Summer Beans

Summertime in San Francisco is characterized by amazing food and horrible weather. By that definition, today was certainly summer: cold, gloomy and delicious!

The best tasting foods at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market now are things I associate with summertime. Lettuce greens and herbs are absolutely spectacular. Stone fruits are to die for. Tomatoes are sweet and flavorful in every color, size and shape you could imagine. Potatoes are sweet, creamy and firm. Life is good.

Santa Rosa Plums

Summer in San Francisco

Produce I associate with later in the season is also beginning to appear. Peppers become more interesting, diverse and fragrant by the week, as do the melons. Figs of all varietals are sweet and sticky. Some of the blackberries I saw today were the size of ping pong balls!

Summer Potatoes

Chilies and Peppers

One of the most interesting items I purchased this week was a bunch of chocolate mint from Marin Roots Farm. It actually smells like an After Eight, and I can’t wait to figure out what to do with it. I imagine it would pair nicely with berries. Any other suggestions?

In case you are curious about how I am handling the new bag policy at the market, I’m pretty happy with the way it is working out. I bought a bunch of bags from the CUESA booth the first day for $5 and I still haven’t gone through the whole thing. Many of the vendors provide bags for free, either paper or biodegradable plastic. Others charge $0.25 for a bioderadable bag–that’s when I bust out my secret stash.

BYOB

Peaches

For me the biggest bag annoyance I’m facing right now is getting all my beautiful stone fruits and tomatoes home in one piece, since they tend to get mangled in my bag with all the other veggies in there. I am experimenting with different solutions and will let you know when I get it worked out.

Check out my video if you want to see everything I brought home (except the figs, I ate those right away). I also spill the beans on my absolute favorite summer squash. It takes about 2.5 minutes.

Today’s Purchases:

• Summer tomatoes (Balakian Farms)
• Pluots (Bella Viva Orchards)
• Organic corn (Paradez Farms)
• Figs (Knoll Farms)
• Green shallots (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Yellow wax beans (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Cilantro (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Basil (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Purslane (Marin Roots Farm)
• Lettuces (Marin Roots Farm)
• Chocolate mint (Marin Roots Farm)
• Pullet eggs (Eatwell Farm)
• Zephyr and crooked neck squash (Lucero Organic Farms)
• Mediterranean cucumbers (Madison Growers)
• Swiss chard (Green Gulch Farm)
• Bell pepper (Happy Quail Farms)
• Garlic (Short Night Farms)
• Blue Bottle Coffee

What did you find at your farmers market this week?