Quality blues, booze and so much beauty this week!

Congrats to the Hastings grads who will be receiving their HHS diplomas about the time this newsletter posts! 

We’ve seen many of them shopping at the market since they were toddlers, and some have even worked at the market, and we couldn't be more proud. 

Double congrats to our market scholarship winners, Aynsley Zamore and Mia Christie! We’re celebrating Saturday with blues and funk ambassador Lucien Smith and his raucous Blues Cruise Band.

There will likely be many parties this weekend. You just might need a new charcuterie/cheese board to show off some of your market finds. KHEM Woodworking studio is here with their clean and modern stretch boards. Local potter Rose Swan also makes a rare appearance. Her berry bowls are simply perfect. And what would make a better gift than a berry bowl with a side of Orchards of Concklin raspberries?

Talk about pretty...even if you don’t eat mushrooms you must make a stop at the Tivoli Mushroom Farm stand this week just to take in the beauty of their presentation. Fungi as art, to be sure. 

The first week of summer has proven to be a doozie, from a heat index standpoint. Few things are more refreshing than cucumber which tends to arrive at the market just when we need it most. With a water content of 95% (as well as a nice dose of vitamin C and vitamin K), crunchy cucumbers are so appealing on those days when it’s just too hot to turn on the oven.
If you bought some tangy goat feta from Painted Goat Farm last week, you should make this crispy chickpea and cucumber salad. 

The recipe calls for the addition of crisp seeded crackers and The Cracker Workshop just happens to be here for their once-monthly visit. (Yes, they are the ones with those delicious chocolate crackers). 

The recipe also calls for fresh basil which you’ll find in pretty bunched bouquets at the Sun Sprout Farm tent. Halal Pastures has a dizzying array of herbs including lots of Thai basil, always so aromatic. Last Saturday, several folks were clustered in their tent trying to identify a frilly herb that looked a lot like dill but tasted nothing like it. It was Chris Vergara, owner/chef of St. George who finally identified it as a variety of cilantro after tasting it. We hope it appears on that menu soon! The strawberries at Mead are so delicious they sold out by 10 a.m. last week. Fortunately, they had plenty of sweet cherries to go around. 

I plan on making this Samin Nosrat recipe this weekend: Charred Bread with Ricotta and Cherry Salsa and you should, too!  Get your baguette from Wave Hill Breads, now located next to Sun Sprout. Or you can ditch the bread and use the salsa to gussy up grilled R&M Farms pork chops or sea bass from Pura Vida. Serve with a side of sprouting cauliflower from Harlem Valley Homestead and you've got yourself a market-driven dinner party ready to go. Don’t forget the flowers from Thousand Leaf Gardens.

Starting this week, NY Cider Co. will be joining us weekly so go ahead and make their unique, artisanal Finger Lakes cider your summer sipping staple. Also, do yourself a favor and read the clever descriptions of their cider varieties (Mullein, Firefly, Hedgerow etc.) on their website.There’s clearly a writer in their midst.

Matt Duffy, son of Ellen Duffy, our favorite lavender grower from Northwinds Lavender Farm, tells me the lavender came in quite early and both fast and furious this season. “It made me light-headed, harvesting so much of it at once,” he says. Me thinks Matt just getting engaged may have also played a small part in the giddy department. Congrats to the Duffy family!

New vendor alert!
This week we welcome Amy Germann under the Elderberry Road tent. Based in Brooklyn N.Y., Amy left her career in advertising to follow her dream of baking for a living. She is a graduate of the Pastry and Baking Arts program at ICE. Her business name is a nod to her inspirational grandmother, a fearless woman who taught Amy to follow her heart and who lived on Elderberry Road. We invited Amy to the market because we heard about her homespun fruit pies but even before tasting them, we fell hard for her plum upside-down cake. Please give her the usual 10706 welcome!

Ditto for Tenmile Distillery also here for their inaugural visit. We are honored to have this small-batch distillery on the plaza. Brought to you by the founders of Millbrook Winery, this distillery is focused on making hand-crafted single malt whisky, gin, and vodka the way they were intended to be made: “cutting no corners and using only the best ingredients.” 

Their Master Distiller, Shane Fraser, served as Master Distiller for Wolfburn Distillery, the most northerly malt whisky distillery in Scotland. He has been tasked with developing an innovative New York single-malt in the style of Scotland. They use only local barley and wheat for their spirits, which also include gin and vodka.

This is good stuff...worthy of a graduation celebration perhaps?

See you at the market.