There’s a big line-up of some of our favorite foods coming in June. What you can expect to find in Farmer’s Markets in the next few weeks is listed below. Spring season in the northwest highlights some pretty special items and this year should prove to have quite the bounty. With the amount of rain and snippets of sun we’ve had, this has been a good growing season. Please get out to the farmer’s markets and support all these wonderful local businesses, farmers and ranchers. Not only are our farmer’s markets iimportant to our community and economy, they feature what’s at the peak of our season in the northwest, which means the foods featured taste better and you can often find a lot of new items that will stretch your culinary imagination. Take a friend, bring your kids, grab a neighbor and make it part of your weekly shopping.
Here’s what you can expect to find:
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- Apricots
- Arugula
- Asparagus
- Basil
- Beets
- Blueberries
- Boysenberries
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Chard
- Cherries
- Collard greens
- Edible flowers
- Fava beans
- Fennel
- Fiddleheads
- Garlic scapes and green garlic
- Green onions and scallions
- Greens
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Mint
- Morels
- Wild Mushroom
- Nettles
- New Potatoes
- Onions
- Oregano
Pan sautéed fresh spring pea shoots. Delicious!!
- Parsley
- Pea shoots (recipe and general info about pea shoots below!)
- Peas and pea pods
- Radicchio
- Radishes
- Raspberries
- Rhubarb:
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Snap peas
- Sorrel
- Spinach
- Squash
- Strawberries
- Thyme
- Turnips
- Watercress
- Zucchini and Zucchini Blossoms
COOK’s NOTES
Having just experienced one of the best plates of pea shoots we’ve ever had on our recent road-trip to San Francisco in March, we thought we’d share this recipe for pea shoots from Bon Appetit so you can give them a try. They are in season right now and they are fantastic! https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/article/how-to-cook-pea-shoots. This recipe has chili peppers and garlic in it, but if you want to go totally simple, a fantastic version is extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of sea salt and a squeeze of lemon. A quick 2-3 minute sauté and they’re done! Pea shoots are really easy to cook and need very little hoopla to solicit a big WOW when put on the table.
Pea shoots are not to be confused with pea sprouts – they are different. Shoots are leaves and young tendrils grown in the soil. Sprouts are “sprouted” peas started in water. The benefits to eating pea shoots are pretty remarkable. They are an excellent source of antioxidants and 2 cups provide 132% of your daily vitamin K, 35% of your daily vitamin C, 15% vitamin A, 8.75% vitamin E, 10% folate, 7% riboflavin, 5.75% thiamin, 4.75% vitamin B-6.