marketfan

I don't have any experience growing zucchini, but the only time I placed a special order for the blossoms from a local farm, I was given the female blossoms attached to tiny, slender squash. No way no how could I have coaxed more than a tablespoon or two of cheese into those blossoms let alone filled them with all that Lucy nestled into petals in Lyon. Since there are so many different types of the squash, I just figured...

Truck Patch has been bringing young zucchini with female flowers attached to Mount Pleasant, 14 & U and Bloomingdale. But the zucchini were not very tiny so I think you could make Lucy's recipe with them. Sunnyside has had male flowers in flat plastic bags. I have made them twice in the last thre days in a preheated 350-400 degree oven (once at 350, once at 400), drizzled with olive oi and baked for 20 minutes on a cast iron skillet.

Stuffing:

1. ricotta, egg yolk, salt, pepper, basil shred

2. sauteed grated zucchini with onion and thyme

and I have often made them stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy, but fried.

Sunnyside has male flowers at Mount Pleasant, 14&U and Bloomingdale. Truck Patch has female flowers with the squash attached at all three markets. .

I've only found female squash blossoms at Mt. Pleasant. Last year there were a couple of stands at Arlington that also had them but I haven't been there to check it out this year.

Mount Pleasant Farmers' Market Returns Saturday May 5th 9-1 Lamont Plaza.

There will be purple and green asparagus and a variety of spring lettuces and greens including baby chard and spinach, watercress, arugula. Lots of herbs. Kathy Reid has created a container garden of of plants for afternoon Teas. First Strawberries next week.

Foodite.

I agree that TK has pointed out that the rising young chefs are creating wonderful food. And that is why I was very disappointed that St Ex was left out.

I went to HEOTB today at noon. I am just back from a week in Vancouver where I had Dim Sum twice so I had a fresh memory. HEOTB was very disappointing. I sampled a variety of steamed dumplings and they were uniformly thick and a bit gummy, not at all like their delicate cousins on the West Coast.

Nothing special at all.

A taste of a lamb tagine (Paula Wolfert recipe) that I am cooking very slowly.

Kathy Reid has been baking them at Reid's Orchards at the Mount Pleasant Farmers' market on Saturdays. They had them last week and they were very good looking although I have not tasted them

Who are your favorite farmers -- and why?

I am curious.

I will start. I go to many different farmers' markets because I like different farmers for different things. Lately, Truckpatch at Mt Pleasant has been growing terrific arugula and I have always liked the Asian Pears at Reid's (various markets) but this year I fell in love with their Elstar Apples. and Wheatland's cucumbers.

Truckpatch at Mount Pleasant had Orange Cauliflower today that stays orange after cooking -- it is sweeter than the white variety, according to Brian. They also have beautiful purple broccoli and newly dug red potatoes. Quaker Valley has very good walnuts in shells there as well. Lots of greens in the market -- collards, kales, chards of different colors, and lots of salad greens. Tree and Leaf has pink and yellow carrots, Scarlett and Purple Top Turnips, beets.

According to this Mt. Pleasant is open through December.

No, Mount Pleasant's last day is November 18th, 2006.

I'd love to start a thread about favorite local (say, within 50 miles of DC) farms that welcome visitors and offer their own produce, meats and dairy for sale.

This time of year, of course, I'm thinking apples, and would particularly like recommendations of farms that bottle and sell their own (is it too much to ask for unpasturized?) cider. But please share any favorites, no matter what they specialize in. Contact information would be great as well.

Thanks!!

Cibola in Purcellville welcomes visitors and has a gorgeous 300 acre grazing farm for their grass fed buffalo, goats, pigs, poultry and rabbits. They sell from the farm as well. Very pretty area to drive to and around this time of year.

According to Michael Pollan, the manner in which beef cattle are raised and the ingredients in their feed predispose them to strains of e-coli that they wouldn't necessarily get if they were in pastures eating grass. Starting with corn, an unnatural food source for cattle, and going through all the other additives in their feed, which could include things like chicken droppings (intentionally), their digestive tracts are set up to get sick. Standing in their waste in the feed lots, and being crowded together so their exercise is limited, create significant stress on their bodies and immune systems. As I understand it, they are given antibiotics as a precaution to prevent them from becoming ill in this situation, but that can have the effect of producing bacterial strains that are resistant to those antibiotics.

I did appreciate Mr. Griffin's point of view. I think I understand the problem and the issues much better for having read that interview.

Nina Planck had a very good editorial in the Times on Thursday pointing out that this particularly acid- resistant e-coli strand was prevalent in cows fed on grain rather than grass/hay and that the problem may have come from groundwater contaminated by leakage from factory farming manure lagoons.

http://ninaplanck.com/index.php?article=e_coli

Anyone interested in Saturn peaches? Reid has them at the Mount Pleasant Farmers' market on Saturday, 9-1, Mount Pleasant Street between Lamont and Park

And here is what Russ Parson said in the LA Times:

"Saturn peaches: Whether you call them Saturn, Donut, bagel, saucer or peento, demand for these flat peaches is going over the moon. A rarity not so long ago (only about 50 tons were sold in 1996), sales more than doubled between 2000 and 2005 to a whopping 4,000 tons. Why? Partly because they look so cute, of course. Beyond that, they are very sweet, nearly candy-like with low acidity and white melting flesh. Saturn peaches are descended from an old Chinese variety called peento or pan-tao (it translates rather prosaically as "flat peach")"

We hit the market(s) in Aix-en-Provence yesterday. The artisinal jewelry, clothing, etc. was pretty predictibly overpriced but I did get a bracelet made of two silver forks for 25 euro and the flea market area was full of curiousities. Scott picked up a 19th century map of the Bouches-du-Rhône.

The fragrance of the fruit section was overwhelming - peaches, apricots, blackberries, currants of all types, beautiful raspberries - we bought 1/2 a kilo of tiny, perfect strawberries and devoured it on the drive back to St-Remy.

Interestingly, we have visited several markets and not seen any notations regarding the "organicness" of the offerings.

I live in Provence part of the year. Most of the markets in Provence are notr organic nor are many of the producers selling their own products. You have to look for BIO markets/producers if you want organic and for Marche Paysan for markets that are producer- only. Many are revendeurs -- resellers of produce they buy at the wholesale market. Digne has a good local and non touristy market on Saturdays with many local producers. You may be surprized to find yourself preferring the vegetable producers in DC to those of Provence but the fruit and cheese sellers are MUCH better in Provence. (The tomatoes are usually better here in DC markets, I was depressed to discover after ten years in Provence).

It's not just hygiene, it's the due diligence as far as appropriate vaccinations, disease treatment, and blood testing of the cattle. Pasteurization isn't just intended to kill the bacteria from external contaminants that might get into the supply chain, it takes care of some of the nastiness that could potentially be transmitted from the cows themselves - tuberculosis, leptospirosis, and brucellosis among others. These are not diseases I want to mess around with. If someone can come up with an appropriate certification program for raw fluid milk sale, fine. But there have to be some safeguards in place, which I suspect is the (poorly communicated) objection to "just giv[ing] milk away."

Hannah,

I agree that it is also about keeping healthy cows. But that is good animal husbandry. And good husbandry can mean that we don't have to fear food and that we can enjoy its real taste. Several examples:

I am often in France. Farmers and supermarkets there do not refrigerate eggs because refrigeration changes the flavor as it does for tomatoes. I was a bit sceptical of this but I tried not refrigerating the eggs I bought at markets and yes, there was a huge difference in the flavor.

I lived in Denmark for 2 years in 1972 when I was shocked when I was served very pink, indeed rare pork. My Danish friends were shocked that we served pork gray. They had not had trichinosis in decades.

So, yes, you do have to know how your food is raised.

And undulant fever and a host of other real illnesses that are not just "food poisoning". This is just not worth it.

The issue is sanitation. Raw Milk is perfectly safe if the dairy is scrupulous about hygiene. Pasturized dairies are often much dirtier because they know that the milk will be pasturized.

I just finished reading it--Pollan is a brilliant writer and thinker. I really enjoyed his chapter on hunting and foraging. While I haven't hunted, I have a friend who brings me local wild venison, shad and herring, duck and goose to cook, and I have been a wild food and mushroom forager for many years. There is a primal pleasure in the treasure hunt that Pollan totally captured on the page.Though I have been a farmers' market devotee since the mid-eighties when I lived in Santa Monica, he's inspired me to eat locally even more than I have been, and to spend fewer of my food dollars on industrial organic stuff from Whole Foods.

Nina Planck, whose parents own Wheatlands Farm in Loudon Co. was on WAMU this morning plugging a book she's written about eating local, sustainably raised food and debating a scientist from the pleasure police, who was plugging yet another book insisting that we eat a very low fat, no meat-eggs-dairy, whole grains, no fun diet. N.P. has gone from being a vegan to eating grass-fed meats, raw milk, eggs and cheese as well as veggies, and says she is healthier in many ways than she was before.

If you missed the WAMU show, you can get another chance to hear Nina Wednesday night 7pm at Politics and Prose. Michael Pollan blurbed her book, Real Food. I bought both of them recently and I think they complement each other.

Nina Planck is going to be at Politics and Prose signing her new book, Real Food: What to EAt and Why

Nina is a farm girl, "a noted food writer and expert on farmers’ markets. Planck rethinks the current advice that says to avoid the fat and cholesterol of beef and butter—“real foods” we’ve been eating for centuries. Instead, Planck blames more recently developed “industrial foods” for the growing epidemic of “industrial diseases,” such as diabetes, obesity, and heart trouble."

She created the 14 London Farmers Markets, the Mount Pleasant Farmers Market, ran the Greenmarkets in New York, and the new Real Food Markets in Manhattan..

She is a good speaker. Controversial and interesting.

Wednesday, the 19th 7 pm

Paula and I recently moved to Vienna, VA and I have seen signs that advertise a farmer's market on Saturday mornings. Has anybody been to the Vienna farmer's market and is it worth checking out?

There are some good farmers there including Reid Orchards. It is worth checking out. They also have a fabulous flower producer...

Nina Planck will be signing her book Real Food at the Dupont Circle market next Sunday, shortly after the chef demo at 11 am.

Anyone in Penn Quarter get a chance to eat cake or paella this afternoon?

Nina will also be talking about her book and signing at the Mount Pleasant Farmers' Market (Mount Pleasant Street between Park and Lamont) on SATURDAY between 9-11.

Mt Pleasant will have first sweet corn and cantaloups of the season, tomatoes, beans, lots of cucumbers and 6 varieties of summer squash, white and yellow peaches, blue and yellow plums, 3 kinds of raspberries, gooseberries (LAST week for gooseberries), Wheatland's incredible blueberries, cherries, strawberries....pastured pork, buffalo, goat, rabbit, chicken that tastes like chicken because it is grass fed...and Breadline breads and sweets

Mount Pleasant will have Amish Transparent Apples (( so called because they make a very clear applesauce!) and a new crop of strawberries, gooseberries, 3 colors of raspberries, Japanese blue plums, early yellow plums, a variety of peaches, both white and yellow, field tomatoes, cukes, 6 varieties of summer squash, leeks, onions, brocoli and all kinds of Breadline cookies, muffins, breads.

I've been out of town for a couple of weeks. Did I foolishly plan my summer vacation during sour cherry season? Are there any left at local farmers markets?

Mount Pleasant will have sour cherries tomorrow at Reid and Quaker Valley and perhaps at Wheatland.

Any good farmer's markets in MoCo? Haven't been able to get to Dupont Sundays.

Lydia, Mount PLeasant is on Saturdays from 9-1. Lamont Plaza on Mount Pleasant Streets between Lamont and Park.

I found it interesting that Smith Meadows Farm takes a dramatically different approach at the two locations. The emphasis today was on the pastas, with a completely different photo display from what we see in Del Ray, where it's mostly about the meat, which is also the focus of the photos they show there.

Smith Meadows is was not invited to bring meat to Dupont which is why their stand is different at Del Ray and Dupont. Perhaps they will be able to in the future?

Mt Pleasant had 4 types of cherries: the red Montmorency pie cherries which have a 10 day season, black Tartarians, Raniers and Bing. White and Black currants at Audia. Raspberries, strawberries, fuji apples from Storage.

Also saw many types of cabbage: Napa and two Italian varieties, Kales, collards, French carrots, Japanese turnips, scarlett Queen turnips, salad mixes, stir fry mixes, baby leeks, spring onions, bunching onions, herbs, Caribe purple potatoes, French fingerlings and Red Bliss. radishes, lots of basil, high tunnel tomatoes, strawberries that looked like Fraise du bois, English peas, snow peas, sugar snap peas, arugula, red and green chard, asparagus, lettuces, Italian Largo squash, pipian (Mid East Squash) and zucchini, epizote. Rue plants.