The link is: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/food/8888319.htm
In a message dated 6/10/2004 8:37:47 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Posted on Thu, Jun. 10, 2004 > > > Get fresh > > With a little imagination, it's easy to plan a tasty seasonal menu around > offerings at local farmers markets. > > By Marilynn Marter > > Inquirer Food Writer > > > The annual cycle of plantings and harvests is under way, bringing a new > season of locally grown crops to area farmers markets. > > Those baskets heaped high with fresh fruits and vegetables dewy in the > morning sun look enticing. But how do experienced shoppers choose amid all > the bounty and plan a menu around their selections? > > We recently visited the burgeoning farmers market at Clark Park in West > Philadelphia with Aliza Green, longtime local chef, food consultant, and > author of the Field Guide to Produce (Quirk Books, $14.95, softcover). > > Her challenge: to create an interesting, appetizing meal with the best of > what she could find fresh at the market. > > This early in the season, the selection of produce is limited. During our > visit, we found asparagus, rhubarb, hothouse tomatoes, white mushrooms, and > scallions with onion bulbs just large enough for Green to call them "spring > onions." > > She passed on a stash of Yukon Gold potatoes from last year's crop. The new > potato crop, starting with reds (best boiled to use in salads), is due later > this month. > > For her improvised menu, Green focused on a salad using the tight-capped > organic mushrooms ($3.50 a quart) picked that morning at Sher Rockee > Mushroom Farms, near Kennett Square. Mushrooms also make great additions to > soups and stir-fries, she noted. Or they can be added to pasta sauce - as > can any number of other vegetables as the season progresses. > > On this day in late May, asparagus would highlight Green's pasta primavera, > a dish accented with sweet onions, cream, nutmeg and grated Parmesan. In > June, the same recipe might include peas or sliced snow peas and halved > cherry tomatoes. > > Green recommends selecting firm, plump asparagus spears. The thin spears > many shoppers believe to be more delicate actually are the shoots of aging > plants. They may have stringy fibers and tough skin. > > "Fat spears come from young plants and often are more tender," Green said. > > "I don't generally peel asparagus," she added. "Just remember: The farther > the green goes down the stalk, the better." > > The greenhouse-grown Trust tomatoes, with firmer flesh than most of their > inbred ilk, can be halved, partially seeded, and grilled as a side dish. > Nurtured from seeds imported from Holland said to cost nearly $400 for a > packet of 1,000, the tomatoes we found came from Fahnestock Farm near > Lititz, Lancaster County, and cost $2 a pound. > > Green suggested spring onions, grilled and quartered lengthwise, as an > attractive and tasty garnish for an entree or salad. > > The prepared pies and sweet buns at Clark Park's farm stands could save the > cook from making dessert for this meal. But the fresh, ruby-red rhubarb > would make a tasty filling for a homemade pie with crumb topping. > > For a lighter, more refreshing option, Green suggested checking markets for > early strawberries - perhaps to dip into melted chocolate. > > Though farmers markets rarely offer the variety found in supermarkets, they > offer a win-win situation: Growers get better prices than a wholesaler would > pay, and consumers get fresher foods, often within hours of picking or > production, at prices below those a typical grocer might charge. And buying > directly from family farmers helps keep them in business. > > For many people, that alone justifies adapting menus to what's available. > > At Clark Park, Paul Hails of His Kids Dairy in Wyalusing, Pa., sells raw, > organic cows' milk ($2.50 a half gallon) and a selection of goats'-milk > cheeses, along with produce grown by his son, Zachary, who is 15. Zachary's > early pickings included asparagus, rhubarb, spring onions, lettuces and > spinach. Those will still be available this month, along with a greater > variety of greens and salad mixes. > > "There's been so much rain," Hails said. "The weather is killing us. We > haven't planted outside in four weeks." > > Cool, wet weather delayed early-spring plantings throughout the region. But > recent stretches of warm weather have caused crops to mature faster, > bringing harvests back near their normal schedule while raising concerns > about heat stress diminishing quality. > > This is the sixth year that Hails has been making the nearly six-hour, > 160-mile-plus round-trip drive from his 121-acre, certified-organic dairy > farm in rural Bradford County, on the New York border. > > "If I could find two more markets like Clark Park, we'd be set," said Hails, > who neared his goal by opening a second stand last Saturday at the Second > and South Street market. Zachary is manning that location. > > Hails started selling pork sausage made from pasture-raised hogs to > Abbraccio restaurant (820 S. 47th St.) last year and just added Mariposa > Food Co-op (4726 Baltimore Ave.) as a customer for his raw organic milk and > cheeses. He also supplies dairy products to None Such Farm Market in > Buckingham and Carroll's Seafood & Produce in Plumsteadville, Bucks County. > > Given the choice of selling in New York or Philadelphia, Hails, a Bucks > County native, said simply, "Philadelphia feels like home." > > As appealing and potentially profitable as farm marketing can be, it - like > farming itself- is a labor of love. > > Bob Pierson, founder and director of Farm to City, a Philadelphia program > that links farmers and consumers through farmers markets and > community-supported agriculture, has opened only four markets so far this > season, compared with seven last year. > > "Farmers are in short supply," Pierson said. ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
