To Market, To Market on July 12

Tuesday is another three market day, starting with the market at the Hospital for Sick Children. I was rather late getting out the door.  Big mistake.  The sour cherries were long gone.  On the other hand, both Andrews and O.K. Farms had another of my favorite fruits:  black raspberries.  I treat black raspberries like morels.  If I buy them, they are mine, all mine.

There were other prizes, too Caroll Collins had her stubby Parisienne carrots, full of old fashioned flavour. Jim Hayward had small elongated beets resembling slender Rodinas.  These, however, were "Slenderina."

While the HSC market concentrates on fruits and vegetables, the afternoon markets at Riverdale and across town at Trinity-Bellwoods Park are both well-rounded with fruits, vegetables, bread(St. John's)and several sources of protein. They also offer a good ratio of raw produce vendors to prepared food vendors--ie a higher number of the former Both are amongst the first to open each spring but this was my visit to either this year.

The much-praised fish and seafood vendor, Fisher Folk, is now at Riverdale, so no need to wait for Saturday at Brickworks or Wychwood.  At Riverdale, it was good to see Rolling Hills Organics which has beef from the rare Derry breed.Today there was only ground beef, but Peter Finch promises a wider variety of cuts for next week There was also perfect young garlic on offer.  Quinte Organic Farmers always has something interesting.  This time it was mulberries.  Niagara Organic Fruit also had mulberries, although theirs were white.  White when it come to mulberries  actually translates to a dusty pink.  I was able to report to Jim Hayward that the beets I had purchased in the morning were already roasted.

A cone of thyme- dusted French fries cooked up by Jamie Kennedy acolytes is not to be missed.
Over in Trinity-Bellwoods, there were more familiar vendors, some from Wychwood, Sourauren and Withrow.  One of the vendors who sells in Toronto only at Trinity-Bellwoods is Gerald te Velde whose Twin Creeks Organic Farm is outside of Owen Sound. I bought an inky red lettuce from him but will be back for his pastured beef and pork.  While Angus beef has become almost ubiquitous, Twin Creeks raises mainly shorthorns so testing this meat is something to which we look forward.

Both these markets really impressed with the way they evolved over the past couple of years , offering a well-balanced selection of produce, each with a few vendors unique to them along with some of the best from other markets.