Broccoli

Rachel Haynes is, among other things, a writer, devout foodie, and former caterer. She lives in an apartment with a comically small kitchen.

Farmers Market Update: St. Stephen’s New York

by Rachel Haynes

Many most people think of NYC farmers markets, they think of the huge one in Union Square. With over 140 vendors each week, it’s not hard to understand why. However, it’s about a 30-40 minute trek for me via subway and unless you get there right when it opens, the crowds are insane.

St. Stephen's Green Market

So instead I usually opt for my tried and true St. Stephen’s Green Market just a few blocks away from my cozy (tiny) apartment on the Upper East Side. This market recently became year-round, much to my delight. Another thing I love about it is that they allow dogs.

A great thing the main GrowNYC information stand does is provide delicious recipes for current produce. This week I took the roasted beet and chevre grilled cheese recipe card.

GrowNYC

I always hit up Samascott Orchards for produce first. Though they’re about two hours from the city, I am going to try to go up there some time this summer because you can pick your own produce.

Being that it is late spring, we got treated to the new arrivals of beautiful broccoli (hooray for leaving the leaves on!) and sweet and crunchy snap peas.

Strawberries

The strawberries here are the sweetest I have ever tasted. In addition to eating them on their own, I have been mashing a couple up with a fork and serving them with champagne at brunch, which people have gone absolutely nuts for.

I love asparagus and am trying to savor every wonderful stalk during its short season. I was inspired by the NY Times article about asparagus and eggs, and have been making that combination for dinner in some fashion almost every night this week.

Asparagus

They also have absolutely amazing baked goods and jams.

No Sugar Apple Pie

For the rest of my produce, I hit up Gajeski Produce, which comes down to us from Riverhead NY.

They always have a beautiful assortment of lettuce, spring mix, kale, arugula, spinach, any salad leaf you could ask for. Today I also found beautifully bright little new potatoes.

Spring Greens

Gajeski always have something a little quirky, and this week it was elephant garlic. This stuff is as big as a tennis ball and it is STRONG.

Elephant Garlic

And then out of nowhere – scapes!

Garlic Scapes

These were my favorite find this week. Garlic scapes are the shoots of the garlic bulb. As the bulbs start to harden underground, the farmer can ensure further growth by snipping the shoots. They taste amazing. They are like garlic but milder and somehow greener and brighter. I have mainly been using them with my egg and asparagus combos, but I hear that scape pesto is not to be missed, so I will be attempting that this week as well.

The rest of the market, which is in a parking lot of St. Stephen’s church, consists of smaller stands which carry meat, cheese, eggs, bread, fish and flowers.

Farmer Dan from Rabbits Run Farm in Pennsylvania introduced me to the delightfully named Goumi fruit.

Goumis

Despite looking like little tadpoles, these things are nutritional powerhouses. Originally from Asia, they have the highest lycopene content of any food, and contain vitamins A and E. The seeds can be eaten and contain essential fatty acids and proteins.

They also help other things around them grow as they are nitrogen fixers and pull the nitrogen out of the air into the soil, which makes it more fertile. They are both sweet and tart and the same time.

Farmer Dan also sells beautiful goat cheeses, goats milk soap and lotions, as well as goat meat.

Soaps

I don’t eat much beef, but when I do, I don’t mess around. I get it from Rising Sun Angus Farms, who carry free range, grass fed angus beef. The farmer showed me some amazingly lean ground sirloin (2% fat).

Ground Beef

It’s gotten to the point where I can do about 70% of my shopping at the farmer’s market, which has not only been a lot healthier, it has been SO much cheaper. (To give you some idea, a quart of orange juice and a quart of milk at the supermarket will cost you $10).

My purchases this week (~$50):

• Romaine Lettuce
• Spring Mix
• New Potatoes
• Shallots
• Garlic Scapes
• Strawberries
• Broccoli
• Asparagus
• Goat Cheese
• Goumis
• Eggs

Tags: goumis, New York, St. Stephen's Green Market

Sweetest Strawberries Ever

I don’t usually buy a lot of fruit. It’s not that I don’t like it, I think it’s wonderful. But it tends to be much more expensive than vegetables. And it’s also hard to get soft fruit home without smashing it.

But today, I couldn’t help myself.

Similar to last week, the cherries were just way too good to pass up.

Ranier Cherries

But I also realized that I hadn’t even tried any of the newer fruit in the market, like these amazing blueberries. I sampled a few, and knew some would be coming home with me.

Delicious Blueberries

Then there were the plums. I love plums, but like tomatoes they are one of those fruits that are so rarely good that you forget what real ones taste like. Until you try one.

Fruits

I thought it was a bit early in the season for plums to be good, but I was wrong. These were as sweet and luscious as I’d ever tasted, and of course I had to get some.

Virctoria Heirloom Rhubarb

Amazingly, I still had to restrict myself from buying strawberries, even more cherries, and also some peaches I found that were unseasonably delicious. But I did have to save some of my money to get vegetables.

Radishes

I’m mostly enjoying salads these days. I like them with French radishes, carrots, sugar peas, spring onions and usually some quinoa or lentils.

Beautiful Treviso

I’m not ready to buy them yet, but summer vegetables are becoming more common as well.

Early Summer Squash

The strangest thing I found at the market this week was fresh Japanese ume plums, which I’ve only ever seen pickled. I might pick some up next week so if any of you have a recipe I’d love to hear it.

Ume Plums

Today’s purchases (~$50):

• Cherries (Bella Viva Farms)
• Blueberries (Triple Delight)
• Flavorosa plums (Twin Girls Farm)
• Spring salad mix (Star Route Farms)
• French radishes (Heirloom Organic Gardens)
• Asparagus – last week! (Zuckerman’s Farm)
• New potatoes (Zuckerman’s Farm)
• Red Russian kale (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Green shallots (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Mediterranean cucumbers (Happy Quail Farms)
• Whole chicken (Marin Sun Farms)

Tags: blueberries, cherries, Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, plums, radishes, rhubarb, San Francisco, summer squash, treviso

Mountain of Cherries

I’ve been doing this farmers market thing for awhile now, and I have to say that cherries are without a doubt some of the most difficult fruit to photograph. They’re so bright red that it washes out nearly every detail on the fruit, and drowns every other color in the frame.

Consequently I rarely feature my cherry images, and today would have been no different if I didn’t think leaving them out would be a crime. Because anyone who went to the San Francisco farmers market this weekend knows that the cherries were the star of the show.

Tasty Strawberries

And that’s no small feat this time of year. Today I tasted a strawberry so good I thought it had been injected with sugar, because it reminded me more of the sweetened agua fresca drinks from the taquerias in the Mission district than it did any natural fruit.

But still the cherries were better. Not only that, they’re better than they were last year and possibly the year before that. Honestly it was difficult to not buy some from every farm I stopped at, and I do regret not coming home with more. Don’t miss the cherries this year folks.

Brooks Cherries

Of course there were other notable spring treats as well. Rhubarb is here, and before the season ends I’m determined to try to figure out how to use it. Most of the recipes I’ve seen for it are sweet, which I’m not so excited about. If you know of any good savory recipe, please let me know.

Rhubarb

Generally all the spring vegetables are still amazing. I’m especially loving the sweet spring onions, though I’m normally not a huge onion person. This year I’m adding green onions to everything from eggs to salad. The leeks are excellent too.

Spring Vegetables

Oddly even summer produce is starting to appear. I was stunned today to see watermelon and peppers this early in the season. The vendor told me it was from their farm in Southern California, which makes a bit more sense.

First Watermelons

But as much as I love summer, I’m not ready to skip ahead just yet. I still haven’t tried any of these beautiful blueberries on my morning muesli.

Blueberries

Nor have I found anything to do with green almonds yet this season.

Green Almonds

And the last of the citrus fruits shouldn’t be ignored either. This late in the season tangelos, navel oranges and kumquats are the best. Though we had some spectacular blood orange juice this weekend as well.

Kumquats

It’s truly an amazing time of year for the farmers market. Don’t miss it.

Big Tomatoes

Today’s purchases:

• Mindblowing strawberries (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Red Russian kale (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Heirloom black cherries (K & J Orchards)
• Baby carrots (Knoll Farms)
• Salad greens (Knoll Farms)
• More carrots (Star Route Farms)
• Cilantro (Star Route Farms)
• French breakfast radishes (Heirloom Organic Gardens)
• Red onion (Balakian Farms)

Tags: blueberries, cherries, green almonds, kumquats, leeks, muesli, rhubarb, strawberries, tomatoes, watermelon

Spring Onions

It’s that time of year again! With spring in the air, farmers markets are opening up all over the northern hemisphere. If you’d like to share your local market with Summer Tomato readers, please read the guidelines then let me know.

Greg Hayes is a father, husband, and unintentional health nut who writes about fitting fitness into busy lives at Live Fit Blog. Check it out to read his ramblings about fitness, healthy living, and being mauled by little boys.

Farmers Market Update: Bowling Green, Kentucky

by Greg Hayes

Over the last several years, my wife and I have slowly made the transition to living a healthy lifestyle here in southern Kentucky. Not a simple proposition in a state with one of the highest rates of obesity in the nation.

For me, the responsibilities of graduate school, career, and starting a family had crowded out thoughts of fitness. Seven year ago, after tearing an ACL, I decided it was time to get my weight under control and make fitness a priority. I learned how to lose belly fat, and made the commitment to start eating healthy. It’s taken some time, and making use of the freshest food in the region has been a cornerstone of that healthful eating plan. For me, that plan starts with the SKY Farmers Market.

SKY Farmers Market

Farmers markets in this area are usually open from mid-April through mid-October, so we’re just getting started with the local harvest. This Mother’s Day weekend the wife, kids, and I wandered out in search of some fresh spring vegetables, and a little camaraderie. We scored on both fronts.

The city of Bowling Green has two farmers markets. The SKY market, open on Tuesday and Saturday mornings, is the newer of the two. They distinguish themselves from their competitors by certifying that the vendors actually produce the wares you’ll find in the market. Membership requires an inspection by the market manager, so you can guarantee the goods available aren’t trucked in from elsewhere. It means you shouldn’t expect to find watermelons in May, but you can be certain to get the freshest possible produce.

Collard Greens

The vendors do a wonderful job of establishing a festive atmosphere, with live music, animals to interest the kids, and even a hot breakfast, cooked right there.

Little Piggies

There are no permanent structures, so the vendors pull their trucks and vans in on Tuesday and Saturday to open for business. Despite being a rather cloudy day with a threat of rain, there was still quite a crowd.

Live Music

Being early in the growing season, the selection of vegetables is currently weighted heavily toward cool season crops. Kale, green onions, asparagus, and many herbs were in high demand, along with early strawberries.

Fresh Herbs

O’Daniel Farms is one of the most well-known family farms, and their asparagus always goes fast. In addition to a great selection of vegetables, they also sell locally raised beef and chickens. Antibiotic and hormone free, of course.

Local Meats

The kids always head over to check out the selection at Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese, where you can find locally made cheeses in a variety of unusual flavors. From there, its a beeline to look through the current choices of homemade dog biscuits for their two best buddies, Alvin and Jackson.

Homemade Dog Biscuits

We were there to pick up fresh asparagus but spent Saturday morning celebrating Mother’s Day with my wife, so we arrived late. The asparagus had already sold out, but we found the following items to tide us over until Tuesday morning.

Cheese

SKY Market purchases:

• Kale – O’Daniel Farms
• Arugula – O’Daniel Farms
• St. Jerome Cheese – Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese
• Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits — Zutray Dog Bakery
• Onions – O’Daniel Farms

What special treats were at your farmers market this week?

Tags: Bowling Green, Kentucky

Perfect Rainbow Chard

Everything was so beautiful at the farmers market this weekend, I’m going to let my images speak for themselves.

Spring Flowers

Spring Strawberries

Red Radishes

Pea Tendrils

Lovely Spring Onions

Organic Green Garlic

Heirloom Tomato

Fresh Sage

Lovely Carrots

Baby Fava Beans

Early Cherries

Bergamont & Chocolate Mint

Purple Flowers

Today’s purchases:

• Strawberries (Lucero Organic Farms)
• Baby artichokes (Iacopi Farm)
• Red Russian kale (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Fava beans (Catalan Family Farm)
• Carrots (Catalan Family Farm)
• Cilantro (Catalan Family Farm)
• Sugar snap peas (Chue’s Farm)
• Italian parsley (Chue’s Farm)
• Morel mushrooms (Far West Fungi)
• Salad greens (Star Route Farms)

Is your farmers market open yet?

Tags: carrots, chard, cherries, fava beans, green garlic, heirloom tomatoes, mint, onions, pea greens, radishes, sage, strawberries