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

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Foods for good health at the farmers’ market

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By Julia Howard

 

The best way to stay healthy during cold and flu season is to take preventative steps before you feel that first sniffle. If you become sick, resting, staying hydrated, and getting proper nutrition are some of the most important things you can do to feel better and recover faster.
Many locally grown and sourced foods are packed with immune-boosting nutrients to keep your body strong, healthy, and ready to fight infections.

Vitamin C is primarily associated with a strengthened immune system and may help to reduce cold and flu symptoms. Brussels sprouts, potatoes, tomatoes, and fresh herbs like parsley and thyme are high in vitamin C and currently available from local farms.
 Pasture-raised chicken is available at the farmers’ market and can be boiled down to make nutrient-dense broth. Bone broth/stock is rich in minerals, amino acids, and essential fatty acids and has many health benefits. To get started, place 1 gallon of water, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 2-4 pounds of bones and meat, and salt and pepper in a large pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 12-24 hours. The longer it cooks, the better the broth will taste and the more nutritious it will be.
 Freshly harvested leafy greens like spinach and kale can also help boost your immune system as they contain vitamins E and C. A green smoothie or a raw salad can offer a daily dose of these essential, health-building vitamins.

Ballston Lake Apiaries, photo by Pattie Garrett


 Whether you’re looking to alleviate a cough or boost your immune system, honey is an excellent food to consume on its own or in a cup of tea. Honey is known for its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Bee products such as propolis and bee pollen are high in zinc, magnesium, and B vitamins.
 Garlic has been used in alternative medicine for centuries. Scientists have found that plant compounds in garlic are immune-supportive and anti-inflammatory even when consumed raw in small doses. 

Garlic, photo by Pattie Garrett

Turmeric, a spice well known as an ingredient in curry, contains a chemical called curcumin, which might reduce swelling. Turmeric is also regarded for its antioxidant and antiviral properties. It’s also grown locally!

While no food alone can cure sickness, eating the right foods may help support your immune system and relieve certain symptoms.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is open on Saturdays from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. in the Wilton Mall Food Court. Find us online at www.saratogafarmersmarket.org, where you can sign up for our weekly newsletter, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram @SaratogaFarmersMarket.

Chicories’ bitter edge offsets richness of fall dishes

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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. 

 

Yogurt-Marinated Chicken with a Summer Vegetable and Kamut Salad

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Recipe by Marisa Kerkvliet of lemonthymekitchen.com

Prep Time: 35 minutes, plus four hours of marinating time 

Cook Time: 1 hour 

Servings: 4 servings 

Ingredients:

*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market

 

For the chicken: 

1 cup plain Greek yogurt * 

½ lemon, juiced 

2 cloves garlic* 

1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves* 

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast* 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

 

For the salad:

1 cup kamut 

1 teaspoon kosher salt 

1-pint cherry tomatoes*, cut in half

1 small cucumber*, thinly sliced

½ red bell pepper*, thinly sliced

½ green bell pepper*, thinly sliced

½ small red onion*, thinly sliced

½ cup crumbled feta cheese* 

¼ cup chopped fresh dill* 

 

For the vinaigrette:

1 lemon, juiced 

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 

½ teaspoon kosher salt 

1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves*, minced

1 clove garlic*, minced 

1 teaspoon honey*

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 

Soup: The Trick to Beating the Summer Heat

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By Stephanie Duscher

 

With the recent heat we have patiently been enduring, the last thing most people want to eat is hot food like soup. However, aside from being able to cook with all the delicious in-season fruits and veggies this season has to offer, enjoying a hot, spicy soup, like Mexican street corn soup, offers many practical health benefits. 

According to research, eating hot foods like soup in warm weather can benefit your body by cooling you even more than cold foods. Interesting, right? Eating hot food increases your body’s internal temperature, which causes you to sweat more. When your sweat naturally evaporates, your body becomes cooler than before. This effect is even more noticeable when eating a spicy soup, as spicy foods like peppers can cause you to sweat, making your body cooler. 

For this reason, hot soups like Mexican street corn soup are perfect for the heat. Not only is it super tasty, but you can enhance its flavor by using fresh, locally grown ingredients like peppers, cilantro, garlic, and onions from the farmers’ market. 

For this soup, the real spotlight is on fresh corn, and Gomez Veggie Ville has a plentiful supply this season. Their farming practices ensure that their corn is sweet and grown without using GMOs or harmful chemicals. So, whether you make street corn soup or use it in other seasonal dishes like grilled corn on the cob or a fresh summer salad, you’ll know that your food is grown with care and comes from a good place. 

Is corn not your thing? Plenty of other delicious in-season fruits and veggies are perfect for soup-making. Grab some soup supplies at the farmers’ market on Wednesdays or Saturdays. The market has plenty of watermelons, eggplants, zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, peas, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and many more summertime favorites. 

Don’t limit yourself to Mexican street corn soup either! The possibilities for soup-making are endless. Summer vegetable soup, zucchini soup, and even a creamy broccoli soup can be refreshing in the summer heat. Go ahead and raise your body temperature. Ultimately, it will cool you off!

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. at High Rock Park in downtown Saratoga Springs. Find us online at saratogafarmersmarket.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

Bucatini Pasta with Squash Blossoms & Summer Zucchini

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Adapted from the recipe by Jenny at Hellomydumpling.com

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market

  • Bucatini for 2
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 zucchinis*, sliced on a diagonal
  • 2 cloves garlic*, minced
  • 1/4 cup pecorino* + more for garnish
  • 1/2 lemon, juiced
  • 5 squash blossoms*, stems & pistils removed, petals left whole
  • salt & pepper

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to boil, salt generously, and cook the pasta to al dente. Drain and reserve about 3/4 cup of the pasta water.

In a large sautée pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the zucchini and garlic, cook for 2 minutes. Add the pasta water and pasta, and cook stirring constantly until the sauce thickens, about 2-3 minutes more. Add the cheese and lemon juice, salt (if needed), and pepper. Serve in two shallow bowls topped with the squash blossoms and more cheese.

Farm fresh zucchini flowers add beauty and versatility to many dishes

By

By Himanee Gupta

 

We know the jokes about zucchini: If you leave your car doors unlocked, you might come back and find your back seat filled with them.

But the flowers from zucchini and other squash plants are a different story. Brilliantly yellow, they are just as tasty and versatile as the fruits they produce.

At Leaning Birch Farm, Dan, Rose, and Nic Fera have made squash flowers a seasonal staple.

“Last year, people kept asking us about the blossoms,” says Rose. “We only had a few, and they sold so fast.”

Over the winter, Dan did some research and found a zucchini variety known for producing more male than female flowers. Flowers produce fruits but only if they are female and have been pollinated by their male counterparts. Once the pollination is done, male flowers are best picked off so the plants can focus on producing fruits.

“We ordered the seeds, and planted a row,” Rose says. “They produce flowers like crazy.”

Photo provided by Leaning Birch Farm

Now clamshell boxes filled with them sit stacked at the Leaning Birch stall, along with some boxes of female flowers with baby zucchini attached. The boxes sell fast.

Rose picks zucchini flowers early each morning. The blossoms from this variety, she says, are bigger and firmer, making them much easier to cook. 

“The easiest way is to dip them in a light batter and fry them,” says Rose.

Another way, says her son Nic, is to create simple ricotta cheese filling with herbs and a tempura-like batter of flour, cornstarch, and cold water. Dip the stuffed flowers in the batter and deep fry. 

I tried it. The outcome was delicious – and my kitchen a mess.

“Experiment,” urges Rose. “Use your imagination.”

Photo provided by Leaning Birch Farm

I mixed fresh oregano and minced garlic into the ricotta and filled the flowers. I lightly coated a baking dish with olive oil and rolled the flowers in it. They roasted in a 350F oven for about 12 minutes while I snacked on some chard I had roasted in the same dish beforehand. I arranged the blossoms over the chard and sliced up a fresh tomato. I had a meal full of color and one baking dish to clean.

Rose suggests tearing up the flowers and tossing them into salads, topping pizzas, creating a soup, scrambling them with eggs or adding them to pancake batter. 

The flowers are likely to remain plentiful at the Saratoga Farmers Market for a couple more weeks.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is open Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. at High Rock Park. Find us online at saratogafarmersmarket.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.