First Strawberries

The moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally come. The first strawberries of the season have arrived! And what a day for them to appear.

Today is easily the most beautiful we’ve had so far this year in SF. Of course this means my pictures didn’t turn out as well, since there was too much light. But it also meant I made my first salad of 2010!

Salad FTW!

Warm sunshine always inspires me to make salad, but the appearance of cucumbers, sugar snap peas and these adorable bolero carrots helped too.

Bolero Carrots

Mediterranean Cucumbers

Beyond these new additions, the selection this week at the farmers market wasn’t too different from last week. I’m going take this opportunity to cut this post a bit short and go enjoy the beautiful day. I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Spring Tomatoes

Cardoon

Today’s purchases:

• Bloomsdale spinach (Star Route Farms)
• Sugar snap peas (Chue’s Farm)
• Broccolini (Chue’s Farm)
• Bolero carrots (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Mediterranean cucumbers (McGinnis Ranch)
• Swiss chard (Iacopi Farm)
• Asparagus (Zuckerman’s Farm)
• Purple kale (Capay Organics)
• Eggs (Marin Sun Farms)
• Beef hot dogs (Prather Ranch)

Are there strawberries at your market yet?

Tomatoes

I’m delighted to introduce you to Stephanie Stiavetti who agreed to step in and cover the Grand Lake farmers market in Oakland while I was away this week.

Stephanie Stiavetti is a Bay Area freelance food and nutrition writer. Besides writing for magazines and radio, she also blogs about living a healthy gourmet (and gluten-free!) lifestyle at Wasabimon.com. Her top priority in life is eating well in every sense of the word and making sure people know that eating healthy can be a delicious endeavor.

You can also follow her on Twitter under the name @sstiavetti.

Thanks so much Stephanie!

Farmers Market Update: Grand Lake Oakland

Hello everyone!

This is Stephanie from Wasabimon, and I’m excited to be guest posting today on Summer Tomato. Darya’s asked me to take care of the weekly Farmers Market Update while she’s in Vegas, and since I live in the East Bay, today you’ll be getting a tour of Oakland’s Grand Lake Farmers Market.

For those not in the know, Oakland has a thriving farmers market community. With over ten markets throughout the week, East Bay residents have a lot of opportunities to buy organic, locally grown produce. Here’s just a sampling of what you can find at the Grand Lake market, which happens every Saturday from 9am – 2pm year round.

I love the colors of the market this time of year. So many bright colors as summer comes to a close! First I picked up a few of my obligatory (though no less lovely) squash and peppers from Capay Farms:

Peppers

Squash

Right across the way was Rodriguez Farms, who have some of the best potatoes and strawberries around – and who doesn’t love the fact that we can get local strawberries this time of year? Yay California!

Strawberries

Potatoes

Next up were the gorgeous radishes and carrots at Ledesma Family Farms. There is always so much color in this booth and I need to wear sunglasses when I go inside:

Radishes

Carrots

After wandering around a little bit (and indulging in some kettle corn, my favorite treat), I hit the jackpot at Toscano and Sons. They have the sweetest cherry tomatoes ever! They make such a perfect addition to salads, and I can never resist them.

Cherry Tomatoes

Toscano also had baby shallots and young leeks, which are just about my favorite things ever. I’m such an allium nut – I don’t cook with them all the time, but I love how there are so many different levels of flavor within the onion family:

Leeks

Baby Shallots

Happy Boy Farms was full of lovely winter and summer squash, and as usual their herb table was full of the freshest, most fragrant greenery. Their heirloom tomatoes were off-the-charts colorful, though I had to resist the urge to buy any since I already have some at home. Happy Boy also has my favorite salad mix, with edible flowers mixed in with the rest of the greens. I mean, how could you resist this beautiful display?

Salad Greens

I also discovered something new at the farmers market this week. I’ve seen jujubes before but hadn’t ever stopped to inspect further. These little Chinese dates are really good and I highly recommend you grab a handful if you ever see them!

Jujubees

Then how could I not stop and smell the roses at Western Sun Floral?

Roses

And on the way out the door, I stopped by my favorite stand, Marshall’s Farm Honey. Since I avoid refined sweeteners, honey is a mainstay in my kitchen:

Honey

I had a fabulous time at the Grand Lake Farmers Market today, and I hope you enjoyed my little photo tour. Thanks, Darya, for letting me share!

<3
~Steph

What did you find at your farmers market this week?

Orange-Red Apricots

I was completely out of control at the farmers market this weekend. It’s embarrassing really. I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to NOT buying stone fruit and berries. None.

Consequently I spent way more money than I normally do at the market. But after thinking about this for a few hours I realized I would be crazy to have done otherwise.

Boysenberries

Pluots

There is no other time of year when you can get perfect, meaty, sweet and tangy cherries in 3 or 4 different varietals. Apricots come in all shape, sizes and colors, and a mushy one cannot be found among them. Plums and pluots are like the hand-picked candy of God herself. There are only a few weeks left in blueberry season, but boysenberries and blackberries demand your undivided attention. Strawberries are as sweet as they will ever be.

Strawberries

Rainier Cherries

What else was I supposed to do?

But at $5-8 dollars a pound it put a serious dent in my wallet. The thing is though, these are real treats. I cannot buy them the rest of the year even if I wanted to. The cheaper ones at Safeway are not even worth discussing.

I easily spent $30 on fruit today, which I never do. Luckily the luscious kale I bought was only $1.75 and is 2-3 large servings. The baby savoy cabbages came in at under $2 as well.

The summer squash I bought last week from Lucero farms were ridiculously sweet and delcious, especially the yellow ones. They are even good raw! I bought a bunch more this week, as well as a few of the self-proclaimed “world’s best cucumber.”

Baby Eggplants

Purple Onions & Cucumbers

A few eggplants are starting to show up too.

For those of you who are as excited about summer tomatoes as I am, Oliveto restaurant (Oakland) has started Tomato Watch 2009. Tomato Watch is an online video journal documenting the tomato crops of some of the best tomato farms in the Bay Area. Don’t miss the action!

For the first time I bought soy milk from Hodo Soy, the maker of my favorite tofu. I’m lactose intolerant and therefore prefer soy milk in my breakfast cereal and coffee (unsweetened, full-fat soy milk, of course). Traditionally I have bought Silk brand unsweetened soy milk, but I recently learned that since Silk was bought by Dean Foods they have switched from U.S. grown organic beans to conventional soy beans largely imported from China. I think it’s safe to assume everything from China is filled with lead and cyanide (kinda kidding, but kinda not), so I no longer buy Silk. I’ve been experimenting with Wildwood, but I thought I would try something new this week. I’m interested to see what Hodo can do.

There are so many amazing varietals of stone fruits at the market right now I can’t even pretend to keep up with them all.

Do you have any favorites? Please tell me about them in the comments!

Today’s purchases:

• Bing cherries (Paoletti Farms)
• Orange-Red apricots (Frog Hollow Farm)
• Gold dust peaches (Frog Hollow Farm)
• Boysenberries (Lagier Ranch)
• Blueberries (Triple Delight Blueberries)
• Baby savoy cabbages (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Spring onions (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Salad mix (Star Route Farms)
• French breakfast radishes (Star Route Farms)
• Arugula (Star Route Farms)
• Baby eggplants (Hamada Farms)
• Summer squash (Lucero Organic Farms)
• Cucumbers (Lucero Organic Farms)
• Basil (Chue’s Farm)
• Garlic (Chue’s Farm)
• Kale (Green Gulch Farm)

Baby Spring Onions

If there is one thing I never do it is skip my weekend Farmers Market trip, but today I am skipping it. The weather is beautiful in Northern California and I am spending the weekend hiking, eating and drinking in Tahoe with family. It’s Mother’s Day, it’s springtime and, mostly, I really need a vacation. Don’t worry, when I get back I will be able to pick up enough vegetables at Bi-Rite Market to last me until the UCSF Mission Bay farmers market on Wednesday (10am – 3pm), so my healthstyle will not suffer.

In the meantime I want to share with you some details of the Mission Bay farmers market, which has been an absolutely splendid addition to our quiet campus since it opened on Earth Day. Although the market is rather small, the quality and variety of the vendors makes it always worth a trip.

I love the exotic Asian greens available at Her Farm, where I found these beautiful baby spring onions. Other vendors offer more traditional seasonal produce, like jumbo artichokes and purple cabbages.

Purple Cabbage

Jumbo Artichokes

Fruits are also plentiful, and I have found some amazingly sweet strawberries (3 different varieties) and juicy navel oranges (only $1/lb!!). New this week were apricots–still a little tart–which are the first stone fruits to appear at this market (cherries showed up at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market last week). Summer is so close I can almost taste it!

First Pick Apricots

Huge Strawberries

Probably the coolest thing about the new market is all the artisan vendors selling homemade pasta, cured olives, nuts, smoked fish, raw honey, fresh tofu, crusty breads, Mediterranean dishes and vegan cookies. Though some of these sellers only come every other week, their presence really transforms the market from a simple vegetable stand into a true artisan marketplace where you can compose full gourmet meals using high-quality local ingredients.

Raw Honey

Il Pastaio Pasta

Tell us what you’re eating for Mother’s Day!

Fava Beans

If you have been meaning to go to the farmers market but still haven’t gotten around to it, I strongly suggest you make it happen next week. Some of these Spring treats are only available a few weeks out of the year, and they are peaking right now.

This week I bought young fava beans from Iacopi Farm. Normally fava beans require a substantial amount of work to prepare, including shelling, blanching and removing the tough skin of each bean with a pairing knife. When young however, fava beans can be roasted and eaten whole. Last night I put mine in the oven with tomatoes, green olives, chili flakes and anchovies, then sprinkled on capers, parsley and lemon juice when I pulled them out. It was amazing.

Baby Artichokes

Thumbalina Carrots

Strawberries are also particularly special right now. At Dirty Girl Produce I found strawberries from both first year plants and second year plants, and I was astounded by the difference. Apparently as strawberry plants get older they produce smaller, sweeter, more concentrated fruit. These made for the most intesely flavored berries I found at the market. The young berries were also wonderful though, big sweet and more juicy than the second years. I bought both. Can you tell which is which?

Shell Peas

1st & 2nd Year Strawberries

The flowering kale rabe was gone this week, but asparagus is available in all sizes and colors. The variety of onions right now is remarkable.

Finally, since I have been interested in Moroccan cooking lately I have been reading a lot about an ingredient called preserved lemons. I bought one this week from Boulette’s Larder and used it to make the best hummus I have ever had in my life.

Preserved Lemons

Yellow Onions

Purchases:

• Baby artichokes (Iacopi Farm)
• Young fava beans (Iacopi Farm)
• 1st year strawberries (Dirty Girl Produce)
• 2nd year strawberries (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Tangelos (Hamada Farms)
• Meyer lemons (Hamada Farms)
• Rainbow chard (Capay Organics)
• Sugar snap peas (Capay Organics)
• Endive (Madison Growers)
• Mediterranean cucumbers (Madison Growers)
• Leek (Marin Root Farms)
• Spring onion (Marin Root Farms)
• Yellow onion (Marin Root Farms)
• Carrots (Star Route Farm)
• Tatsoi (Star Route Farm)
• Arugula (Star Route Farm)
• Asparagus (Zuckerman’s Farm)
• Tangelo (Peredez Farms)
• Italian parsley (Chue’s Farm)
• Baby bok choy (Chue’s Farm)
• Garlic (Chue’s Farm)
• Firm tofu (Hodo Soy)
• Preserved lemon (Boulette’s Larder)
• Red pepper anchovies (Boulette’s Larder)

What did you find at the market this week?

Strawberries

Today is the first truly nice warm day of the year, so I am not going to spend the rest of it writing this blog post. Instead I am going to quickly mention what’s hot at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and let the pictures speak for themselves. Then I’m going outside to enjoy the sunshine!

First Pick Organic Strawberries

Rhubarb

Strawberries ruled the market today. They are officially everywhere and consistently delicious. I bought these lovely stemmed berries from Lucero Organic Farms, which has recently moved into the former slot of Ella Bella farms (source of the now infamous “Please don’t squeeze our tomatoes” photo I love to use). It turns out Ella Bella has relocated to Hawaii; I am a little heart broken.

Morel mushrooms finally dropped below $40/lb, so I gave in and bought some (don’t worry, they don’t weigh very much).

English Shelling Peas

Tree Tomato and Lemon

Tamarillos, or tree tomatoes, made an appearance today as well. They didn’t seem particularly ripe so I didn’t buy them, but it is an exciting prospect that they are back already.

English shelling peas and fava beans are both at the height of season right now. This week I chose the peas, since they are a little easier to work with. Fava beans will have to wait until next week.

Chili Powder

Huge Leeks

Marin Roots Farm has kale rabe, which you could describe as a being similar to broccoli except ridiculously beautiful. The kind I bought is purple.

Eggs from Happy Quail Farms are back.

Jumbo leeks seem to be all the rage.

I bought tomatoes!!!! I got some yellow ones and a few heirlooms because they finally smelled good enough to eat. I couldn’t resist and had one for lunch today. They could be sweeter, but what Bruins Farms is offering is already vastly superior to anything you can get in a grocery store.

Hint of the day: The line at the Acme bread stand in the back is much shorter than the line inside the Ferry Building.

Purchases:

• English shelling peas (Iacopi Farms)
• Strawberries (Lucero Organic Farms)
• Morel mushrooms (Far West Fungi)
• Ramps (Far West Fungi)
• Red kale rabe (Marin Roots Farm)
• Eggs (Happy Quail Farms)
• Assorted tomatoes (Bruins Farms)
• New Mexico chili powder (Tierra Vegetables)
• Asparagus (Zuckerman’s Farm)
• Kiwi (Four Sisters Farm)
• Fennel (Star Route Farms)
• Arugula (Star Route Farms)
• Tatsoi (Star Route Farms)
• Thyme (Star Route Farms)
• Swiss chard (Eatwell Farms)
• Meyer lemons (Hamada Farms)
• Tangelos (Hamada Farms)
• Rio grapefruit (Hamada Farms)
• Organic mandarins (Twin Girl Farms)
• Epi loaf (Acme Bread)

Tell us what you found at the market today!

Kumquats

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.

Strawberries

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?

Shaman's Blue Popcorn

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)
  

  Asparagus

• 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)
  

  Romaine Lettuces

• 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?