Continuing along on our journey through the land of weird foods you’ll find in the farmer’s market, this week we’ll taste a green of many names:  mizuna.  Mizuna also goes by the names of Japanese greens, Japanese mustard, and California peppergrass.  Botanically, it is classified as Brassica rapa.  B. rapa is commonly known as “field mustard” or “turnip mustard” and includes cultivars such as tatsoi, napa cabbage, turnips, and rapini.   

When my friend Katie showed up at my door with a bouquet of freshly-sliced mizuna leaves and told me what she’d brought me, I gave her a look of disbelief.  When I plucked a leaf and popped it in my mouth, however, I was pleasantly surprised.  The intricate, delicately shaped leaf had a flavor to match. More...

We’ve come a long way as a society since the 16th century. Women (in America, at least) are now able to drive cars, own property, vote… and eat artichokes.

This last may seem like an odd inclusion on the list, but as an avid artichoke fan, I shudder to think that I may not have been able to enjoy the oddly-shaped thistle. Artichokes were considered aphrodisiacs for a long while, and only eaten by men (Henry the Eighth was famous for his love of them). 

Thankfully, Catherine de Medici changed all that when she married Henry II, King of France. When she moved to France from Italy, she brought along her servants, her trousseau, and her passion for artichokes, causing a bit of a scandal. Luckily, we can all hop on over to any supermarket and find artichokes most of the year round. Nearly 100% of the artichokes consumed in America are produced in California (especially the northern part of the state), which makes them a relatively low contributor to your carbon footprint. More...

Inspiration (and cheap local food) can be found in the strangest of places.  While searching for a cooking show to watch on my computer, I stumbled upon “Cook on the Wild Side.”  I’d never heard of this particular program before, and the titled seemed titillating, so I clicked.

Am I ever glad that I did! I discovered the joys of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, a Brit with several cooking shows dedicated to sustainable and local foods he’d prepared himself. In “Cook on the Wild Side,” Hugh travels around the country side searching for food he can “poach,” or scavenge. While I won’t be babbing for eels or searching for pigeons any time soon, there’s one food we can all scavenge. This humble plant is overlooked consistently, and many of us try to eradicate it: the dandelion green, of the genus Taraxacum.

Though the greens and flower heads can both be consumed (the famed dandelion wine is made from flower tops), this article will mainly focus on the greens. Dandelions have quite a lot of nutritional value – more vitamin A than broccoli, and substantial amounts of Vitamin K, calcium, and iron. That’s quite a punch for a “weed.” More...

Earlier this month, I celebrated one of my favorite holidays – the beginning of farmers market season!  What with the rising prices of oil and gas, and the popularity of books like Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, plenty of people are thinking more about buying local and organic.  That being said, sometimes farmers’ markets can be a daunting place, especially for newbie visitors.  There are sometimes strange fruits and vegetables, crowds of people you might not know, and masses of dogs and children. 

How do you navigate the market?  And how can you be sure you’re buying something you want?  In this article, I’ll take you on a guided tour through market day with some simple lessons about market etiquette and include questions you can pose to farmers to make sure you’re getting what you want.
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Becki Walker writes about farmers market manners on Fridays and crafts recipes. We're running a recipe a day until May 22nd.

I consider myself a somewhat philosophical person, as do, I imagine, a goodly number of people who read this blog.  Chewing over questions in our brains is a good exercise for our mental mastication muscles, but I’ve taken the teeth out of one question: for the purposes of this blog, the chicken comes after the egg. Yesterday we ventured into the shelled world, today we’ll focus on our feathered friends. More...

Becki Walker writes about farmers market manners and crafts recipes. Search our database for a farmers market near you, and leave your review.

As we scavenge our cupboards and refrigerators in search of the next great meal, we often overlook some of the more common ingredients in our pantries.  We pass over these foodstuffs because they seem less glamorous than other treats lurking in our kitchens, but that doesn’t make them any less tasty. With a little creativity, you can create a classy meal out of nearly anything, including today's special ingredient: eggs. Pickled, frozen, aged, and sauteed. More...

There are a few ingredients a cook can’t live without. Mark Bittman of the New York Times offers up an excellent article regarding kitchen staples (Fresh Start for a New Year? Let's Begin in the Kitchen), featuring foods like real lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, and walnuts… but there’s one item I can’t imagine ever cooking without – garlic, the little bulb that can do anything!

I’m not the only one – garlic has been gracing kitchens since the dawn of time. More...

This post is dedicated to a green with what seems to be multiple personality disorder. Today, we examine endive, or rather chicory. Or frisee. Or grumolo. Or succory. Or escarole. Or witloof.

Endive/chicory/etc. is botanically referred to as Cichorium endivia.  However, within that species, there are a number of varietals – including radicchio, untarelle, and Belgian endive. The two main varieties of endive we eat in the US are broad-leaved (escarole) and curly-leaved (frisee, which is also a technique for wilting leaves in oil). We usually eat only the leaves of the plant, but if you travel to Louisiana, you’re bound to see chicory coffee. This coffee doesn’t have lettuce leaves in it – it contains ground Cichorium root. Do yourself a favor and drink a cup or two with a beignet – it’s delicious. More...

Becki Walker writes about food and crafts recipes. In this Fridays series, she examines the culture of farmers markets.

Nearly everyone’s heard (probably over and over again) that one of the best ways to lower your carbon footprint and love the planet is to eat less meat, especially red meat.  Eating less meat’s better for your health, too – when you’ve removed meat from your plate, there’s more room for foods lower in fat and calories, like fruits and vegetables.  But what if, even after trying to be the best environmentalist ever, you’ve still got a craving for something fleshy? More...

Becki Walker writes about food and crafts recipes. In this Fridays series, she examines the culture of farmers markets. Here she explains Certified Naturally Grown, an alternative to USDA Organic, and shopping on a budget using the food chain model and pesticide guides.

Over the course of the next few articles, I’ll be examining the farmers market.  I’ll cover how to get to know your farmer, shop on a budget, and experiment with more “unique” fruits and vegetables. Before heading to the market, though, it’s important to know some of the terminology you’re likely to find there.  Just what does organic certification mean?  Are there alternatives?  Which foods are most important to buy organically?

To be organically certified, a farm must be inspected by an agency approved by the US Department of Agriculture.  Products that are 95 – 100% organic can display the organic seal on them.  Products with at least 70% ingredients may state that they are “made with organic ingredients.”  However, anything less than 70% organic cannot include the seal on its label. More...