June 28: Market MIA
Hello hello all!
Well with the busy week we’ve had, we missed our regular Friday post, and that’s not the only change up of our normal routine: we are not at the market today! In a stunning twist of events, both Carlos and Amanda will be away this weekend for a wedding of a mutual friend. Still a work trip as Carlos will be putting his chef hat back on and catering the wedding, while Amanda is doing the photography. While we are sad to be missing our weekly regulars and the classic market spirit, it’ll be nice to be out of town. We’re sure to be back next week, energized and fully stocked up with produce!
It is the long weekend though, so be sure to hit up the market without us! Check some of our favourite vendors like Little Schack, Wise Earth and Firefly.
@littleschackfarm @wisearthfarm @fireflyfarmbc
Crop Feature!
Some cool crops we have in the field this season come from the mind of one of Carlos’ inspirations: Dan Barber, from New York. Dan Barber is a Michelin-starred chef and co-owner of multiple restaurants in New York. He works with an innovative plant breeder at his farm upstate to create new, flavourful, diverse crops. We have a few of them this year, such as yellow beets (badger flame), squash (lodi), tomato (midnight roma), and a habanada pepper. All of these crops are unique in that they are bred for flavour first. The beets are very sweet, the squash is a version of a butternut squash but concentrated for flavour (they are smaller and ripen quicker), the tomatoes are a deep purple and have a good ratio of flesh-to-seed, and the habanadas are a version of a habanero with no heat…but very fragrant!
Photo: Ali Smith/The Guardian
In his episode of ‘Chef’s Table’ (and elsewhere), he mentions his seed breeder pointing out that cultivating seeds for flavour hadn’t been a priority for previous employers/clients. Conventional seed breeding focuses on fruit uniformity, plant yields, shelf-stability (transportability), and disease resistance. Flavour (and therefore nutrition) become afterthoughts. However, for Row 7 Seeds, flavour is at the top of the list! It’s the first time we’ve grown any of Dan Barber’s crops, and we’re looking forward to them being ready for us all to enjoy. Carlos has cooked with the beets and the habanadas, which have been delicious!
That’s all we have for this week. Leaving you with Carlos giving some serious Long Weekend-vibes!
Have a great weekend and we’ll talk to you soon!
-The OKHP Crew
