Pacific Beach Farmers' Market Blog

Find button, shiitake, crimini, and portobello mushrooms at the Pacific Beach Tuesday Farmers’ Market, grown in Escondido by Mountain Meadow Mushrooms and sold at the Kawano Farms booth. Sautee them with garlic and bell peppers from Proios Family Farm or stuff them with sausage from Ochoa Family Chorizo.

SoCal Shrooms has been sending their beautiful pink oyster mushrooms (almost too pretty to eat... almost) to the PB Market with Suzie's Farm. Pick some up and use in any recipe that calls for mushrooms. You can also pick up a "mushroom grow kit"- perfect to give growing a try or give as a gift to your urban-farmer-wannabe friend!

Grab a bag of green or yellow string beans from J.R. Organics and make this easy and scrumptious mushroom-and-bean salad. Add some slivered almonds from Hopkins AG for a little crunch!

Use your choice of cheeses from Nicolau Farms or Springhill Cheese Company and bella mushrooms to whip up this tasty treat: pizza stuffed mushrooms!

These mysterious mycological marvels resisted human efforts to grow them for thousands of years; only in the 1890’s did scientists learn to reliably cultivate agaricus bisporus, the common brown or crimini mushroom. The now familiar white mushroom is descended from a mutant batch of ‘shrooms that popped up on a Pennsylvania farm in 1926, and the shiitake mushroom has only been grown commercially in the United States since the 1980’s.

Pick up some mushrooms today to add a little magic to your meal!

Love them or hate them (and people tend to go one way or another), you can find deep scarlet, orange and yellow beets at the Pacific Beach Tuesday Farmers' Market now, fresh from the fields at Suzie's Farm, Maciel Farm or Proios Family Farm. 

Honestly, I've always loved beets, long before the market made it easy to bring a bunch home any fall or winter Thursday. Rows and rows of jars of pickled beets glinted like rubies in my grandmother's pantry, and she was always happy to slide a few onto a plate beside a sandwich or stain a salad with a few slices. 

If you're dealing with a skeptic, try these salty Parmesan Beet Chips made easy with garlic infused olive oil from California Olive. Toss roasted chunks with crumbled fresh goat cheese from Springhill Farm and greens from J.R. Organics and you'll rival the best restaurants in town. Or disguise and conquer with these crazy Beet Brownies: that's what we call a jazz beet!

SOUPER MARKET

Cool fall evenings are a great time for soup from the Pacific Beach Tuesday Farmers Market. Visit One Fresh Meal for tasty treats like zesty lentil, parsnip and apple curry, winter squash bisque or autumn minestrone. The soups are loaded with local and organic veggies and made fresh daily, and they also offer house baked peasant bread that’s perfect for dipping.

If you’d rather make your own, pick up potatoes from Proios Family Farm, kale from Gilbert Quintos Farm and sausage from Ochoa Family Chorizo for this classic caldo verde, or grab pumpkins from JR Organics and fresh chestnuts from Smit Orchards for chestnut-pumpkin soup.

Combine happy rich broccoli and cheddar cauliflower from Suzie’s Farm with organic cheddar from Springhill Cheese Company in this recipe, or roast a chicken from Descanso Valley Ranch and make this incredibly flavorful stock from the leftovers.

Have a souper evening!

Find fresh fuyu persimmons from Gilbert Quintos’ Farm and Rainbow Ranchito at the Pacific Beach Tuesday Farmers’ Market. Look for small, bright orange fruits with a sweet floral aroma and firm flesh. They may look like squat, orange tomatoes but will have large flat stem on top.

Some varieties of persimmons are very tannic, and nearly inedible before they’re fully ripe and soft, but fuyu persimmons are much less astringent and can be enjoyed while they’re still crisp like an apple. Be sure to ask your farmer what kind of persimmon they are offering and how to best prepare them to eat. 

We've heard of persimmon salads, teas and even persimmon maragritas made in cinnamon salt rimmed glasses (yum!). Grab a bag of fresh-made tortilla chips from Ochoa Chorizo and whip up this persimmon salsa recipe! Their sweet-tart flavor pairs well with soft, fresh cheeses, like Nicolau Farm’s classic chevre or lemon quark from Springhill Cheese Company. They also make wonderful pies and tarts if the weather should cool off enough for us to use our ovens again!

Try this persimmon carpaccio with fennel salad, using fennel from Maciel Family Farm, radishes from Suzie's Farm and a red onion from Proios Farm. Toast pumpkin seeds from J.R. Organics' pumpkins and carve the rest for Halloween! Persimmon granted to enjoy the fall!