• 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!

R&G Cheese

Super Bowl Snacking

February 2, 2021 By marketeditor

By Madison Jackson

With Super Bowl Sunday quickly approaching, the football fans might be thinking about the game, but we’re all looking forward to the Super Bowl snacks! The array of creamy dips, bite-sized snacks, and decadent desserts are certainly something to anticipate, even for those who aren’t big sports fans. Appetizers and finger food are the traditional spread for most, making for easy snacking between plays or the much-anticipated commercials. The farmers’ market has options to meet all your snacking needs for next Sunday. Get your shopping done at the Saturday market to incorporate fresh, locally made ingredients into your Sunday spread.

Whether you are cooking for a crowd or keeping it lowkey this year, we put together a few recipes that are sure to impress, using fresh ingredients from the market. And for the hardcore football fans looking forward to more traditional snacks, you can, of course, pick up plenty of wings or spinach and cheese for artichoke dip at the market too!

Fried Pickles

Fried Pickles, photo by Madison Jackson

Kick off the game with some savory and sweet fried pickles. Mix 1 cup flour with 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp Cajun spice, and ½ tbsp cayenne pepper. Preheat an air fryer to 400. Grab 2 cups of your favorite flavor of pickles from Puckers Gourmet (we’re using the Dilly Sweet pickles, but you can substitute whatever you like) and coat with the flour mixture. Place in a single layer in the fryer and spray with olive oil. Cook for 10 minutes, then flip and cook for 5 more minutes. Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce.

Buffalo Goat Cheese Balls

Buffalo Goat Cheese Balls, photo by Madison Jackson

If you’re craving something cheesy and a little unique, make some fried buffalo goat cheese balls. Add ⅓ cup of flour and a pinch of pepper to a medium bowl. Add one large beaten egg and 2 tablespoons of water to a separate shallow bowl. Add 1 ½ cups of panko breadcrumbs to another medium-sized bowl. Then your favorite flavor of goat cheese from Nettle Meadow or R&G Cheesemakers and roll it into 20-24 balls. Roll each ball in the flour, then dip in the egg mixture, and then cover in the panko mixture. Place the balls on a baking sheet and freeze for 20 minutes or until firm. Then heat 1-2 cups of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and fry the goat cheese balls in batches for 1-2 minutes until crispy brown. Remove and drain on a paper towel-lined surface. Serve hot with spicy buffalo dip from Argyle Cheese Farmer!

Apple Nachos

Apple Nachos, photo by Madison Jackson

For dessert, try making apple nachos, which are easy to customize to your taste and perfect if you’re looking for something a little lighter after all the afternoon snacking. Just cut Fuji apples (or apple of choice) from Saratoga Apple into thin slices and arrange on a plate. Then drizzle about ¼ cup of melted peanut butter (we’re using Plain Jane creamy from Saratoga Peanut Butter Company) and ¼ cup of melted semi-sweet chocolate over the apples. Top with a handful of chocolate chips or some granola to serve.

Fried pickles recipe by Adventures of a Nurse
Buffalo Goat Cheese Balls recipe by Half Baked Harvest
Apple Nachos recipe by Trial and Eater

Filed Under: Featured Article, homepage feature, News Tagged With: Apple, Argyle Cheese Farmer, buffalo, fried, goat cheese, nachos, Nettle Meadow, pickles, Puckers Gourmet, R&G Cheese, Saratoga Apple, Saratoga Peanut Butter Company, snacks, Super Bowl

Cheesemaking is a passion, an art

June 8, 2020 By marketeditor

By Himanee Gupta-Carlson

Argyle Cheese Farmer, photo by Pattie Garrett

A basic cheese can be easy to make. You heat milk to a particular temperature, stir in an agent such as vinegar or lemon juice to create curds, drain off the liquid known as whey, and wait for the curds to cool.

Making a really great cheese, however, is more complex.

“It is about using old world craftsman methods to produce cheese in a deliberate and careful, hand-crafted way,” says Sheila Flanagan of Nettle Meadow. “It is not overly industrialized or mechanized. It is connected to the animals whose milk is used. It is a way of life.”

That way of life is reflected in the broad array of cheeses that Nettle Meadow brings each Saturday to the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, along with R&G Cheese Makers and Argyle Cheese Farmer.

R&G Cheese Makers, photo by Pattie Garrett

The cheeses are made from goat, sheep, and cow milk. They include soft chevres, camemberts, cheddars, mozzarellas, manchegos, blue cheeses, and more.

Artisan cheesemakers such as Flanagan, Argyle’s Marge Randles, and R&G owner Sean O’Connor draw on historic customs to create cheeses with minimal machinery. Often, recipes are unique to the cheesemaker and evolve over years.

For instance, Dave Randles’s favorite cheese – Mercy – evolved out of a recipe that Marge found in an old British cookbook, accompanied by several farmstead processes for making cheddar cheese.

Nettle Meadow, photo by Pattie Garrett

Flanagan notes that many Nettle Meadow cheeses are complicated to make. “Those complexities make them stand out.”

One favorite – Briar Summit – is made with goat, cow and sheep milk with raspberry leaf tea and cream added in. The ratios of milk vary by season. Two cultures plus a coagulant create the cheese.

“After two hours, the curd is cut and then we wait an additional two hours to pour the cheese by hand into pyramid molds,” Flanagan says. “The next morning, we flip the molds and let the cheese fall out of them and place them on a tray where they travel down to the again cellar to rest for two days.”

Flanagan applies salt and a a mold powder to help ripen and flavor the cheese. She turns it every few days while it ages.

Flanagan says, “It is a true cheesemaker’s cheese.”

 

This week’s recipe: Farmstead Macaroni & Cheese

Filed Under: Featured Article, homepage feature, News Tagged With: Argyle Cheese Farmer, cheese, cheesemakers, cheesemaking, cow, craft, crafting, craftsman, goat, milk, Nettle Meadow, producing, production, R&G Cheese, sheep

Before Footer

Instagram

Rainbow chard, zucchini, squash blossoms, and snap Rainbow chard, zucchini, squash blossoms, and snap peas- Summer produce is in full swing!! Stop by our 9-1pm market tomorrow! We’ll have live music by Running the River and Bruce Blinn-Knapp ☀️💐

#saratogasprings #saratogafarmersmarket  #farmtotable #agriculture
Instagram post 17866988591699491 Instagram post 17866988591699491
Let's celebrate the end of school and the beginnin Let's celebrate the end of school and the beginning of summer! Tomorrow, from 3-6 pm at High Rock Park, children and families are invited to a FREE concert by Jack & Steve Zucchini and lots of free, fun activities and food tastings. The Saratoga Springs Public Library will have a free butterfly craft. There will be free face painting by Artsy Fartsy Face Paint. Jodie Fitz will be here with her book Fidget Plants a pizza garden and kids can plant their own pizza garden at the POP Club tent! At POP Club, kids will receive a $2 POP coin and their first stamp on their POP Passport! It's our 7th season of POP Club and we are so grateful for the support from The Christopher Dailey Foundation. This event is rain or shine!
Schools out for the summer!! Stop by for some brea Schools out for the summer!! Stop by for some breakfast sandwiches and fun at our market tomorrow from 9-1pm. We’ll have live music by Matt Griffin and Rick Russo plus guests @headcountorg and @ccesaratoga Master Gardener!! Hope to see you there!!

Photos by: Pattie Garrett @mysaratogakitchentable 

#saratogasprings #saratogafarmersmarket #farmtotable #agriculture #shoplocal

Footer

With support from our friends at:

Copyright © 2022 · 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!