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Weekly Market Notes Library

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Weekly Market Notes for August 08, 2013

Hello Market Friends:

Summertime, and the eating is oh so fine. You need look no further than our vendors' tables to get ready for splendid meals:

Sosnickis' Contribution: "Sweet Corn! Our corn is coming along with a ton of other stuff direct from our own fields! And always certified organic!!" Jess & Ben

Blythe from Growing Spaces writes: “We're going to have pickles galore this week! So exciting!! Coming this week and/or next: Dill pickles, Iva's cucumber relish, Mustard Cucumbers, Bread and Butter Pickles, and more."

Laura and Matthew Sabourin of Feast of Fields have a wonderful fruit list: Peaches, Apricots, Plums, maybe Blackberries, Figs, Grapes, and Asian Pears.

Debbie Wiecha from Niagara Lavender writes: “As well as Peaches, I am bringing up Elderberries. Some have turned a dark purple red,and the Mocking birds are in them so they are ready to be picked...ha ha.”

When we first had elderberries at the market, almost nobody knew what to do with them, but then customers with origins in the Caribbean, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe were excited to find these old favourites, and we learned about cordials and jellies, elderberry gin to ward off colds, and more. They are a berry that's not meant to be eaten raw, and the (fun) trick you need to know is to freeze the bunches on cookie sheets before attempting to remove the berries from the stems. Once frozen, they come tumbling off the stems in a fast and very satisfying way, and can be cooked right away or kept frozen until you feel inspired by a recipe.

Ali Harris and the Fish Shak crew will be serving up watermelon-mint juice, mango smoothies, and plantain snacks along with their usual delicious fare.

deFloured will be away this time.

It's hard to do justice to our vegetable selection with mere words. Come see how beautiful the tables look now! Here's another current favourite recipe, which transforms zucchini into a new taste sensation:

Zucchini Ribbon Salad

• 2-3 medium-large but very young zucchini (yellow ones are extra nice), *shaved lengthwise with a wide peeler into ribbons, and tossed with:
• 2 T fresh lemon juice
• 2 T olive oil
• salt and lots of fresh pepper
• 2 T salted, roasted sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup chopped/torn fresh basil
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta (optional)

I make the ribbons thicker than translucent but much thinner than you would want to grill, i.e. about 1-2 mm thick. For those of you who'd rather stay out of the kitchen, park super-cook Leslie Lindsay is planning to make this salad for the lucky folks at Friday night's supper.

We will have some more special visitors this week. Annette Street Music's Julie Sousa and Mark Tennenhouse will be offering free, private guitar lessons (and Guitar 101 / Q&A) for market patrons of all ages from 3:30pm - 6:30pm. No signup required, no previous experience necessary, and guitars will be provided. How can you beat that?

See you at the market!

Anne Freeman

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