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New crops joined the fun during my short trip away
I rarely travel anymore. So my three+-day trip to Detroit last week (plus a weekend recovery period) was surely the longest time, in a number of years, that I've missed hitting our local Chicago farmers markets during the June run-up to peak season.
It thus was not a surprise, when I visited the SOAR Market in downtown Chicago today (June 18), that there were some beautiful recent entries that turned into first-of-the-year buys for the Benenson household.
As highlighted in the market haul photo above, I was able to add green beans, zucchini and broccoli — from Nichols Farm and Orchard in Marengo, Illinois, also source of the sugar snap peas and yellow hothouse heirloom tomatoes on the left — plus blueberries from Ellis Family Farms (Benton Harbor, Michigan), who also sold me the strawberries and the asparagus.
Asparagus is the second major crop to hit our local markets in the early spring, after only ramps. If this wasn't my last asparagus of the year, it has to be close, because we're in the midst of the year's first major heat wave and asparagus flourishes in cooler weather. In any case, we've had about a two-month run of one of my favorite foods, and the asparagus this year has been amazingly tasty.
Rounding out this market haul was a pound of cremini mushrooms from River Valley Ranch (Burlington, Wisconsin) and two tofu salads in a yummy peanut sauce from Chicago's Phoenix Bean Tofu.
The SOAR Market is in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood — the acronym stands for Streeterville Organization of Active Residents — on the plaza in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art, and is open every Tuesday through October from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is one of my favorites in this area, merging a thoroughly downtown local with a neighborhood market vibe. Click below to learn more.
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