Posted by Sheryl Kirby in market basket on August 22, 2007 at 7:35 am
It's late August, people!! Why are you sitting here reading this when you should be at the farmer's market, buying the bounty of the season? I mean, this is as good as it gets. Everything is ripe.
The photo at right is a compilation of goodies from two markets last week; Liberty Village and Nathan Phillips Square. Early apples (upper right corner) including Gingergolds and Paula Reds, are a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. The farmers want to get them off the trees before the birds get to them, so grab some and stick them in the fridge or make some pies. I've also got nectarines there (not much of a fan of peach fuzz), and early sweet pears.
At the bottom, the tomatoes are in full force, and I love that many farmers offer baskets of different kinds of cherry tomatoes. The grapes are a Coronation varietal, slightly more tart than the sweet Concords that will be available closer to September.
There's still plenty of corn around as well as berries, and I've got boxes of everbearing strawberries, cultivated blueberries and raspberries. There's also a couple of quarts of wild blueberries from this spree that went directly into the freezer for muffins or a pie later on.
Carrots, string beans and probably the last of the peas (centre) round out the stuff in the photo. I'm still coming home with bunches of sweet pea flowers (my favourite!) - they should be available for another couple of weeks, or grab some gladiolas which are looking gorgeous right now. Glads are available at a couple of different markets for 60 cents each or $6 a dozen - that's a great deal!
Watermelons are ripe and ready as well, and I've seen a couple of different kinds of squash. Truly, we are incredibly fortunate to have access to such a great variety of fruits and vegetables. Hope you're enjoying the best of the summer as much as I am!
Great list of good eats as we head into fall. One fruit that is an incredible eat is Ontario grown cantaloup. Those imports sure fall short on this one. Don't know about an organic variety, but Ontario grown is special. I love it with cottage cheese and believe it or not, I dry it. I its a wonderful accompaniment to curried chicken in the winter.
Hi Barb,
I totally agree with you on the cantaloupe/muskmelon comment. I didn't include them this week (although I did buy some) because they became available a few weeks earlier and because we had already eaten the one we bought!
My Mom and Dad also dry melon in their dehydrator - they really love it. It's intensely sweet on its own, but I buy a tropical fruit mix in Kensington and love the dried melon bits.