Market Report: Clear some space for cucamelons and candy onions
Also: New potatoes and baby carrots. And a new pesto to add to the mix. What’s happening now at your farmers markets.
For your weekly look at what’s playing at our local farmers markets and how to put those finds to work in your kitchen, it’s …
Clear some space for cucamelons and candy onions
By Carol Bangert/For Based in Lafayette
Occasionally, I hit the farmers market with a list of five or six things I need for the week ahead. It’s a W when I walk out with those items secure in my reusable shopping bag. But it’s more fun to approach the market with no expectations – that’s when the real magic happens. In late June, as a lot of spring produce steps aside for summer’s cornucopia, you’re sure to be surprised and delighted.
Last week, that approach rewarded me with three summer treasures: cucamelons, candy onions and the first red potatoes. Oh, and let’s not forget baby carrots – although I’d like to. Baby carrots are the best kind of carrot for someone who doesn’t even like them. The smaller the better, I say. But I digress.
Cucamelons
At Bear Fruit Farm, I spied cucamelons, among the most adorable produce you’ll come across at the market. Cucamelons are cucumbers that look like tiny watermelons. They’re tart, bright and crunchy, great in salads and stir fries, pickled or eaten out of hand. Chad Scott at Bear Fruit Farm says the tiny cukes are happy sitting on the counter for a day or two but benefit from refrigeration if you’re using them later in the week.
Candy onions, red potatoes
J. Abby Abbott-Rider at Thistle Byre Farm has a gorgeous display of produce right now, but two items grabbed my attention: Candy onions and summer’s first red potatoes. Candy onions, as the name implies, are sweet and come in red and white varieties. Abbott-Rider says they work well in sautés, served alongside meats, in stir fries and even tossed fresh in salads. They’re not pungent like other onions, so eating them raw shouldn’t freak you out. I bought a hefty candy onion, cut the white bulb into thin slices and sautéed them in butter on very low heat. The resulting caramelized onions were ready to use as a topper for burgers, tucked inside a grilled cheese sandwich or with a slice of cheese on a favorite cracker. I could go on and on about this luscious condiment, but you get the idea. Store any unused fresh onions wrapped in the fridge – but I’m confident you’ll find lots of uses for this sweet summer allium.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that when it comes to red potatoes, I don’t need to do a deep dive. You likely have favorite recipes and techniques for roasted potatoes or potato salads. But here’s an idea from Abbott-Rider: Sauté sliced new potatoes with candy onions in oil; then top with fresh dill. Chef’s kiss.
Carrots. Yay.
I’ve confessed before that the only vegetable I don’t like is carrots. I’m not sure the reason, but I think it goes back to my childhood. My mother, a girl from the Deep South, was an exceptional cook, and her fried chicken is the thing of folklore. But she did a disservice to me – and a greater one to carrots – by the way she prepared them: cooked beyond recognition and fancied up with butter. Ech. My siblings don’t remember them that way, but that memory is burned into my brain. Carrots have been a deal breaker ever since.
However, baby carrots are in season now, and I write about in-season produce. So, being the farmers market soldier that I am, I bought one bunch of orange and one bunch of red baby carrots at Fairstream Farms. Owner Daniel Fagerstrom (who likes carrots) agrees that they taste best when they’re fresh and small. I can handle carrots like that, usually raw with hummus (my go-to for raw veg). Fagerstrom suggests using the greens (which are vibrant and green and nutritious looking) in a pesto. While buying my bunches, I ran into a friend from high school who stopped by Fairstream specifically to purchase carrots – who does that? When I told her carrots weren’t my thing, she gave me a look of mild disbelief. I shrugged it off. She recommended I parboil carrots, then add them to a sauté with snap peas, salad turnips and green onions (now you’re talking) or sautéed with butter and topped with honey, cranberries and pecans. Sold!
Full disclosure, I’ve eaten the baby carrots I bought with hummus, and I made pesto from the greens. The pesto is a revelation – fresh, grassy and slightly peppery. It has joined the team of homemade pestos in my rotation, and I’ll definitely make it again.
The summer market is truly astonishing, and the culinary adventures are endless. The next time you make a trip to an area farmers market, throw caution (and your shopping list) to the wind, and see what surprises await.
On the way out: Asparagus. This early spring veg is enjoying its final days at the market.
Be on the lookout for: Blueberries. A few vendors hinted that these summer jewels will be making an appearance soon.
In the next Market Report: Shopping the rainbow
Other late June produce at the market includes:
Asparagus
Cabbage
Bok choy
Baby carrots
Cucamelons
Beets
Red and green onions
Garlic and garlic scapes
Radishes
Salad turnips
Bok choy
Greens (kale, mustard, arugula, lettuce varieties, microgreens)
Lots of herbs ready to pot or place in your garden (Mint, oregano, basil, cilantro, sage, lavender, thyme, chives)
The first green beans
Greenhouse tomatoes
Greenhouse zucchini and yellow squash
DAYS/HOURS FOR THE MARKETS
West Lafayette Farmers Market: 3:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, through October. The market is held at Cumberland Park in West Lafayette with more than 50 vendors.
Lafayette Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Saturdays, through October, on Fifth Street between Columbia Street and mid-block to Ferry Street, and Main Street between Fourth and Sixth streets.
Purdue Farmers Market: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursdays, through October. The Purdue Farmers Market is held on the Memorial Mall on Purdue’s campus. This market is a concession-heavy market that allows students, faculty and staff to have lunch options in a unique outdoor setting.
Carol Bangert, editor of Greater Lafayette Magazine, has been a regular at Greater Lafayette farmers markets for more than 20 years. From May through October, she’ll scout out in-season produce at the markets and report back on fresh finds and how to use them.
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
Your friend is right on. Raw thick carrot matchsticks play nice with crunchy guys like jicama, sweet onion or radish, topped with a savory sauce. I vaguely recall a similar mixture, lightly pickled.
My uncle grew really sweet onions that he never cooked, and often are like an apple. His go-to sandwich was a pile of avocado, raw sweet onion rings, and too many alfalfa sprouts on pumpernickel. Seven-year old me was not a fan, but it's been a long walk from there.
Mostly here to reiterate my appreciation of your gorgeous veg photography.