Farmer's Market Goods

Photos by Kimberley

The Bulkley Valley Farmer's Market is our favorite Saturday destination in the summer. Today, we brought home a basket full of goodies and here's a little bit about all the local food we enjoy~
The loaf of bread is from this lovely lady, Anne Martens, who bakes amazing breads and muffins. It makes for a perfect slice of toast.
The rhubard and strawberries only make 1 or 2 appearances at the market so we have to buy lots while we can. These will become a pie, jam, and some for the freezer.

The gorgeous beets are from Lauristan Farms- an organic farm that produces amazing greens, among other things. The kale is from here and I think we will make kale chips for the kids' lunches this week. They also supply my favorite local restaurant Two Sisters.

The sweet buns are from Rustica. Meg is a talented baker with a real wood oven. Her breads and baked goods are available around town and in several cafes and these sweet buns are a perfect treat for my Sunday tea.

I had my eye on this flour and decided to bring it home. Wood Grain farm and mill is in the Kispiox Valley- there they grow beautiful wheat and mill it on a stone mill. It is quite possibly the most beautiful flour I have ever tasted. And it will be the base for my graham crackers- organic, stone-milled, local. And affordable. I am so happy to hand my cash over to the kind man who grows this himself. A truly amazing experience to buy from a farmer who has a true passion for what he does.

So that's our take from the market today and I can't wait to show you some of the results. Do you have a farmer's market in your town? Do you support the locals that are growing and producing food? It is well worth it.

~Kimberley

Reducing Herb Waste

I cook a lot and one thing I am constantly battling with is waste and spoilage. How does one keep ingredients fresh and usable while ensuring they are on hand when you need them?  I recently learned a few tricks that I wanted to share with everyone.

 

Green Onions

I cook quite frequently with green onions. It is a staple in many asian recipes, but unfortunately they do not keep well in the fridge. If you leave them in the bag or put them in the crisper, they usually become wilted and limp in a few days. I have found that the amazing thing about green onions is that you can cut them down pretty close to the bottom, and put what you've got left in a glass jar with some water and they just regrow. You just need to remember to change the water every day and put it out on your window sill or somewhere that gets light. I find that they will completely regrow at least two times. This way I almost always have green onion on hand, and there is far less wastage. What I do is when I cook I wash and dry, then trim all the tops off to the quantity that I need and put them in a jar.

 

Mint

Do you cook with mint? I find that mint is quite amazing, and seems to just grow for a long time in just a jar of water. When I buy mint I simply throw it in a jar and place in a window. I was amazed to see roots grow from the stems in a matter of days. I'm not a gardener, but I'm pretty sure if I planted mint outside it would grow like a weed.

Ginger

I cook with ginger once in awhile, but find that the best ginger is usually the big pieces. Unfortunately when I buy the big pieces, a lot of it ends up shrivelling up and going to waste before I can use it all. To address this, what I do is peel the ginger and put it in the food processor/blender and finely chop it. I lay it into the middle of two or three sheets of paper towels or use a cheese cloth, and squeeze the moisture out into a bowl. The liquid I use in a recipe in need of ginger juice, but the mince ginger I find can be kept in a container in the fridge for a week or so, and longer in a container in the freezer.

 

I know that it is easy to have a small hebr garden and some can even grow these in their kitchens, but I'm really not much of a gardener. Do you have any similar kind of tips and tricks that you use to make sure you have fresh herbs to use on hand?

 

~Alfred