Shopping the Farmer's Markets not only brings you beautiful, fresh produce, it also saves money and offers you choices you won't get anywhere else.
How many times have you picked up garlic scapes from your local supermarket? What about dandelion greens?
Yeah, me neither. Yet that's exactly the kind of unique and wonderful produce you can find when you shop at a farmer's market or when you join a Community Supported Agriculture program.
CSAs allow you to purchase a share in a farm's harvest for a season. You give the farmer money at the beginning of the season, and in return, you get a share of the bounty every week throughout the season. I joined a local CSA this spring, and we've been enjoying garlic scapes, arugula, radishes, Swiss chard, strawberries, cherries, baby spinach, kale, spring onions, beets and even honey and eggs for the past few weeks.
It's been a terrific way to introduce my family to a wider variety of fruits and vegetables, and a great way for me to experiment with new recipes.
I had never cooked with garlic scapes before, yet we found they worked well in just about any recipe that calls for garlic, including pesto, mashed potatoes, and even salads.
Kale, which is chock full of nutrition, but slightly bitter, wasn't exactly a favorite of anybody's in my family. But we did enjoy a tomato tart with kale pesto that I concocted one night.
And we found many uses for chard beyond the usual spinach-type recipes, including an all-natural frozen key lime pie, which, although you can't taste the chard, is just divine.
It's probably too late to join a CSA for this spring or summer. But many CSAs have fall harvests. Check out Local Harvest to find one in your area.
