Organic Pink Lady Apples

I love featuring markets that are unexpectedly vibrant. As a desert, people don’t generally assume Las Vegas will offer much in terms of fresh, artisan food, but Kari Rose shows us otherwise.

Kari is the owner of Hip Chix a women’s & children’s clothing wholesaler that supplies to boutiques, salons and online websites. She also runs Little Hip Chix, a place where children learn about fashion and the basics of sewing.

Farmers Market Update: Las Vegas

by Kari Rose

Las Vegas

Who says Vegas has no culture? I am a native of Las Vegas and boy, has Vegas changed. Every time I tell someone I live in Vegas, they say, “Where?  On the strip?”

Vegas is more than hotels, showgirls and gambling. We have several communities with great shopping, restaurants, parks, theatre and farmers markets.

Farmers Market

Vegas farmers markets started here in 1999 in local community parks. Now, we’ve got a number of markets including one of my favorites, Fresh52 & Artesian Market (fresh52.com). This market is in two locations weekly: Summerlin and Henderson. The Summerlin location (Tivoli Village at Queensridge) is closest to my home and has become my Saturday ritual.

This market has 30-40 vendors and anywhere from 500-1500 shoppers weekly. One of the things I love about this location is how the market is nestled in a European Shopping village. In the summer, with the Vegas triple-digit temperatures, it is nice that there is an indoor walk-in area too.

This market features locally and California grown seasonal produce, baked goods, gourmet oils, salsa, spices, teas, nuts and handmade crafts.

Last weekend the Fresh52 & Artesian Market was quite festive.  I was greeted by Christmas carolers, Santa and Nutcracker characters promoting their upcoming performances at the Paris Hotel here.

Carolers

My first stop, Pink Lady apples from Bentzler Family Farms-Fresno, CA-Organic. So crisp and juicy. Next stop was D&D (Dan & Debbie Garrison) for some vegetables. This couple gathers fruits and vegetables from many farms in Fresno, CA (Yang Farms, Thao Produce & Bentzler Family Farms) throughout the week and brings them to Las Vegas.

One of my interesting finds was the exotic fruit, Budda Hand from Murray Family Farms in Bakersfield, CA. The Budda Hands were interesting looking and so fragrant you could smell them from several feet away.

Buddha's Hands

The indoor, walk-in portion of the market had lots to offer….

Fresh Produce

I was happy when I saw three heads of cauliflower waiting for me for my favorite weekly dish from Darya, Curried Roasted Cauliflower. I never liked cauliflower until I tried her recipe and now my daughter & I are hooked!

Cauliflower

There are a handful of locals producing homemade salsa, jam, honey, pasta, olive oil & balsamic vinegar. One of my favorite vendors is True Foods (truefoodslv.com). I stop by the booth each week to see Scott and pick up three containers of his salsa. He makes 5 styles: House, Scott’s Pico, Taco Shop Green, Death Salsa and Guacamolito. My favorite is the House (cilantro free) but his most popular is Guacamolito. When I spoke with him today I loved his salsa even more.

True Foods Salsa

He told me he met his wife at age 12—they were high school sweethearts, got married and both became middle school science teachers (with Master degrees). When they had a child, they decided to take turns taking a sabbatical from work so they could start their business and stay home to raise their child.

Right now Scott is taking his turn staying home, making salsa, and caring for their child. On the weekends, he and his wife sell their salsa at the farmers market. They also distribute to Whole Foods.

Salsas

Dried Fruit – Valley Best: Locally grown although the tropical are from California ()

Dried Fruits

Jams – Miguel’s Homemade Salsa & More: (Pahrump, NV), No preservatives, uses Las Vegas farmers market produce &  grandmother’s recipe.

Jams

Teas & Seasonings – Bloomin’ Desert Herb: 85% locally grown herbs-organic & fare trade

Dried Herbs

Honey – Pahrump Honey Company-est. 1999

Mesquite Honey

This honey is delicious! It’s pure, raw, desert honey from bees working the Great Basin Desert.
Bistro Blend:  Locally produced balsamic vinegar, olive oils and basting sauces—All oils and vinaigrettes are from Napa. I mix the Basil Garlic Parmesan Vinaigrette with their Meyer Lemon Olive Oil, toss it in my vegetables or drizzle it over mixed greens. Delicious!

I stopped to taste some great smelling sausage…

Sausages

Tassoni’s Italian Sausage – locally-made, no preservatives, MSG, or nitrates (25% less fat and sodium). They make several great flavors (Sweet & Hot Romano Cheese, Sundried Tomato & Garlic, Cilantro & Onion, Andoville & Bratwurst) my favorite was the Sweet Romano Cheese.

Another great stop was Veg Out. When a vegan couple lost their jobs, due to the economy, they decided to start their own business. They make 5 new vegetarian dishes weekly using locally grown ingredients, no added fats and oils.

Veg Out

There were many other vendors I enjoyed getting to know. At this booth you can buy delicious Cajun boiled peanuts made with pickles. The peanuts had the consistency of a baked potato.

Boiled Peanuts

One more thing … I usually buy these delicious dill green beans each week. They remind me of my Dad who had his own recipe. He was always canning and loved to share with his friends.

Pickled Green Beans

Of course, I couldn’t leave without having a little taste of dessert. I found homemade fudge with holiday flavors:  Pumpkin, Candy Cane & my favorite (featured flavor) Red Velvet.

Red Velvet Fudge

The market wasn’t at full capacity due to the holiday weekend so my purchases were lighter than normal. These were my purchases for the day:

• Apples-Bentzler Farms-$7.50
• Red Peppers, Cauliflower, Beets, & Onion-D & D-$14.25
• Raw Cinnamon Honey-Pahrump Honey-$12.00
• Salsa-True Foods-$9.00
• Sausage-Tassoni’s-$5.00

Worth every penny… nice afternoon, great food and a great time putting this together.

The goods

Tags: Las Vegas

Tiny Chili

Ashley Hennefer is the Green Editor at the Reno News & Review, the editor of Wildflower Magazine, and a graduate student the University of Nevada, Reno. Born and raised in the Bay area, she’s lived in Northern Nevada for ten years and has fallen in love with its agricultural community and environment. Check out her personal blog, follow her on Twitter or add her on Facebook.

Farmers Market Update: Reno, Nevada

By Ashley Hennefer

We Nevadans love our agriculture, and here in Northern Nevada we have a unique and vibrant farmers market culture. While our unpredictable weather has its perks—including our beautiful snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountain range and an abundance of frost-thriving apple trees—it also means that our farmers market season is short. By mid-September, nearly all of our markets are closed. We have a great local food co-op in Reno and several of our farms are open throughout the year, but that’s about it. Luckily, Reno’s Garden Shop Nursery has begun hosting an indoor farmers market on Sundays from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., and last weekend I checked it out.

The Garden Shop Nursery is especially beautiful during the fall and winter months, especially with all of their beautiful flowers.

Orchids

I’m thankful that it is close to my house so I can still go to the market even when it snows. I was not expecting the market to be very big—and I was right. The little market was tucked away in the back corner of the nursery. However, the vendors and Garden Shop Nursery staff did a great job setting up all of the tables. There was a pleasantly decent selection of items to choose from, and all of the vendors from Nevada and California were enthusiastic and passionate about their products.

I had an idea of what I wanted to purchase: I’ve been on soup-making kick, so I wanted to find a few items to use for that. I also wanted to find some great seasonal items, and maybe a few things I’d never tried before.

Despite the size of the market, everything was nicely displayed in baskets and bins. I got there around half way through the day and there was a crowd, although it may have just seemed that way because of the size of the room. It was warm and cozy and everything smelled great.

I first stopped to check out the onions, garlic, potatoes and squash. We picked three onions and a small spaghetti squash.

Onions and Potatoes

We use garlic often in my household but I passed on it this time since I am growing some of my own. I also passed on potatoes, although they looked tempting displayed in their baskets.

Potatoes

Because we got there after the initial rush, we missed some of the items, like farm fresh eggs (bummer!), which sold almost instantly according to the vendor. The vendor also had other items on display such as locally made pet food, salsa and tortilla chips.

Pet Food

I passed on all of these, although I tried a sample of the salsa and it was delicious. It’s on my list for this week’s shopping!

Another vendor, who had ventured to Reno from Northern California, had an eclectic assortment. His produce was very colorful and unique.

Colorful Produce

I could eat tomatoes 24/7 but they are hard to come by at this time of year since our climate is harsh on these types of plants. I did score a few, which ended up being flavorful but not nearly as much as the ones I had a few weeks earlier (one of the many sacrifices we Nevadans make).

Tomatoes

There were some bitter melons available, which I think are really cool looking, but these ones looked a bit moldy.

Bitter Melon

I was surprised at the presence of jujubes—which I’ve actually never had before! I didn’t really know what to do with them so I didn’t get any but if there are some this weekend I might try them out.

Jujubes

There were also persimmons, which I’ve never had before either. I recently saw an interesting recipe for using them on a pizza and figured I’d give it a try, plus their lovely orange color was too tempting to pass up.

Persimmons

Green beans are a favorite of mine and I snagged some before they were all gone.

Green Beans

Pomegranates are one of my favorite seasonal foods and the vendor had a nice selection, including this giant one! This photo doesn’t do it justice but this is definitely the largest pomegranate I’ve ever had.

Large Pomegranate

There were also walnuts which I thought would be great on the persimmon pizza I plan to make.

Walnuts

We got some red and black plums but the bin for the white was nearly empty already.

White Plums

After our bag was heavy with fruits and veggies, we headed to the meat area. We have some amazing farms around here and I really wanted to get some fresh cuts. I was surprised to see a fish vendor, who had also traveled from California, but he had sold most of his inventory. I’m curious to see what he will have available this week.

Fish

I could smell the sausage from Collis Ranch table several feet away. Luckily they were giving out samples (I love free samples).

Sausage

We bought two packages of sausage since we rarely eat it—one spicy and one mild–and both types were delicious.

There were other items at the farmers market like olive oil concoctions, handmade bags and jewelry, but I’m kind of a traditionalist and chose to stick just with food. I was surprised at how many items we were able to get even at a small market. I plan to visit weekly, and as much as I love Nevada winters, I look forward to what the spring brings.

Bounty

My bounty (pictured above):

• Tomatoes
• Onions
• Black plums
• Red plums
• Persimmons
• Green beans
• Small spaghetti squash
• Sausage from Collis Ranch

Want to share your farmers market with Summer Tomato readers? Read the guidelines then drop me an email!

Tags: Nevada, Reno

Guatemala

Karen Merzenich is a former pastry chef from San Francisco. She writes (mostly) about recipes and travel at Off The Meat(Hook). You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter (@offthemeathook).

Farmers Market Update: Dia de los Muertos, Guatemala

by Karen Merzenich

Last week I was traveling in Guatemala and had the great pleasure of visiting a farmers market in Santiago de Sacatepequez, a town that’s about a 30 minute drive from the main Guatemalan tourist town of Antigua. It was a festival day, so the market was in full swing.

One common Guatemalan fruit for sale is the nispero. I have never heard of this fruit before, but when I looked it up it was translated as “sapopilla” or “naseberry.” It was described as being similar to a plum, but a little more tart and with a mango-like fibrous pit. Guatemalans eat nisperos raw, and they also use them to make wine. I love how they’re displayed on a bed of banana leaves.

Nisperos

I was surprised to see rambutans in Guatemala – I always assumed they were only grown in Asia. In Guatemala, they are called momochinos.

Rambutans

Avocados grow wild all over Guatemala at this time of year, and many indigenous people make a living by collecting wild avocados in big bushels and selling them to vendors or at the market.

Avocados

Radishes are in season too, and on many menus at this time of year. Here a young girl displays them on a piece of hand-woven Mayan cloth.

Radishes

By November, the corn growing season is nearing its end, but you can still find maiz negro (black corn) for sale, raw or roasted.

Black Corn

The black corn is also ground to make masa (dough). for black tortillas, which have a very distinct flavor compared to the white or yellow corn tortillas. Women roll the masa heavily over a piece of volcanic rock. Then, they pat them into thick tortillas and toast them on a large flat metal plate over an open fire.

Making Black Corn Tortillas

Some market vendors don’t even set up a stall—they just sell what they have off the back of their pickup truck.

Pickup Truck Vendors

I had specifically visited Santiago de Sacatepequez at this time of year so I could attend their well-known Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration. November 1st is an official holiday for Guatemalans—so they can spend the day in celebration of their deceased friends and family members. In Santiago, the day’s activities combine elements of Catholicism with Mayan traditions. Because it was a festival day, there were special kinds of food for sale, like these half chickens with cooked eggs inside and whole fried lake fish.

Chicken With Eggs

Another special food people eat on this day is sweet potatoes, yams, pumpkins, or small plums cooked in a cinnamon-infused brown sugar syrup. Sticky, sweet and tasty!

Sweet Potatoes and Plums

On Dia de los Muertos people come to Santiago from far and wide and converge on the cemetery. The families spend the morning painting the graves with bright colors. Once the paint is dry, they buy marigolds and other long-lasting flowers, evergreen wreaths, and pine needles to adorn the graves. The fragrant pine needles from the surrounding hills are not only used on Dia de los Muertos but for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and other important holidays. (When I explained that we only use green wreaths for Christmas in the U.S., they thought it was crazy.)

Decorated Graves

As the day goes on, people sit on and around the graves and enjoy a special lunch. Many splurge on the variety of freshly grilled meats available in the market.

Grilled Meat For Sale

All day long, people in the cemetery proudly display and fly enormous homemade kites, which are made by painstakingly cutting and gluing tissue paper shapes together. The round kites are backed with bamboo poles for stability. It generally takes a team of people 2-3 months to make each kite.

Paper Kites

Tags: Dia de los Muertos, Guatemala

Minneapolis Farmers Market

Bruce Bradley is a consultant, author, blogger and lifelong foodie from Minneapolis, Minnesota. After working for over 15 years as a marketer for several of the world’s largest food companies, Bruce finally awakened to “the green side of life” and is an avid supporter of the eat local, real food movement. He now offers his unique insider’s perspective on processed foods via his blog and a soon-to-be-released novel, FAT PROFITS. To learn more about Bruce Bradley you can subscribe to his blog, follow him on Twitter @authorbruce or check him out on Facebook.

Farmers Market Update: Minneapolis, Minnesota

by Bruce Bradley

Minneapolis Farmers Market Sign

The Minneapolis Farmers Market has been a long-standing fixture of the Twin Cities fresh produce scene. Its current Lyndale Market location opened in 1937, but its roots trace back to a fruit and vegetable market established in 1876. Located on the outskirts of downtown, the Minneapolis Farmers Market is held outdoors under three huge red sheds and stakes claim to the title “Largest Open Air Market in the Upper Midwest.”

Run by the Central Minnesota Vegetable Growers Association, the farmers market is open from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., 7 days a week from May to December. On Thursdays, a special farmers market is held downtown along Nicollet Mall, a place made famous by Mary Tyler Moore’s hat toss in the opening credits of her 1970′s sitcom.

Minneapolis Farmers Market

I decided to visit the farmers market downtown this week. It was a beautiful, sunny Indian Summer day in Minneapolis. Fall is at its peak here, so the red, orange, and yellow trees lining the streets created a wonderful backdrop to my shopping adventure.

Although many summer vegetables like tomatoes, green beans, and corn were still plentiful, fall vegetables have taken center stage. Brussel sprout stalks and squashes were available at many vendors and a number of local Apple Orchards were showing off their amazing crop.

Apples

During the summer my CSA keeps me pretty well stocked in vegetables. Although I love the CSA experience, what I miss about the farmers market is getting to choose exactly what I’m going to buy. That said, the hardest part of shopping at the farmers market is wanting to take home a little bit of everything and this week was no exception. Take a look at these squash! I love squash, especially all the fall varieties. Although these beautiful Carnival Squashes were calling my name, after reading Summer Tomato’s recipe for Delicata Squash, I knew delicata was on the top of my shopping list.

Winter Squash

If you love food and you haven’t gone to your local farmers market, you’re really missing out. It’s a great place to explore different varieties of vegetables that you just can’t find at your local grocery store, like these white radishes …

White Radishes

and these Indian eggplant …

Eggplant

Spinach is one of my personal favorites, and these were so green and fresh. I love making spinach salad, sautéed spinach, or … some creamy spinach soup would be especially perfect on a cool fall day. The vendor assured me she would have some more spinach this weekend, so I passed on it for now. But believe me, it was tough call.

Spinach

Raspberries are my son’s favorite, and I think the best varieties ripen in the fall. Not only are they more flavorful, but they’re also a little bit sweeter than the ones that are available during the summer. These will be perfect for dessert or breakfast in the morning, so they’re a definite addition to my bag.

Raspberries

Variety is the spice of life, and it’s always fun to check out things you’ve never seen before. Seed heads from sunflowers were new to me this trip. Although I love experimenting, my bag was already getting pretty full, so I passed on these beauties for now.

Dry Sunflowers

I also was tempted by these red moon beans. Their rich purple color was very alluring, but the vendor didn’t understand English so I couldn’t learn anything about them. I Googled them when I got home, but unfortunately I still couldn’t find anything about them. Does anybody know about this variety of bean? I’d love to learn more about them so please share what you know in the comments.

Red Moon Beams

Fresh smells are one of my favorite parts of shopping at farmers markets. I was standing a few stalls down wind from this huge bunch of dill weed and it caught my nose’s immediate attention. Yum!

Dill

Next to the dill was a colorful array of chili peppers, tomatoes, beets, and potatoes. I LOVE beets, so they were an easy choice for me to add to my bag.

Chilies and Beets

When you read Summer Tomato’s Farmers Market updates, you learn how each area of the country (and world) has their own specialties, so I thought I’d feature a couple items that I think are a little more unique to the Upper Midwest:

Pickles are a local favorite in Minnesota. Everyone seems to have their own secret recipe, and it’s something I’d like to try my hand at making sometime. The pickle bar at the farmers market is a great place to figure out exactly what your favorite type of pickle is and buy it. Bread and butter pickles are hands down my top choice.

Pickles

Two other local foods from our neighbor to the east, Wisconsin, are cheese and cranberries. I had never heard of “cheese curds” until I moved to Minnesota. Although I don’t buy them very often, they’re amazing especially when fresh. These curds were made yesterday from rBGH free milk, so I couldn’t resist them. And as any Wisconsin native will tell you, the only way to know if your cheese curds are fresh is to taste them. If they squeak between your teeth, they’re fresh, and these were squeakingly delicious.

Cheese Curds and Cranberries

Now while everyone knows cheese is a huge Wisconsin favorite, not many people know that Wisconsin is the country’s largest producer of cranberries. I didn’t pick up any of these plump berries this week, but I made a mental note to get them in a couple weeks. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and there’s nothing better than a fresh cranberry relish.

My Purchases

What I bought (pictured above):

• Corn
• Delicata squash (I’m going back for more. I just made Darya’s Delicata Squash recipe and it was AMAZING!)
• Butternut Squash
• Ambercup Squash
• Beets
• Green Beans
• Cheese Curds - Ellsworth Creamery
• Raspberries (Unfortunately they got a little crushed. Maybe I should order one of Darya’s new Mercado bags.)

I <3 Farmers Markets

Tags: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Flowers

I’m Sharon Steed and I’m a freelance writer from Chicago. I go to Memphis a few times a year to visit some family I have down there, and this was the first time I went to the farmers market there. I lovecooking, reading, Housewives (the ladies from Beverly Hills are my favorite) and wine. You can follow me on Twitter @sharonsteed.

Farmers Market Update: Memphis

by Sharon Steed

99 degrees. That’s how hot it was at 10:00am when I got to the Memphis Farmers Market. I was in town visiting family for Labor Day weekend, and I wanted to explore something more than the Memphis night-life for this trip. The farmers market was a good way for me to see what else the city had to offer, and it helped me not gorge on yummy southern food for four days.

Memphis is known for a few things including the enormous contributions to American Music (Graceland is a little south of downtown), the Beale Street bars and good old southern hospitality. It’s not, however, known for being a hub for healthy, locally grown food. And that’s where the Memphis Farmers Market (MFM) comes in.

Memphis Farmers Market

The MFM is a non-profit corporation in the State of Tennessee. They’re dedicated to providing local food choices, improving public health, educating the community on nutrition and serving as a community gathering place.

Peaches

This was my first time venturing out during daylight hours while in Memphis, and I was pretty surprised at how much the city had to offer. The market is in the heart of downtown Memphis, and only a few blocks away from the Mississippi River and Beale Street. It was miserably hot that day – especially for someone from a cooler city like Chicago. But that didn’t stop the smiling faces and perky families from getting healthy eats.

Beets

I love cooking, but I rarely take time out to do it on vacation. Since I was in town for a long weekend, I figured this was a good opportunity to change that up. Spaghetti squash is a little bit time-consuming to cut and carve, but it’s so worth the energy. And I figured I could convince some of my family to have a few bites since it looks like linguini.

Spaghetti Squash

I’m obsessed with tomatoes; I put them on pretty much everything. Sometimes I even just eat them alone with maybe a little dressing. They’re a perfect vacation food because you can always find a simple greens to mix them with and it only takes a minute to cut up a couple.

Summer Tomatoes

Apples are a good travel food since they’re sturdy and don’t leak. I picked up some for the eight-hour drive home.

Apples

About half of the vendors there were selling artwork. This steel heart caught my eye.

Steel Heart

I also saw some beautiful wood tree houses and I spent a few minutes talking to a really sweet man who made them by hand.

Gas Station Bird House

The granola vendor was the first one I stopped at when I got to the market, and I’m glad I did. Finding good granola is pretty difficult as I gather it’s quite challenging to make. This granola from Groovy Foods was probably the best I’ve ever had.

Granola

My mom and I have been enjoying baked stuffed peppers lately, and these were so vibrant and flavorful that it was immediately on my list for an easy vacation meal.

Green and Purple Bell Peppers

I was really surprised to find out that the MFM was non-profit solely focused on bringing together area farmers to sell healthy foods. The farmers market has its own outdoor facility and is run by a board of directors. The sense of community was so refreshing, and, as an out-of-towner, I was blown away by everyone’s hospitality. Memphis is a special place for me, and the MFM is now a go-to spot for all of my future visits to one of my favorite cities.

Onesie!

What I bought:

• Apples
• Roma tomatoes
• Dark Star Granola from Groovy Foods
• Spaghetti Squash
• Green and Purple Bell Peppers

Tags: Memphis