Category: Food: At The Market Reports

At The Market: Planning a Local Thanksgiving with Farmers’ Markets

Order Your Turkey

Meet Kasey Fechtor from Stillman’s at the Turkey Farm! She's ready to take your order for a holiday turkey at the Copley Square Farmers' Market. That's one thing you can check off your Thanksgiving planning list. (You can also order, right now, online.)

Reserve Those Pies!

You can also reserve your holiday pies or, if you're undecided which pie to feature, you can buy some small ones and have a taste-off this week. It's hard work but exploring all the options is a cook's responsibility. If you have to peel the rutabagas, you should get to taste-test the pies. The ones above are from Cook's Farm and Bakery.

Bring Home the Keepers

To keep those last market shopping bags from bursting at the seams, stock up on some of those supplies this week and next. Winter squash, pumpkins, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries, apples, and carrots will keep until you’re ready to add them to your holiday meal.

Gifts for A Host or Hostess

If your role is as guest rather than chef, add a local touch with a gift from one of the artisan vendors at our local farmers' markets. One example is this selection of spreadable fruit from Deborah's Kitchen.

Or, a jar of wondeful local honey.

What's on your Thanksgiving shopping list? Will you shop for some of the meal at your local farmers' market?

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

November 14, 2013
At The Market: Planning a Local Thanksgiving with Farmers’ Markets

Order Your Turkey

Meet Kasey Fechtor from Stillman’s at the Turkey Farm! She's ready to take your order for a holiday turkey at the Copley Square Farmers' Market. That's one thing you can check off your Thanksgiving planning list. (You can also order, right now, online.)

Reserve Those Pies!

You can also reserve your holiday pies or, if you're undecided which pie to feature, you can buy some small ones and have a taste-off this week. It's hard work but exploring all the options is a cook's responsibility. If you have to peel the rutabagas, you should get to taste-test the pies. The ones above are from Cook's Farm and Bakery.

Bring Home the Keepers

To keep those last market shopping bags from bursting at the seams, stock up on some of those supplies this week and next. Winter squash, pumpkins, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries, apples, and carrots will keep until you’re ready to add them to your holiday meal.

Gifts for A Host or Hostess

If your role is as guest rather than chef, add a local touch with a gift from one of the artisan vendors at our local farmers' markets. One example is this selection of spreadable fruit from Deborah's Kitchen.

Or, a jar of wondeful local honey.

What's on your Thanksgiving shopping list? Will you shop for some of the meal at your local farmers' market?

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

November 14, 2013
At The Market: Planning a Local Thanksgiving with Farmers’ Markets

Order Your Turkey

Meet Kasey Fechtor from Stillman’s at the Turkey Farm! She's ready to take your order for a holiday turkey at the Copley Square Farmers' Market. That's one thing you can check off your Thanksgiving planning list. (You can also order, right now, online.)

Reserve Those Pies!

You can also reserve your holiday pies or, if you're undecided which pie to feature, you can buy some small ones and have a taste-off this week. It's hard work but exploring all the options is a cook's responsibility. If you have to peel the rutabagas, you should get to taste-test the pies. The ones above are from Cook's Farm and Bakery.

Bring Home the Keepers

To keep those last market shopping bags from bursting at the seams, stock up on some of those supplies this week and next. Winter squash, pumpkins, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberries, apples, and carrots will keep until you’re ready to add them to your holiday meal.

Gifts for A Host or Hostess

If your role is as guest rather than chef, add a local touch with a gift from one of the artisan vendors at our local farmers' markets. One example is this selection of spreadable fruit from Deborah's Kitchen.

Or, a jar of wondeful local honey.

What's on your Thanksgiving shopping list? Will you shop for some of the meal at your local farmers' market?

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

November 14, 2013
At the Market: Stocking Up for Winter

Carrying home farmers' market shopping bags can be a workout this time of year because Ed and I are toting a few extra items to fill our pantry for the winter months.

Local Honey

Honey is the number one item on our list. We buy the majority of the honey we eat from Foppema's Farm. We love the flavor and appreciate the fact that it's a local product, simply collected with all the phytonutrients and traces of local pollens.

Honey stores perfectly well in a cool dark spot and will last for years, so we never worry about buying too much. Our only concern is making sure we have enough to get through the months when we can't get our favorite.

Young, Fresh Ginger

Local, young ginger from Old Friends Farm is another fall favorite around here. Penny recently read this page on the Old Friends website about freezing this lively, full-flavored alternative to the dried-up ginger you often find in mainstream stores.

She tried it and is thrilled to know she can have a supply of great ginger until next September rolls around and it appears again at the corner of the Atlas Farm stand devoted to products from their neighbors at Old Friends Farm.

Maple syrup is available all winter but if you like to buy it at the market, you can stock up. This jug came from Boston Organics and we keep it in the freezer. Pure maple syrup has no additives or preservatives. It has a higher water content than honey, so it can and will grow mold if you don't use it quickly.

In the freezer, it never becomes solid so you can still pour out what you need and return the jug to it's chilly storage spot.

Pumpkins and Winter Squash

More cooks are discovering the golden goodness of winter squash, and pumpkin. Food sites like The Kitchn are showing us how to make the most of the harvest while it's in season. Here's a recent post they did on "Two Ways to Freeze Winter Squash."

What will you be taking home to store for winter use? How will you store it? How will you prepare it? Are you making jams and jellies? Apple butter? Hard cider? Tell us about your favorite stockpiles!

Click here to read more of our At The Market Reports.

PRIME
What do you know about Amazon Prime? We use it and love it. You pay once a year for free 2-day shipping delivery charges. Amazon throws in access to instant streaming movies and TV shows and they let you borrow a free ebook each month. They will even give you a one month free trial. Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 24, 2013
At the Market: Stocking Up for Winter

Carrying home farmers' market shopping bags can be a workout this time of year because Ed and I are toting a few extra items to fill our pantry for the winter months.

Local Honey

Honey is the number one item on our list. We buy the majority of the honey we eat from Foppema's Farm. We love the flavor and appreciate the fact that it's a local product, simply collected with all the phytonutrients and traces of local pollens.

Honey stores perfectly well in a cool dark spot and will last for years, so we never worry about buying too much. Our only concern is making sure we have enough to get through the months when we can't get our favorite.

Young, Fresh Ginger

Local, young ginger from Old Friends Farm is another fall favorite around here. Penny recently read this page on the Old Friends website about freezing this lively, full-flavored alternative to the dried-up ginger you often find in mainstream stores.

She tried it and is thrilled to know she can have a supply of great ginger until next September rolls around and it appears again at the corner of the Atlas Farm stand devoted to products from their neighbors at Old Friends Farm.

Maple syrup is available all winter but if you like to buy it at the market, you can stock up. This jug came from Boston Organics and we keep it in the freezer. Pure maple syrup has no additives or preservatives. It has a higher water content than honey, so it can and will grow mold if you don't use it quickly.

In the freezer, it never becomes solid so you can still pour out what you need and return the jug to it's chilly storage spot.

Pumpkins and Winter Squash

More cooks are discovering the golden goodness of winter squash, and pumpkin. Food sites like The Kitchn are showing us how to make the most of the harvest while it's in season. Here's a recent post they did on "Two Ways to Freeze Winter Squash."

What will you be taking home to store for winter use? How will you store it? How will you prepare it? Are you making jams and jellies? Apple butter? Hard cider? Tell us about your favorite stockpiles!

Click here to read more of our At The Market Reports.

PRIME
What do you know about Amazon Prime? We use it and love it. You pay once a year for free 2-day shipping delivery charges. Amazon throws in access to instant streaming movies and TV shows and they let you borrow a free ebook each month. They will even give you a one month free trial. Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 24, 2013
At the Market: Stocking Up for Winter

Carrying home farmers' market shopping bags can be a workout this time of year because Ed and I are toting a few extra items to fill our pantry for the winter months.

Local Honey

Honey is the number one item on our list. We buy the majority of the honey we eat from Foppema's Farm. We love the flavor and appreciate the fact that it's a local product, simply collected with all the phytonutrients and traces of local pollens.

Honey stores perfectly well in a cool dark spot and will last for years, so we never worry about buying too much. Our only concern is making sure we have enough to get through the months when we can't get our favorite.

Young, Fresh Ginger

Local, young ginger from Old Friends Farm is another fall favorite around here. Penny recently read this page on the Old Friends website about freezing this lively, full-flavored alternative to the dried-up ginger you often find in mainstream stores.

She tried it and is thrilled to know she can have a supply of great ginger until next September rolls around and it appears again at the corner of the Atlas Farm stand devoted to products from their neighbors at Old Friends Farm.

Maple syrup is available all winter but if you like to buy it at the market, you can stock up. This jug came from Boston Organics and we keep it in the freezer. Pure maple syrup has no additives or preservatives. It has a higher water content than honey, so it can and will grow mold if you don't use it quickly.

In the freezer, it never becomes solid so you can still pour out what you need and return the jug to it's chilly storage spot.

Pumpkins and Winter Squash

More cooks are discovering the golden goodness of winter squash, and pumpkin. Food sites like The Kitchn are showing us how to make the most of the harvest while it's in season. Here's a recent post they did on "Two Ways to Freeze Winter Squash."

What will you be taking home to store for winter use? How will you store it? How will you prepare it? Are you making jams and jellies? Apple butter? Hard cider? Tell us about your favorite stockpiles!

Click here to read more of our At The Market Reports.

PRIME
What do you know about Amazon Prime? We use it and love it. You pay once a year for free 2-day shipping delivery charges. Amazon throws in access to instant streaming movies and TV shows and they let you borrow a free ebook each month. They will even give you a one month free trial. Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Join Amazon Prime – Watch Over 40,000 Movies

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

October 24, 2013
At The Market: Central Boston Farmers’ Markets Closing Dates
Every year, I’m surprised when I see fewer shoppers at area farmers’ markets after Labor Day. Many farmers’ markets run well into autumn, with a few open until Thanksgiving. So, make time in your week to support these good people who bring fresh food to the city.

Here are closing dates for markets you can reach via the MBTA:
- Charlestown, October 16th (Wednesdays)
- East Boston, October 17th T(hursdays)
- South End/SOWA: October 27th (Sundays)
- Copley Square: November 26th (Tuesdays and Fridays)
- Cambridge Center (Kendall MBTA): October 23rd (Wednesdays)
- Prudential Center: October 24th (Thursdays)
- Boston City Hall Plaza: November 27th (Mondays and Wednesdays)
- Central Square, Cambridge: November 25th (Mondays)
- South Station/Dewey Square: November 26th (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
- Davis Square, Somerville: November 27th (Wednesdays)
- Union Square, Somerville: November 23rd (Saturdays)
- Roslindale/Adams Park: November 23rd (Saturdays)
- Harvard University Farmers' Market, Cambridge: October 29th (Tuesdays)
- Brookline/Coolidge Corner: October 31st (Thursdays)
To find the closing dates for other markets visit Mass Farmers Markets and use their Find or Market button to bring up your market. They will have the closing date on the market's information page.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
October 10, 2013
At The Market: Central Boston Farmers’ Markets Closing Dates
Every year, I’m surprised when I see fewer shoppers at area farmers’ markets after Labor Day. Many farmers’ markets run well into autumn, with a few open until Thanksgiving. So, make time in your week to support these good people who bring fresh food to the city.

Here are closing dates for markets you can reach via the MBTA:
- Charlestown, October 16th (Wednesdays)
- East Boston, October 17th T(hursdays)
- South End/SOWA: October 27th (Sundays)
- Copley Square: November 26th (Tuesdays and Fridays)
- Cambridge Center (Kendall MBTA): October 23rd (Wednesdays)
- Prudential Center: October 24th (Thursdays)
- Boston City Hall Plaza: November 27th (Mondays and Wednesdays)
- Central Square, Cambridge: November 25th (Mondays)
- South Station/Dewey Square: November 26th (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
- Davis Square, Somerville: November 27th (Wednesdays)
- Union Square, Somerville: November 23rd (Saturdays)
- Roslindale/Adams Park: November 23rd (Saturdays)
- Harvard University Farmers' Market, Cambridge: October 29th (Tuesdays)
- Brookline/Coolidge Corner: October 31st (Thursdays)
To find the closing dates for other markets visit Mass Farmers Markets and use their Find or Market button to bring up your market. They will have the closing date on the market's information page.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
October 10, 2013
At The Market: Central Boston Farmers’ Markets Closing Dates
Every year, I’m surprised when I see fewer shoppers at area farmers’ markets after Labor Day. Many farmers’ markets run well into autumn, with a few open until Thanksgiving. So, make time in your week to support these good people who bring fresh food to the city.

Here are closing dates for markets you can reach via the MBTA:
- Charlestown, October 16th (Wednesdays)
- East Boston, October 17th T(hursdays)
- South End/SOWA: October 27th (Sundays)
- Copley Square: November 26th (Tuesdays and Fridays)
- Cambridge Center (Kendall MBTA): October 23rd (Wednesdays)
- Prudential Center: October 24th (Thursdays)
- Boston City Hall Plaza: November 27th (Mondays and Wednesdays)
- Central Square, Cambridge: November 25th (Mondays)
- South Station/Dewey Square: November 26th (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
- Davis Square, Somerville: November 27th (Wednesdays)
- Union Square, Somerville: November 23rd (Saturdays)
- Roslindale/Adams Park: November 23rd (Saturdays)
- Harvard University Farmers' Market, Cambridge: October 29th (Tuesdays)
- Brookline/Coolidge Corner: October 31st (Thursdays)
To find the closing dates for other markets visit Mass Farmers Markets and use their Find or Market button to bring up your market. They will have the closing date on the market's information page.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
October 10, 2013
At The Market: Crab Apples
Recently, while selecting apples from the Foppema’s Farm display, I saw “Sweet & Crunchy” on the sign for Chestnut crab apples. I gamely added a few to my bag and was pleasantly surprised by their lovely nutty flavor.

A Useful Fruit

Most people who grow crab apples as a crop use them to make jelly, but originally they may have been planted when home cooks made their own pectin. Crab apples are high in pectin and can be boiled down, strained, and canned to make a supply of pectin for the next year’s jams and jellies of all types.

Cider and Scrumpy

Your favorite artisanal cider may have a dose of crab apple to achieve the right sweet/tart balance. In the British Isles, they have a cider made completely from crab apples and it’s called scrumpy.

My friend, Mick, who has enjoyed this drink at local pubs over there, says the best of it is made by “a guy down the road” and warned it may be very high in alcohol content. So far, I have not seen artisanal scrumpy in this country. If you know of one, please pass on the details.

Wikipedia has an origin for the word scrumpy. “The name is believed to derive from the obsolete West Country dialect term "scrimp," meaning a small or withered apple, which also gave rise to the verb "scrump," meaning to steal fruit.”

I also bought some of the more traditional, tart crab apples – a varietal called Siberian. These had a nice bit of crisp, green apple taste but were not sour or terribly tannic. I will even buy those again. And, I can because the farmers’ markets that bring these crops my way are still open and will be for some time.
What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Shop Amazon for all your kitchen & dining needs and support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: ©2013 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.
October 3, 2013