Eat Local Strawberries - Now!

The by product of eating locally is eating seasonally. Us locavores will not partake in the ample asparagus or strawberry supplies found around town. Nor would we think of eating a sugar snap about now. Would we?

We would. Well, certainly not the asparagus, but what if there were local strawberries, local snow peas. Now. What if there was someone in Northern Illinois who planted fall crops of these things. Would you eat? Well you can. There's a fella, Bob, he has, it's not a u-pick, rather it's one of those u-pay things (unless he's around). In a room on his property you can find an array of produce he grows, with prices, a scale, and a money box. Be honest!

Here's what he has now:

Red Raspberries Fall weather is their favorite. They are really producing full force now and will continue to do so until the first hard frost (28 degrees or lower).

Strawberries They too like this weather. Likewise they are full of blooms making new berries and will produce abundantly until that hard frost.

Green Beans Beans should be available until the first frost.

Red Potatoes Plenty on hand.

Sweet Potatoes We just started digging and will have an abundant supply.

Tomatoes Plenty available but only until any kind of frost.

Bell Peppers Like tomatoes, any kind of frost will kill these plants. Don’t expect any after frost.

Honey We have an abundant supply obtained from a local bee keeper from whom we rent the hives for pollination purposes. We then buy honey from him for re-sale. We are receiving excellent feed-back from customers regarding this honey.

Egg Plant Plenty available until frost.

Beets Only a very limited supply is left in the field.

Okra We have plenty of okra. Because we want okra when it is still rather small, it is picked 3 times per week.

Snow Peas We planted for a fall crop and it too enjoys the fall weather. Plenty of snow peas available.

Apples There are plenty of Red Delicious apples in storage; however, the supply of Granny Smiths is limited. All other varieties are sold out.

Pumpkins We only have pumpkins available upon advanced notice as we do not grow pumpkins, but they are available from a fellow grower.

Watermelons Like pumpkins, we are obtaining melons from a fellow grower as our supply is exhausted.

He's not too far from the Southern reaches of Chicago. He encourages you to call him (815)428-7382 or cell (815)471-7383 to see what he has, and also to give you good directions. I'd add that when you are driving around this section of Eastern Illinois, you might find a few other farmers with stuff for sale in their front yards. It might not be as unseasonable as Bob's stuff, but it will still be good.

Eat Local Watermelon

I get my first watermelon of the season this week. Melons take a lot of heat, time, so it takes a good amount of summer to get local watermelon (although my wife interjects that the muskmelons so far have been incredible). Farmer Vicki promised me, in her weekly e-mail, something called Lamar, a seedless melon, and the best melon she has ever grown. I have a feeling she will be right. She usually is.

A lot of local foodies go ga-ga, not over Lamar, but over melons trucked in from the South and sold at the Baylor Melon Market. I am hesitant to throw too much criticism at the Baylor melons. The only time I tried one, at the LTHForum picnic a few years ago, the melons were unfortunately fermented. Still, I put my faith in Farmer Vicki, and I suspect that a certain amount of the Baylor allure stands for the specialness of the product, the transport via bus and the ties to historical agriculture. Then again, a lot of people like the Baylor melons. I want local.

From yesterday's CTrib:

Grower Chris Sutton, owner of Sutton Fruit and Vegetable in Kaufman County, Texas, says that your best bet is to buy local and in season. According to the National Watermelon Promotion Board, you should look for "a firm, symmetrical watermelon that is free of bruises, cuts or dents. When you see a nice-looking watermelon, pick it up and feel its heft; then pick up a few others of similar size to compare. At 92 percent water, a good melon should feel heavy for its size. Seeded varieties tend to be sweeter, Sutton said, "because the seed cavities cause it to be riper." How do you know a watermelon ripened on the vine? Easy: Turn the melon over and check for a creamy yellow spot. That's a sign that the watermelon sat on the ground and in the sun to ripen.

Does your melon have a creamy yellow spot?

Eat Local Food

Miss Me?

Gosh, do I have stuff to blog about. A very fine day in and around Monroe, Wisconsin capped with an especially fine meal at L'Etoile in Madison; there's still the lingering memories of good food at Mado and bad food at Semiramis. I love Wisconsin. You can stumble into a place like Sorg's in the middle of nowhere and find the most incredible, near Kobe [ed. let's not exaggerate] porterhouse steaks as well as all the brats and other fine things you expect in this state. In the meantime, here's what we've been gathering:

Alp & Dell (Roth Kase Factory and Outlet - 657 Second, Monroe, WI) - 7/30/08

• Lots of cheese including Roth Kase Private Reserve

Maple Leaf Co-op Outlet (W2616 Hwy 11-81, Juda, WI) - 7/30/08

• More cheese including award winning Maple Leaf English Hollow Cheddar

Monroe Farmer's Market - 7/30/08

• Freshly dug Kennebec potatoes
• Pickles (i.e., kirby cucumbers)
• Elderberry jam
• Onions
• Garlic

Hoesly's Meat - New Glarus, WI - 7/30/08

• Dried beef (a deli cut, not jerky)
• Smoked brats

New Glarus Brewery - New Glarus, WI - 7/30/08

• Beer including Uff-da Bock; Organic Revolution and Belgian Red (cherry)

Willy St Coop - Madison - 7/31/08

• Sugar River yogurt

Sorg's Meat - Darien, WI - 7/31/08

• Polish sausages

Caputo's - Elmwood Park, IL - 8/1/08

• Michigan eggplant
• Michigan spicy wax peppers
• Michigan apples

Genesis Growers CSA - 8/2/08

• Eggs
• Wax beans
• Summer squash
• Jalepeno peppers
• Red cabbage
• Pickles
• Cucumbers
• Apricots
• Mesclun
• Muskmelon

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 9/2/08

• Genesis Growers - Arugula, purple basis, purple cauliflower, tomatoes
• Nichol's Farm - Wild plums
• Hardin Farm - Apricots, peaches, nectarines
• Stovers - Sweet cherries
• Catalina Farm - Tomato berries
• Skibbes - White peaches, white nectarines, tomatoes

Previous list of stuff here.

What's In Season Now - July (Everything!)

The Only Guide to Seasonality That Matters^tm

It's Good to Be a Locavore!

I told you at the start of July that it was not time for an update seasonality guide (June guide here). It's time. What's in season now at Chicago area farmer's markets, local superstore's like Cassie's Green Grocer, Johnny welcome to the party, come latelies, like Fox & Obel; Irv and Shelly's Freshpicks. Everything. The burden of local now is to eat everything one acquires. At this time, there's a lot in season. Unless your guide's talking grapes, it has a chance as being as accurate as the one below.

Ending Soon
If you want to eat these, eat them soon, they won't be around much longer: cherries sweet and tart; some lettuces, snow peas.

Limited Window
Get these now: apricots have been around for a few weeks; they won't be around much longer. Certain types of plums, like the metheny may already be gone by the time you read this. Things like carrots and zukes and potatoes will be here for a long while, but them in tiny versions, well them's the time to get them. Now. Related, now you may also find squash blossoms.

Other things early
Garlic's pretty ossified now but onions are still in their soft stages. Look for Vidalia-ish (store in the fridge) onions as well as immature versions of other onions. Green garlic may be gone, but garlic scapes are around.

Stoned on Fruit
In the Chicago area, we are lucky enough to be near the SW shores of Michigan, some of the primest territory for growing stone fruits. The breezes over the lake keep things just warm enough, while the existence of cold brings extra sweetness to the fruits. Look for early versions of peaches and nectarines--I have not seen white versions of either yet. Mentioned above, apricots, cherries, plums. With plums, various varieties will be around for ages, with the Stanley and the like not get going until the fall.

Uncommon Fruits
The benefits to shopping local is access to items that will not find their way into grocery stores. In our fruit aisles you'll find currents and gooseberries and tayberries. Try, try, try. See here and here for a gooseberry ideas.

Common Fruit
Hard to imagine with all of the summer fruits in season that now is also the season of the apple. Several varieties of apples come to fruit now; now, when you think you should just be munching a peach. Summer apple varieties tend to have a few things in common. Most, if not all, are quite puckery in the mouth. They tend to be soft and are often (typically) used for sauce. Most importantly, they are not apples to keep. In selling me a few apples today (for a daughter who somewhat unexpectedly* had a taste for apples) Lloyd Nichols warned me that they would only last a few days.

All the Rest of the Fruits of the Season
OK, don't forget the raspberries (black, red and golden), blueberries, and blackberries around now. Theses berries will peter out for a bit then will reappear into the fall.

All the Rest of the Vegetables
Can I name everything in the market these days. Maybe. Maybe because this is the time of year it's all here. All you think of as summer produce at least: tomatoes (the ones now are mostly grown in hoop houses or early varieties of cherries); eggplants, cucumbers, hot and sweet peppers, summer squashes, sweet corn, cabbages, green beans, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, chard, collard greens, fennel, celery, beets, and the dreaded k word, kohlrabi (which we took to calling jicama in our house, especially after we realized we really liked it!).

Mushrooms/Herbs
As always, there's River Valley with their organically cultivated mushrooms. I have not seen any wild mushrooms of late, although someone, somewhere must have some chantrelles. You should find plenty of fresh herbs in your market.

Speciality Vegetables
Oh, there's more baby. Kinnikinnick Farm at Evanston and Green City; Green Acres at the Tuesday Federal Plaza market as well as Green City and Evanston; Farmer Vicki's Genesis Growers at Oak Park and Green City; Sandhill Organics at Oak Park; Henry and his farmstand at Evantson; Nichol's Farm all over the place; these guys will have plenty more things than I thought of tonight. It's good to be a locavore.

Coming soon: the melons, heirloom tomatoes, more types of potatoes, more types of peppers, okra, fresh (shelling) beans. It's good to be a locavore.

*One of the things that warms my local heart is the ability of my kidz to never tire of apples.

Eat Seasonal Food - Latest in Stuff

It bears repeating, but one of the coolest things in the markets now are true new potatoes, or to use the terminology I've seen some of the farmer's use to distinguish them from the misuse of new to mean any smaller, red potato; freshly dug potatoes. Chad Nichol's at Nichol's Farm told me today how they get way less (way, like 80%) when harvesting the potatoes as new potatoes instead of letting them grow out. The benefit is all for us, the eater. These are a true seasonal food, a taste that will be gone soon, a taste, my daughter declared last night, "the best potatoes ever." We purchased two pounds from Chad, hardly expensive at $3/lb. We also got our weekly CSA today. It was a good week on Farmer Vicki's plot.

Latest local stuff below.

Marion Street Cheese Market - 7/16/08

• Apricots

Genesis Growers CSA - 7/17/08

• 2 Daikon radish (eat the greens too!)
• 2 bunches of collard greens
• Mizuna (the one crop I could do without)
• 3 medium size and 1 small zucchini
• Summer onion
• Basil
• Beets (eat the greens AND the stems)
• Oregano
• 2 medium sized cukes

Eli's Cheesecake Factory Farmer's Market - 7/17/08

• Nichol's Farm - New potatoes (Keep 'em in the fridge)

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 7/19/08

• Genesis Growers - mint, 2 types of hot peppers, 2 types of cherry (ish) tomatoes
• Catalina Garden - jalepeno peppers, multi-color baby carrots
• Nichol's Farm - apples
• Harden Farm - apricots, red (methany) plums, peaches, tart cherries
• Walt Skibbe - tayberries, blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes

Eli's Cheesecake Market - 7/24/08

• Nichol's Farm - artichokes

Genesis Growers CSA - 7/24/08

• 12 eggs
• Green beans (a lot)
• Peaches
• 6 ears sweet corn
• summer squash
• cucumbers
• pickles (4)
• kale
• savory
• 4 green bell peppers

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 7/26/08

• Genesis Growers - jalepeno peppers, kohlrabi, cherry tomatoes
• Catalina Farm - heart shaped baby tomatoes
• Hardin Farm - peaches, nectarines, apricots
• Stover's U Pick - sweet cherries
• Walt Skibbe - tart cherries, apples (Lodi), tayberries, red raspberries, tayberries, golden raspberries

Costco - 7/27/08

• Michigan blueberries
• Carr Valley Bread Cheese

Previous inventory here.

I'm Not Bitter - Blogday

I am NOT motivated to blog all day by my bitterness towards all things Chicago Tribune. I mean if I refuse to look at the paper this morning, the Cubs might have won yesterday. Besides, does Gerry Smith know I'm a Tribune vendor. It's just with the holiday and all, I'm very behind in my blogging. I've been blinded by bitterness, but I've got lots to say.

First, some link love. I hope you all have seen MikeG's video on local, the guy with the passion for roof tops and roof top gardens as well, Bruce, now has a blog. Check it out.

Other things that should show up today or soon:

Eli's Cheesecake hosts a farmer's market on Thursdays. They are also hosting a series of lectures on local food related topics (a series that seems to have slipped by everyone's radar). Last week Lloyd Nichols spoke. Next week it's Terra Brockman of the Land Connection.

Bitterness aside, I don't buy this quote from the CTrib's article

"Illinois does not have a lot of local vegetable producers, so when you go to farmers markets you see folks from Wisconsin and Michigan," Slama said. "It's a regional approach if you still consider yourself someone who eats primarily local food."

It is true that when you go to farmer's markets in the Chicago area you will find farmer's from Michigan like Hardin Farms, who grow the best stone fruits or Walt Skibbies with an outstanding selection of apples and pears, but when it comes to vegetables, market shoppers are most likely to find Nichol's Farm at their market. They can also buy vegetables from Farmer Vicki's Genesis Growers, Henry's Farm, Kinnikinnick Farm, Sandhill Organic; there's the Midwest Organic Farmer's Coop that Robin "Winter" fronts at Daley Plaza; hell there's City Farm who show up each week to the Logan Square Farmer's Market. And speaking of Logan Square, what about Farmer Rob and his Montalbano Farm. He's also at the Ridgeville Market in Evanston that needs your love. Of course, maybe you are not a market shopper, there's that small outfit out of Illinois serving the CSA needs of many, called, um, Angelic Organics. I could go on, but I have other things to not blog about.

Scotch Hill Farms, who oddly enough, are in Wisconsin, but show up at the Oak Park Farmer's Market, are seeking interest in a milk and cheese CSA. The CSA, with a delivery at Oak Park, would provide high quality local products such as Sugar River Dairy yogurt. Stop by their stand and tell Tony or Dela you are interested.

I've had Mado on the mind for reasons that will be revealed some other time, but 'cause of that, my wife and I decided to dine there last night. It's been good before, quite, good, but last night was the best meal so far. Still, despite Rob's promises, they're not serving bread. I'm not bitter about that either.

No, grapes are not in season yet, but the market is awash in new products. Concentrate now on the products with the most fleeting of season. Chad Nichol's tricked us into buying fava beans with this clever conceit, he grilled them for us. We bought a pound and a half. Unlike last year, the Chicago area locavore has apricots to eat. Grab 'em now.

Besides apricots and favas, we keep on getting other local foods, including a whole half-a hog (which my wife did a masterful job of squeezing it into the freezer). I'll be updating the inventory soon.

Hey you, don't eat local. Instead of a year on a 100 mile diet, try a lifetime of reasonable eating.

I have infusions to write about and pics from a lavish Shabbat dinner, but until all that, go read Valeree's blog, it's very good. She's not the least bit bitter.

Acquisition Update

Hines VA Farmer's Market (more soon); weekly CSA box added to this list.

The End of Inventory

Starting in December, 2007 I started tracking our inventory of local foods in the Bungalow. The intended purpose was to show how my family and I managed to stay local in the darkest months through a combination of winter marketing and stored foods. I proudly reported on our ability to manage. Since then, with market and CSA supplies, I've had less need to post on the inventory, and have not made an inventory post since early May.

Last night, in seeking some garlic for Asian night (Thai inspired recipes need garlic), I found all of the remainder of our garlic supply kaput. About twenty heads of garlic given over to dust, insects and various micro-organisms. When poking around the basement, I also found a bag of potatoes with the types of beards one grows if stranded on a deserted island. Both went into the compost bin, and they will soon be joined by sprouting onions. It was only a week or so ago that the last Michigan apples went into the camp lunch of my younger daughter. Our inventory served us well.

I have not done a great job of tracking/reporting on our local purchases from the CSA, farmer's markets, Cassie's Green Grocer and the like. For the duration of the market season, I have replaced the inventory tally on the sidebar with a running tally of the last two weeks (or so)purchases. I don't have the memory to re-create everything we have purchased lately, but here's a stab. It'll be more accurate after we get our CSA box later today.

Genesis Growers CSA - 6/19/08

• 2 heads of leaf lettuce
• Mesclun bag
• Asparagus
• Strawberries
• Savoy cabbage
• French breakfast radishes
• Daikon radish
• Kale
• Eggs

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 6/21/08

• Strawberries, sugar snaps, snow peas - Nicholl's Farm
• Cherries (sweet) - Hardin Farm
• Raspberries - Skibbes
• Peas - Stovers
• Mint, basil - Genesis Growers
• Garlic scapes, green garlic - Sandhill Organic
• Duck eggs - Wettstein's

Maywood Farmer's Market - 6/21/08

• Garlic scapes, organic chickens, dill - Midwest Organic Coop
• Strawberries - Unknown farmer

Whole Foods, River Forest - 6/21/08

• Farmer's All Natural Creamery Whole Milk

Genesis Grower's Farm - 6/22/08

• Zucchini flowers

Green Grocer - 6/24/08

• Tarragon
• Trader's Point Creamery Yogurt
• Barley

Genesis Growers CSA - 6/26/08

• Red "salad" turnips (with greens)
• 2 heads leaf lettuce
• 1 bag mesclun
• Kohlrabi (with greens)
• Kale
• Collard greens
• Sugar snap peas (a lot)
• Eggs

Hines VA Farmers Market (Maywood) - 6/26/08

• Raspberries, snow peas - Unidentified Michigan farm
• Strawberries (flat), sweet cherries - Hardin Farms

Kolatek's - 2445 N. Harlem - 6/27/08

• Farmer's All Natural Creamery 2% Milk

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 6/28/08

• Snow peas, green garlic stalks (with scapes) - Nichol's Farm
• Basil, white carrots, arugula - Genesis Growers
• Cherries - Hardin Farms
• Peas - Stover's
• Raspberries, blueberries - Skibbes

MCA Farmer's Market - 7/1/08

• Raspberries - Ellis Farms
• Blueberries, strawberries, new potatoes - Noffke Farm

What's In Season Now - June

(Update below)

We are more than half-way through the month, and I am just getting around to posting my guide to what's in season. (Last month's guide here.) You may think I am lazy. You may think I promise more than I produce, but there is a good, decent reason for waiting this long. The market, the what's in season, starts to change big time around now. In other words, up until a week or so ago, the market looked mostly like May and even a bit like April. About now, mid-June, is when new crops start rolling. To a large extent, mid to late June is our season of "Spring" crops around here. The locavore should be able to find the following:

Last Leggers
Those harvesting asparagus from Illinois and points south like my friend Farmer Vicki of Genesis Growers are mostly out of the crop, but those from further north, like the Michigan farmers, still have plenty. Expect to see asparagus in the markets through the month. The hearty, cool weather greens such as kale and spinach are likewise still around. Radishes don't thrive once we reach our summer heat, so get them now too. Rhubarb grows early and then lasts for a while. Buyers tend to gravitate to it when there is not much else around, but it will be around still.

First Arrivers
Strawberries have been in our markets for a few weeks now, expect a few weeks more. Like asparagus, the Michigan crops will last a bit longer. Cherries should show up before the end of the month and probably raspberries. Last week was the week that peas in their forms showed up, shelling peas, sugar snaps and snow peas. If you want your pea in leaf form, some farmers are selling the pea tendrils.

Farm Fresh
These are the types of crops you will see most of the season at various stands. Farmers started planting these crops as the weather warmed, and they harvest them as they bloom: broccoli, cauliflower, beets, arugula, fennel, swiss chard, lettuces (until it gets really hot), kohlrabi, carrots; zucchini and cucumbers (soon).

Alliums
Most of the onions are still young as in spring onions or scallions, but I expect fuller summer onions to be around soon. Garlic is maturing a bit, the green garlic stalks you may see have a more bulb to them, and you will now see the sprouting scapes in the market.

Mushrooms
Organic cultivator of mushrooms, River Valley of Wisconsin, shows up in tons of markets around Chicago. They will always have portabellas, baby bellas or crimini's, and white button mushrooms and most likely oyster and shitakes. They've had fresh porcini's. I've been told that they are local, but someone else was told they are not.

Asian
If you go to farmer's markets in Wisconsin and Minnesota, you will find many stands fun by Hmong farmers. They bring a variety of Asian vegetables to their markets. In the Chicago area, Nichol's Farm, Genesis Growers and Green Acres Farm grow some Asian vegetables. Green Acres Farm at Green City Market and Evanston will surely have the most, so if interested check their stand. Otherwise, you might be able to find some bok choy, baby or mature; tat soi, mizuna or napa cabbage at a market near you.

Italian
What Green Acres is to Asian, Kinnikinnick Farm is to Italian veg. At their stand at Green City and Evanston, expect to find Italian cooking greens that you will not see elsewhere. Nichol's grows rapini.

Herbs and Hot Peppers
Mint, cilantro, rosemary, basil, chives; these are the mostly likely herbs this time of year, but I've found lovage, oregano, cayenne peppers, lavender, sage and savory at various markets.

Old Stuff
Nichol's Farm is still selling last year's potatoes and they are still plenty good. There may be apples around, but I have not seen them. Ellis Farms, at their stand at the Hyde Park Farmer's Market (Thursdays) had shelled black walnuts (!).

A report on early July arrivers here.

How to Keep Your Food For the Week

So, You Wanna Eat Local

So, you wanna eat local. Most likely, your food came over the weekend when most farmer's markets operate, CSA boxes show up and Pollanesque Peapoders like Irv and Shelly's Fresh Picks make their deliveries. For most budding locavores, this will be your only shot at locally grown food for the week. Make it last. Last year, my friend Farmer Vicki of Genesis Grower's let me re-publish her insight into storing fresh vegetables. It's been my most popular post. I've expanded that post for this year--note, this post deals with storing the fruits and vegetables of the general farmer's market season; I will cover winter storage in another post later on this year.

First Things First

The goal is to make your store of food last until at least your next food arrives, to ensure that you have local food to eat all week. To do this, you need a food plan, an eating plan. It's not so much as laying out your menus for the week, but taking heed of which of your foods you need to eat first. Eat first the foods that will not last. Put better, eat the foods that need to be eaten first. These are foods that lose quality soon after harvest, and the quicker you can get them from ground to table, the happier you palate will be.

• Asparagus
• Corn
• Peas in all forms, but especially shelling or English peas
• Fava or broad beans
• Strawberries
• True "new potatoes", recognized by their peeling skins

Second

Will you eat all your food this week? For one thing, let's hope your local-ism extends beyond the farm fresh season; for another thing, many CSA boxes are meant to give more produce than you can eat during the week, with the idea that you will store. I'm not gonna make a treatise now on food preservation. In the short term, remember that freezing is generally easy. Fruits can be frozen with no processing; vegetables need a short blanch before freezing. Also, coincidentally or not, the foods that need to be eaten then fastest are also the foods that freeze the best.

The Burden of Local

Get it and forget it is not the mantra of the localvore. Stuff must be done to a lot of local food after its purchase to ensure its vigor for the week. DO remove all leafy tops from root vegetables: carrots, radishes, turnips, beets, kohlrabi; DO NOT wash other fruits and vegetables if possible. Dirtier food will generally stay better. If you cannot produce your meals Rachael Ray style, you will at least be rewarded with better tasting food.

In or Out

Most but not all of your local food will go in your fridge. Do not refrigerator the following foods

• Keeper onions a/k/a dry onions - Before storage, make sure that the onions are dry. Often in CSA boxes, the onions get wet inter-mingling with the other produce. If I find damp onions, I keep them on some old newspaper for a bit. Store these in as a cool and dry a spot as you can.
• All potatoes except true new potatoes - Like onions, make sure the potatoes are dry before storage. Potatoes stay best in the dark as well as the cool.
• Peaches and their variants such as nectarines*
• Plums*
• Apricots*
• Winter squash
• Tomatoes !!

*Put these in the fridge if they appear to be getting too ripe/mature

Berries including strawberries and cherries stay best in the refrigerator but taste best if served at room temperature.

Do refrigerate the following foods:

• Spring onions, scallions, knob onions and the like
• Sweet onions/summer onions - These are onions characterized by a flimsy and moist skin; these types of onions are often also sold with their stems attached.
• New potatoes
• Green garlic and other fresh garlics

Battle Your Fridge

Cold storage makes it possible for your food to last all week. Cold storage can also ruin your supply of local food. Here's a couple of tips to best use your fridge.

• Bag your food - Little local food comes pre-bagged, and the smart market shopper refuses any bags from their vendors. Still, just because you got the food that way, does not mean you have to keep it that way. If you can put the food in your refrigerator's designated vegetable bins, it will generally be safe. For foods not in the bins, in my experience, the harshness of the refrigerator can be mitigated by keeping your food in bags or containers. For many items like root vegetables, the bags can be sealed to provide a bit of necessary moisture.
• Hydrate your food - Space permitting, some foods benefit from being kept in water (standing in water, not submerged). These include asparagus, watercress and all herbs.
• Know your cold zones. In most refrigerators, the top shelf will be the coldest, and the coldest part of the top shelf will be the back corner. Only put foods up there that can withstand the chill, maybe even some frost.

Eat Well, Eat Local

My parting thought is that regardless of how well you tend for you food, the great thing about local food is that it will last much longer than conventional food. My family's experience is that produce will stay viable and taste great for much longer than predicted in your typical cook book or produce guide. This is obviously, because food is arriving at the Bungalow so much sooner than it would arrive at most people's houses.

How to Eat a Strawberry

Oh, there are ways to eat a strawberry. Array bowls of sour cream and brown sugar, dip. Splattered with fresh made whipped cream. With a tiny drop of the most expensive balsamic vinegar you can afford. These are ways to eat a strawberry. They are not, however, what is vital. Let me tell you.

Foremost, use a local strawberry. Yes! Yes, these harbingers have arrived in our Chicago area markets. There is no comparison to what you can find at an area farmer's market to Well-Pic/Driscoll stuff found at the supermarkets. For a bit of background on this, read Russ Parson's How to Pick a Peach. Supermarket strawberries are bred for a few reasons, mostly shipability and extended growing seasons. Local strawberries just are. They are here when they grow, picked when they are ripe, bleed red like they are supposed to, and taste, yes, taste, like you remember. Vital rule number one: eat a local strawberry.

Now, to fully enhance your local strawberry, pay attention to this rule. Ditch the fridge. Vital rule number two: don't eat a cold strawberry. If your strawberry can never hit the fridge, you are in the best shape. If you have to hold your strawberries for a day or so, refrigerate them, but take them out well, well before you plan to eat them. Think of them like you might think of cheese. When the strawberries come to room temperature, like cheese, you start picking up flavors, nuance, that is deadened with cold. Perhaps, a Driscoll strawberry would have some taste if served at room temperature.

Nah.

What's Local Andy's Fruit Ranch

Local Expectations

My wife loves to tell the story about our first trip to the Oak Park Farmer's Market, back in 2000; first market of the year. Just about all flowers. Not even good donuts. Almost lost us as customers on that day. Luckily, we stuck it out. Now, we go to Ann Arbor, 10 degrees below zero, find one bag of lettuce (practically) and are overjoyed. Finding just a bit of local makes us happy.

We did not have much expectations when we went into Andy's today. I had agreed to take my wife to Albany Park for falafal on the condition that we could buy some house made merguez sausage from Sahar Meat to saddle up along side tomorrow's planned kefta. So, in the neighborhood, we ran into Andy's mostly to get a few pieces of non-local fruit. Which we got, a few oranges and tangerines, but we also got some needed local. It made us very happy.

We are not lacking in onions, but neither are we filled up either. If my wife is to make her Jamie Oliver onion gratin next week for Passover, we need lotsa onions (don't tell anyone there's dairy in the casserole). Andy's had three pound bags of, abet small, Michigan onions for $3. They also had 1o lb bags of Wisconsin russet potatoes for less than $2 and 3 lb bags of Michigan apples in multiple varieties (Empire, Cortland, Red Delicious and Golden Delicious) for $1.69 each. Finally, there were Macintoshes without a sign a label. Because they did not have a sticker and were wonderfully imperfect, I'm betting these are Michigan too--betting enough that I bought a few pounds. I was happy to find some local, especially some things we need.

The finds at Andy's also spoke to something else that's been on my mind. When I had my talk local lunch the other day, we talked a lot about the cost of local food. I'm not denying that local food can cost more than conventional food, that there is a premium so to speak, a premium at least on any "fancy food", but it is also true that if you buy what is in season, including local, you will often find produce at its cheapest. Yes, yes (yes!), most people are not going to want to eat as many apples, potatoes and onions as my family did over the winter. Maybe, however, a bit more onion gratin and a few less stalks of Mexican asparagus in the shopping cart? There are ways to save money and eat local. We got local and we did not spend much.

Anyways, let me end by giving another shout out to Sahar. It is right up there, near the top, of my non-local meat stores. There are certain parts of the lamb, that if, if I ever had the need to try, I would want to buy them from Sahar. In the meantime, I'm happy with their sausage, their incredible prices on lamb, or their cut to order veal shoulder.

Andy's Fruit Ranch
4733 N. Kedzie
Chicago, IL
773.583.2322

Sahar Meat
4829 N Kedzie Ave
Chicago, IL
773.583.6098

Eat Local Fruit

Michigan Blueberries

This little excerpt from American Artisanal: Finding the Country's Best Real Food, from Cheese to Chocolate by Rebecca Gray on e-Gullet will get ya hankering for fruit still a few months away.

Local's Where You Find It

What's Local at the Restaurant Supply House

My wife and I have an in that allows us to shop at the restaurant supply house. Unfortunately you cannot walk in and buy the local stuff we found today. Still, if it's at the wholesaler, it may show up somewhere by you. Look. Local IS where you find it (I mean the other day we had a blast finding local at the River Forest Jewel, including Michigan oatmeal, I just did not take good notes to post on it.)

Local at the supply house: incredibly vivid bass from the Great Lakes. They wisely angled the fish to show its magenta gills; not pretty but key for those in the know. Other freshwater fish today included lake trout fillets, lake smelts, rainbow trout, whitefish and carp. There were ten pound and fifty pound bags of Wisconsin potatoes and three pound bags of Michigan apples.

How to Eat Local

Cheater's Paradise

Not that I've conducted a comprehensive survey or anything, but the feeling seems to be, you cannot eat local all the time in Chicago. After all, our growing season is just too limited. Farmer's markets do not get rolling until late May and close up shop come October. Cannot be done. Maybe, if you cheat.

What if you have a super-secret source that grows vegetables for you during the dead of winter. She also parcels out crops kept well stored including giant onions and red apples. Is it cheating because she only sells her wares to a few?

Don't care. I'm damn lucky to be friends with Farmer Vicki of Genesis Growers, and I'm damn glad she trucks out to Oak Park even in January. The picture is of the haul. Head lettuce, mesculun, turnips, carrots, celery, rosemary and broccoli all grown in her greenhouses; plus an onion and apples from storage. I cannot be that pissed that she cut but forgot the parsley. It was so nice to sit down the other day, in a the bungalow well insulated from the cold, to a nice, locally grown, just picked, green salad.

Eating local year round in Chicago is not easy. It is possible. It helps, of course, to cheat.

Eat Local Grapes

Spit Away

The New York Times has an interesting story (reg. req.) today on the quest to create better tasting table grapes.

In the United States, convenience reigns, and in California, where 97 percent of American table grapes are grown, “neutral-flavored” grapes like Thompson and Flame, sweet but bland, dominate production, largely because they are seedless and hold up well to long-distance shipping.

The solution, it seems rests on finding new places to grow flowery Muscat grapes or try to cross-breed some flavor into the Cali grapes. Here's a third idea. Eat local grapes.

Today's article points out that our Concords have flavor, but notes it's not necessarily one worth remembering. It seems that Concords and similar grapes share a gene with certain glands from foxes and weasels, hence the term foxy to describe the grape's flavor. I do not believe it's the flavor the detracts from our grapes, nor the skins, which this article notes is thick and astringent and slips off the grape's soft flesh. What really inhibits a lot of eaters are the seeds. There's a lot of spitting going on when a local grape is eaten. Is that really so bad? No one needs a seedless cherry; I mean so-called seedless watermelon still have those white seeds. We can handle it, can't we.

I've read that certain Southern grapes like the Scuppernongs are more flavorful than our Concords. If that's true, I'm pretty happy with second place. Our local grapes exude character. Each grape acts Wonka-like, offering multiple flavors and textures (right down to those hard seeds). It's good eating. And we have them. At least in farmer's markets, they are easy to find. Caputo's, in Elmwood Park, also has some Concords, but theirs came from Canada of all places.

Local grape season will last for until early October. Buy a lot now. First of all, grapes stay long in the fridge. Second, they freeze wonderfully. Come winter you can have little grape sorbet balls for a snack.

How to Eat Local?

Does Fruit Have Recourse?

As typical, last Saturday I was up early. I went to hit the market before myself and the family would be volunteering at the Oak Park Food Pantry. I could not find much hard cash beyond a $50. At the market I did what any good localvore would do. Buy something big.

My wife had previously expressed a desire to can some peaches. I decide to fulfil this desire by buying a 1/2 barrel of peaches. Now, I won't name the vendor, which is a bit consumer unfriendly of me, I know, but these peaches really sucked. They seem dense and leather inside. I'm thinking of returning the bunch. Can I do that?

How To Eat Local

5 Servings of Fruits and Vegetables

I assume you have signed up for the Green City Market Eat Local Challenge. I bet you are still noodling over what you can eat that long hard week.

Chicago is smack dab in the middle of one of the richest farm zones of the world. Most of the land around us, in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana is given over to agriculture. We grow tons of corn and tons of soy. Hardly any of that goes directly into our mouths. Indirectly, of course via high fructose corn syrup and cattle feed and thousands of other products, it feeds us. (And thousands of things we don't eat like plastics and inks and brooms and what not.) Can the budding localvore, the non-Atkins localvore, meet his daily requirement of fruits and vegetables? It depends on where you shop.

Here's what nearly anyone can find, around now, if you wanted to eat local: apples, tomatoes, cucumbers (often in two sizes), green peppers, cabbage, sweet corn, zucchini and eggplant, oh and if you are lucky some melons. I spotted local peaches and blueberries at stores in the last weeks but these seem diminishing. Oddly, potatoes and onions, two stalwarts of our climate have not really shown in their local variants. These are the items that can be found at produce stores like Caputo's, local farm stands and grocery stores making the effort. With little effort this is what you can eat.

On the other hand, if you had already committed to a farm's CSA, your box last week would have looked something like this: lettuce head, baby lettuce, sweet corn, peaches, watermelon, green beans, cantaloupe, cucumber, pickles, onion, sweet chocolate peppers, mustard greens, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, and carrots. A little more full your diet would be.

To get the full range of the season, you really need to visit a farmer's market. Now, you would find several types of peppers in all ranges of colors and Scovilles, fresh beans like limas, okra, beets, a wide range of potatoes, not quite as wide of range, but a range of onions; things to make your vegetables taste better, garlic and herbs; beyond apples and peaches there would still be raspberries and blueberries, all the colors of plums coming into season now and the first grapes as well. It is a great time of year to eat local.

Your eat local week can be narrow or it can be wide. It's up to you.

The Condiment Queen Strikes Again

You(r) Fool

Perhaps because it implies more involvement with the food board universe than she has, my wife has disavowed the moniker, Condiment Queen. She's a luker she'll say. Condiment Queen is not a poster, not a nom de Internet. Still, as I explained long ago, it represents a certain improvisational style of cooking of hers. A style put to good use to address a daughter's birthday wish.

This story starts either at Target or with a box of gooseberries. I'll start with the gooseberries, that's a bit longer. I cannot resist buying things like local gooseberries. Gooseberries, as represented by Phil Smidt's pie, were a traditional fruit of the region, one now overshadowed by peaches, raspberries and blueberries. That and twin devils of ultra-tartness and tops and tails. A few local farmers fill the odd request. A worthwhile request as the puckishness is matched by a complex muskiness, like a good grape. Gooseberries are worth using. And if not in pie, then in the classic Joy of Cooking, gooseberry fool. An English fool is a fruit puree mixed with custard. Cook the gooseberries and run through a strainer. Voila, no need to pick off all those twiggy things on the berries. Us Yanks simplify things further, the puree folded into sweetened whipped cream. We had our gooseberry fool a few weeks ago.

Target, that goes back to about four years, a four year birthday. Given her choice of a birthday dinner, daughter number 1 picked target. What could be finer than a Target hot dog and a side of popcorn. The lesson: one gets what they want on their birthday no matter how bizarre. Fast forward nine or so years. What does one want? Carrot fool.

If you could make a fool from gooseberries (and sour cherries, my idea), why not with carrots. OK, I was not so keen, but the CQ took to it. She cooked down a bunch of Genesis Grower carrots in a bit of orange juice, added some honey, a bit of grated ginger and pureed. As is, it tasted not unlike an Indian dessert. Halwa, however, is not fool. In went the whipped cream. The final product was a layered glass of sour cherry fool (whipped cream, sugar, sour cherry syrup), the carrot fool, golden raspberries, and passion fruit fool (passion fruit curd from CQ's employer and whipped cream).

Fools do make an ideal summer dessert. They are both intense and light. Obviously, they match well against fruits that need balance, sour cherries or gooseberries, but as my wife and daughter surmised, there's a few other possibilities out there.

In a Hurry for Old Fruit

Oak Park Farmer's Market June 9, 2007

For sad reasons (death of a friend's mother), I could not spend much time at the Oak Park Farmer's Market this week. I did not even bring the camera. A donut, two types of Nicholl's stawberries, ordered my lamb from the Wettsteins, and I was about done. Except for the biggest reason I got up early.

Last week, when also in a rush, I espied keeper apples at the stand of Walt Skibbe. Interestingly enough, also last week, I had some e-mail correspondence with another eat local fan, and she wondered specifically about apples. Apples are the potatoes of fruit. They keep. Well. Especially varieties like red and yellow delicious. With good facilities, the previous crop can stretch almost until the next crop. The local zone for Chicago includes the ample fruit farms of Michigan, where many apples grow and many apples wait. It is common to find Michigan apples off-season at Caputo's, Costco, even Trader Joes (although never (ever) at Whole Foods. My friends at Serrelli's on North Avenue stocked leftover's from Berry's Berries most of the winter. I advised her that local apples were quite available--just pay attention to the label, box or package.

Even more available as Skibbe is selling them right now, along with his strawberries, asparagus and lettuce at the Oak Park Farmer's Market. In general, I'm a fan of his stuff, including his apples. I do not know how long these keepers will last, if they will be there next week, but I'm getting them while I can. The kidz never tire. I really appreciate he kept some of last year's fruit for me this year.