Red Rooster/Black Water Loft hosted a coffee challenge in honor of National Coffee Day. The coffee challenge consisted of four unidentified samples of specialty coffee that the contestants were to taste and match to four descriptions of the coffee samples included in the tasting. It was very challenging! If you ever get an opportunity to try one of these challenges, take advantage. It is interesting to understand the nuances in flavor and aroma that comprise our enjoyment of specialty bean coffees.
Heirloom tomatoes continue to trickle into the market with a bit of sweet corn and summer fruits; however, the preponderance of product is definitely in the fall crops. This is as it should be as the fall equinox occurred on the 21st, officially ushering in the fall season. The Market has a variety of potatoes on offer, from fingerling and colored varieties to the stand-by of Kennebec whites and Pontiac reds, and the now mainstream Yukon Gold. A specialty potato in the market being offered by Mr. Eggers is the Jacqueline Lee, a recently released variety. Hard to find seed potato make this product a rare find currently; nevertheless, Mr. Eggers is selling it at only $6.00/3-lb bag, making it very economical and a delight for those looking for new potatoes to share the pot with green beans. The variety is creamy and fine textured and performs well in potato salad and casseroles, baked, boiled or grilled.
The range of winter squash varieties continues to increase. These hold well in cool storage so it is time to start stocking up on those if you had bad luck with the squash bugs and powdery mildew this year.
Maxine, a standard pear, and Asian pears are on offer from Good Food Good People, along with some late season peaches and several varieties of apples. Concord grapes are available through Howard at the Perennial Uprising table. Blueberries are now out of the market in quantity. Riverstone Farm has been offering small quantities of pints of red and gold raspberries.
Surprisingly, there were fewer offerings of greens on Saturday. Hopefully, the volumes of these will increase as we approach the first frost date as so many of them sweeten and improve in flavor as the weather cools: collards, mustards and so on.
In October, the market will have a couple of large events. We will have the last Breakfast in the Market of the season on October 12th. Music will be provided by David Simpkins, Gregg, Katy, and Britt. They are going to try a different format to create an ambience conducive to the event. Also this month, we will have the annual Jack O Lantern Contest on the last day of the market season, October 26th. Start designing your Jack O Lantern now. Pumpkins are already available locally.
