Tour Your Local Farmer's Market for Fresh, Healthy Delights

This month we're doing a short series on shopping and cooking from your local farmer's market. Farmers markets can be one of the best sources for fresh, healthy foods. Usually picked that day, produce at your local farmer's market is often much fresher and thus more nutritious than even organic produce at the supermarket. You can also find great deals, especially if you shop towards closing time, when farmers are eager to unload their remaining goods at a discount. Fall is a great time for farmers market shopping, with cool mornings, fresh breezes, and the bounty of summer still in abundance, and fall crops coming on as well.

Walk through your local farmers market and you're walking into a world of wonder.  You'll immediately be intrigued with the amazing scents and sights.  Let's just take a tour through a sample farmers market.  We'll choose a scenario in the South as an example just to get you thinking.  Here we go.

The Entry

Farmers market, Saint Paul, Minnesota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Farmers markets are mostly outdoors in the South, or possibly in several tents or shelters, but with sides wide open. There may or may not be a single entry point. Either way, the masses of people arrive usually pretty early in the morning to avoid the heat of the day. Shoppers descend on the booths and the farmers just after daybreak. You're right there with the swarm, making the chicory coffee tent your first destination. 

As you make your way into the line of tents, you see people bartering over the prices, learning techniques on how to skillfully pick the ripest produce off the vine. You see the samples of honey, salsa of all types, and fruit preserves being tasted and swooned over. The sun is up now and shining bright, but a cool breeze is blowing, thankfully. “Turned out to be a pretty nice day,” is commonly exclaimed by the farmers. The fall season offers a break from the heat, and any break from the heat is a “pretty nice day.” At this point, you have to decide which way to go, so you look and decide to follow the crowd.

The Senses

You don't get far before you notice the aromas. You take a deep breath and enjoy.  Depending on the season, you're treated to the smells of fresh fruit like cantaloupes, peaches, strawberries, and watermelon.  Suddenly you feel extremely hungry.  You begin to check out the offerings, hoping for samples now. You aren't disappointed.  There's a display of cut up cantaloupe.  And there's a peach with a knife stuck in it, meant for you to help yourself.  It looks like there are little spoons next to the honey and salsa display.  Bingo!

You realize you've been sampling a bit too much and decide to buy some honey before you move on.  There are other tables that draw your attention now with an array of gorgeous colors and aromas. You begin to move through the market.  You now spot the deep eggplant purples, the Swiss chard red and greens, and the pale mix of creamy white and yellow of the corn on the cob.  Then you see the beautiful colors of the bins and bins of pumpkins, squash, fall beans, potatoes, beets, and onions.  And and of course the abundance of fall greens; collards, kale, mustard, beet greens.  You turn the corner and the air is thick with a blend of aromas from the rows and rows of fresh herbs.  Now your arms are loaded with an array of colors and aromas, promising flavors beyond compare. You could linger longer just to let your senses enjoy, but, it's time to continue exploring, and sampling.

Taken at the Traverse City Farmers Market. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Surprises

On your trip around the tents, you come across some rather unique stations. One farmer is selling everything dairy you could possibly think of including homemade butter, raw milk, and soft cheeses.  He offers you a taste of the chocolate milk he is selling and amazingly it tastes like liquid pudding in a cup.  Now you notice another merchant who is making fresh kettle corn.  He picks up his little paddle and begins to make circular movements in a large black kettle. Suddenly, kernels come popping out as he stirs faster and faster.  This may be the perfect snack right now.

You find more of a variety of products than you could ever imagine, from homemade soaps, natural cosmetics, garden decorations, and handmade jewelry and accessories. There is one tent that has handmade organic cotton baby clothes. There is a woman at another tent selling rag rugs she made using her grandmother's patterns.  If you can imagine it, you'll probably find it.  You wander into another section and you are met with a wall of canned goods.  Now you're exhausted.  You're only halfway through the market.  Do you leave or continue your journey?  One more tent.  Just one more.  Then you hear popping in the background and make your way towards the noise and find a farmer freshly grinding grits and cornmeal.  These are the things you didn't really plan to see.  What's next?  Will your pocketbook be able to handle the surprises?

The Purchases

You've exhausted yourself and your supply of cash.  You finally head back out to the car with your bags of goods and examine the spoils you came away with.  A half gallon of that delicious chocolate milk, a small bag of kettle corn, a couple cantaloupes, a jar of honey, some peaches, collard greens, potatoes, carrots, okra, and even a bar of homemade soap.

Oh yes, you will definitely be back. Maybe you should measure that spot you've been thinking of putting a rug.  You never know what you'll find at the farmers market, but it's sure to be a fun and rewarding trip!

Farmers Market Feasts - Fresh Food From Appetizer To Dessert

Late summer to early fall is prime farmer's market season in Ohio! The farmers market is a place where great ideas meet great fresh food and explode into incredible feasts. You can make one trip to the farmers market and gather enough ingredients to make a full five-course meal that will rival any fancy restaurant. Allow me to get your creative juices flowing as well as your taste buds jumping as we walk through a sample of what you might find to create your very own farmers market feast.

Appetizers 

You want to give your guests something to snack on while they are waiting to see what's coming next. Look for a loaf of homemade french bread, some fresh dill, goat cheese or other soft cheese, and red bell peppers for roasting. With these simple ingredients, you can have an amazing appetizer that will keep your guests well fed and eager for more. Simply cut the bread into thin slices and toast them over the grill while you are roasting your red peppers.

Combine the dill and goat cheese, spread on the toasted bread and top with thin slices of the roasted pepper. You can substitute prosciutto for the red bell pepper for another possibility. The idea is to look around the farmers market for inspiration as well as ingredients for the first course as well as for the main event.

Salads

Your salad options are as long and varied as the rows upon rows of displays at the market. Pick up  fresh lettuce, of course, but be sure to choose an interesting variety.  Look for complimentary produce such as pomegranates, pears, and apples, to match up with bitter greens such as chicory, arugula, watercress, and frisee.  Fresh baby bitter greens are a classic match up with sweet fruit.  And don't forget the berries.  When it comes to salads, fresh is the word, no matter how you build it.

Kale is another great farmers market find.  This remarkable green can be eaten raw or cooked.  One fun way to serve kale in a salad is as a crunchy topping.  Kale, when cut up into small pieces, can be roasted to create a delicate papery thin treat with a very fun crunch to it.  Sprinkle these nutritious crispy bites on top of your salad instead of croutons.  And don't forget to look for fresh herbs to create a savory dressing to go on your salad.  If you have citrus in your market, let that be your inspiration for your homemade vinaigrette.

Soups

Piles and piles of potatoes mean just one thing; inspiration!  No, the potato is not a lowly vegetable, not when you have the varieties available to choose from at a farmers market.  For the soup course you can't do much better than starting with potatoes.  One soup that should come to mind is potato leek soup. Simple, yet elegant, this filling soup should be served in small bowls with a pretty swirl of yogurt and a sprinkle of green onion on top. Other vegetables that work well for pureed soups are squash, pumpkin, rutabaga, parsnips, and turnips.  Mix and match for a splendidly soothing soup to relax your guests just long enough to get ready for the main course.

Look also to the bins of greens for inspiration for a soup course.  A small bowl of beet soup, hot or cold, is a wonderful start to a meal.  Hearty mustard greens and collard greens also make a splendid, bright, soup that gets the taste buds begging for more. Depending on your main course, you'll want to serve a soup that is either hearty and satisfying or light and refreshing.  Don't forget to include the fruit you find at your market and the herbs for soup inspiration.  Apple juice and cider make excellent soup bases.

Main Courses

After a start like this, it may seem as if you've exhausted all your farmers market has to offer, but this is where the simplicity of the market takes over.  A main course can feature something as simple as a perfectly executed sandwich. Pile seasonal cheeses on top of homemade multi-grain bread that has been slathered with herbed butter, then topped with a mix of ingredients for crunch. This can include sliced apples, greens, or a thin slice of sweet onion, or everything.  Something as simple as a grilled cheese sandwich becomes inspired when you layer market fresh specialty cheeses with fresh herbs, greens, vegetables, and fruit, and then grill between slices of hearty homemade bread.

And don't forget to look for fresh and smoked meats at your market.  Many farmers raise meat for the table as well as produce.  Big pots of peppery greens with lots of smoked sausage makes a bright and flavor-packed entree. During the late summer and early fall, the farmers market is also a great place to find a variety of fresh beans.  You will notice a big difference when you cook with fresh beans as opposed to dried beans.  The fresh beans are easier to cook and are very tender.  You can easily build a main course around the offerings at your local market.  All it takes is filling your basket and using your creativity and your good taste, and you'll fill your table with a main course that is very satisfying.

Desserts

Now comes the moment we have all been waiting for. Dessert. Nothing says farmers market dessert like fresh peach cobbler served in a pretty bowl and topped off with a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream.  Of course, apples are a big hit at many farmers markets during the fall season.  Apple pie or Apple crisp are the obvious desserts, but don't forget to think about applesauce, apple dumplings, or apple turnovers.

But, you don't have to bake fruit to have a dessert worthy of this five course meal.  Sometimes less is more.  Sliced apples, pears, or other fruit combined with a wonderful variety of cheeses is often the perfect ending to a hearty meal such as this.  Perhaps a steamy hot mug of apple cider will satisfy the sweet tooth at the end of the evening.  If oranges are in season in your region, try making orange sugar cookies. Not quite dessert-worthy in your book?  Melt some chocolate and dip the cookies about half way in to make treats that looks like, and tastes like, they came right out of a fancy mail-order catalog.

Can you really find enough at your local farmers market to produce a five course meal?  You sure can!  And not only five courses, but five star courses!  Fresh means fabulous when it comes to cooking.  Create each course to compliment the next and you can't go wrong. The only problem is you'll have trouble sending your guests home after they've been treated so well. You might as well start making up the guest room before you even serve dessert. Enjoy!