pickles

Get in touch with your sour side at the Little Italy Mercato with delicious pickled vegetables. Starre Spice’s Vintage Veggies include tomatoes, green beans, white asparagus and carrots, all organic, pickled with their secret spice blend. They’re crisp and tangy; try them with Ewephoria, a sheep’s milk Gouda available at Taste Cheese, or chop them and add to potato salad - visit Polito Farm, Sage Mountain Farm or Proios Family Farm for the spuds.

Ever wanted to make your own pickled veggies? With an abundance of green tomatoes available at Rodney Kawano Farms, you can pick up a pound and try this technique yourself!

Majestic Garlic’s pickled garlic cloves are raw, organic, made with apple cider vinegar and surprisingly mild. They deliver all the health benefits of raw garlic without the bite, and come in fun flavors like curry and cayenne. Want to try making your own pickled garlic? Grab some heads from Suzie's, Vang's or Proios farm and follow these steps. 

Take a walk on the wild side at Happy Pantry, where all the pickles are naturally fermented by wild organisms - popular items include California kimchi, ginger radishes, rutabaga with chard and classic sour dills. Try the spicy pickles on your next tuna sandwich or by themselves as a snack. We’re pickled to have them at the market!

PRESERVATION FALL

The art of preserving and fermenting food is not a new trend, but more people are doing it again as a way to eat well, save money, create flavorful gifts, and extend the natural seasonal variety of local foods. Luckily, San Diego happens to be one of those unique and magic places where pretty much everything grows all the time; however there are subtle seasons, and their presence avails none the less. We are charged with the responsibility and the pleasure of doing our best to enjoy the "fruits of our labors" year round. Can you imagine not having any strawberry jam for your toast on those chilly winter mornings? Or forgoing the sweet tang of tomatoes for nine long months?

Whether you are an experienced jam maker, a novice at hosting pickle parties, or a professional sauce sifter, "Preservation Fall" is an event you do not want to miss. On Saturday, October 22nd, the Little Italy Mercato is celebrating the fall harvest season in full colors.

Join Mark Stogsdill, owner of Happy Pantry; Jen Barthell from the Neighborhood Foodie; and Austin Durant from The Fermenters Club for fermentation and preservation demonstrations at the Amici Park amphitheater in the heart of the Mercato. From 9:30-12:30pm, participants to the free event will learn canning basics and will be able to buy canning products to preserve at home, along with an assortment of pickled treats, jams, sauces and veggies to eat or give as gifts.

ZYMURGY

What to do with the incredible bounty of rich, delicious fruits and vegetables from the summer and fall? Preserve! Ferment! Savor! Food fermentation has many benefits: Fermented food enriches the diet by developing diverse flavors, aromas, and textures in food substrates. Imagine the flavors of spicy kimchi, soy sauce, sauerkraut, fresh yogurt, peppery dill pickles, and crispy pickled turnips, beets, or cauliflower.

Fermentation and canning preserves substantial amounts of food that might otherwise go to waste. (That means it's ok to buy a lot of food at the market every week- you'll have more to pickle!) Biologically, fermentation enriches food substrates with protein, essential amino acids, and vitamins. Plus, it decreases cooking times and fuel requirements for healthy foods.

Mark and Rebecca Stogsdill, owners of Happy Pantry, have recently changed their whole product line, now offering raw, naturally fermented pickles, kimchis, krauts, and veggies. You can find a smattering of delicious options at their stall every week at our markets.

Visit us this Thursday at the North Park  Farmers' Market to take home the last of summer's delicate fruits and veggies. Chop up those extra carrots and cucumbers from JR Organics, add some salt, seal them in beautiful glass jars, and enjoy those rich flavors all year round! Take home the sweet remains of yellow and white corn from Kawano Farms, gorgeous red and green sweet peppers from Suzie's, and gorgeous okra from the Produce Stand. 

ZYMURGY

What to do with the incredible bounty of rich, delicious fruits and vegetables from the summer and fall? Preserve! Ferment! Savor! Food fermentation has many benefits:
Fermented food enriches the diet by developing diverse flavors, aromas, and textures in food substrates. Imagine the flavors of spicy kimchi, soy sauce, sauerkraut, fresh yogurt, peppery dill pickles, and crispy pickled turnips, beets, or cauliflower.

Fermentation and canning preserves substantial amounts of food that might otherwise go to waste. (That means it's ok to buy a lot of food at the market every week- you'll have more to pickle!) Biologically, fermentation enriches food substrates with protein, essential amino acids, and vitamins. Plus, it decreases cooking times and fuel requirements for healthy foods. 

Mark and Rebecca Stogsdill, owners of Happy Pantry, have recently changed their whole product line, now offering raw, naturally fermented pickles, kimchis, krauts, and veggies. You can find a smattering of delicious options at their stall every week at our markets.

Visit us this Tuesday at the Pacific Beach Farmers' Market to take home the last of summer's delicate fruits and veggies. Chop up those extra carrots and cucumbers from JR Organics, add some salt, seal them in beautiful glass jars, and enjoy those rich flavors all year round! Take home the sweet remains of yellow and white corn from Kawano Farms, gorgeous red and green sweet peppers from Suzie's, and gorgeous okra from the Produce Stand.

According to Chinese medicine, one should consume pickles during the hottest summer months as a tonic for cooling the stomach and strengthening the kidneys.  But don’t stop at cucumbers, almost any vegetable or fruit can be pickled.  Why not consider pickling chard from JR Organics, leeks from Schaner Farms, beets from Sage Mountain Farms, green beans or okra from Vang Farms and let’s not forget the pickled pepper!

Here is a basic pickling recipe that will get you started: Start with approximately 4 pounds of any vegetables.  Combine 3 cup vinegar, preferably apple cider, but rice, white or red wine are fine too with 3 cup water, 1/4 cup non iodized sea salt!  Check out  Salt Farm or She Sells Sea Salts for more adventurous infused and flavored salts. Cover the vegetables with the vinegar, water and salt mixture, fill sterilized mason jars and refrigerate.  Some vegetables, such as chard and leeks will need to be boiled for 5-10 minutes, before jarring.

Not so much into the whole do-it-yourself thing, then stop by the Happy Pantry booth, where they have an amazing selection of pickled veggies and salads.  However you choose to get your pickling fix, we think pickling is a great way to save your summer vegetables for consumption when you long for the taste of summer!

CELEBRATING GRADS AND DADS

It's a couple of busy weekends coming up here with graduations happening and Father's Day just around the corner.

Gather up some picnic supplies and take it outdoors to celebrate graduation. Start with a basket from the Basket Co-Op and fill it with goodies like cheese from Taste, pickles from Happy Pantry - the Hab-a- Hotties and sauerkraut shouldn't be missed! - some fresh Carlsbad Aquafarms oysters for shucking and of course a baguette from Bread & Cie. Bring a blanket and a set of reusable and recycled glasses from Bottlehood and find yourself the perfect picnic spot. Three cheers for the recent grad!

Give Dad a night off, and whip him up a dinner from your Saturday Mercato finds. How about a (not so) classic BLT using bacon from Da Le Ranch, first of the season tomatoes from Kawano Farms, rich and creamy Haas avocados from Paradise Valley Ranch and a handful of sprouts from Suzie's Farm? For gifts there are salt samplers from Salt Farm that come in a pack of 5 that you get to mix and match to his tastes or pick up a Himilayan Pink Salt Plate that he can use for grilling. Really Good Jam just made a fresh batch of marmalade that not only uses local citrus fruits but are punched up with either a hint of whiskey or gin. Artistic Woodcrafts brings stacks of handmade cutting boards in a variety of woods, shapes and sizes; paired with one of their Messermeister knives or myriad kitchen utensils you've got a perfect gift for the Dad who fancies himself a chef.

POT LUCKS CALL FOR POTATO SALAD

For Memorial Day picnics or any pot luck, potato salads are a perennial hit. With potatoes back at the Little Italy farmers' market, we have all the ingredients to make your family favorite or a new variation on the theme.

My daughters are firmly hooked on the classic they grew up on. It's easy to make with yellow fingerling potatoes from Weiser Farms (find them at the Polito Farms stand), lots of hard boiled eggs from Schaner Farms or Swiss Mountain Ranch, and chunks of dill pickle from Happy Pantry. Salt and pepper and moisten the whole thing with a mix of plain yogurt and mayonnaise and they're happy. Mr. Market likes things a little fancier. For him, red potatoes, boiled eggs, spring green onion from Sage Mountain Farms, some crisped up bacon from SonRise Ranch and a vinaigrette dressing are the way to go. He doesn't mind at all if I toss in garlic scapes from Schaner Farms, or mix things up with purple peruvians or sweet potatoes from Vang's Farm. You can imagine the diplomacy required to plan a picnic at our house.

Whatever your favorite potato salad recipe (and we'd love it if you'd share), our insulated Little Italy market bags will keep a well chilled tub nice and cool on the way to your potluck this weekend. Pot appetit!