With Martha out of town all week, I needed to hold back at the Midtown Farmers’ Market. There’s only so much produce one person can go through in a week! On the other hand, it’s the first day of August, what feels like the midpoint of the growing season, and that means there is tons of basically irresistible produce. I did the best that I could with restraint, but I am only a man. In terms of summer produce, there’s really anything you could ever want: summer squash, cucumbers, lettuces, kale, herbs, sweet corn, eggplant, carrots, radishes, beets, some peppers. Tomatoes are still just getting started: only a few stands have them and their are not many varieties to choose between. But who can resist in-season tomatoes, even if it’s just the beginning of the season?

Since I’m on my own this week, my strategy for buying was based on projects. I bought a bunch of dill, a quart of jalapeños and a bunch of pearl onions with pickles in mind. Specifically, I need to preserve a ton of cucumbers from last week before they tragically rot in the crisper drawer, as well as some even older beans. I may also pickle the jalapeños on their own. I doubt I’ll have any trouble going through my five tomatoes, but they can always be turned into a canned salsa if need be. I bought broccoli with a recipe in mind that should feed me for a few days, and while I didn’t have anything in mind for sweet corn I’m really a sucker for the stuff and couldn’t pass it up.

And speaking of not being able to pass up, take a look at those raspberries!

2 comments | Broccoli, Dill, Jalapeño, parsley, Raspberries, Tomato

This entry was posted by Tom on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at 11:18 am and is filed under Farmers Market, Minneapolis. You can subscribe to responses to this entry via RSS.