Category: Food: Local/Farmers’ Markets

Farmers Markets Still Going Strong! Some Remain Open Until Thanksgiving

Are you still making weekly or bi-weekly stops at your favorite farmers markets? If not, why not? In addition to more local food options, we now have longer seasons to enjoy the fruits of local farm labor.

While some markets close down earlier, at locations like Copley Square, farmers will be hauling great food onto their market stands and setting up for sales until Thanksgiving.

If you are someone who thinks that seasonal markets end after Labor Day, thankfully they don’t. Many Boston-area outdoor markets remain open into October and a few operate until Thanksgiving. Fall is a season of abundance at your favorite farmers market.

Autumn is also a great time to take a longer walk, a bus or subway ride, or even a drive to visit a different farmers market or a nearby farm stand.

Stocking Up

This is the time of year when I stock up on my favorite winter pantry items such as jams, preserves, honey, syrups, and pickles from vendors I may not see over the winter. It’s easier to carry home one or two items a week than to try to do it all in November.

If you miss out on doing this, be sure to check the Boston Public Market. I’ve seen some of my favorite pantry staples available in the area around the Siena Farm Stand. Now I don’t have to worry about running out of Old Friends Farm Ginger Syrup, Kitchen Garden Sriracha Sauce, or Raspberry Infusion Sweet Vinegar from Silferleaf Farm. You’ll also find local honey and other bee-related products at the market’s Boston Honey Company stand. These products make wonderful holiday gifts, hostess gifts, and local surprises when you visit friends in distant places.

Farmers markets that are still open with their closing dates:

East Boston/Central Square: October 19th (Wednesdays)
Cambridge Center (Kendall MBTA): October 26th (Wednesdays)
Mission Hill/Roxbury, Brigham Circle: October 27th (Thursdays)
Charlestown: October 26th (Wednesdays)
South End/SOWA: October 30th (Sundays)
Jamaica Plain (677 Centre Street): November 5th (Saturdays & Tuesdays)
Brookline/Coolidge Corner: November 17th (Thursdays)
Union Square, Somerville: November 19th (Saturdays)
Roslindale/Adams Park: November 19th (Saturdays)
Central Square, Cambridge: November 21st (Mondays)
Copley Square: November 22nd (Tuesdays and Fridays)
Harvard University Farmers Market, Cambridge: November 22nd (Tuesdays)
South Station/Dewey Square: November 22nd (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
Davis Square, Somerville: November 23rd (Wednesdays)
Boston Public Market, North End: Year-Round (7 days a week)

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino

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October 5, 2016
Farmers Markets Still Going Strong! Some Remain Open Until Thanksgiving

Are you still making weekly or bi-weekly stops at your favorite farmers markets? If not, why not? In addition to more local food options, we now have longer seasons to enjoy the fruits of local farm labor.

While some markets close down earlier, at locations like Copley Square, farmers will be hauling great food onto their market stands and setting up for sales until Thanksgiving.

If you are someone who thinks that seasonal markets end after Labor Day, thankfully they don’t. Many Boston-area outdoor markets remain open into October and a few operate until Thanksgiving. Fall is a season of abundance at your favorite farmers market.

Autumn is also a great time to take a longer walk, a bus or subway ride, or even a drive to visit a different farmers market or a nearby farm stand.

Stocking Up

This is the time of year when I stock up on my favorite winter pantry items such as jams, preserves, honey, syrups, and pickles from vendors I may not see over the winter. It’s easier to carry home one or two items a week than to try to do it all in November.

If you miss out on doing this, be sure to check the Boston Public Market. I’ve seen some of my favorite pantry staples available in the area around the Siena Farm Stand. Now I don’t have to worry about running out of Old Friends Farm Ginger Syrup, Kitchen Garden Sriracha Sauce, or Raspberry Infusion Sweet Vinegar from Silferleaf Farm. You’ll also find local honey and other bee-related products at the market’s Boston Honey Company stand. These products make wonderful holiday gifts, hostess gifts, and local surprises when you visit friends in distant places.

Farmers markets that are still open with their closing dates:

East Boston/Central Square: October 19th (Wednesdays)
Cambridge Center (Kendall MBTA): October 26th (Wednesdays)
Mission Hill/Roxbury, Brigham Circle: October 27th (Thursdays)
Charlestown: October 26th (Wednesdays)
South End/SOWA: October 30th (Sundays)
Jamaica Plain (677 Centre Street): November 5th (Saturdays & Tuesdays)
Brookline/Coolidge Corner: November 17th (Thursdays)
Union Square, Somerville: November 19th (Saturdays)
Roslindale/Adams Park: November 19th (Saturdays)
Central Square, Cambridge: November 21st (Mondays)
Copley Square: November 22nd (Tuesdays and Fridays)
Harvard University Farmers Market, Cambridge: November 22nd (Tuesdays)
South Station/Dewey Square: November 22nd (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
Davis Square, Somerville: November 23rd (Wednesdays)
Boston Public Market, North End: Year-Round (7 days a week)

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Related articles

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‘Tis The Season to Make Caponata

Caponata, Capunata, Capunatina, however you spell it, each cook has his or her own version.

Some refer to it as a sweet & sour version of ratatouille. Most recipes call for the best of this harvest season. After all, this relish was made to preserve the food for the winter months.

Eggplant is the main ingredient. Tomato, onion, vinegar, garlic, raisins, olives, pine nuts, capers, and olive oil seem pretty standard. Then come individual additions that vary by cook, region, or family. These include fennel, peppers, celery, and zucchini to name a few.

The cook’s choice of seasonings might include red pepper flakes, anchovies, sugar, oregano, mint, or basil. In other words, thrifty cooks made this from whatever the garden or market had in abundance on a given day.

History of Caponata

Like many Mediterranean foods, this Sicilian antipasto relish with its sweet and sour base, dried fruit, and pine nuts probably has its origins in the Middle East.

Food historian Clifford Wright traces it back to a food served on sailing vessels. The vinegar was a preservative and he notes that a version of it was served as a mariner’s breakfast.

On his website, Wright cites Sicilian food authority Pino Correnti who, “… believes that the dish is derived from the Catalan word caponata, meaning a similar kind of relish, and says it first appears in a Sicilian etymology of 1709.”

My Caponata

My version is lighter than most. I brush the eggplant with olive oil and roast or grill it, instead of frying, and sauté the other vegetable in a minimum amount of oil. I also use what’s on hand rather than follow a strict recipe.

I cook the ingredients separately (using my favorite pan) and mix them later. This lets me ensure each vegetable is cooked properly and that nothing gets too mushy. I like my caponata a bit al dente.

Recipes

Here are a few recipes for those of you who prefer to follow one.

Here's Clifford Wright's Caponata recipe

Sicilian Eggplant Caponata from Eating Well

Epicurious Classic Caponata with comments

Canning Caution

I mentioned preserving this for the winter season. With that, the question of a water bath or pressure canning comes up. Since I’m not an expert on preserving, I would give a nod to the advice of Eugenia Bone, author of the book Well-Preserved. She writes, “If you have ANY doubts about the pH of your recipe, then pressure can.”

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Click over to Amazon from here and they will put a few coins in our tip jar.

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino (Adapted for BostonZest from one of her Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

Photos: ©2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino

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‘Tis The Season to Make Caponata

Caponata, Capunata, Capunatina, however you spell it, each cook has his or her own version.

Some refer to it as a sweet & sour version of ratatouille. Most recipes call for the best of this harvest season. After all, this relish was made to preserve the food for the winter months.

Eggplant is the main ingredient. Tomato, onion, vinegar, garlic, raisins, olives, pine nuts, capers, and olive oil seem pretty standard. Then come individual additions that vary by cook, region, or family. These include fennel, peppers, celery, and zucchini to name a few.

The cook’s choice of seasonings might include red pepper flakes, anchovies, sugar, oregano, mint, or basil. In other words, thrifty cooks made this from whatever the garden or market had in abundance on a given day.

History of Caponata

Like many Mediterranean foods, this Sicilian antipasto relish with its sweet and sour base, dried fruit, and pine nuts probably has its origins in the Middle East.

Food historian Clifford Wright traces it back to a food served on sailing vessels. The vinegar was a preservative and he notes that a version of it was served as a mariner’s breakfast.

On his website, Wright cites Sicilian food authority Pino Correnti who, “… believes that the dish is derived from the Catalan word caponata, meaning a similar kind of relish, and says it first appears in a Sicilian etymology of 1709.”

My Caponata

My version is lighter than most. I brush the eggplant with olive oil and roast or grill it, instead of frying, and sauté the other vegetable in a minimum amount of oil. I also use what’s on hand rather than follow a strict recipe.

I cook the ingredients separately (using my favorite pan) and mix them later. This lets me ensure each vegetable is cooked properly and that nothing gets too mushy. I like my caponata a bit al dente.

Recipes

Here are a few recipes for those of you who prefer to follow one.

Here's Clifford Wright's Caponata recipe

Sicilian Eggplant Caponata from Eating Well

Epicurious Classic Caponata with comments

Canning Caution

I mentioned preserving this for the winter season. With that, the question of a water bath or pressure canning comes up. Since I’m not an expert on preserving, I would give a nod to the advice of Eugenia Bone, author of the book Well-Preserved. She writes, “If you have ANY doubts about the pH of your recipe, then pressure can.”

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List? Click over to Amazon from here and they will put a few coins in our tip jar.

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino (Adapted for BostonZest from one of her Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

Photos: ©2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino

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Healthy Alternatives for July 4th Cookouts, Pot Lucks, or Picnics

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Cutting Celery, Chinese Celery, Smallage, Par-Cel, Have You Tried It?

A few weeks ago, after asking Halley Stillman at the Copley Farmers Market Stillman's Farm stand why so few local farms grew celery, she offered to bring in some of the cutting celery they were trying out back on the farm.

The next week, she had it on the stand. I bought it, popped it into a vase of cold water by my kitchen sink to refresh it, and proceeded to add it to a variety of salads, pasta dishes, and other recipes where I might have used celery or parsley. Each morning, I changed the water, washed down the stems, and continued to clip away at my bunch.

A week later, I was pleased to report to Halley that I loved this product and would be a customer for cutting celery – if it became a regular offering.

Reporting back to local vendors is important. While some of these experiments may never make it to the mainstream, others will, if they make good business sense for the farmers.

Here it played a supporting role in a Sicilian Cauliflower Salad. It is much stronger in flavor than celery and I learned that the strength of the flavor can vary from bunch-to-bunch.

In her book, Bitter: A Taste of the World's Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes, Jennifer McLagan explained that in 15th Century Italy growers began to reduce the bitterness of wild celery and this has continued until it resulted in the blanched stalks we know today.

Cutting celery, on the other hand, still has that strong flavor. It also has hollow stems and was sometimes use as we use straws.

One of my favorite food writers Deborah Madison in Vegetable Literacy had a great approach for those new to the powerful flavoring agent.

"When using the stalks or the leaves of cutting celery, such as Chinese celery or Par-Cel, taste them to judge their strength. Start small and add more, as if it were chile."

If you have a home garden, you should think about adding this to your herb patch. It's widely used as an herb by Asian and European cooks.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2016 Penny Cherubino

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Cutting Celery, Chinese Celery, Smallage, Par-Cel, Have You Tried It?

A few weeks ago, after asking Halley Stillman at the Copley Farmers Market Stillman's Farm stand why so few local farms grew celery, she offered to bring in some of the cutting celery they were trying out back on the farm.

The next week, she had it on the stand. I bought it, popped it into a vase of cold water by my kitchen sink to refresh it, and proceeded to add it to a variety of salads, pasta dishes, and other recipes where I might have used celery or parsley. Each morning, I changed the water, washed down the stems, and continued to clip away at my bunch.

A week later, I was pleased to report to Halley that I loved this product and would be a customer for cutting celery – if it became a regular offering.

Reporting back to local vendors is important. While some of these experiments may never make it to the mainstream, others will, if they make good business sense for the farmers.

Here it played a supporting role in a Sicilian Cauliflower Salad. It is much stronger in flavor than celery and I learned that the strength of the flavor can vary from bunch-to-bunch.

In her book, Bitter: A Taste of the World's Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes, Jennifer McLagan explained that in 15th Century Italy growers began to reduce the bitterness of wild celery and this has continued until it resulted in the blanched stalks we know today.

Cutting celery, on the other hand, still has that strong flavor. It also has hollow stems and was sometimes use as we use straws.

One of my favorite food writers Deborah Madison in Vegetable Literacy had a great approach for those new to the powerful flavoring agent.

"When using the stalks or the leaves of cutting celery, such as Chinese celery or Par-Cel, taste them to judge their strength. Start small and add more, as if it were chile."

If you have a home garden, you should think about adding this to your herb patch. It's widely used as an herb by Asian and European cooks.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2016 Penny Cherubino

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Mastering Hamersley's Roast Chicken Recipe

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Do You Have a Great Farmers Market Plan & Kit? Tools We Use & Love!

Today's "Friday Link" post will take you to some of our favorite farmers market toolkit items.

Bring Cash

Ones, fives, tens, and quarters. The farmers will love you, and you'll shop faster! Each year, more stands take credit cards, but they tend to be the ones with higher priced items like meat and specialty foods. And, cash is fast, a bonus for you and your fellow shoppers.

My farmers market cash comes with me in a special accordion credit card wallet. Ones are on one side, fives on the other, with tens and twenties in the card slots. For ease in recognizing denominations, tens are folded in fourths and twenties in thirds. Change is in its separate compartment and my "Market Share" cards are in the outside window.

Bring Bags and Containers

Also bring what you'll need to tote your fresh food home. For example, I bring plastic containers for berries and cherry tomatoes. It ensures they arrive home in perfect condition.

We love the Sterilite Ultra-Seal Food Storage Containers for transporting food home in our backpacks. They are strong, the seal is tight, they don't leak, and they are lightweight. We prefer glass for long term storage or for any hot food, but these plastic ones are perfect for protecting fragile items.

Remember, a local farmer doesn't grow and pick fruit and vegetables to make them perfect for shipping, they grow and pick them to make them perfectly delicious. You also save the farm the expense of the bags and baskets and help the environment.

Keep it Cold

Bring an ice pack or a small cooler. It can hold all your shopping or just perishables like meat, fish, cheese, and eggs. We have a few favorite items for this task. The Arctic Zone Ultra High-Performance Expandable Double Capacity Lunch Pack is perfect for a fish or meat purchase.

We recently discovered and adore these ice sheets. You can wrap this around a product or lay it on top of a bag of items that need refrigeration.

Carry with Ease

We walk to markets and have always used backpacks to lug things home. This season, we decided we needed lighter versions for visits to farmers markets, since we now buy a wider selection of products there than in years past.

For marketing, we are using two of these lightweight Outlander backpacks. Penny likes hers so much that you'll often see her wearing it this summer. Many times, she has the second one tucked inside so, if the day brings on serendipitous shopping, Ed can share the load.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a birthday or wedding gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013-2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino

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Do You Have a Great Farmers Market Plan & Kit? Tools We Use & Love!

Today's "Friday Link" post will take you to some of our favorite farmers market toolkit items.

Bring Cash

Ones, fives, tens, and quarters. The farmers will love you, and you'll shop faster! Each year, more stands take credit cards, but they tend to be the ones with higher priced items like meat and specialty foods. And, cash is fast, a bonus for you and your fellow shoppers.

My farmers market cash comes with me in a special accordion credit card wallet. Ones are on one side, fives on the other, with tens and twenties in the card slots. For ease in recognizing denominations, tens are folded in fourths and twenties in thirds. Change is in its separate compartment and my "Market Share" cards are in the outside window.

Bring Bags and Containers

Also bring what you'll need to tote your fresh food home. For example, I bring plastic containers for berries and cherry tomatoes. It ensures they arrive home in perfect condition.

We love the Sterilite Ultra-Seal Food Storage Containers for transporting food home in our backpacks. They are strong, the seal is tight, they don't leak, and they are lightweight. We prefer glass for long term storage or for any hot food, but these plastic ones are perfect for protecting fragile items.

Remember, a local farmer doesn't grow and pick fruit and vegetables to make them perfect for shipping, they grow and pick them to make them perfectly delicious. You also save the farm the expense of the bags and baskets and help the environment.

Keep it Cold

Bring an ice pack or a small cooler. It can hold all your shopping or just perishables like meat, fish, cheese, and eggs. We have a few favorite items for this task. The Arctic Zone Ultra High-Performance Expandable Double Capacity Lunch Pack is perfect for a fish or meat purchase.

We recently discovered and adore these ice sheets. You can wrap this around a product or lay it on top of a bag of items that need refrigeration.

Carry with Ease

We walk to markets and have always used backpacks to lug things home. This season, we decided we needed lighter versions for visits to farmers markets, since we now buy a wider selection of products there than in years past.

For marketing, we are using two of these lightweight Outlander backpacks. Penny likes hers so much that you'll often see her wearing it this summer. Many times, she has the second one tucked inside so, if the day brings on serendipitous shopping, Ed can share the load.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a birthday or wedding gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2013-2016 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Related articles

Market Report: Summer Farmers Markets Opening Dates 2015

Coming Home with Full Bags from the Copley Farmers Market

August 19, 2016
Here’s a Great Tip for Keeping Bread Fresher Longer

Keeping loaves of artisan bread fresh for more than one day can take some thinking.

We cut our bread from the middle of the loaf to keep the sliced surfaces from drying out. It works!

Before returning the loaf to its bag, we use an elastic to hold the two cut surfaces together. Here's a link to great oversize elastic bands that we use in so many ways.

We also wrap the bread in a clean flour sack dish towel. (These are also Ed's favorite towels for drying wine glasses.)

This system keeps the bread fresh as we make our way to the small crusts on the end. These often wind up toasted as croutons in salads.

Here are some of our other favorite bread tools!

Bread cutting board with crumb catcher.

Our Messermeister Bread Knife

You may have seen this tip before. This is an update of a post we did in 2008. We were chatting with another bread-a-holic recently and she loved this idea when we shared it. That inspired us to refresh and republish the information.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: ©2008 Penny Cherubino

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August 17, 2016
Here’s a Great Tip for Keeping Bread Fresher Longer

Keeping loaves of artisan bread fresh for more than one day can take some thinking.

We cut our bread from the middle of the loaf to keep the sliced surfaces from drying out. It works!

Before returning the loaf to its bag, we use an elastic to hold the two cut surfaces together. Here's a link to great oversize elastic bands that we use in so many ways.

We also wrap the bread in a clean flour sack dish towel. (These are also Ed's favorite towels for drying wine glasses.)

This system keeps the bread fresh as we make our way to the small crusts on the end. These often wind up toasted as croutons in salads.

Here are some of our other favorite bread tools!

Bread cutting board with crumb catcher.

Our Messermeister Bread Knife

You may have seen this tip before. This is an update of a post we did in 2008. We were chatting with another bread-a-holic recently and she loved this idea when we shared it. That inspired us to refresh and republish the information.

What's on your Food Lover's shopping list?

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photos: ©2008 Penny Cherubino

Related articles

Do You Have a Signature Dish that You Bring to Food Gatherings?

Thanks to Friends Who Make Marmalade and Share!

August 17, 2016