• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Shop Local, Eat Fresh at the Saratoga Farmers' Market | Food, Crafts, Music in Saratoga Springs

Shop Local, Eat Fresh

  • Markets
    • Our Markets
  • Vendors
    • Vendor Directory
    • Becoming a Vendor
  • About Us
    • SFM Association
    • History
  • Programs
    • SNAP/EBT & FMNP
    • POP Club for Kids
    • Summer Internships
    • Compost Collection
  • Get Involved
  • News
    • Featured Article
    • Seasonal Recipes
    • Weekly Newsletter
  • FAQ
  • Contact us
    • Message us!

fall produce

Chicories’ bitter edge offsets richness of fall dishes

October 12, 2022 By marketeditor

By Himanee Gupta

 

Thick soups, hearty meats, cheese, and rustic bread. For a lot of us, these are the foods of fall. They’re warming, flavorful, and rich – and sometimes perhaps a bit too rich to easily digest.

However, pairing these fall favorites with such seasonal chicories as Italian dandelion greens, radicchio, frisée, escarole, and Belgian endive can help. These beautifully colored, glossy leafy vegetables all offer meals a bitter taste. That taste helps break up the fat and can be quite pleasing to the palate.

Photo provided by Green Jeans Market Farm

“Bitterness is valued by many culinary traditions around the world,” says Andrea Grom of Green Jeans Market Farm. “In French and Italian food traditions, bitter greens are typically paired with rich foods because they aid digestion.”

Grom first encountered chicories in 2009 while volunteering on organic farms in Italy and Germany through a program known as World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, or WWOOF, which young farmers often tap to gain experience and exposure to different regenerative agricultural practices. At a farm in Tuscany, she fell in love with salads made with radicchio and Italian dandelion greens that her hosts prepared as well as a creamy risotto that included shredded radicchio. Later in southern Bavaria in Germany, she got acquainted with sugarloaf radicchio, a fall staple for Green Jeans, for several years. Her hosts created salads with radicchio, toasted walnuts, and chopped apple.

Longtime New Yorkers make escarole a part of Greens & Beans, a dish featuring cannellini beans, sausage, and a green. Many of my customers introduced me – a transplant – to what has become one of my favorite dishes.

Grom notes that chicories grow best in fall and spring. They are packed with nutrients and fall crops and can be wrapped tightly and stored in refrigerators for several weeks.

Photo provided by Green Jeans Market Farm

Green Jeans is among the many Saratoga Farmers Market vendors offering chicories this season. Look for the frilly leaves of frisée, curly escarole heads, deep red and purple radicchios, plus the green Sugar Loaf. Also, check out the spiked leaves that define Italian dandelion – not quite the wild leaf and yellow flower that fills our backyards and woods in early spring but still related. All of these, says Grom, “are vibrant, healthful greens that are wonderful as salads and in comfort foods.”

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is open Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at High Rock Park. The farmers’ market will move to the Wilton Mall on November 5. Find us online at www.saratogafarmersmarket.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

 

Filed Under: Featured Article, homepage feature, News Tagged With: bitter greens, fall produce, farm to table, green jeans market farm, wwoof

Fall Celebrations at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market

October 8, 2018 By marketeditor

by Kristin Cleveland

October brings a cornucopia of special activities to the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. Along with sales and tastings of autumn’s abundant harvest, we celebrate the last outdoor markets of 2018 with llamas to cuddle, ponies to ride, a pumpkin contest, crafts and children’s activities, live music, and a Halloween Party! 

Saturday, October 13, 9 am-1 pm: Visit with Llamas

Stock up on fresh local farmers’ market food and beverages and meet the llamas of Dakota Ridge Farm! Pet them, learn about their origins and kind temperament and the many uses of their fiber. Children can also decorate a bookmark with llama fiber and everyone can check out the ponchos, blankets, socks, and other products made from high-quality llama fiber. 

Wednesday, October 24, 3-6 pm,: Customer Appreciation Day

As the Saratoga Farmers’ Market’s 40th outdoor market season draws to a close, we say thank you to the community of Saratoga Springs for supporting local farms and businesses! We’ll have fall food tastings and special sales, live music, children’s activities and free pony rides from our friends at Adirondack Dreamcatcher Farm.

Saturday, October 27, 9am-1 pm: Fall Fest

In conjunction with the 17th Annual Downtown Business Association’s Fall Festival, the Saratoga Farmer’s Market will celebrate the fall season in beautiful downtown Saratoga Springs with special activities for people of all ages. Grab a hot breakfast sandwich and cider or coffee and a pastry, stock up on fresh local produce for hearty fall cooking, get a frozen casserole and other locally prepared dishes for quick healthy weeknight meals, enjoy a free fall craft for kids hosted by the Northeast Parent and Child Society, sample pumpkin-spiced treats, and enjoy the seasonal favorites of over 65 vendors gathered in High Rock Park.

Pumpkin display by Burger’s MarketGarden,          photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

Wednesday, October 31, 3-6 pm: Halloween Party

Trick-or-treating, a kids’ costume contest with prizes, a pumpkin-painting craft, a children’s activity sponsored by the Saratoga Springs Public Library, music, delicious fall food tastings, and just the right amount of spooky fun!

Also, all of our market days feature fresh produce, dairy, eggs and meat from Saratoga and nearby counties; wine and spirits from our region’s vintners and distillers; cozy wool hats and other fall apparel; unique jewelry, pottery and specialty items made by local artisans; potted mums and gorgeous fall flower bouquets; and fresh baked goods, prepared food and live music! And as our outdoor season draws to a close, get ready to join us at our winter home every Saturday from November to April inside the Lincoln Baths at the Saratoga Spa State Park, 9 am-1 pm. For more details see our Facebook page!

Filed Under: Featured Article, homepage feature, News Tagged With: apples, cider, crafts, distillery samples, eating local, fall farmers' markets, fall festivals, fall food samples, fall food tasting, fall fun, fall outing, fall produce, family events, family fun, farmers' market samples, food tastings, free pony rides, fresh local produce, healthy food, llamas, local food, pony rides, pumpkin-spice, pumpkins, Saratoga Downtown Business Association Fall Festival, Saratoga Farmers' Market, Special Events, Special Events at Saratoga Farmers' Market, wine tastings

Celebrating the Humble yet Holy Pumpkin

October 17, 2017 By marketeditor

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

 

pumpkin-by-pattie-garrett
Photo courtesy of Pattie Garrett

The orange curves of our seasonal pumpkins offer an eye-catching sight at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market in late fall. And tomorrow these gorgeous gourds will take center stage as the market hosts its annual Pumpkin Fest.

Pumpkins appeal to our aesthetic and playful impulses: We use them to decorate, to carve into jack-o-lanterns, to roll across lawns.

But how often do we eat them? Perhaps not enough.

Like many, I used to look at pumpkin as pie once-a-year. I’d buy a fresh pumpkin for my husband and me. I’d cook and puree the parts into a filling with cream, brown sugar, and a half dozen sweet spices. We’d eat pie for dessert on Thanksgiving and stash another one away for leftovers nibbling.

That practice changed when I moved to Saratoga and discovered fresh pumpkins from local farms. I now create soups, stews, pies, and roasts featuring pumpkin and other hard-skinned squashes all winter long.

For many, though, the issue is taste, which is why pumpkin pie spice is so popular: it masks the pumpkin taste itself. However, J. Kenzi Lopez-Alt, columnist for Serious Eats, argues that pumpkin has a rich natural sweetness that stands well on its own if prepared right. Lopez-Alt advocates choosing small, dense fruits for cooking, and roasting the cut slices brushed lightly with oil before preparing as soup or in stews.

Most nutritionists agree that pumpkin is nutritious, low in calories and high in fiber.

Pumpkins also are inexpensive. My mother calls them the “lowliest and holiest of foods,” noting that in Hindu Indian traditions pumpkins have the blessings of gods because even the poorest can afford them.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 3-6 p.m. Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at High Rock Park until October 28. The market moves indoors to the Lincoln Baths Building at the Saratoga Spa State Park on Saturday, Nov. 4. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Filed Under: Featured Article, News Tagged With: cooking with pumpkin, fall produce, Pumpkin Festival, pumpkins, Saratoga Farmers' Market, variety

Before Footer

Instagram

Produce from some of our amazing agriculture vendo Produce from some of our amazing agriculture vendors at today’s market!
Attention granola lovers!! Today is National Grano Attention granola lovers!! Today is National Granola Day. In honor of this, all sales with our friends from @toganola are 10% off this Saturday only! Their granola products are packaged in sustainable packaging and free of gluten, dairy & soy. 

Our winter market runs today from 9:3-1:30 in the Wilton Mall food court. Hope you can make it!

Photo of and provided by @toganola 

#saratogasprings #saratogafarmersmarket #farmersmarket #granola #toganola #thingstodoinupstateny #organic #shopsmall #shoplocal #nationalgranoladay
Our new 2023 Freshconnect $2 coupons arrived today Our new 2023 Freshconnect $2 coupons arrived today! For every $5 you spend using your SNAP/EBT card at our market, receive $2 in coupons. FreshConnect bucks can be used to buy: vegetables, meat, milk, eggs, honey, baked items, jams, plants that bear food, and prepared foods that are packed to eat at home. Plus, there’s no cap on issuance! Stop by our information stand to learn more. We’ll be open 9:30-1:30 tomorrow. ❄️🌾

#freshconnect #snap #ebt #nutrition #health #agriculture #shoplocal #shopssmall #farmtotable #saratogasprings #saratogafarmersmarket #farmersmarket #thingstodoinupstateny @wilton_mall_leasing
Interested in growing your business? Farmers’ ma Interested in growing your business? Farmers’ markets are a great way to start networking and finding your customer base. For 45 years, the Saratoga Farmers’ Market has provided a platform for local farmers, artisans, bakers and more build their businesses into what they are today. If you’d like to join our community, please submit your 2023 Summer Vendor application. The link can be found in our bio. Last day to apply is January 31st. DM us here or email me at sfma.manager@gmail.com with any questions!! 

#farmersmarket #startup #smallbusiness #shoplocal #entrepreneur #community #saratogasprings #thingstodoinupstateny #growyourbusiness

Footer

With support from our friends at:

Copyright © 2023 · Saratoga Farmers Market · Design by REACH CREATIVE

    COVID-19: Check our latest Safety Guidelines!
  • Markets
    • Our Markets
  • Vendors
    • Vendor Directory
    • Becoming a Vendor
  • About Us
    • SFM Association
    • History
  • Programs
    • SNAP/EBT & FMNP
    • POP Club for Kids
    • Summer Internships
    • Compost Collection
  • Get Involved
  • News
    • Featured Article
    • Seasonal Recipes
    • Weekly Newsletter
  • FAQ
  • Contact us
    • Message us!