Market Day!

Today was a great day at the greenmarket because there are so many items just coming out. They are still all small and young, but it’s great to see all these things that have been missing from the market for 9-10 months.

Fairytale eggplants are the best, and great for grilling (Monday!). These are still tiny and they are the first that we’ve seen, but we can’t wait. Also, we saw fresh chickpeas, which are rare. Yes, those fuzzy grape-looking things are chickpeas! Both of these are from Lani’s Farm.

This is also the first of the fennel, and it’s still so young that there are no real “bulbs” on it; it looks like celery. (Non hot-house) bell peppers are also back.

We saw baby kohlrabi, of both the green and purple varieties. Kohlrabi will eventually be available that are the size of softballs, but for now it’s closer to golf balls. But these are tender and great to eat raw with dip.

We are also getting the first of the peaches, apricots, and plums. All of these are a little bit early, but from what we hear the early heat this year is causing everything to appear a few weeks early.

Sour cherries are in full swing, and Lindsay has elaborate plans to can some pie filling. We’ve been buying blueberries to snack on for a few weeks, but they haven’t been perfect until this week. Now they are plump, juicy, sweet, and at their finest. We’ve heard that they will still be around for a few weeks. Also, we saw almost no strawberries this week, but heard that they are in a harvesting lull and will be back again in coming weeks. The farmers rotate their planting and harvests and somehow it all seemed to line up this week.

Cherry tomatoes are here, including the very first Golden / Sweet 100s. In a few weeks those will be as sweet as a berry.

Keith’s Farm is selling whole garlic, meaning the bulb (which is finally full grown) with the stalk and the scape attached! We just got into garlic scapes this year (trying cooking them the ways you would cook asparagus). They are so good. It’s nice getting the various growth stages of garlic, because that something that you don’t see in the supermarket. The garlic you buy there (even at Whole Foods) is static an unchanging. We also noticed that Migliorelli had corn, the that (we think) we have seen, although it doesn’t seem to be at peak yet, because when it is, it will be everywhere.

Northshire Farm had quail and duck eggs. We also bought some honey. They carry a few different types, each made from a different type of pollen. Sp = Spring Flowers, F = Fall Flowers, L = Linden, G = Goldenrod, and I forget what SF stands for. We like the spring flower variety.

I like the Canuco Farm sign, “100% uncertified organic”. Our type of people! Lindsay is also expanding our fire escape garden. It now includes basil, thyme, cilantro, and parsley. We needed to get some potting soil. We drop off our compost every time we visit the greenmarket, and today we got to buy it back in the form of the potting soil that they sell. Buying back our own garbage?!