Real Food, Canora Buys Basil, and Jerusalem Artichokes

MarketWatch, a new feature at The Food Section penned by intern Jane Lopes, tracks the goings on at New York City's Greenmarkets, from featured ingredients to chef sightings, what's in season and what's out, plus farmer and shopper profiles, and more. Stay tuned to her weekly reports throughout the summer.

NEWS & NOTES

Nina Planck opened her Real Food Markets on June 17th in Petrosino Square (Lafayette Street between Kenmare and Spring) and South Village (Sixth Avenue between Bleecker and Houston). They will run Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. through December. The press release describes the markets as “more like outdoor markets in Europe” because not all the vendors are producers: “alongside farmers and bakers there are food artisans and purveyors.” The small group of vendors includes Wheelhouse Pickles, Wine Cellar Sorbets, and a new outpost of Murray’s, Murray’s Gone Local.

The City of New York is opening 10 new Greenmarkets to serve low-income neighborhoods, including ones in Hell’s Kitchen, City Hall Park, and Harlem.

CHEF SIGHTINGS

Marco Canora, executive chef at Hearth, buying strawberries and green garlic at Berried Treasures on June 21st and then buying basil at Migliorelli Farm on the 28th…Bill Buford, New Yorker writer and author of Heat, buying lovage and eggs from Honey Hollow Farm on the June 21st…Colin Alevras from The Tasting Room also hanging around Honey Hollow Farm on the 21st...A chef from Cookshop buying out all the chanterelle mushrooms from Honey Hollow Farm on July 5th.

WHAT'S IN, WHAT'S OUT

Kirby cukes ($1.00 to $2.75/lb.) from Caradonna, Stokes Farms, Kernan Farms, Nine-Jay Nurseries, and Migliorelli Farm. Kirby cukes are used for pickling, but are also good eaten raw …peaches ($2.25 to $3.00/lb) from Kernan Farms and Oak Grove…string beans ($2.00 to $2.50/lb) from Kernan Farms and Caradonna…white cherries ($5-$8/lb) from Locust Grove (Queen Ann variety), Terhune Orchards, and Caradonna (Rainier variety)…apricots ($4/lb) from Caradonna…black raspberries ($5/half pint) from Locust Grove…gooseberries ($3/half pint) from Caradonna...corn (50 cents each) from Kernan Farms (white sweet), Sycamore Farms (bi-color), and Migliorelli Farm (bi-color sweet)...broccoli ($1.80 to $2.75/lb) from Sycamore Farm and Eckerton Hill.

Honey Hollow Farm has their first black trumpet mushrooms ($4.00/half pint) and chanterelle mushrooms ($5.50/half pint) of the season. Michael Hoffman, owner of Honey Hollow, said that the black trumpets will only be around for about a month. The chanterelles could last through September or October, but the quality may drop off after a month or so as well. Now is the time for mushrooms!

Asparagus is nowhere to be found...strawberries are in the last days...rhubarb is becoming less and less common.

FOCUS ON: Jerusalem Artichokes (Paffenroth Gardens, $2.00/lb)

Although Jerusalem artichokes are harvested in the spring, keeping them in cold storage, says Alex Paffenroth, is "just like the ground."  Paffenroth Farms, the only vendor at the Union Square Greenmarket to carry these root veggies, has about three crates left. This should last a few weeks, depending on whether or not restaurants snatch them up.

Jerusalem artichokes, also called sunchokes, are a good source of inulin, a soluble fiber and natural sugar that is considered medicinal for diabetics, as well as calcium, iron, vitamins A and B, potassium, and magnesium.

Find them in New York...in a chilled corn soup with lobster, mint, cilantro and annato oil at Public (210 Elizabeth Street, 212-343-7011). Paffenroth says that Gramercy Tavern and Blue Hill also pick them up often.

Make them yourself...Paffenroth Gardens recommends using them raw in salads and crudités (in which they resemble a mix between jicama and water chestnuts), boiling them, sautéing them, or tossing them with olive oil and roasting at 375˚ for 40 minutes whole or 25 minutes sliced.

FARMER INFORMATON

• Berried Treasures, Cooks Falls, NY. At the Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays and Fridays.
• Caradonna, at the Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays and Saturdays.
• Eckerton Hill, Lenhartsville, PA. At the Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays and Saturdays.
• Honey Hallow Farm, Schoharie River Valley area. At Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays and Fridays.
• Kernan Farms, southern New Jersey. At Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays.
• Locust Grove, Milton, NY. At the Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays and Saturdays (845.795.5194).
• Migliorelli Farm, Tivoli, NY. At the Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
• Nine-Jay Nurseries, Stuyvesant, NY. At the Union Square Greenmarket Saturdays (518.828.4123).
• Paffenroth Gardens, Warwick, NY. At Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays and Saturdays (845.258.4746).
• Oak Grove, at the Union Square Greenmarket Fridays and Saturdays.
• Stokes Farm, Old Tappan, NJ. At the Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (201.768.3931).
• Sycamore Farms, Middletown, NY. At the Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
• Terhune Orchards, Salt Point, NY. At the Union Square Greenmarket Wednesdays and Saturdays (845.266.5382).