The beets this last week at the Fayette County Farmers Market were beautiful — some sold in baskets of “beets only,” and others with all their leafy goodness still attached.
Wanting a beet salad, I reached as I often do for Jo Robinson’s recipe for “Steamed Beets with Sauteed Greens, Blue Cheese, and Balsamic Vinegar.” It is a very adaptable recipe, requiring only chopped onion, minced garlic, and the greens of the beets sauteed in olive oil.
The beets themselves are cooked (steamed, roasted, or boiled) and sliced onto a plate, with the cooked greens served over them. Then a balsamic vinegar reduction (I don’t bother, using straight balsamic) is poured over, and the cheese crumbled atop (again, I use whatever cheese I have at the time, which this time was feta).
This salad is equally good served warm or cold, making it the perfect salad for July 4th picnics. This recipe is in Jo Robinson’s marvelous, “Eating on the Wild Side: the Missing Link to Optimum Health.” In this volume, she informs of the origins of most fruits and vegetables and the health benefits of each. As she reports, both the beets and their greens are fabulously nutritious, in multiple ways.
So many of us ditch the greens, which is a mistake, especially when you consider the tenderness and freshness (and hopefully chemical freedom) of farm market produce. Southern cooks have long added vinegar to their cooked greens, and balsamic vinegar is a particularly tasty vinegar! For those of you who just can’t eat their beets in this fashion, I found a recipe for a beet chocolate cake that just looks fantastic!
I don’t know if we’ll have beets at the market this week. We hear the shoppers who arrive and are frustrated that there is not more produce available. We regret the loss of several of our vegetable growers from past years. We need more vegetable vendors, so if you, or someone you know, is interested in growing produce, please jump in! We need food growers, and we have a community who wants to purchase their produce at the farmers market. And meanwhile, there are many selling other foods and crafts.
For this weekend, we have several special events. Fonda Fichthorn and Pamela Anderson of the South Plymouth Porch Pickers will be providing delightful dulcimer music from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Additionally, Randy and David of WCHC-TV will be at the Market (weather permitting) for the first of several monthly Facebook Live broadcasts coined, “What’s happening at the Market today?” This live stream event can be viewed on the WCHC TV Facebook page starting shortly after 9 a.m. and is brought to you by the Fayette County Travel & Tourism Bureau.
The Market is open Saturday morning from 8:30 to 12 noon and is located in the municipal parking lot on the corner of South Main and East East streets in Washington C.H. SNAP EBT food benefit cards and credit/debit cards are accepted. Those using the SNAP EBT card for food purchases receive matching dollar “Produce Perks” tokens ($1 for $1) good only for fruits, vegetables, and food producing plants. So,”buy one, get one” for up to $25 every market day. Five dollar coupons will be available again for Fayette County Farm Bureau members at each Saturday market. These can be spent at both the Wednesday and Saturday markets.
The following list contains the names and products of the vendors that expect to set up this Saturday. Other vendors may participate as well.
Greens and Greenery (Katrina Bush): Local honey/beeswax products including beeswax hand creams, and glycerin and honey soaps. Baklava with farm honey. Buckeyes. Sourdough crackers. Seasonal produce. A few annual and perennial plants that attract pollinators, including hummingbirds and butterflies.
Jim’s Premium Ground Beef (Jim Hobbs): Premium Ground Beef which includes steak, loins, chuck and brisket all in our ground beef, vacuum packed in 1#, 5# and patties 3/#.
Julie G’s Cookies (Julie Greenslade): Homemade cookies: chocolate chip, sugar, ginger, peanut butter, snickerdoodle, oatmeal raisin, lemon bars, double chocolate brownies, toffee crunch blondes, funfetti cookies and oatmeal toffee bars. Fresh garden produce.
Persinger Produce and Cottage Foods (David Persinger and Julie Mosny): The Jam Man will have peach flamingo, pineapple habanero, Brazilian pineapple, blackberry and blackberry seedless jams, red raspberry, strawberry, strawberry-rhubarb, and red raspberry jalapeno jams, hot pepper jelly, rhubarb, cherry, peach, blueberry, triple berry, and no sugar added plum, and strawberry jams. The Pie Lady –Local honey cut comb and honey this week as well as assorted fruit pies and other baked goods.
Wood by DW (Debbie Welch): Wood crafts and sewn kitchen crafts.
Your Other Mother’s Kitchen (Don and Sara Creamer, 740-572-0134): Artisan breads.
Bridge View Garden (Hunter and Lorelle Rohrer, 740-505-5125): Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, new potatoes, and zucchini.
Cozy Baby Blessings (Nancy Cutter): Hand poured wax melts in over 60 scents, handmade resin and clay earrings, crochet dish cloths and pot scrubbers. Handmade baby essentials including crocheted baby blankets and hats, flannel burp cloths and crinkle toys, bows and silicone bead and wood teethers.
Engeti (Alana Walters): Baked goods including dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, cakes, pies, cookies.
