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Get up close and personal with your food at growers’ markets

April 1, 2009

Get Up Close and Personal with your Food at Growers' Markets

Farmers' Markets
DENISE MILLER
For the Journal

April at your local growers' market is equivalent to shoulder season for travelers.

While you won't find the tantalizing full-on selection of late summer produce, you should be pleasantly surprised with the increasing variety minus the huge crowds.

Smaller crowds bring the savvy market shopper at least three great benefits: 1) it's easier to spot a bargain or your desired produce item; 2) you can spend extra time talking to growers; and 3) you might find a community-supported agricultural venture to join.

In early spring, look for plenty of greens and hardy cool-weather veggies, including chard, kale, spinach, arugula, salad greens, micro-greens, beets, turnips, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage, green onions, radishes, sorrel, mushrooms and garlic. If you're lucky you also may spy asparagus or super-sweet overwintered carrots just waiting to jump into your soup pot. If so, try the following recipe.

Complete your menus with locally raised fresh eggs, grassfed beef, dried red chile, pecans, garlic oil, specialty breads, jams and jellies, and pies.

Spring is also a good time to look for starter plants to try growing your own food. Many growers start small plants in their greenhouses during the winter and bring them to market in spring. Best of all, many plants are specialty heirloom varieties of tomatoes and other crops, and the growers will share planting tips.

Ask those questions

A distinct pleasure of shopping at growers' markets is the opportunity to converse with the people who grow or raise the food you'll eat.

Have a question about local versus organic, how best to store your spinach or what the chicken that laid your egg eats? Just ask the guy or gal behind the table and he or she will tell you.

If the idea of talking to the people behind the table makes you uncomfortable -- after all, supermarket shopping is an entirely different experience -- know you aren't alone in your trepidation. Rest assured, all it takes is a little practice. A few short conversations and you'll look forward to weekly opportunities to learn more about the food you eat.

If you can't visit the market weekly, consider community supported agriculture, or CSAs. They are a great way for people who have trouble getting to a market regularly to get a full season of locally grown produce. Customers pay for a "share" at the beginning of the season, and then for a set amount of time receive a box of produce or other goods each week.

While most CSAs are produce-specific, some include other products, such as locally raised goat cheese, grass-fed beef or poultry.

Great for farmers and customers alike, CSAs provide growers with a guaranteed sum of cash at the start of the season to help pay for upfront costs like seeds, while customers enjoy the convenience of a weekly produce delivery to a predetermined place.

If you find one that sounds interesting, ask lots of questions. Find out where the farm is and if the produce, meat or dairy is locally grown or raised.

If not all of the food is grown here, learn what percentage is grown elsewhere.

Spring is a great time to get back in the habit of participating in growers' markets.

CARROT AND GINGER SOUP

Makes 8 generous servings. For the soup:

2 pounds carrots, sliced 1 large onion, chopped

3 tablespoons sunchoke, sliced (or other root vegetable like celeriac or parsnip)

5 tablespoons ginger, grated (for a strong flavor)

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dill, optional

¾ cup of light cream salt pepper

For the stock:

2½ quarts water (8 cups)

1 onion, roughly chopped carrot tops and peelings celery, a few stalks and tops roughly chopped any decent vegetables in the fridge, roughly chopped

1 bay leaf

As you start prepping the carrots for the soup, start the stock. It is well worth the extra few minutes. Put a pot of water on a burner and add the roughly chopped vegetables, carrot tops and peels, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least a ½ hour (longer if you can wait) as you prep the other soup ingredients.

When you are add the stock to the soup, drain the roughly cut vegetables and bay leaf.

To prepare the soup, heat olive oil over med-high heat and add onions, carrots and sunchoke. Stir occasionally and cook until carrots are mostly tender. Add grated ginger and stock. Bring to a boil and let simmer until carrots are tender, especially if you use a stick blender. Remove from heat.

Puree the soup. Return soup to pot if you have transferred it to puree. Stir in the light cream, salt and pepper to taste. Adding dill will speckle the creamy soup's orange color.