a fan of pine nuts, mostly because they aren’t used enough to make having them around until they go rancid (which they will, quickly, even in the refrigerator). However, pesto can be made with any sort of nut, or nutty thing, so that’s not a limitation – think peanuts, sunflower seeds, pistachios, peppitas, toasted dals/ split beans or peas. This time around, the sampler pack called – each of these lettuces has a different flavor, and a chef’s salad with multiple lettuce varieties is a treat.

Today the Joyful Wren Farmers had small eggs. They also had garlic! TGTW has been meaning to try to make Scotch Eggs, but the small eggs are preferred for this. Scotch eggs pack a huge protein punch, and a bit of a crunchy-decadent punch, so the idea of using small eggs for a smaller treat is quite intriguing.

Twin Acres Farms had some absolutely inviting onions. In fact, they reached out from across the walkway and called to TGTW, a bit of a siren call from onion to onion lover. They are a lovely purple-red spring onion and will be put to good use. Quickly. Lately MP has been roasting spring onions – cut in half and toss or brush with olive oil and whatever seasonings appeal. Bake at 400 deg F for about an hour. The outside will caramelize and the inside will be soft and sweet. Alternatively, throw on the grill and cover while cooking.

The hope of getting some chicken thighs from Moore Family Farm was quickly dashed – they were sold out! Good on them. Sad for me. Thankfully Triple S Farms had some; their chicken is always tasty. Another round steak from Triple S for the freezer made its way into the bag as well – last week, this ended up being Mongolian Beef over rice. Marinaded overnight, the meat is tasty and tender in stir fries. Especially – tasty. And because the dinner companion is a bit picky, after trimming all the fat from the meat, the smaller pieces that were too small to cut into strips were minced and mixed with some red spring onion and salt, and placed atop homemade knakkebrod, for a decadent (NO WORMS) teatime treat.