Farmers Market Update: Last Call
It’s getting really cold in the Bay Area, especially at night. That means the last of the late summer produce will be disappearing completely in a week or two: this is your last chance for peppers, tomatoes and eggplants until next summer.
To capitalize on this situation I got myself a big bag of tomatillos, the green tomato-like fruit in a husk. If you aren’t familiar with tomatillos think of green Mexican salsa, which is made with them. They are kind of like a tomato but a bit more tangy and acidic. Tomatillos are wonderful in sauces and with meats. I bought some poblano peppers and cilantro to pair with them, but haven’t decided yet exactly what I’m going to make. Suggestions?
In addition to the poblanos I was also sure to pick up a final bag of padron peppers, since I love them so dearly. I got 3 other pepper varieties as well. I can’t help it, I adore peppers. I will miss them a little every day until they appear again next year. Luckily I dried a bunch of different Thai chilies this summer to tide me over.
Grapes are another thing to stock up on while you can. They are sweet and abundant right now, but will start disappearing in the coming weeks.
But don’t worry, not everything is on it’s way out. Lots of new stuff is turning up as well.
I spotted some black walnuts at Glashoff Farms today, which I’m told is a special treat. Has anyone tried them?
Interesting varieties of garlic and onions are also popping up. I found 2 varieties of shallots today–French and Dutch–as well as sweet cippolini onions at Dirty Girl Produce. Leeks are awesome now too.
At Frog Hollow there was a new variety of pear today, the seckel pear, which is tiny and bursting with flavor. After a sample I couldn’t help but buy as many as I could carry. And of course I got a Warren pear for the road.
It’s definitely time to start buying persimmons too. Just be sure you eat them when they are ripe, since unripe persimmons can be dangerous. The kiwi are looking good, though I haven’t tried them yet. Apples are still mind-bogglingly amazing.
And did I mention that citrus is starting to appear? Mandrins, grapefruits and lemons are all available now, although they are still a bit tart for me.
Last but not least, it’s truffle season. If you have piles of money laying around that you don’t know what to do with, these Italian white truffles could be yours!
Today’s Purchases:
- Fuyu persimmons (Paredez Farms)
- Tomatillos (Paredez Farm)
- Poblano peppers (Happy Quail Farms)
- Padron peppers (Happy Quail Farms)
- Pimento pepper (Happy Quail Farms)
- Piquillo pepper (Happy Quail Farms)
- Other random hot pepper (Happy Quail Farms)
- Seckel pears (Frog Hollow Farm)
- Warren pear (Frog Hollow Farm)
- Black twig apple (The Apple Farm)
- Philo apple (The Apple Farm)
- White winter permain apple (The Apple Farm)
- Dutch shallots (Dirty Girl Produce)
- Cippolini onion (Dirty Girl Produce)
- Tuscan (dinosaur) kale (Capay Organics)
- Dry-farmed Red kuri squash (Little Organic Farm)
Is your farmers market still open? What does it have?
Ah yes, black walnuts. 🙂 Thanks for the reminder Darya. They are indeed a special treat, although I think I enjoy the English Walnuts better. The thing to remember about Black Walnuts is they are really, really hard to crack. Did I say really hard – good, I meant to. If you do the picking and hulling on your own, it is interesting too. You can read a short account of my experience here.
Darya, my husband’s favorite way to eat persimmons is to freeze and then grate them, like a granita.
Wow, that’s really interesting! Does he use the fuyu or hachiya?
Okay, persimmons sound dangerous!! Not sure I want to try those. I’m so paranoid about stuff being ripe/rotten/okay anyway that it’s probably best I avoid them 🙂
LOL. If we ever meet in the autumn I will find you a safe persimmon so you can try it. They are really wonderful 😉
LOVE persimmons. Did not realize that the unripe ones are dangerous: good thing I always buy mine when they are soft to the touch. Ate two of them in one day b/c the grocery store had them on sale.
Can’t wait to do a guest post for you in December!