Posts Tagged ‘Farm Stands and Farmers Markets’

Frittering My Life Away

Thursday, September 15th, 2016
Fritters make me happy.

Fritters make me happy.

I know, I know. This is my second post in a row about fritters.

I actually only make fritters every couple of years as a rule. Lately, however, I seem to be on a fritter kick.

Please believe me when I say this trend will end soon, for the sake of my waistline if for no other reason.

I will be making apple fritters in public very soon again, however. Apex Orchards in Shelburne, Massachusetts, is having a grand re-opening this weekend (September 17-18). I’ll be part of the celebration, making a couple of recipes from my Pudding Hollow Cookbook.

I have shopped at Apex for years, both for fruit and for the wonderful cider vinegar I buy there by the gallon. Tim Smith’s family has farmed this land for seven generations.

Tim and company have just opened a gorgeous new farm store with a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains. The gala weekend will feature hot-air balloon launchings, lots of yummy food (including my beloved Bart’s Ice Cream), and of course yours truly. I will be on hand on Sunday from 12 to 2 p.m. dishing up fritters as well as a green salad with apples.

The New Store (Courtesy of Apex Orchards)

The New Store (Courtesy of Apex Orchards)

If you can’t come, do try making the fritters. I prepared them on Mass Appeal yesterday, along with my favorite corn and tomato soup. I hope you watch! Meanwhile, I’m working on making something besides fritters for my next post!

apple-fritters-web

Apple Fritters

Ingredients:

1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon (you can’t really have too much)
1/2 cup flour
canola oil for frying
1 cup apple chunks (bite-sized pieces)

Instructions:

First, prepare the batter. Beat the egg until it is light. Add the sugar, milk, oil, and lemon juice, and mix well. Mix in the baking powder, salt, and cinnnamon; then gently stir in the flour. The batter should be fairly smooth. (A few lumps will disappear in cooking.) Let the batter sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

When you are ready to fry your fritters, pour 2 inches of oil into a fryer or heavy skillet and heat it to between 350 and 370 degrees. Stab each piece of apple with a fork, and dip it into the batter. Allow it to drip a bit, but don’t shake off the batter. Carefully lower the coated fruit into the fat, and cook until the first side is brown; then turn and cook the other side. (Turning can be a little tricky, but luckily sometimes you don’t need to!) You may cook 5 or 6 pieces at once.

Remove the fritters with a slotted spoon, and keep them warm in a 250-degree oven until all are ready. Serve alone, or covered with powdered sugar or warm maple syrup. Serves 4.

 

Courtesy of Apex Orchards

Courtesy of Apex Orchards

And now the videos….

Loving Local

Monday, July 26th, 2010
 
To my fellow bloggers (and would-be bloggers):
 
You are cordially invited to a pot-luck feast! Please participate in an upcoming farm-fresh blogathon.
 
Loving Local: Celebrating the Flavors of Massachusetts will take place from Sunday, August 22, through Saturday, August 28—in other words, during Massachusetts Farmers Market Week.
 
The blogathon will be hosted by In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens, with a little help from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and Mass Farmers Markets.
 
We hope non-bloggers will participate as well, of course! If you are interested in food (well, who isn’t?), please consider liking our Facebook page. We’ll keep you abreast of upcoming posts in the blogathon so you can read and comment.
 
And when it begins you’ll have lots of yummy posts to savor!
 
Funds raised during the blogathon (bloggers who participate will be encouraged to place a donation link in their posts) will go to Mass Farmers Markets, a non-profit charitable organization that helps farmers markets throughout the Commonwealth.
 
Please think about writing a post that week if you live or work in Massachusetts. Or if you used to live or work in Massachusetts. Or if you once spent a weekend on Cape Cod. Or if you have a particular fondness for New England clam chowder, Hadley asparagus, or Boston baked beans.
 
Posts should focus to some extent on locally grown food in Massachusetts. You don’t have to be a food writer to participate, however.
 
Gardeners can write about herb or vegetable growing. Architects can write about the design of barns or farm stands. Watchers of the statehouse or even the federal Capitol can discuss the politics of agriculture and/or local food. And so forth.
 
Posts can be recipes, critiques, short stories, reminiscences … whatever you feel like writing. Let the flavors of the Bay State inspire you.
 
Here’s how you can get involved: Sometime during the week of August 22-28, put your post on the internet.
 
Please make sure your post mentions the blogathon, includes a link to In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens, and encourages readers to donate to Mass Farmers Markets. The organization’s donation link is http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/FMFM_Main.aspx.
 
(If you have another local-food cause you’d like to encourage folks to support, that’s fine by us!) 

Of course, we’d love to have bloggers show off our gorgeous logo, designed by the talented Leon Peters. You may also display a PDF poster in 8-1/2-by-11-inch format.

 
Here's a more compact version in case you'd like that:
 
 
If you’d like to participate, please leave a comment here or on our Facebook page to tell us what you’d like to write about. When the big week arrives and you’ve put up your post, you may either leave another comment or email lovinglocalATearthlink.net to announce it.
 
All posts will be identified with a link on this blog as well as on a special site set up just for that purpose, the Loving Local Blog.
 
And please help spread the word about this event! We hope our table during Farmers Market Week will be bursting with flavorful, colorful surprises.
 
Yours in good food,
Tinky
 

P.S. In keeping with the Farmers Market Week theme, here are a couple of photos from this past Saturday's doings at the state’s newest and probably smallest farmers market, that in Charlemont, Massachusetts.

Below you can see Sheila Velazquez of Pen and Plow Farm in Hawley show off her veggies—and Barbara Goodchild of Barberic Farm in Shelburne display some fleece from her sheep.

There was only one other booth last weekend–a bake sale for the local school–but food was fresh and spirits were high.

Farmers Market Week

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Cauliflower from Bloody Brook Farmweb

 
This is National Farmers Market Week according to the United States Department of Agriculture. I’m celebrating not only by going to a farmers market and a farm stand or two but also by making another recipe from the Shelburne Falls Farmers Market Cookbook, which I introduced in an earlier post.
 
Bloody Brook Farm is a thriving farm in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. In addition to selling CSA shares, maintaining a farm cart with produce on the property, and doing wholesale work Bloody Brook has tents at several area Farmers Markets. During my most recent visit to the Farmers Market in Shelburne Falls, Steven Kelley of Bloody Brook was hefting some of the gorgeous heads of cauliflower that inspired him to create this hearty soup.
 
I have adapted the recipe a little. It originally called for cooking the soup even longer after it was blended, but I felt that the flavors had had plenty of time to meld! I have also altered it by suggesting that one could add a little milk and cheese to offset the strength of the cauliflower (I might even try a bit more stock next time as my soup was ultra thick). Without them and with vegetable stock it would be an ideal food for vegans, however, so if you’re serving them please feel free to ignore my suggestions!
 
roastedcaulsoupebv
 
Bloody Brook Farm Roasted Cauliflower Soup
 
Ingredients:
 
1 cauliflower, cut into florets
vegetable oil as needed
1 onion, cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, peeled
olive oil as needed
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
salt and pepper to taste
2 splashes of milk
smoked Spanish paprika to taste
grated cheddar cheese for garnish (optional)
 
Instructions:
 
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly coat the cauliflower in oil, and place it in a large baking dish also coated with oil. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring at least once.
 
Toss the onion wedges and garlic with olive oil, and sprinkle them on top of the cauliflower. Return the vegetables to the oven and cook for 20 to 25 more minutes, stirring once halfway through.
 
While the vegetables are roasting, heat the vegetable stock and add the chopped potato. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Cook, covered, over very low heat until the potato pieces are soft.
 
Add the cauliflower mixture to the broth. Puree it until it is smooth. Return it to the pot, and add salt and pepper to taste. Splash in the milk and heat the soup until it is warm. Ladle into bowls and serve with a sprinkle of paprika on top, plus a little cheese if you like.  Serves 4 to 6.
 
 
Steven Kelley of Bloody Brook Farm

Steven Kelley of Bloody Brook Farm

Vote for Your Favorite Farmers Market!

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
Massachusetts Agriculture Commissioner Scott Soares at a recent visit to the Farmers' Market in Shelburne Falls (Note his EXCELLENT taste in books!)

Massachusetts Agriculture Commissioner Scott Soares at a recent visit to the Farmers Market in Shelburne Falls (Note his EXCELLENT taste in books!)

 

The American Farmland Trust is asking Americans to identify their favorite farmers markets in an online poll. I love this idea, and I hate to fan the flames of regional chauvinism. Nevertheless, I must admit that my flames are already fanned: I was incensed by the partisan article in which I found out about this effort.
 
In Tuesday’s Los Angeles Times Russ Parsons wrote about the “grievous wrong” done to California farmers markets by the polling so far, which has not focused entirely on his state.
 
He complained, “Now, there’s no arguing that there are great farmers markets all over the country these days. But Ithaca? Given the weather up there, how long can it be open? Two weeks in August?”

 
He went on to urge his fellow westerners to vote for their local markets.
 
I know Parsons’ tongue was in his cheek. Nevertheless, I reserve the right to take a small bit of umbrage at his assumption that bigger (in this case, a bigger growing season) is better. 
 
Farmers markets foster small farms and often small fruits and vegetables, which can be the most delectable of all. We in the northeast may not have a very long growing season, but we treasure our few days of harvesting just as we treasure our small farms and their produce.
 
So without pressuring you, dear readers, to vote for any particular market, I urge you to participate in the poll.  (I can of course HOPE that you’ll choose farmers markets in the northeast!) You have until August 8.
 
If you have a market you particularly love, in addition to telling the American Farmland Trust about it please feel free to share it with readers in the comments section below.
 
Enough venting!  I’ll be back on Friday with a summery recipe and a better attitude……..