The Farmers Market is one of my favorite places to shop. That's why it's so unusual that we have not visited one this year, especially since vegetables are so important to our diet now.
I'm thinking about making a list of vegetable dishes that I can accomplish quickly on a week night, and then creating a shoping list for next Saturday. I don't want to miss any more of the sessions, since they only meet once a week.
Our Farmers Market is wonderful. The very first booth is the Italian guy who flirts with my mother and sharpens her knives for free. For his kindness, I give him bottles of wine, and home made chili sauce, and sometimes I even part with home made cookies for him.
We have a company that sells shrimp and crab from the Gulf Coast. They catch them, and drive up the next day. There's a German Bakery that carries an endless variety of goods. I love the Kuchen bread, and the pretzel rolls.
There's one booth that offers jams and jellies, and there used to be another that sold flavored oils and vinegars. They'd buy produce from the booth next to them, and then saute the veggies with their oils. The scent made your mouth water.
We have a local man who is a bee keeper, and he sells honey, and beeswax candles, lip balms, and table wax. The seller next to him has incredible produce, and the one across from them sells a variety of lettuces.
One of the vendors sells cheese, and another sells mushrooms. Their recipe for grilled portabellos is YUMMY!
There are several vendors who sell flowers. One of them has dried flower arrangements, and others sell bunches of glads, sunflowers, or fresh mixed bouquets. Another sells pots of perennials. I've purchased lilies and chrysanthemums from them.
In a week or two we'll prepare the annual batch of chili sauce. I don't eat it, but I love the scent of it cooking, so I goad my aging mother into working with me to make it each year. She used to do the entire thing by herself. Now I peel and cut the tomatoes and she prepares the rest. We'll have to stop at one of the booths and buy 20 pounds of tomatoes, green peppers, celery and onions. If I haven't already posted the recipe, I'll share it with you when we make it this year.
When the market first opens for the year, you're likely to find a lot of fruit from the southwest corner of Michigan. As the summer passes, you see a parade of fruit pass across those tables.....raspberries, blueberries, peaches, apples, and apricots.
Mid summer you see the tomatoes and cucumbers, green onions, dill, green beans, summer squash and zucchini. The sweet corn comes in, and then you start to see the fall veggies: all sorts of squash, eggplant, onions, pumpkins. There's even a booth where I can buy ear corn for feeding our furry winter visitors.
Endless variety....the spice of life! If you haven't been to a Farmers Market.....you've GOT to go!
Comments (3)
Your recipe was either previously posted or you sent it to me. It is similar to my mother's recipe--but I think she called her sauce picallili. Or, I may be confused about that. I'm like you in that I love the smell but I don't really eat it.
Posted by Cop Car | July 25, 2004 4:50 PM
Posted on July 25, 2004 16:50
I'll have to do a search to see if I posted it. The chili sauce is like a really cooked stewed tomato with seasonings. My mother calls sweet relish "picalily," and we eat it on grilled peanut butter sandwiches. Odd, I know.....but GREAT!
Posted by Buffy | July 25, 2004 5:00 PM
Posted on July 25, 2004 17:00
Thanks so much! My grandmother made picalily (sp?} and we all loved it so. Tried to find her recipe but could not. Will you be posting it soon? I will be looking for it, if so. This was a wonderful concoction that I thought was hers alone! Think it was green tomatoes, onion, green or red peppers - but what else? Thanks
I could write stories about our trips to the farmers' market every year and all the canning we did
Posted by Donna Swedberg | September 5, 2004 3:46 PM
Posted on September 5, 2004 15:46