Sum, Sum, Summertime!
Shouts of, “I want a popsicle!”, could be heard throughout the market last week. Mom and son owned, Brooklyn based, Mom and Icepops is now a weekly happening. Featuring all natural original flavor combinations, sour flower = tart cherry and rose, they proudly support local farms and businesses for their ingredients.
Another popular “hand held” that’s back are the morning-fresh apple cider doughnuts from Wrights Farm. A family run business for five generations, producing apples, berries, stone fruit and vegetables, they also bake, pickle and preserve their produce. Buy one of Grandma Ann’s pies in a colorful hand-decorated box or make your own Ruffled Milk Pie With (market) Raspberries.
Growing up in Montana, summer always meant an annual trip to the Flathead Valley for cherries. We’d all, (depending upon the year...I came to be the oldest of eight) pile in to the station wagon, sans seatbelts. We’d stay in mom and pop motels with names like Big Chief or Lake View and eat nineteen cent burgers and soft serve cones at the Dairy Bar. Swimming or boating in the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi was always a special treat. Years later when I was married, the first home we purchased had a small cherry orchard on the property and fresh picked cherries were only steps away! Summer also means local cherries at the farmers market so try this Flathead Cherry Compote as an accent to meat, fish or Cooperstown Cheese. Pick up some Kontoulis Family Olive Oil balsamic vinegar to use in the recipe.
Pizza is an easy-breezy summer meal. You can pick them up already cooked from DoughNation or frozen ready to bake from Wave Hill. Scour the produce tents for big bowl salad ingredients to round out your meal. Be brave and add something new to your standards...shredded or diced zucchini and beets, broccoli, mushrooms, fruit, herbs, edible flowers. It will only need a light dress with high quality Kontoulis Family Olive Oil and vinegar.
I know many of you have your summer market favorites that we’d love to hear about. Stop by the market tent to share recipes and suggestions. Who knows, we may feature YOU in an upcoming newsletter!
Milton’s back in the music tent and summer temps are in the forecast. Take to a table, bring or borrow a blanket from the market tent and quench your thirst with Teagevity iced tea, Don Carvajal cold brew, Fairy Juice or a lemonade from Wild Radish.
See you on Sunday!
