Saturday, June 9, 2012

For the love of Farmer's Markets

Part of the whole hands-on experience when it comes to feeding your family is finding fresh and delicious ingredients.  For the past few weeks I have discovered what a wonderful thing a local farmer's market can be.  Although the prices were not much better than the local supermarket, which was contrary to my initial belief, you actually get more bang for your buck because of how flavorful and fresh the produce is.  For example, about a month ago I purchase a gigantic plastic clamshell of bright red strawberries for about $4.00.  They looked absolutely delicious, but that's about where it stopped.  These strawberries were an ugly girl with bright red lipstick; almost completely white on the inside and totally sour.  Conversely, today at the farmers market I was able to pick up a quart of equally pretty strawberries for $6.00.  Fewer strawberries, more money, you might think I'm an idiot.  As it turns out these berries were picked just last evening, and are so sweet and juicy you wouldn't even think they were the same fruit as what I grabbed at the supermarket.  What would you rather buy?  A big cheap container of sour berries, or a smaller, fresh, and candy sweet ones?

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I like to get inspiration from fresh foods I run across.  What better thing is there than the fresh local produce of a farmer's market from which to be mused?  Plus you get the added benefit of knowing that you are helping to sustain your neighborhood local small businesses.  It's a win-win-win as far as I can tell.

Happy cooking!

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