PSU Farmers' Market Tour

After last week’s tour of the Beaverton Farmers’ Market I decided to head back down to the PSU Market.  Today was a beautiful warm day, perfect weather for browsing the market.  Sadly though, the long warm days of summer are giving way to autumn.  Even as the weather is changing the markets are still teeming with an abundance of produce.  Here are some highlights of my tour:

Tomatoes – Groundworks literally had crates of roma tomatoes at their booth and the price is right at $1.00 per pound for bulk purchases.  If you are planning to can tomatoes this season, Groundworks is your best bet for good quality romas at a great price.  Other than the romas, tomatoes are still fairly green and I have come to accept that this year’s tomato season is almost over.  A few farms were selling tomatillos.

Chilies and Peppers – Both are very abundant right now with great quality.  Not to be missed are the freshly roasted poblanos.  Available for sale, these hand roasted peppers will make a great addition to your next Mexican culinary creation.

Corn – Corn has greatly improved in quality and next week should bring us some of the best corn of the season.  Make sure to cook fresh corn right away while the sugar levels are still high.

Berries - Berries are still hit or miss, but the strawberries at the market today were surprisingly good.  And with fall officially here huckleberries made their first appearance today with a couple of booths selling wild black varieties.  The next 2 weeks should bring an abundance of huckleberries, so now’s the time to buy them in bulk and freeze them or make jams.

Hazelnuts – I stopped by and talked to Barb and Fritz, owners of Freddy Guys Hazelnuts.  They had good news about this year’s hazelnut harvest.  They were both very excited and looking forward to a bumper crop this year.  Great news for them and even better news for hazelnut lovers.  If you haven’t tried their hazelnut products make sure to stop by for some samples!

Chop – For the past 2 weeks Chop has been selling an outrageously delicious chicken liver mousse.  Apparently the secret to their mousse is lots of mascarpone cheese and bacon.  Whatever the secret is, I must confess it is some of the best chicken liver mousse I have ever tried.

Tails & Trotters – If you haven’t tried Tails & Trotters pork products you are missing out!  Still a relatively new operation, they are gaining respect in the animal husbandry world.  Their pigs are raised humanely and they never use GMO feeds, wheat or corn.  While traditionally pigs for prosciutto eat acorns to add flavor to the meat, T & T takes a different approach, utilizing Oregon hazelnuts to finish their pigs.  The result, well, you’ll have to stop by their booth and sample some of the products to experience a whole new level of bacon love!

Nectarines – The nectarines from Baird Farms are juicy, sweet and packed full of flavor.  Probably the best stone fruit at the market today.  Other than nectarines the peaches are still juicy, but not real flavorful or sweet.

Winter Squashes – Just as autumn is getting started, so are the winter squashes.  A few farms were selling the first squashes of the year and they all looked great.  With all the different ways to prepare winter squashes, my favorite is to make soup.  Below is a link to my recipe for Thai Red Curry Butternut Squash soup.  The recipe works best with butternut squash, but any variety will work well.  The soup is rich, velvety, creamy and finishes with a delightful note of spice.

Jeremy's Red Curry Butternut Squash Soup

Chef Jeremy’s Weekly Cooking Tip - When is a pan hot? 

You see recipes requiring a hot pan, but how do you know when a pan is hot?  For most cases, such as pan searing and sautéing, you can test the hotness of a pan by dropping a few drops of cold water into the pan.  The water should form small balls that dance and race around the pan.  If the water splats and sizzles the pan is warm, but not hot.  This technique is great for testing a hot pan, but sometimes a warm pan is sufficient, such as when you are sautéing with butter, which will burn in a hot pan.

Saturday, September 17, 2011 Beaverton Market Tour

Today, I journeyed out to my favorite market, The Beaverton Farmer’s Market.  While the Saturday market at PSU is the most popular, it is also crowded and a tourist destination, making it tough for the serious shopper to negotiate.  I have discovered that the Beaverton Market is geared more towards locals who just want to buy the best produce and avoid the crowds of people.  The selection and number of farms at the Beaverton Market is just as good as PSU or even better.  I also feel like farmers at the Beaverton market are friendlier and take more time to talk to you about their produce. 

I guess that after a cold and rainy spring and summer it is only fitting that it started to rain, right when I arrived at the market.  But, even with the rain the produce is still amazing.  The  prior week of sun and hot weather has allowed our local produce to ripen and really reach its peak. 

Touring through the market today, peppers and chilies are at the height of their season.  All the varieties of bell peppers looked amazing.  Chilies are very abundant and ripe and should get even better over the next 2 weeks.

Tomatoes are still hit or miss, with many farms offering beautiful and ripe varieties, while other farms are struggling to get their tomatoes to ripen.  This week’s cold and rainy weather may cause tomatoes to start to decline.  Although, Romas are looking great and now is the time to start putting them up for the winter.

Local corn has been average at best and selecting sweet corn is a challenge.  While the prices are good the quality is still spotty.

The berry season is quickly winding down.  Blackberries are good, but still not great.  The biggest surprise today was the strawberries.  A few farms have amazingly sweet and plump strawberries.  Blueberries are good, but still a bit mealy and acidic.

Eggplant and squashes couldn't be better right now.  All the varieties at the market today looked incredible, perfect for ratatouille. 

Stone fruits are still average with Baird Farms featuring the best peaches and nectarines.  My advice for selecting stone fruits is to find farms that are offering samples.  I bought peaches last Wednesday from a few different farms at The Shemanski Park Market and found that they were mostly average with high water content and very little flavor or sweetness. 

Jeremy’s weekly tip – Selecting Corn

Ever wondered how to pick out the sweetest corn?  The sugar level in corn is always highest right after it is picked and starts to go down after it is harvested.  When I am selecting corn, I always start by feeling the weight.  If the ears of corn are light it often means that the corn will be dry and mealy.  Heavier ears means the corn will be plump and juicy.  Next, I look at the silk, which should be vibrant and fresh.  If the silk is starting to darken and become wet then it means the corn is older, which indicates that the sugar levels are starting to decrease.  The final and best test is to peel back the husk and look at the kernels, which should be plump.  If the kernels have little dimples or are starting to shrivel, the corn is not fresh and the sugar levels will have started to decline.  Always store corn in the refrigerator to slow the conversion of sugars to starch. 

Jeremy’s weekly tip – Blanching

Blanching is a cooking term that describes a process of food preparation where food, usually a vegetable or fruit, is plunged into a large quantity of boiling water, removed after a brief, timed interval and finally plunged into iced water to halt the cooking process.  One key to proper blanching is to quickly regain a boil after the food is added.  A large quantity of water will help with this.  The longer green vegetables are cooked below a boil, the more green color is lost.  The blanching water should be seasoned heavily with kosher salt.  This seasons the vegetables from the inside out.  The following are uses of blanching:

1. Peeling:  Blanching loosens the skin on some fruits or nuts, such as onions, tomatoes, plums, peaches or almonds.
2. Flavor:  Blanching enhances the flavor of some vegetables, such as broccoli, by releasing bitter acids stored in the cellular structure of the food.
3. Appearance:  Blanching enhances the color of some (particularly green) vegetables by releasing gases trapped in the cellular material that obscure the greenness of the chlorophyll.  Since blanching is done and halted quickly, the heat does not have time to break down chlorophyll as well.
4. Blanching neutralizes bacteria and enzymes present in foods, thus delaying spoilage.  This is often done as a preparatory step for freezing and refrigerating vegetables. 
5. Blanching also weakens the structure of vegetables rendering them softer than their fresh state; this is beneficial for canning vegetables where the air in vegetables needs to be minimal.

September 10, 2011 PSU Farmers' Market Tour

It’s hard to believe that summer is almost over.  And while we are seeing some of the sunniest and warmest days of the season, the signs of fall are starting to show.  The unseasonably cool and damp summer has dramatically impacted local produce.  While vegetables have fared much better than fruits the lack of sun is apparent in much of the market's offerings.  With that said there is still an abundance of amazing fruits and vegetables to be found.  To help you select the best produce we are introducing a blog that will detail my weekly tour of the PSU Farmers’ Market.  Through this blog I hope to help you find amazing produce, by sharing tips for selecting produce and highlighting the best produce of the season.  Today Daryl (One of our retail associates and staff photographer)  and I toured the market together in search of the best fruits and vegetables the market is currently offering. 

Jeremy’s weekly tip – Selecting great produce can be a challenge.  This week I want to talk about using smell to select produce.  As Daryl and I entered the Northwest corner of the market we could immediately smell the cantaloupes from Deep Root Farms.  Even before I got within 20 feet of the stand I had already made up my mind that I had to  have a canteloupe.  The aroma of vegetables and fruits is the best indicator of quality and flavor.  Produce that smells great will taste great.  Perfectly ripe fruit will have a pungent and sweet aroma that permeates throughout the warm air.  I could smell the strawberries from Unger Farms 10 feet away from the stand.  When it comes to selecting fruits by smell, I use my finger nail to just barely prick the skin of the fruit right next to where the stem was attached and smell the aroma.  If it smells amazing then it will taste amazing!

Berries – The cold and damp summer has taken its toll on this season's berries.  Even with the recent sun and hot weather blackberries are still tart and have little flavor.  I was not impressed with any of the blackberries at the market today.  I have had much better luck with picking wild blackberries in The Columbia River Gorge.  The Washington side of The Gorge has ample sun exposure, which has helped the blackberries to ripen.  The biggest surprise at the market today was strawberries.  Yes, great strawberries in September!  The Seascapes from Unger Farms are amazing; sweet and packed full of flavor.  Many other farms featured tasty strawberries as well.  The blueberries are much sweeter now, although they still have very high water content, diluting their flavor and making them mealy.  Again Unger Farms had the best blueberries in the market today!

Melons – Melons are starting to reach their peak.  The cool and damp summer has not affected melons like other produce.  Many farms are selling a wide variety and the quality is good to great.  I purchased a cantaloupe from Deep Roots Farms today and it was amazing.  One of the best cantaloupes I have ever tasted.  Their sweet smell permeated the NW corner of the market! 

Tomatoes – While the tomatoes at the market today were good, they are still not great.  Tomatoes were actually hit or miss today with some farms featuring some of the best tomatoes of the season, while others were selling tomatoes that were still very green.  My advice for tomatoes is to avoid any that are ripe on the bottom and still green on the top.  They don’t seem to ripen very well.  Roma tomatoes are starting to make their appearance with good quality, although prices were still a bit high.  I would recommend waiting a week or two before purchasing romas for canning.  The prices should come down, while the quality goes up.  When it comes to heirlooms the darker colored tomatoes seem to be ripening better.  This is most likely due to their dark color absorbing more of the sun’s heat!  The petite tomatoes are amazing today, although they are starting to get a bit mealy with the recent sun.  The sungolds are sweeter than they have been all season.

Squashes and Eggplants – Eggplants are at the height of their season today, with many farms selling a wide variety from globe to Asian varieties.  They have good moisture content and the flavors are amazing.  All the varieties of squash were looking great with good color, texture and moisture content.  It’s difficult to go wrong with eggplants or squash right now.

Peppers and Chilies – It’s still early for most peppers, although Rick Steffen and Spring Hill Farms both had beautiful red bell peppers with a deep red color.  Their flavor is superb!  Yellow bell peppers looked good, but they still need another week to reach their peak.  Purple bell peppers were under ripe and still need another week or two to reach their full potential.

Peaches and Nectarines – This summer has not been a very good season for stone fruits.  The cool and damp weather means large and juicy fruit with high moisture content.  Most peaches that I have tried this summer have been juicy, but with little flavor or sugar content.  That being said we should start to see better peaches with the hot and sunny weather.  While peaches have been average the nectarines are fantastic.  I purchased some nectarines from Baird Farms and they are amazing with great flavor, sweetness and texture.  Nectarines should continue to get even better. 

Jeremy Niehuss is the Executive Chef and Culinary Instructor at In Good Taste - Jeremy's Bio