Market Report for May 10th

A beautiful sunny morning.  I got up at the crack of 7:45 because I really wanted to get to the market early enough to buy some morels after someone let me know about them last week, and b, Husband is at Wine Tasting Boot Camp today, so I had to take the bus.  Since I get off the bus about 7 blocks from the North Market, it made for a nice walk this morning with all of the flowers blooming and the sun shining; a great start to the morning.  The only drawback to busing to to the market, aside from the fact that later in the year you really can't buy more than you can easily carry, is that it puts me on a really tight timeline.  Since the buses only run about every 50 minutes on Saturday, if you miss the 8:57 back to SoHud, you're sitting around until 9:43.  Fortunately, I made it in, through, and out in time to catch the bus and get yelled at for standing too close to the crosswalk instead of at the bus stop proper.

I did make it to Wishwell Farms in time for the on of the last remaining pints of morels.  This year's crop is proving to rival that of the fabled 2003 harvest, when Chef Chef got in white morels the size of my hand (and I have big, piano-playing hands).  I've been indulging in quite a few morels this Spring as I can afford them.  The pint was $10, making it about the same price as I bought them at Weilands ($55 on Wednesday), although these are quite a bit bigger:

they even still had a bit of moss still attached:

I also got more asparagus, of course:

And my favorite mushroom man was back with shitakes this week!  Yay for Toby Run!  (Pictured at top of post).  So, look for a shitake/morel recipe sometime this week.  Since the sage in our little garden is getting huge (and flowering), I foresee some sort of pasta with mushrooms, sage and chives.

I stopped at Comb's herbs for a few ramps, and then it was over to Toad Hill Organics, where I snapped up the bit of flowering bok choy, which bears a striking resemblance to kai lan (Chinese broccoli):

and more yummy chives, they should be flowering by next week maybe!!

And some spinach, which I plan to saute up with some red pepper flakes for lunch, to add to this frozen ravioli I bought from Pastaria Seconda - spinach and feta, and pink striped mascarpone (could they be prettier?)

And what did you get this week?

Comments

[Marisa]

Do you eat chive blossoms? Why would you want them to bloom?

I missed the Market this weekend... and I was SO looking forward to it. I took Friday off work and when I got up on Saturday I was SURE it was Sunday. Mreh!

[F]

You know, there are times that I love having parents who live in the woods. My wife and I found ~60 morels on Saturday, and ramp patches bigger than a king-sized bed. My parents have had three days where they've found 40+ morels. And they last a day or two at most.

[Alana]

Since I live in lovely Urbana, I walked to the Urbana's farmer's market, and was able to get some lovely fresh canned spicy beets, asparagus, and some fresh cut ribs and italian sausage and I also talked to Dan from Freshwater Farms about how you all rave about him....and he loved to hear it...as he was set up here in Urbana.

[Anne]

We were also early swoopers on the morels, and picked up asparagus, lettuce and spinach from Toad Hill, all manner of onion-y things at Combs (and some lily-of-the-valley), and of course shitakes. Plus a chervil plant from the herb lady, because I've never used it and I think I probably should.

We also went to Worthington and picked up all manner of beans from Pop and Judy. They were quite popular! Plus red potatoes and a hothouse cucumber from H-W.

My sage is also about to bloom - I know I *should* pinch off the blossoms, but since I've never seen it bloom before I'm going to leave them be. I have a giant herb pot outside the back door with sage, oregano, thyme, tarragon, and salad burnet (which is going to be dug out and replaced by the chervil.) It is the best investment of the past year - I love nipping out back with the kitchen shears while I'm cooking dinner.

[Columbus Foodie]

Did you happen to make it to Worthington today? Pop and Judy's had dried beans, which I stocked up on. It sounds like you're as happy as I am to be back to your Saturday morning marketing routine. :)

[amy]

asparagus- tons and some curry rub
oh and rubarb!!!

[Bear]

The morels YOU left behind! ;-) That'll teach me to stand there talking to the farmer while stealthy food bloggers swoop down on the prize produce -- yours were a bit more picturesque and robust than ours, though they were all pretty gigantic. Picked just this morning, apparently. In any event, sauteed in butter for lunch, with asparagus that was tickled with just a bit of truffle oil, they were un-be-LIEVEable!!! Makes me regret only buying one pint.