Can you feel the beet? Our long-awaited Beet Festival is this Saturday! Three chefs will be putting on three cooking demos throughout the market day, each one featuring a different preparation of everyone's favorite crimson tuber.   

At 9:30am, Jane Hashimawari will be preparing a raw beet slaw at Big B Farm. At 10:30am, Orion Janeczek will put together a roasted beet salad at Sweet Leaf Farm. And at 11:30am, Sophie Rahman will show how to cook beet greens with potato and Indian spices at Winter Green Farm. Plus many vendors will celebrate with something beet-y all day at their booth!  Get some beet juice from 2 Fruits, some beet starts from Gales Meadow Farm, some tips about mixing beets with fennel drinking vinegars from Sage & Sea Farms & more!  

All the recipes will be featured in next weeks' Local Dirt. Check below for some additional beet tips!

See you at the Market!

• Beet greens are edible, just as delicious as their close relative chard, and can be prepared the same ways - raw in salads, sauteed, steamed or boiled.
• Beets are best stored unwashed in the refrigerator. Remove all but an inch of the greens/stalks, and store them separately. Under these conditions the roots should last up to two weeks; the greens should be used as soon as possible.
• Think you don't like beets? Try salt-roasting them. Cut the tops and tails off and halve or quarter beets if necessary so they're the same size (do not peel). Sprinkle large pinch of salt over each beet, and roll around to coat. Tightly cover beets in roasting vessel with foil, and bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes or until fork tender. Peel when cool enough to handle. They will have a pronounced saltiness, with great flavor and juiciness, good for pairing with Greek yogurt and fresh mint or parsley (or eating plain!).
• To retain color and nutrients, whenever possible cook beets with the skin on. Once they're cooked, the skin will easily peel off under cold running water.
• Raw beets are a great option, and some people prefer their fresh flavor to that of cooked beets. Try them grated in salads.
• Experiment with different varieties of beets, available throughout the season at the farmers market. The golden varieties are generally milder and often sweeter.

Music & Entertainment:

Dreamland Faces  

Community Booths:

Kids On The Block

Urban Farm Collective 

Upcoming Events:

Beet Festival! - Saturday, June 16th, all day

June 16, 2012

Chelan Cherries

Maryhill Family Orchards

Cherry season is here and Maryhill has got Chelans for your chomping pleasure! The warm climate of their farm renders sweet cherries, perfect for making chutney to put on porkchops or to toss in a smoothie! 

Dried Peppers

N&N Amaro Produce

N&N Amaro Produce has baggies of dried peppers with a combination of two types of cayenne, anaheim, and hungarian wax peppers. Boil them with tomatoes and put them in the blender with fresh garlic, flake them to spice up pizza, or fry them and add them to your salad!

Peonies

KCK Farms

KCK Farms is known for their beautiful peonies, and this will be their last week with us this season! You can purchase peonies already cut or potted. Varieties include Felix, Sarah Bernhardt, and Kansas peonies. If you opt for the potted option, their season goes from May through the end of June. If you want a plant that will bloom some more this season, choose one with buds on it.

Goat Cheese

Alsea Acres Alpine

Alsea Acres has their signature goat cheese topped with a sauce made of roasted red peppers and roasted garlic, among their many other delicious flavors. This is a farmstead cheese, meaning that the whole process -from raising the goats to milking them to production of the cheese- is all done on the same facility. Our vendor, Angela, is a member of the family that raises the goats and guarantees that they are well-loved. She is armed with tiny spoons and can't wait to give you some tasty samples!

Black Cod

Linda Brand Crab

Linda Brand's black cod is a rich oily fish that has become very popular at our market, so you will need to come early to make sure that they don't sell out! This midwater fish is caught by long line and pot methods off of the Oregon and Washington coast. Our Linda Brand vendors suggest barbecuing this treat in a soy marinade.