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

Shop Local, Eat Fresh

fermentation

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By Himanee Gupta

 

Masabacha looks like hummus. But it’s not. 

Masabacha is an Israeli take on hummus, with a signature Pucker Gourmet Pickles flair. The word itself is a Romanized version of an Arabic word that roughly translates to “soaked in” or “swimming,” explains Ben Hillis, who owns Puckers with his wife Kelley. In the classic version, whole-cooked chickpeas are mixed into tahini and served warm for breakfast, drizzled over pita bread. 

The Puckers version is closer to hummus in thickness but is creamier and more acidic. It contains whole chickpeas and tahini along with avocado oil, fermented apple cider vinegar, garlic, Himalayan rose sale, peppercorns, lemon juice, and smoked paprika. It can be eaten as a dip, spread, or condiment.

“It’s a little untraditional, but then so are we,” says Ben. “We like to take old traditional classics and put a contemporary twist on them.”

Puckers specializes in probiotic-rich pickles and has nearly two dozen such items. 

But, Ben notes, “Not everyone enjoys pickles, so we wanted to branch out a little.”

Both he and Kelley maintain a plant-based diet that includes many sandwich spreads. They noticed that commercial spreads were delicious but nutritionally weak. 

Hummuses were an exception, but they were hesitant to create a product that friends were selling at the farmers’ markets they brought their pickles to. Over time, however, many of these friends downsized or closed their businesses, which created a void in market offerings and an opportunity for them. 

Masabacha made its first appearance on their tables at the Saratoga Farmers Market and elsewhere during this winter. Ben explains, “We wanted to roll it out at a time of year when farmers’ market sales are low.”  

So far, the product has been popular, thanks in part to a return post-pandemic to the ability for artisanal food-makers to offer samples. 

As for how to enjoy eating masabacha, try scooping it with crackers or chips. It also works well as a salad dressing over lettuce and vegetables with chopped nuts or a hard-boiled or poached egg on top. One of Ben’s customers reported mixing it into a sauce for chicken wings. One of Ben’s favorite preparations is “Heavenly Eggs,” in which the mayonnaise of Deviled Eggs is replaced with masabacha, making the eggs “heavenly” in flavor and health benefits, too.

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.

 

https://www.saratogafarmersmarket.org/11564-2/

Spring Festival Celebrates Farming In Your Own Backyard

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Mark your calendars for April 27. The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is closing out its final indoor market with its fourth annual Spring Festival. The 9 a.m.-1 p.m. event takes place at the Lincoln Baths Building in the Saratoga Spa State Park, and features four free workshops, face paintings, complimentary beverages, and more.

The annual festival comes just one week after the market’s Easter celebration this Saturday. Like the Easter celebration, the festival’s focus is on spring and farming.

However, the festival will offer more than the products of our farms. It will help you learn what goes into growing, raising, and making some of them, and offer you some useful tips for giving these crafts a try yourself. It is aimed at helping everyone: market regulars, newcomers to the Saratoga area and weekend visitors.

So, have you yearned to keep bees? Would you like to savor the joy of gathering up fresh eggs straight from your coop? Do you need a refresher on growing flowers, fruits or vegetables? Would you like to start your own kombucha brew? If yes – or even maybe – check the workshops out. Attend all four and receive a free Saratoga Farmers’ Market canvas tote.

The schedule includes:
9 a.m. Beekeeping with Rick Green, owner of Ballston Lake Apiaries and a longtime area beekeeper.
10 a.m. Backyard Poultry Basics for Beginners with Andrea Love Smith, a Cornell Cooperative Extension Services educator.
11 a.m. Gardening for Beginners with Lori Bishop, a master gardener with Cornell Cooperative Extension Services.
Noon. Fermentation with Diane Whitten, a food and nutrition educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension Services.

Beekeeping workshop hosted by Rick Green of Ballston Lake Apiaries
Backyard Poultry Basics for Beginners workshop hosted by Andrea Love Smith
Beginner Gardener workshop hosted by Lori Bishop

 

One of the best things about these workshops is their emphasis on basics. The facilitators can answer questions and offer tips to everyone, regardless of whether they’re newcomers to farming or veterans.

The market also will feature its usual lineup of live music, and of course, its array of farm produce, meats, eggs, cheeses, and artisanal goods. A face painter also will be on hand for children.

Distiller Brings ‘Spirit Of The Grain’ to Saratoga Farmers’ Market

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By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

It’s 9 a.m. at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. Not exactly “happy hour.” But for Matt Jager and the crew who bring vodka, straight bourbon, rye, wheat, and single malt whiskeys from Yankee Distillers to the market, that’s the point. These drinks are not meant to be downed in a hurry but instead sipped slowly.

Such beverages, known as spirits, begin from grains. As such, says Jager, who co-owns Yankee Distillers with Scott Luning, they are “the spirit of the grain.”

A distilled spirit is an alcoholic beverage produced by allowing a fermented liquid to turn to vapor and then back to liquid. Grains are cooked down to a mash. During this process, carbohydrates are broken down to simple sugars. Sugars turn to alcohol as yeast eats away at them, creating fermentation. The resulting liquid is then distilled and aged.

Yankee Distillers’ whiskeys, photo by Pattie Garrett

Jager began learning to distill spirits after completing a master’s in business administration. Yankee Distillers opened three years ago in Clifton Park. Its whiskies have been in barrels aging for most of that time. As a result, last year marked their first significant rollout. The process, says Jager, has taught him patience: “I learn new things every day.”

Distilling has historic roots. New York farmers fermented and aged grains in small batch processes through the late 18th and 19th centuries, creating a vibrant craft industry. Prohibition laws of the 1920s wiped that industry out. In 2005, however, new state laws were passed that are helping distilleries make a comeback. 

For Jager, distillation allows one to experience “the grain in its purest essence.”

For him, that essence involves learning more about the grains and their origins, how they were grown, harvested, stored, and ultimately converted to the spirits that one enjoys now.

State laws require 75 percent of farm distillers’ raw ingredients to be of New York origin. Yankee Distillers uses 100 percent New York grown corn, rye, wheat, and malted grains in its products, and Jager dreams of operating a farm that would grow these crops itself.

Sip a sample at Yankee Distillers table at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market. Or visit their tasting room in Clifton Park.

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays at the Lincoln Baths Building in the Saratoga Spa State Park. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the FreshFoodNY app.