Market Watch got wind of a rumor that there may be a few peaches and apricots from super-Southern Illinois alongside the berries, cherries, snap peas, broccoli, salad greens, and other fresh produce at Urbana’s Market at the Square, this weekend. Is there truth to this rumor? No one knows for sure, but MW recommends showing up early this weekend if you’d like to partake of the earliest of these summer delicacies.
As of this writing, the forecast for this weekend’s Market is calling for temperatures in the 80s and some clouds, and possibly even some rain, though hopefully nothing on the order of last weekend’s storms. Bring your best umbrella and dodge those raindrops if they happen, OK?
So! Wow! Peaches!
Here’s an incomplete list of this week’s available produce: salad mix, head lettuces, arugula (get there early), asparagus (ditto), collard greens, radishes, rainbow chard, green onions, kales, spinach, rapini, turnips, greenhouse zucchini and cukes and green beans, hydroponic tomatoes, peas, peaches, apricots, cherries, currants, garlic scapes, broccoli, strawberries, and fresh cut herbs.
There’ll be a few early potatoes lurking in there too. MW will take this opportunity to remind you that vendors will bring what they have, and MW does not always know ahead of time what they will be bringing. Make sure you’re shopping all five rows of the Market to see what’s being offered by all the produce vendors — the variety is incredible, really.
Have you guys ever visited Chowhound? It’s this awesome website “for those who live to eat.” I was wondering if anyone ever invented some kind of yummy dessert using goat chevre (a soft goat cheese) and peaches, and lo! Someone named “Chowpatty” offered this up, and I suggest you give it a try:
I had some goat cheese and wanted a quick and relatively healthy dessert, so I sliced a peach into rounds and topped each round with a spoonful of goat cheese. I topped it with brown sugar and broiled it in the toaster oven until the sugar melted — this was delicious! Now I’m thinking of variations, like putting it all in a crepe, or using Dulce de leche instead of brown sugar. Just thought I’d share!
Your peaches and chevre are located in Row 4 at the Market. Many thanks to Chowpatty for her recipe.
The Market continues to tweak its credit/debit/LINK system, which, if you do not already know, is a way for Market shoppers to use credit, debit, and LINK cards at the Market by swiping the cards at the City tent and receiving tokens to shop with any vendor (for LINK users, the tokens are for use to purchase LINK-eligible foods) within the Market. Remember, cash and checks are still most welcome at vendor booths, and some of them take plastic on their own. This is great for when you run out of money buying snap peas and fresh cut flowers and Amish snickerdoodles and bread. Believe me, Market Watch has been there.
Reminder, but worthy of repeating: the Market can be found on Twitter here and on Facebook here. The Market also has a page on the City’s new site — click here to get there.
Coming up at the Market:
June 12: Recyclimpics with U-Cycle! Fun, recycling-related activities for kids from 9–11 a.m.
June 19: Sprouts at the Market v 2.0!