Saturday Market Recap

Got to the Grand Lake Farmers' Market at about 10:00am yesterday. The fog was breaking up, sun was coming through, and still people were flashing the autumn gear. Knit caps, scarves, and sweater sightings in abundance.

Probably my favorite time of year. Feeling autumnal, but still plenty of tomatoes to go around. Zebras, Cherokee Purples, and something called Wild Boar Romas.

Concord grapes made it to the Hamada Farms booth. The concord flavor wasn't as abundant as in some of the others I've picked up recently, but they were plenty good and plenty tart. You can also pick up Muscat grapes there. The flavor of Muscat grapes is hard to describe. They taste like certain candy versions of grape flavor, light, and very sweet.

Also, not sure which booth I got them at, but there were pomegranates. I buy these on sight each year, the first time I come across them. They usually rot before I have a chance to do anything with them, but just bringing them home and seeing them on the counter makes me happier. This is (along with the wool caps on folks when it gets below 60 degrees) what passes for the changing of seasons here, and certain traditions need to be observed.

At the same booth I picked up some Jujubes. They were handing these out as tasters last year, and when I bit in I felt duped - as though someone had deliberately asked me to bite into a crunchy-shelled, dry and mealy apple with a pit. My wife was curious though, and I offered up that maybe cooking would help. Home they came.



I saw, but did not pick up, a few types of pear. A friend up in Sacramento had bagged some Seckel pears at his local market last weekend. I was cautiously optimistic that I might see some down this way. There were only the asian varieties that showed up a week or two ago and the Wild Mountain booth had boscs.