Things Consumed

 

Farmer's Market Joy

While I don't understand how people can shop for personal goods as a hobby, I have to admit that going to the farmer's market is nearly a hobby for me. A happy hobby. I need to buy food anyway: why not interact with the people who grow it, get a much bigger selection than my local greengrocer provides, and get food that was picked fresh within a day of my purchase?

My only disappointment with the market that we go to is that relatively little of the produce is organic (pesticide free). There is organic produce there, which we buy, but it would be great if it all were. There is also an organic farmer's market at the Ferry Building, which is rather far from us, and I periodically go to that market also, but the selection there tends to be more limited. (I should go there to make a "special report" and take photos!)

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This week, prices seemed a bit higher for many of the fruits and veggies, by 50 cents or more per pound. Strawberries have gone up in nearly double in price at some booths: now they are $5 for three baskets, rather than six (half a flat). Avocados are 4/$6, rather than 5/5. Cherries went up slightly, and were largely overripe: Ranier cherries weren't available this week at all, leaving bing and regina (which are red-black). People spent more time picking over what was left than filling bags: they were terribly soft. One of the farmers said that this is his last week for both cherries and pluots (plum-apricots), which seemed impossible, because there have been so few pluots I'd assumed they were starting later.

For unknown reasons, the nectarines and peaches available to sample weren't as sweet as last week, and it took a while to find some that compared.

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I never really describe the ENTIRE set of seasonal offerings at the Alemany Farmer's Market. I'll do that now.

Veggies in season now: carrots, beets, daikon radishes (in reasonable sizes; sometimes they're all 2 feet long), potatoes (blue, red, pink, yellow Finn, russet), mushrooms (about a dozen kinds), jalapeños, crinkly green long chilies, sweet bell peppers (red, yellow, green, pale purple, dark green), small hot straight chilies, summer squash (pattypan, crookneck, zucchini in round and long shapes), corn, bitter melon (fruit and vines), green beans, yellow beans, peas (pod and snow), lemons, oranges, eggplant, okra, basil, sour leaf (which is everywhere: I'll need to figure out what it's good for), plums, apricots, peaches, nectarines, a few pluots, blueberries, strawberries, onions (green, yellow, red, white), garlic (all dried, no fresh with greens, boo hoo), tomatoes (red, red-green ruffled, red cherry, yellow pear cherry), avocado, eggplant (small round, large round, long thing, all purple), lettuces and chards, a few bok choy-type greens, walnuts, bitter almonds, figs, dates, sour champagne grapes (the tiny little ones), a few winter squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and watermelon.

Animals: There are also the usual non-veggie vendors, including the fish and live bird section across the street at the southwest end, which was unfortunately upwind of part of the veggie market today. The live chicken truck is sad, but does not smell all that bad. The fish section, however, does not smell like fresh fish: it smells more like a fishing dock at the end of a hot day after many successful fisherpeople have cleaned their catch. It's just can't be far enough away not to stink up a large area. There is an egg booth mid market, which not only sells eggs, but also the very unfortunate balut (cooked, unhatched ducks, still in the eggs).

Prepared foods and a few non-foods. Scattered throughout the market are live plant sellers, for vegetable seedlings and orchids; dried fruits (mostly stone fruit); apple cider; there is a wide selection of honey, made from bees pollinating different sorts of flowers. (There are subtle, subtle differences in taste from clover honey, which are lovely. Blue curls honey is very nice...) At the northeast end are bakers (loaves of sliced and unsliced breads, ciabattas, focaccias, Danish-style pastries and twists), Sukhi's Indian specialties (samosas, thick naans, parathas, about 8 kinds of fresh sauces, half a dozen kinds of pickles and chutneys in jars, jars of spices, papadam), a middle eastern specialty booth (unleavened breads, fresh spreads, baklava), cured olives, olive oil, and cheeses (sometimes, they were done before we arrived today). There are usually at least two booths of cut flowers. Kettle corn scents the air midmarket. There is a tamale truck with a range of tamales, including a few vegan ones; their salsas, available in their small dining area, are very tasty as well.

I think that's everything that's usually their, food wise. There's also the cool older woman who plays saw and slide guitar, who has a wooden, dancing cat that she operates with her foot. She's REALLY GOOD at the instruments she plays, and the wooden cat completely mesmerizes passing kids.

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This week we could not resist:

-large red tomatoes
-red cherry tomatoes
-yellow pear cherry tomatoes
-broccoli
-plums
-nectarines
-peaches (white)
-avocados
-cucumbers
-strawberries
-red lettuce
-cheddar garlic bread (mmmmmmmmmmm....)
-multigrain, sliced, sesame-seed topped multigrain bread
-regina cherries (very dark, very ripe)
-blueberries (!!!)
-crinkly green peppers
-and from Sukhi's: 3 samosas, papadam, mango pickle, and green chili chutney.
posted by Arlene (Beth)8:00 PM

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