6 Tips for Shopping the Farmers Market

One of the rewards for all the work we do at Elmwood Stock Farm is the feedback we get from our customers at the farmers market. We see and hear how excited they are to have access to beautiful foods to prepare as they share stories about how the previous week’s purchases pleased their palates. It seems wholesome, organic foods cross all cultural and socio-economic boundaries, as our conversations about recipes go in wildly diverse directions.

Having been selling to customers at farmers markets since 1994, we’ve noticed some things about shopping habits. Some folks come to the farmers market with list in hand in an effort to get as much as they can at the farmers market before they head to a grocery store to round-out their dinner plans; others start crafting menus in their heads as they explore the week’s offerings.

There are those people who have wildly elaborate recipes with all sorts of ingredients and lots of prep, while others have learned to let the produce speak for itself, and simply steam or grill and eat, with maybe some salt, pepper and butter.

Some customers like to take in a bird’s-eye view of the entire market to get a sense of what is being offered, maybe get a cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich and chat with friends as they stroll. This is a great way to inform your thoughts on what to purchase.

There are also those customers who know that some prize finds will be gone if they lollygag about too long, so they make strategic surgical strikes, securing delectable seasonal treats. It is hard to watch when someone finds out a key item on their list is not available; they kinda shudder, then look up to be sure we are sure, then give the rest of the list a long look as if the list has no meaning any more. Some curse audibly.

No matter which type of market customer you are, we would like to share some tips on how to eat seasonally and shop the farmers market with style.

1. Use your list to stay on budget.

It’s easy to get carried away with all the colors and smells going on at the market and make numerous impulse buys. The good news about impulse buying here is that you will eat more fruits and veggies, as you should. You may share your excitement by inviting friends and family for dinner, which may, in turn, encourage them to shop at the market. We have explained in other newsletters about the value of consuming organic foods, so please do not let the higher cost deter you from taking them home. Our vegetables may be only slightly higher, in some cases, than other vendors offering significantly inferior products.

Also learn about using different cuts of meat. You’ll find a slow-cooked chuck roast or smoked brisket is just as tender as filet mignon, and it’s much more affordable. Cook a whole chicken and get several meals out of it, rather than selecting the boneless, skinless breast meat.

2. Be open-minded about your produce.

The single biggest mistake we see people make is they get hung up on scoring a certain variety of an item. Silver Queen sweet corn is the most common, but it happens with tomatoes often, as well. Usually these people approach the table with a somewhat desperate look—if not frantic. “Do you have Silver Queen?” they blurt out, often over other customers. We politely say, “No, sir,” but they usually don’t stick around long enough to hear that we have a nice, super-sweet corn variety that we grow instead. The short of it is, yes, Silver Queen was far and away better than common sweet corn back before the days of cell phones, men walking on the moon or the Internet. There is a whole biological process behind why Silver Queen was the ideal corn, and newer varieties have been bred to account for this while keeping a wonderfully sweet flavor and tender kernel. (Ask me about it at market—it’s much too long to write about here.) When the frantic customer exits the market empty-handed in disgust, I resist the urge to holler out, “We did not drive a Model T to the market!”

3. Scope out the booth.

Do the vegetables look fresh and clean? Are they neatly arranged, easy to identify, clearly priced? Look at how the produce was transported or packaged awaiting display.

Is the vendor attentive and eager to assist you, seemingly proud of the products? Is someone at the booth knowledgeable about the items and how to prepare them?

4. Ask questions about production practices.

If you read last week’s newsletter, you know all about the labels that can be put on foods. One of the reasons we migrated to organic production is that there is no good way to spin the tale that highly toxic synthetic sprays were applied directly on the food you are about to consume. As we were transitioning crops to meet the organic certification standards, we had a regular customer who would ask “What do you have that’s organic?”, which is what he would buy. These are words to live by.

Ask when it was picked, and whether it was rinsed and cooled. Some things—like beans, peas and okra—should never be washed until ready to prepare, but do need to be chilled. Tomatoes get hand wiped but never chilled. All this effort is what allows the produce to last several days after you purchase it. Without this effort, the produce has a very short shelf life.

5. Know how vegetables should be handled.

Crop-specific things to look for include:

• Are the heirloom tomatoes safely resting on their shoulders? Round, red tomatoes are OK in a box if under-ripe, but we usually still have them on trays to reduce bruising.
• Do the greens look fresh or wilty?
• Do the beet greens look fresh? Are the beets clean?

6. Be a friend to the farmers.

As friends of Elmwood Stock Farm, we want you to exhibit good farmers market shopping etiquette to all of the vendors. (I will try to not rant on about this, but I might a little.)

• It’s one thing to want the beet bunch that is not on top, it’s another thing to mangle the display. Please ask for assistance, and never, ever place the ones you don’t want on top of the tomatoes or spinach or strawberries. This holds true for your purse or the melon you got from another booth. If your arms are full, we will gladly help you.
• Tomatoes are not to be tested for firmness with your thumb or any other digit. Train your eye to the nuance of color shading, slight bruising from handling (or rude customers that came before you), variation of color. If you must touch them, gently place the palm of your hand over the tomato, and gently grip it like a ball to exert even pressure over the entire area. You will feel its level of firmness long before there is any need to pick it up. Rings and jewelry are skin piercing tools, so please watch not to puncture the neighboring tomatoes. And please, do not drop them carelessly into your bag after being weighed, after all the care we have taken with them, because they will be bruised when you get home and then you will blame it on us.
• It is really had to grow picture-perfect sweet corn and here is why—so you will understand why I come unglued with some people. Each individual silk is attached to a potential kernel of corn. It will only become a tasty morsel if the pollen from the top of the stalk lands on the end of the silk and makes its way all the way down the tube to fertilize the zygote, thus creating a kernel. There are only about 100 things that can go wrong in this process, from weather to insects and birds. And we have to keep the raccoons and deer out of the whole patch. So when we have to watch a customer peel back the husk to be sure that each and every kernel on “their” corn is filled out and disgustedly drop any that are not perfect, that is when the ungluing begins. Rather than destroy 10 ears in a few seconds, firmly grasp the ear and feel with your thumb what is going on under the husk. You can feel that the tips are not full, but so what—they’re a miniscule portion of the whole ear. Simply cut off the ends when you get home. Picture perfect corn often comes at a cost of a grower using lots of synthetic chemicals, right up until harvest, to get those few kernels at the tip.
• We try to give children memorable farmers-market experiences, but they are not the best evaluators of quality. Help them learn about food, but please do not let them harm what we have worked so hard to offer.
• It should go without saying, but dogs do not need to be intimate with the produce, either.

Shopping the farmers market is a great way to revel in food. Try new foods, new recipes. Don’t hem and haw for five minutes on whether to try a head of napa cabbage—buy it and try it! We are always willing to educate our customers about the difference between our varieties and the ones they may see in the supermarkets. We enjoy sharing and learning new cooking techniques with our customers. We suggest you start with the organic offerings, then look at freshness and quality, then variety, then price.

We are proud of the wholesome, certified organic, appropriately rinsed and cooled produce we take to town. We want you to enjoy it, too, so please, do not only shop for taste, but also with it. —Mac Stone