Tomatoes, Pluots and ... Cookies in the nomming bowl? How did those get there?

It was HOT today, but that didn’t seem to slow things down at the Takoma Park farmers market.  It was one of the biggest crowds I’ve seen all summer.   We (me and Art D.)  didn’t have a shopping list,  so there was nothing on the agenda to find today — other than fill the “nomming” bowl, of course.  And fill it we did.

The Pluots (plum/apricot) from Blackrock Orchard were one of the first things that really our attention today.  They looked yummy and ripe.  I’ve been hearing about pluots in the media lately because of the new book by Chip Brantley: The Perfect Fruit: Good Breeding, Bad Seeds, and the Hunt for the Elusive Pluot.   Yes, there is now a book about the Pluot. Are these going to be the newest “it” food?  Will they become the pomegranate or bacon of 2010?  Only time will tell!

Tomatoes were fantastic again this week too.  It was a veritable “tomato extravaganza!”

Tomato Extravaganza...Sunday! SunDAY! SUNDAY!!

Potomac Vegetable Farm had an amazing selection (photo above), in all colors shapes and sizes.  To be fair, a lot of the vendors did — but PVF had the best sign and they are who we bought from this week.   Plus, they were cutting up lots of yummy samples for me to taste.  One of the employees was even helping promote the tomatoes by chomping down on a HUGE yellow tomato like it was an apple.

We were also happy to see J&L Edleman Homestead Farms back — they were missing a couple of weeks ago.  I picked up a couple of their great “snack size” cantaloupes.  They are always really sweet and the small size makes them less threatening.  Don’t judge me. 

Finally, of course, we get to the cookies.  One of the great things about Takoma Park Farmers Market is the community atmosphere.  Kids were having a bake sale to raise money for two charities, and well — it was chocolate chip cookies!   We bought a half-dozen and into the “nomming” bowl they went!  And then promplty into our stomachs.

Please note the subtle farm humor...

My stop was and is the only one to get fennel. The 25 or so bulbs were the sole survivors of the planting.

What did you get this week?

Don't squeeze me!

Seriously. Excerpt from the newsletter:
Full article and more stories from the farm here:
www.bullrunfarm.com/newsletters.html

“Fresh, picked that morning ,tomatoes are different. They are full of water. Juice. The fruit walls are tender.If they are given a squeeze, they go squish. As in, tomato juice. And if you put them in a box and shipped them half way around the world what would come out at the other end is tomato juice, not tomatoes.

“This lesson took me a number of years to learn.

“Every year I would just put out our tomatoes like I do the rest of the vegetables, and let people pick their own.

“Each day, as I drove home, 20-25% of the tomatoes I had picked in the morning, would be sitting in the back of the truck, all squished up.

“I thought, at the time, this was just the price of doing business. ‘Tomatoes’, I thought. ‘just don’t travel well. You need to pick more to account for the short shelf life.’

“Then, one year, because we were having a poor crop of tomatoes, instead of just putting the tomatoes out for people to pick themselves, I gave the tomatoes out.

“And I learned something.

“Only 1 or 2% of the tomatoes got squished in transit.

“I found out that what was damaging all of those perfectly good tomatoes was people picking them up, giving them a little squeeze, just like they would do to a corporate tomato in the grocery store.

“But, unlike the corporate tomato, ours would go squish.

“Local, homegrown tomatoes, are a completely different creature than those corporate vegetables. They are full of juice. They can’t handle being squeezed.

“Oh well.

“So, to make the story short, when you are picking out your tomatoes, just look at them, only touch the tomatoes you are going to put in your bag. And if, by chance, you don’t particularly like that tomato after picking it up, put it in your bag anyway, and get another one.”

What did you get this week?

Pretty Tomatoes at the Takoma Park Farmers Market

I’ve been hearing lots about the problems with tomato blight, so I was really  hoping that there would still be fresh tomatoes at the farmers’ market today — and I was not disappointed.  I only had one recipe for the week that required tomatoes, but does that really matter?   I found all manner of tomatoes in all shapes, sizes, and colors.  I was on the hunt for cherry tomatoes and love that they have party-colored pints at several stands. There’s also plenty of good ole red ones for those that are into that classic look. 

I also found plenty of  my new love — cantaloupe.  It’s not something I like a couple of years ago, but somehow my tastebuds have decided that fresh cantaloupe is a good thing.  I bet all I’d had before was cantaloupe that had been picked pre-peak so it would ship, and had never really reached its full sugar sweetness.   I find that I like the little “snack size” ones the best. Last week I grabbed an ambrosia cantaloupe from L &J Homestead Farm.  This week Homestead was noticeably absent (hope they’re okay), so I picked up some from Waterpenny Farm.  I got an ambrosia and something else, which I can’t remember the name of!

I also have to mention how awesome it is that the market was packed in the pouring rain.  Okay, it was mostly drizzling with short downpours — but it’s still great.  There’s nothing wrong with getting a little wet in the summer people!  It’s refreshing, right?