The Dirt: What To Get At The Farmers Market This Weekend

This is a good news / bad news, freaky kind of week for farmer’s markets.

Here’s the bad news: These soggy, humid days are going to wreak moldy, mush-town havoc on those strawberries you were just beginning to enjoy. The good news is that all the leafy things are loving them. Bonus? The murk is supposed to clear just in time for market days this weekend. Here are a few favorites to which you can look forward…

Snap Peas – Sugar-sweet and crunchy, every farm that has them is bringing snap peas to market this week. Pull the threads out and eat them as-is, or chop them into a salad with radish, avocado, and escarole.

Kohlrabi – Blooming Glen Farm is bringing kohlrabi, the weirdest-looking of all the vegetables, to market this week. A member of the brassica family of vegetables, kohlrabi is a relative of broccoli, cabbage, radishes, turnips, and mustard greens. So, like radishes, it has a faintly spicy flavor and a juicy crunch, and faint, bitter sweetness. Cut it into batons and drizzle it with the good olive oil and the fancy sea salt to enjoy as is, or treat it like you might a potato: cube and roast it, add it to soup, shred it and mix with egg and flour for fritters.

New Potatoes – Speaking of potatoes! Rineer Family Farm has the first potatoes of the year for the Chestnut Hill and Rittenhouse markets. Little, waxy, and thin-skinned, eating new potatoes is a completely different experience compared to that of dealing with last season’s dusty clunkers.

Cabbage & Senposai – Landisdale (at Clark Park) has got the lock-down on the old school heads of green cabbage, but if you’re more interested in trying something new, pick up a bunch of senposai from Taproot Farm at the Chestnut Hill or at the N3rd Street Market on Tuesday. Senposai is a cross between green cabbage and komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach). The spoon-shaped look a little bit like collards, but with the tenderness of komatsuna and the sweet flavor of cabbage they’re sure to be a versatile new green on the scene.

Cut Flowers – Maybe they’re not on your grocery list, but who can resist a bundle of blooms when presented with them? Check out blooms by Longview Flowers at Headhouse or by Lilies and Lavender at Rittenhouse.

Find something great at your local market? Instagram it and tag accordingly: @foobooz #fooboozthedirt