Farmer Market finds: Mushrooms, apples, squashes

Since the news is all about hurricane Sandy and preparation for the impending tropical storm for us, I stopped by the Stockton Farm Market to get some food for the upcoming days stuck close to home. And yes, I also went to the regular supermarket to get water and battery. I already had other staples for a week but got to have some fun even in a storm, right? 

I found these interesting new (at least to me) mushrooms:

Cauliflower mushrooms can be found growing from the bases or roots of trees in eastern North America's hardwood forests.  Stephanie, my mushroom lady :), told me that these can be simply saute with butter.

Above is the oyster mushroom, which I have cooked before but I had never seen it all still on its stem.  It was huge!  

Above is what is called the "chicken mushroom" or sulphur shelf mushroom.  It is like portabella in that it's meaty in texture. I bought some of these to try.

 I love Fall except for the impending hurricane and the shorter days. The Market also had these crisp apples and squashes.

Paw Paw Sorbet

I love discovering new food. I was walking through one of my favorite farmer markets, Stockton Farm Market, when something caught my attention and I made a new food discovery.  It was green and reminded me of a tropical fruit, like a mango.  I walked closer to the table and took a good look at it. It's kidney shaped and smells kind of like a ripe banana. I asked the nice lady behind the counter and she explained that it's a native North American fruit and these were gathered from the wilds of Eastern Pennsylvania.  She gave me a spoon with a bit of the meat of the fruit to try.  It was soft and custardy.

She told me that it could be used in sorbet and gave me a recipe by Mads Refslund.  I bought two big ripe ones. They look green even when ripe but do feel soft to the touch.  Of course, I had to research this new fruit. So, it's in the same plant family as the cherimoya and custard-apple.  It's native to Eastern, Southern and Mid-Western United States. The fruit grows on trees or large shrubs.

After making the paw paw sorbet, I left it in the freezer overnight.  I tasted it the next night and it was very smooth and definitely have that ripe banana taste.  It is definitely something I would try making again, especially since it was so easy to do.


Paw Paw Sorbet

About 12 ounces of paw paw, peeled and deseeded
1 1/2 cups simple syrup (take equal parts sugar and water, heat until the sugar is just dissolved)
2 teaspoon lemon juice
pinch salt

Puree in a blender and pour into an ice cream maker.  That's it.

Farmer's Market Finds

I know it's trendy now to talk about shopping local and going to farmer's markets but farmer's markets are how many immigrant communities operate, how many in the more rural areas shop and before our mega-supermarkets.  This article talks about the indoor public markets where the public used to shop:  http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/09/28/161964338/old-school-food-shopping-feels-new-as-u-s-cities-revive-public-markets I recall my trip with college friends years ago to a market in a public hall in Charleston, South Carolina.  I remember antiques, crocodile souvenirs, and food. That was fascinating. In many immigrant neighborhoods, you will find open markets along sidewalks. For example, you can find great deals in Chinatowns in cities around the country.  The Lower East Side of New York's Manhattan has the Essex Street Market - vendors in a big open hall selling fruit, vegetable, meat, bread as well as trinkets. In the Essex Market or Chinatown, it's not about fancy packaging but the food. In fact, sometimes you'll encounter rude vendors but the price will be low, the food fresh and unpackaged.

Of course, not all farmer's markets are created equal.  New York City's Union Square GreenMarket is amazing and extremely popular. It's large, located in an open space.  You may even encounter some nice packaging but not overpackaging.

A gem that a friend recommended to me is the Stockton Farm Market in NJ.  I've been there a few times and have always found unique and fresh produce.  There is an excellent, albeit expensive, fish market.  There is a very reasonably priced vendor, Mighty Quinn's, who sells oh-so-delicious barbecued meats and chicken wings with cilantro lime hot sauce.  Then there is the lovely woman who sells sunflowers. Below are some of pictures I took at the Stockton Farm Market:

maitake mushroom

sweet peppers

An artist who recreated a postcard from an old Bulgarian stamp

duck eggs

If you have suggestions of good ones for me to try in the NY/NJ/Philadelphia region, please let me know.