Clark Park market report, 12 July

Saturday, July 12, 2008

So many choices this morning!  I had to pause for a while to try to figure out how much I’ll actually be able to use this week, lest I buy twice that much produce.  I missed the blackberries, which were gone within the first half-hour of the market, but I picked up cucumbers (the yellow ones are really good), zucchini, carrots, and a pepper from Urban Girls, corn (!) and a hot pepper from Shenk’s Berry Farm, gooseberries and plums and lentils from Margerum’s, and tomatillos from Pennypack.  There were also lots of peaches and tomatoes, for those of you who like such things, and still a lot of blueberries and both regular and Asian eggplant.

The Perfect BLT

Monday, July 07, 2008

For me, summer’s about the BLT. Not a lot of cooking involved and the better the tomato, the better it tastes.
This one has the last of the oak leaf lettuce from the garden (seeds from Seed Savers Exchange), tomato from Fitler Square farmers market, country French loaf from Versailles bakery (also Fitler Square—they have fantastic and unbelievably reasonably priced pastries as well), and cottage bacon from the Meadow Run Farm Buying Club.

Cottage bacon?? I’d never heard of it before, either.
It’s like a cross between Canadian bacon and regular bacon—nice and meaty, tastes terrific. (Apologies for the poor photo—makes us all appreciate food stylists now, doesn’t it.)

My kingdom for a gherkin

Sunday, July 06, 2008

July is a fantastic month to visit farmer’s markets.  There’s just so much available - tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini are coming into season, there’s tons of fruit, and everything is just beautiful.  A visit to the Headhouse Square Market this morning was too much to resist - and even though I had have a big CSA box full of gorgeous produce and fruit and I was able to get pretty much everything on my grocery list yesterday at Clark Park, I had to buy a few more things that I didn’t really need.

These West Indian Gherkins were available at two different stands, Culton Organics and Yoder’s Heirlooms (I think).  They were just too tempting to pass up, so about a dozen of them came home with me.  West Indian Gherkins are a completely foreign cucumber variety to most of us.  These tinies beauties must be picked before they reach about 1.5 inches long or else they will likely be bitter.  And they are super crisp and very sweet. 

There’s pretty much only one thing you can do with a West Indian Gherkin: pickle it.  I plan to use this recipe.

A multi-market report: Clark Park, Landsdowne, and Martindales

Saturday, July 05, 2008

While picking up my CSA share earlier today at Clark Park Farmers Market, I was shocked to see that Urban Girls had a basket full of spaghetti squash.  According to the woman at the stand, these little babies are in short supply so I grabbed a few.  I couldn’t believe my luck!  I don’t expect to see spaghetti squash for at least another month or two, but the Urban Girls put in a big supply of spaghetti squash seeds early in the season this year.  That’s great for me - spaghetti squash is a favorite of mine!

Urban Girls also had lots of greens, squash, and a few baskets of nice looking pearl onions.

I got to the market just a few minutes after it opened, so not everyone was there yet and many vendors hadn’t even finished setting up.  However, I saw some pretty heads of cauliflower at one stand, and one of the local high schools was selling some gorgeous carrots and greens.  Blueberries, summer squash, and corn were in wild abundance throughout the market.  And Landisdale Farm were selling some very nice beets and lacinato kale.

In the last few weeks, I’ve been buying a brownie from Better Together on my way out of the park.  In addition to having a booth at Clark Park, the Fair Food Farmstand has also started to sell these little bits of heaven.  You can also get them at the farmers market at City Hall.  B.T. brownies are organic, and many of the ingredients are locally grown.  And did I mention that they are outstanding?  Last week I bought one of the chocolate brownies with chocolate bits.  This week I bought a chocolate brownie topped with chocolate chip cookie topping.  So good.

The stand that normally sells tomatoes was not there yet, so I stopped at Lansdowne Farmers Market on my way home from Clark Park in the hopes I could get some tomatoes there.  Alas, no.  Most of the booths at Lansdowne Farmers Market don’t actually sell produce - many of them are art vendors or flower vendors, or merchants from the town.  Of the three that sell produce, there was nary a tomato to be found.  But there was great looking fruit from Fruitwood Farms (really lovely plums), a small selection from Farm Fresh Express, and corn, zucchini, and a bit of fruit from the vendor whose name I can’t remember.  From that stand I did manage to pick up some early green bell peppers.

And since I still needed tomatoes, I kept driving up Baltimore Pike until I hit Martindale’s.  I didn’t really expect to find locally grown tomatoes there - not all of their produce is sourced locally.  However, I was thrilled to see that they had both large heirloom varieties and yellow cherry tomatoes from Paradise Organics.  Hooray!  I could have spent the day there with my nose buried in the pile of tomatoes - they smelled amazing.

Kick off BFBL week!

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

It’s almost Buy Fresh Buy Local Week, one of my favorite weeks of the summer! 

As the press release summarizes, BFBL Week is “over twenty-four fun, food-filled events to highlight the benefits of locally grown food, family farmers and sustainable agriculture.” This year, several organizations and BFBL chapters collaborated to produce a regional calendar for southeastern PA; the events are scheduled 12-20 July, and the full event listing is here at localfoodphilly.org.

Everyone should come to the Kick-Off Party on 13 July (3-7 pm), which will be exciting this year because White Dog Community Enterprises and Farm to City are hosting it in the nifty, newly-rejuvenated Philadelphia Brewing Company building in Kensington!  Come support the Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign!  If you aren’t already enjoying the new but loved PBC brews, this would be a perfect time to try them for the first time, and in case you want something to eat along with your drink, there will be chili made from local ingredients by Feast Your Eyes catering.  We’re also featuring local musicians and other local treats.

The following are some ideas for optimal enjoyment of the Kick-Off Party:
-- bring your own cup for the beer (up to 16 oz.)
-- remember that the brewery is accessible by public transit (the York-Dauphin stop on the El, or the 5 bus)
-- volunteer for the event!  We need many volunteers for event setup, monitoring, and cleanup—and volunteers will get in free.

If you would like to volunteer for the event, email Joanna Pernick (joanna [at] farmtocity.org) with your name, phone number, and preference for an early or late shift.

New Amsterdam Market

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Yesterday I visited the third meeting of the New Amsterdam Market, a project to start a permanent public market in a building at the South St. Seaport.  I volunteered there at a table that was more or less a joint endeavor between Fair Food (with which I assume the readers of this blog are familiar) and Sweet Pea Nourishment (a new, small-scale catering company sourcing local, seasonal ingredients).  I’m happy and honored that I had the chance to go, and it was a fun adventure for the foodie in me—but it was also different than I expected, and the whole market scene made for a long and crazy madhouse day. 

The market was set up under an overpass in front of the Fulton St. fish market building—and I was happy for the steel above us when it started to downpour in the middle of the afternoon!  There was a wide variety of vendors—cheesemongers, animal farmers, many bread bakers, many chefs sampling food made from local ingredients, a few farms, a NYC brewery offering birch beer and ginger ale, the Bent Spoon ice cream makers from Princeton, even a foraging older couple from Vermont!  So while I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the variety of superb and tasty food at the market, like in other public markets the emphasis seemed to be on artisan food crafters rather than the farmers I’m more accustomed to seeing at the markets I visit every day.  The great thing about the New Amsterdam Market, though, is that all the artisan producers emphasized the local foundation and sources for their food! 

Also like other public markets—certainly like Reading Terminal Market when a big convention is in town—there were hordes of people simply sightseeing and interested in free samples.  I doubt those people knew what they were seeing, but Ann Karlen (who valiantly spent the entire day sampling and portioning the cheeses we brought) thought many of the people who bought cheese from her did seem educated about the opportunity they were being offered to find all this amazing food at one market. 

From the Philadelphia region, the blueberries (the only ones at the market) and cherries were snapped up; the cheese table was mobbed also, and cheeses like the Shellbark Hollow goat chevre, the Hendricks Gruyere, the Primavera Tome, and a cheddar similar to the PA Noble were especially popular.  I spent more time around the dry goods, and the samples we offered of Tait Farms’ strawberry rhubarb conserve and (of course!) Betty’s Tasty Buttons fudge sauce met with rave reviews! 

If anyone’s curious (oh, alright, I’m just boasting), I came away from the market with some wild ginger from VT, a bottle of riesling from Long Island, ‘thunder’ pickles with garlic and hot pepper from Katchkie Farm near Albany (owned by a nifty catering company!, an enormous loaf of crusty sourdough bread from the restaurant Daniel, and honey lavender shortbread from the Milk and Cookies bakery.

Clamming up

Sunday, June 29, 2008

I’ve been on a tear lately to find local seafood.  It just shouldn’t be this difficult.  The 100 mile radius from Philadelphia includes the Jersey shore, Delaware Bay, and parts of the Chesapeake Bay.  And within those waters, we (should) have access to tons of seafood - from clams and oysters to scallops and squid to lobster and bluefish.  Yet I have walked into about half a dozen seafood shops and a few grocery stores, and I can only reliably find Jersey bluefish.

This past weekend I found myself in a Genuardi’s (the one on Baltimore Pike not far from the Springfield Mall) to buy an iced tea, so I wandered into the seafood department. “What do you have that’s caught in Jersey?” I asked.  The woman behind the counter thought for moment and said, “Well, I think probably the bluefish and flounder.  We get boxes labeled ‘East Coast’ and we know from migratory patterns that it’s probably from New Jersey.  I would guess I’m 90% sure the bluefish and flounder are from Jersey.” I guess I should be excited the seafood workers at grocery stores pay attention to migratory patterns of fish, but it doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that the chain doesn’t get fish with exact labeling.  It goes beyond me just wanting to know - what if there was a problem with a particular fishing ground?  It would make it really difficult to recall fish without having a concrete location for the fish.

One of the One Local Summer regional coordinators recently found Jersey scallops at Whole Foods.  I have yet to hit a Whole Foods to check out their seafood selection (I plan to this week), but that’s some potentially good news.  I’m really shocked I haven’t been able to find more Jersey seafood in grocery stores - earlier this year the NJ Department of Agriculture expanded a branding and marketing initiative to label Jersey seafood.

There are only two shops I’ve found (and note that I have not visited every single seafood market in Philadelphia and the surrounding burbs) that reliably have Jersey bluefish - that’s a tiny seafood market on Calcon Hook Road in Sharon Hill and Hill’s in Media.  I do have some good leads on some other places to check out.  One is Haddonfield Shellfish (170 Grove Street in Haddonfield, NJ).  I’m told they have a good selection of Jersey-caught fish.  The other is Ippolito’s in South Philly.  Rumor has it that they occasionally have Cape May salt oysters, as well as other Jersey fish.

Coincidentally, Cape May salt oysters are on the Slow Food Ark of Taste, as are Delaware Bay oysters.

The other option is mail order.  I still haven’t figured out how I feel about this.  I mean, yes, one would be ordering local seafood from a local harvester - and having them delivered via mail is probably more environmentally sound than if I drove to, let’s say, Cape May to pick them up myself.  Places where you can order local seafood for delivery include Atlantic Capes Fisheries and The Lobster House.

I did find some topneck clams from the Chesapeake Bay at Hill’s in Media.  This really stretches the limit of the 100 mile radius, but it still counts.  I steamed them in butter, white wine, a bit of chopped onion and garlic, basil, parsley, and dill.

Where it all came from:
clams, Chesapeake Bay - 100-130 miles
butter, homemade from Dutch Way Dairy cream - 100 miles
wine, Chaddsford winery - 20 miles
onion, Landisdale Farm - 100 miles
garlic, my garden - 0 miles
basil, parsley, dill, my garden - 0 miles

Oakmont Farmer’s Market

Friday, June 27, 2008

I’m just as guilty as anyone else of sticking to my normal routine and putting blinders on when it comes to discovering new stuff, particularly when it’s farmer’s market related.  I go to Clark Park and pick up my CSA share, sometimes I stop in at the Lansdowne or Swarthmore markets.  I stop in at the Fair Food Farmstand on my way home from work sometimes.  And that’s sort of it.

I recently discovered a farmer’s market just six miles from my house, though, thanks to my friend Janet.  Oakmont Farmer’s Market is in Havertown, and the vendor list looks great - North Star Orchards, Fruitwood Orchards, Wimer’s Organics, Blueberry Hill Farm, Schaeffer’s Flowers, Hillacres Pride, Great Harvest Bread Co., Lindenhof Farm, and (I’m super excited about this one) Backyard Bison.  Janet was good enough to write up a little something for us on the Oakmont market:

The Oakmont (Haverford Township) farmers market is a small but ‘growing’ venture, in its second year of operation. Located in the Oakmont municipal parking lot on Darby road at Eagle, it is open Wednesdays 3-7 p.m. through Labor Day, and 2-6 p.m. from Labor Day to November 21.  Despite it’s size, you will find a huge variety of products, from Bison to cheese to flowers. On a recent visit, I picked up a beautiful head of lettuce, strawberries at their peak, and a bison London Broil.  If you live in Havertown, Ardmore, Wynnewood, or are just passing through, check out the market.  They also have a great website at http://www.oakmontfarmersmarket.org.

And check it out: they have a blog!  With recipes!

South Philly garden update

Sunday, June 22, 2008

(Mints and sorrel)

(Patio tomato with raspberry in background)

(Another patio tomato with zinnias)

(Chard)
Considering the clay in my soil—amended with mighty but not nearly enough bags of leaf compost, mushroom soil, and vermiculite—I’m reasonably pleased with the progress. The patio tomatoes are fruiting and the others are flowering (Brandywine, Yellow Pear, and Mortgage Lifter), peppers are ready to flower, chard is happy, sorrel was unhappy in the ground and, alas, remains peevish in its own pot, all the herbs are gangbusters. This was the first year I bought plants at Greensgrow, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

Next update: plants sprouted from Seed Savers Exchange.

Pick a winner

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Earlier in the week I had the day off from work and nothing very exciting to do, so I headed over to Linvilla for some raspberry picking.  The picking was...not great.  The guy at the Pick Your Own stand said they had gotten picked over pretty quickly, but if I was willing to put in the time and search deep into the briars, I might be able to get a good haul.  In the end, I walked away with half a flat of raspberries (and scratched arms)...but it took forever to find them.

Raspberry picking closed a few days after that for ripening.

Today Linvilla opened their yellow cherry trees for picking, but they expect to be picked out today, as well.  Blueberries opened today, as well - and I’ll probably try to get over there early Sunday morning for that.  I could eat blueberries until I turn into one, I love them so much.

Raspberries will reopen tomorrow, and strawberry picking is still going on (and is, apparently, excellent).

Easy peasy stir fry

Friday, June 20, 2008

I’m happy to report that the concept of eating local and vegan is difficult can be put to rest with this recipe:

Bok Choy, Snow Pea, Spring Onion and Seitan Stir Fry

1 package Ray’s Seitan
1 head bok choy
1/3 pound snow peas
4 - 5 spring onions, sliced
2 tablespoons oil
1+ teaspoon red pepper flakes (I used about two teaspoons)
1/2 cup water mixed with 1/2 tablespoon Bragg’s (or replace Bragg’s with soy sauce or tamari, or use 1/2 cup stock)

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Using scissors, cut seitan to bite-sized chunks into the pan and stir. Liquid from the seitan will drip into the pan as you cut, which is just fine. Once all the seitan is added, stir and increase heat to medium-high. Brown seitan, stirring every few minutes, until edges crisp, about ten minutes. Set aside.

Cut the bok choy stems into roughly one-inch pieces; slice leaves into strips and and put aside. Trim or pull the little “hats” of the snow peas. Heat remaining oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add the bok choy stems, snow peas, onions and red pepper flakes and cook, increasing heat to medium-high and stirring occasionally, until the bok choy loses its crunch, about five minutes. Add the bok choy greens and 1/2 cup water and Bagg’s, and mix well. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid evaporates and the stems become very tender, about ten minutes. Add a little more liquid if necessary.

Add seitan to veggies and mix well, cooking until seitan heats through, about a minute.

Feel free to substitute the veggies with others that you have on hand or that are in season.  Kale, collards, chard, arugula for the bok choy, and carrots, tomatoes and snap peas for the snow peas will all work.  Get crazy.  See what you have in the fridge, calculate the cook time and substitute away! 

Market report: Headhouse Square

Sunday, June 15, 2008

I had really good intentions today - I was going to get up, run over to the Headhouse Square Farmer’s Market, take lots of photos, and take copious notes about which vendors were selling what.  But then I got distracted by the amazing produce.  Considering my CSA share from yesterday is pretty good-sized, I had to stop myself from buying every single pretty green thing I saw!

The market was mobbed at 10am, another reason I didn’t take lots of photos or notes.  There was just enough room to navigate through with purchases.  Note taking was out of the question!

My main reason for hitting Headhouse was to see what Culton Organics was selling.  After Kevin’s post about finding local artichokes from Culton, I really wanted to check out what kinds of other things were being sold there.  The Culton stand did have a large supply of massive artichokes ($4 per huge choke), but I was really interested in an Spanish heirloom variety of turnips.  They sort of look like Hakurei turnips, but have a purple-ish cast and are little more squatty-shaped.  I have yet to give them a try.  I also picked up some cipollini onions and round summer squash while I was there.

I stopped in at the Weavers Way stand - they had gorgeous bunches of multi-colored beets.  I picked them up and put them down at least a half dozen times - I wanted them because they were so pretty, but I still have some beets in the freezer from last Fall!  Finally, common sense won out and I put them down for good.  But I did buy two gorgeous kholrabi for my husband.

The first of the local blueberries found their way into my bag, although I can’t for the life of me remember what stand that was.  Griggstown Quail Farm had duck breasts ($10 per breast), and I bought four lamb chops ($10) from Hillacres Pride.

I must rave about Wild Flour Bakery.  Their stand was incredibly pretty, and I wish I could have taken photos of the gorgeous displays.  As is, I felt compelled to buy a few things there.  They had big cracker sheets with different flavorings for $1 each.  I bought one with pink sea salt, one with red pepper and curry, and another with garlic.  And I had to try the potato bread pretzel ($2)!  It was genius!  I love potato rolls to be begin with, but with pretzel-y crust and lots of salt? Heaven!

My last stop was at the nursery that sells herb plants and flowers at the South end of the Shambles.  I bought three pots of parsley and a pot of Lettuce Leaf basil - big healthy plants!

All told, I spent less than $50 for all of that, most of which was spent on meat and plants.

Next week I can finally get back to hitting my local farmer’s market: the Lansdowne market on Saturday.  Woohoo!

Good things come in small packages

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

I can’t resist anything new or new to me.  When the Fair Food Farmstand sent out their weekly email saying they had Natural Acres “Pee Wee” pullet eggs, I had to have them.  Had to.  And at 75 cents per dozen, who wouldn’t want to give them a try?  I figured they’d be really tiny, but they were only a little smaller than regular eggs.

From the email....

These tiny vibrant eggs are laid by “pullets” (chickens less than a year old). As hens begin to mature into their egg laying capacity, they lay what some consider their most flavorful eggs. With the industrialized food trend toward jumbo eggs, these miniature treats are hard to find, but worth the effort and incredibly economical.

So were the eggs more flavorful than regular Natural Acres eggs?  I couldn’t say with any real expertise.  But they were most certainly just as yummy, and the yolks were nice and orange!  I used them to make an all local breakfast on Sunday morning - eggs cooked in homemade butter, mixed with a little bit of spinach and red bunching onions from the CSA share.

Stake not included

Sunday, June 08, 2008

The other day Naomi emailed me after a trip to the Fair Food Farmstand.  While she was picking up the Telford Tomme she recently reviewed, she noticed the farmstand was carrying another Calkins Creamery cheese.  She thought it would be right up my alley: a cheese called Vampire Slayer..

I’m so predictable!

Oh sure, anyone who names a cheese after Buffy is automatically OK with me, but the cheese is delicious!  Vampire Slayer is a raw milk cheddar style with the addition of garlic, onion, and a paprika-ginger blend.  I’ve been eating it with crackers for the last few days, but I also grated some into a salad last night - it grates very nicely.  I highly recommend giving it a try.

Clark Park market report, 7 June

Saturday, June 07, 2008

The market is even fuller and busier than it has been, now that it’s June and there are a few more farmers coming, but the biggest, most exciting news from today is that the market has set up all the stands with credit-card machines.  The market is paying the credit fees, too, so method of payment shouldn’t make much difference to the farmers.  I’m inclined to think that it’ll help, actually, given the number of times I think, “Oh, I’d buy X, Y, and Z, but I forgot to get cash, so I can only get X and Y.”

Also exciting were the first zucchini, garlic scapes at a number of stands, and the continuing supply of strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus, snap peas, and numerous varieties of green leafy things.  Farmers and bakers present today included Pennypack Farm, Eden Garden, Urban Girls, Keystone Farm, Landisdale Farm, the University City High School Gardens, Margerum’s, B.T.’s baked goods, Slow Rise Bakery, and a couple others whose names I’ve forgotten.

(I came home with garlic scapes, spring onions, rhubarb, snap peas, and four-seed cookies.)