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
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