Farmers Market Update
It was a perfect day in San Francisco and the farmers market was full of life. Spring is in full swing and it seems like every week something new appears.
Finally the strawberries looked good enough to eat, so I am happy to announce my breakfasts will be getting an upgrade. I also started eating salads again last week, which is refreshing. Still no (good) tomatoes, but I tasted one today and it was greatly improved from when they first came out a few weeks ago. So exciting!
I don’t eat a lot of popcorn or I would have bought this Shaman’s Blue from Tierra Vegetables. Isn’t it spectacular?
Kumquats are peaking right now (apparently Paredez Farms still felt the need to charge me $0.25 to taste one) and I recommend getting some while you can ($5/lb). It is also a great time for asparagus, baby kale, arugula, artichokes and chard.
Oh! and the morel mushrooms are beautiful at Far West Fungi.
Today’s purchases:
- Kumquats (Paredez Farms)
- Small pomelo (Paradez Farms)
- Strawberries (? update next week)
- Asparagus (Zuckerman’s Farm)
- English cucumber (Bruins Farms)
- Tokyo turnips (Eatwell Farm)
- Assorted kales (Marin Roots Farms)
- Kiwi (Four Sisters Farms)
- Mixed lettuce/arugula (Everything Under The Sun)
- Torocco blood orange (Hamada Farms)
- Navel orange (Hamada Farms)
- Chinese broccoli (Chue’s)
- Fennel (Chue’s)
- Garlic (Chue’s)
- Zahidi dates (Flying Disc Ranch)
- Santa Maria Pinquitos beans (Tierra Vegetables)
- Harissa (Tierra Vegetables)
I cannot wait until I show up one morning at the market and it is exploding with cherries. What are you most excited about?
Nice update. I’m glad that Asparagus is finally back at the markets. I’ve been to a few markets in my area, and it seems like the Asparagus Industry may have a little monopoly, maybe a little price fixing going on: is it 1 for $2 or 3 for $5 at everyone else’s market too?
Mine is 1 for $3, 2 for $5. Lucky you!
Gotta love how they package it up all nice and tidy with those rubber bands for you though 🙂
Love your farmers market update! That blue popcorn looks awesome. The question that everyone is asking, is does the popped popcorn turn out blue?!
No, I asked 🙂
I think she should buy some and show us some before/after pictures!
You’re making me jealous again… Today at the Athens (OH) farmers market, I think the only produce I saw was apples (and they were probably from last year, too!) For the record, other booths have baked goods, homemade salsas, Indian foods, honey, plants, etc. My favorite bakery sold out before I got there, so I left only with apples and some incredible baba ganu and fattoush.
Ha ha, doesn’t sound like you have it too bad out there 😉
Darya, maybe you already talked about this in a previous post and I forgot, but what is harissa? I thought it was a spice paste mixture. I’ve eaten it with grilled lamb, delicious! (actually, you’ve eaten it with grilled lamb at my house, too!) But when we made the lamb the only harissa I could find was in a tube (even at Whole Foods). At the time I didn’t know what I was looking for, I just asked someone where they kept their harissa, so I figured that was it. All this time I thought it was the mixture, I didn’t realize harissa was a thing!
Mmm… lamb. You are right, harissa is a mixture. What I bought is a spice mixture (click for picture) to which you add garlic, oil and lemon juice. This is not normally how it comes though. If you are interested in making it from scratch, I posted a recipe for it along with my North African Couscous with Beans and Cauliflower.
Yay! I’m surprised to see Santa Maria Pinquito Beans on here. Just the mention of them brings me back to Santa Maria Style Tri-Tip sandwiches with a side of salsa and beans, mmm mmmm…
I bought a Meyer lemon yesterday and thought of you!
Beautiful Kumquats!