Falls Church Farmers Market Voted No. 1

By FALLS CHURCH CITY OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

September 2, 2010

The Falls Church Farmers Market was voted “America’s Favorite Farmers Market” in a contest sponsored by the American Farmland Trust.  In an effort to promote local farmers markets, Farmland Trust sponsors an annual contest to choose America’s favorite farmers markets in four size categories: boutique markets with 15 or fewer vendors; small markets, 16 to 30 vendors; medium markets, 31 to 55 vendors; and large markets with 56 or more vendors.  Falls Church City, with its 45 vendors, competed in the medium market category and beat out hundreds of similarly-sized markets throughout the country.  Falls Church also finished first in voting among all Virginia farmers markets regardless of market size in the contest which ended Aug. 31.

The Falls Church Farmers Market is open every Saturday, and during peak seasons more than 40 vendors offer fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables, cheeses, meats, baked goods, plants, and wine.   Master Gardeners also staff a booth at the Market to answer gardening questions.  The Falls Church Farmers Market is open from 8 a.m. until noon (9 a.m. in the winter months) in the parking lot of City Hall, 300 Park Ave. and is sponsored by the Recreation and Parks Department.

For a complete list of winners and more information about the contest visit the Contest Website.

FOOD: Falls Church Farmers Market Battles for First Place

By KATHLEEN NIXON
Falls Church Times Staff

August 27, 2010

Have you heard the buzz? Falls Church Farmers Market is currently battling for the number 1 ranking in the country for the best medium size farmers market. The battle for first place is with another local farmers market – Historic Lewes Delaware farmers market. How did this come about?

The American Farmland Trust in its efforts to bring awareness to local farms began the contest as part of the No Farms No Food program.  The America’s Favorite Farmers Markets™ contest is designed to raise national awareness about the importance of supporting fresh food from local farms and farmers.

Not only do I see our local farmers market as a nationally ranking farmers market, I see it as a vital part of our community and health. While at the Falls Church Farmers Market last Saturday, a neighbor asked me “why would I pay $3 a pound for local tomatoes?” For some reason, the cost of tomatoes seems to be the major bellwether in consumers’ minds. This neighbor knew my answer would be in favor of the local seemingly higher cost farmers’ market tomatoes. I say seemingly as comparing the cost of produce in the local farmers market is not necessarily apples to apples or I should say tomato to tomato.   

The tomato in the grocery store is either organically or conventionally raised on a large industrialized farm probably utilizing immigrant labor. If it was raised conventionally there were pesticides and fertilizers involved. The tomato itself was modified to be picked early so it would stay firm in transport. It was also modified so that it would have the “look” of a tomato – the red globe that it typically associated with a tomato.  For the tomato to be grown a large water project was probably developed which involved federal funds or it was raised internationally.  The cost of the tomato from the grocery stores also includes the cost of federal subsidized water, subsidizing of services for an immigrant population, international or national transport, and the detrimental affects on the environment. Included in this is also that you are not getting all of the nutrients from the tomato that you would normally so you have to supplement your diet with vitamins.  So while it may seem that your grocery store tomato is “cheaper” you have to weigh all the costs into the equation.

This is compared to your farmers’ market tomato. It may be red, green, yellow, purple or zebra as it is an heirloom tomato rather than a modified standard tomato. This adds to the variety of tastes and textures to the tomatoes and allows for the diversity of tomatoes to be saved. You will have to ask the farmer if it was raised with pesticides and fertilizers or not. And this is one of the advantages of a farmers market – you can talk to the person or family that raises your food – not something you can do at the grocery store. The produce was raised and transported within 150 miles of where you are purchasing it and you are supporting the local economy.  The positive affects on my taste buds, my health, my community and the environment are worth the cost differential between the local and grocery store tomato.

Farmers markets have grown in popularity over the last decade and have become a vital retail channel for many of the local farms in addition to farm stands and CSAs ( community supported agriculture). But farmers markets also provide a vital component to our community. It doesn’t matter your political afflation, economic standing or family size, we all need food. The farmers’ market provides a way to gather our food, commune with the farmers and participate in our community in a way that not only sustains us physically but fiscally, environmentally and spiritually. I feel truly privileged to have our Falls Church Farmers Market.

So back to the national competition – be it that you enjoy the farmers market for its community feel, a chance to slow down, catch up with neighbors, listen to music, watch a chef demonstration, eat a tasty treat  or you use the farmers market for your weekly groceries, please take the time to show your community pride in our local community of farmers and our farmers market by voting for Falls Church Farmers Market to be the best Farmers Market ( in the medium category) in the country! Voting ends midnight August 31^st!

http://action.farmland.org/site/PageNavigator/Americas-Favorite-Farmers-Markets/best_local_farmers_market_vote

FOOD: Saturday’s Market Chef Demonstration Promises to be A+

 

By KATHLEEN NIXON
Falls Church Times Staff  

August 20, 2010 

 Local chef and co-owner Aimee Suyehiro of Argia’s restaurant returns to the Falls Church Farmers Market for another Farmers Market Chef Demonstration.  Her presentation on Saturday will mark one full year of the farmers’ market chef demonstrations. 

For Saturday’s demonstration, Aimee will be drawing from the bounty of tomatoes in the market. She will be preparing yellow tomato gazpacho served with a parmesan-black pepper biscotti as well as a tomato jam bruschetta. As in other demonstrations, produce from the market will be used for the demonstration. This time the produce will be from Potomac Vegetable Farms, a local farm and farmers market vendor.  Read more

FOOD: Too Many Tomatoes? Never!

By KATHLEEN NIXON
Falls Church Times Staff

August 13, 2010

Wasn’t just a few months ago that we were all pining away for a wonderful ripe tomato? And now here we are in the abundanza of tomato season! While many are preparing children for school or squeezing in that last bit of vacation, I am looking to how to fill my pantry and freezer with the season abundance to stretch my fresh food throughout the winter.

With the current economy and concern about food supply, many people have been looking at ways to economize as well as provide good local healthy food. Each year in August the question is “do you can or do you freeze?” Now very much like Ruth Reichl, the former editor of Gourmet magazine, my mother’s kitchen escapades had me running for the hills at an early age. My frugal mother made several attempts at canning only to end up having our kitchen look like a scene from the Chainsaw Massacre. I cannot attempt canning without immediate flashback of exploding jars even though many tell me it is much easier these days and the technology is much more advanced. With this knowledge, I am firmly entrenched in the “freezing” category, but I will be acquiescing this year and will be trying my hand at canning some other bounties from this season like onions, cucumbers and figs.

The mainstay of my preserving activity will be tomatoes because they brighten up any dish especially one prepared in the middle of the winter. My two main products are tomato sauce and roasted tomatoes. My tomato sauce is very similar to a farmers market kitchen sink. Anything and everything I can find at the farmers market in late summer goes into my tomato sauce – carrots, onion, squash, basil and any or every type of tomato. All cut up, roasted and simmered for a few hours and then put through the food processor. This is hard work compared to the roasted tomatoes. The tomatoes are cut in half, laid in a shallow cooking pan, salt, pepper, drizzle of olive oil and roasted at 200 degrees for several hours. Once done and cooled they are placed in plastic containers and frozen.

The tomato sauce has come out into pasta sauce mixed with sausage or ground beef. Or the sauce has been the base of many great soups during the winter. The sauce combined with the roasted tomatoes have been added to kidney beans and ground beef to make chili. At last year’s Super Bowl party, I brought out the roasted tomatoes; put them through the food processor with some onions and chilies for salsa.

So when you look at the Farmers Market this year, remember you can put a little away each month to stretch out your local food throughout the winter.

SATURDAY 8/21: Argia’s Chef Demonstration at the Farmers Market

Falls Church Farmers Market Chef Demonstrations
9 – 11 a.m.

August 21 – Aimee Suyehiro – Argia’s

September 11 – Brian Long – The Westins Tysons Corner

October 2 – Debra Rubin, Kate Jensen and Tracey O’Grady – Willow

October 30 – Liam LaCivita and David King – The Liberty Tavern

November 20 – Chef Bertrand Chemel – 2941

City Hall Parking Lot
300 Park Avenue., Falls Church
8 a.m.-noon

Falls Church City’s Farmers Market has something for all. Buying locally not only supports local farmers, but also helps protect the environment by reducing packaging and transportation demands.

Vendors offer fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables, cheeses, meats, baked goods, plants, and wine. The Fairfax County Master Gardeners also staff a booth at the Market to answer gardening questions.

REPRISE: Farmers Market Corn — Who Reigns Supreme?

(EDITORS’ NOTE: Some stories just can’t be written any better.  In case you missed this sweet-corn-taste-test story the first time, we reprint it here in time for you to visit the Farmers Market on Saturday to conduct your own.)

By JIMMY SCARANO
Falls Church Times Staff

July 17, 2009

Sweet corn season is just getting underway, and there is no better way to take advantage of it than a trip to the City’s awesome farmers market.

Last Saturday I scurried around to every corn-toting vendor I could find so that I could gather up samples for a taste test.  I ended up with gorgeous ears from eight different stands:

Threeway Farm
Lois’s Produce
Penn Farms
Westmoreland Farm
Laurel Grove Farms
Thank God It’s Fresh (aka TGIF)
Toigo Orchards
Musachio Produce Farm

I got some pretty weird looks as I rushed back to my car with the ears of corn kept separate between my fingers and in several plastic bags on my arms so that I knew which one was from which farm.

When I got to the car I quickly lined them up and wrote down the name of the farm and a number corresponding to the order that I arranged the corn.  A perfect system!  I was able to keep track of the number of each corn after shucking and cooking them all, but by that time I had also forgotten which farm was which number on my notepad, making for a blind taste test.

Unfortunately, two of the ears were so unmistakably from two particular farms, so I knew what those were during the testing.  The first corn that I knew the identity of was from Toigo Orchards, because they sell the Mirai variety that has a distinct kernel and was the only yellow one of the bunch.  The second corn that I knew the origin of was from Musachio Produce Farm, and that’s because Musachio’s corn was cold to the touch and the only one that was noticeably wet and sticky.  This is due to the fact that owner Mike Musachio chills his corn on ice the night before to keep the sugars from turning to starches.

Other than that, it was a completely blind taste test for me.

Eager to have at least a few totally oblivious tasters, I decided to include my mom, sister, brother, and cousin in the tasting.  That way we could arrive at a truly unbiased verdict for the best sweet corn available in Falls Church.

When I told them they would be participating in a corn-tasting test (yes, I told them, they didn’t really have a choice), there were some moans and groans, but once the aroma of corn hit the air, everyone was all smiles.  Honestly, who doesn’t love sweet corn?

Here are some of the precautions we took to make sure the testing went as fair as possible:

Scarano family does the taste test

1. All the corn was cooked in the same manner- lightly steamed in less than an inch of water for just a few minutes, until it was just cooked through.

2.  While we tasted, no one was allowed to say anything positive or negative about a particular ear of corn because we didn’t want anyone being influenced by other people’s reactions.

3. Everyone wrote down their comments about each corn according to its number so that no one could go back and change their mind based on what other people said.  There was written proof of everyone’s true feelings about the corn.

Aside from those parameters, the taste test was pretty much just me and my family sitting around and gorging on corn.

When the test was complete and all the corn was sufficiently destroyed, I proclaimed that I had three clear favorites: #1, #7, and #8.  To my shock, everyone else agreed convincingly.  Though all the corn was pretty tasty, these three trumped the competition in flavor, texture, and aroma.

I quickly retrieved my notepad to reveal which farms had won the contest.  But there really wasn’t much drama for me personally.  Two of the winners were the two ears of corn that I already knew the identity of- Toigo Orchards (Corn #7) and Musachio Produce Farm (Corn #8).  But let me assure you there was no foul play involved.  Remember, my family whole heartedly agreed that these were two of the best ears on the table and they had no idea where they were from.

Corn #1, it turned out, was from Threeway Farm.

The best part about the taste test was reading some of the descriptions of the corn on everyone’s little comment card.  Tasters noted “earthy and sour notes” in some ears as well as “corny” flavor in others.  Texture seemed to be almost as important as flavor.  Some praised “crisp, juicy” kernels while others enjoyed “mealy, soft” ones. I didn’t know my family members had such refined palettes.

The three winners separated themselves from the pack by hitting a good combo of sweetness, texture and corniness.  Threeway Farm’s corn was sweet and delicate, with a light corn flavor that everyone liked.  Toigo Orchards’ was by far the sweetest of the bunch, but so sweet that some of the corn flavor was lost.  But it was also pleasantly crisp and if you like really, really sweet stuff (and many people do) then you’ll love it.

Musachio’s pearly white corn was utterly delicious- not too sugary, corny, buttery, and bursting with juicy corn milk.  It was probably my overall favorite.  And I have little doubt that part of the reason it’s so good is that Musachio takes that extra step to ice it down.

FOOD: Willow Featured in This Week’s Market Chef

By KATHLEEN NIXON
Falls Church Times Staff

July 16, 2010

The next Falls Church Farmers Market Chef will feature Tracy O’Grady, Kate Jensen and Debra Rubin of Willow.  The ladies from Willow are always a delight to the crowd at the farmers market and this added demonstration is a special summer treat.

Tracy, Kate and Debra are very well known to many of the farmers market vendors as they have been long-time supporters of featuring local produce, meat, and grains in their popular restaurant in Ballston.  Tracy, Kate and Debra just finished creating a very successful series of dinners in partnership with the Smithsonian Resident’s Program that paired sustainable fish with local wines.

For this Saturday,  they have developed an exciting recipe of corn and zucchini pancakes with summer succotash using the many fresh ingredients from the local farmers market vendors.  As always multiple demonstrations will occur throughout the morning along with tastings and recipes!

The ladies from Willow are also scheduled for the July 31 Market Chef demonstration.

Falls Church Farmers Market Chef Demonstration
Tracy O’Grady, Kate Jensen and Debra Rubin of Willow
Saturday July 17, 2010 |  9am to 11am
Falls Church Farmers Market at 300 Park Avenue, Falls Church Va 22046

Sinplicity Catering Next Market Chef Demonstration

By KATHLEEN NIXON
Falls Church Times Staff

June 23, 2010

This Saturday, the Falls Church Farmers Market Chef demonstration will feature Falls Church’s own Leland Atkinson from Sinplicity Catering. Leland, always a crowd pleaser will be demonstrating:

Tomato and Ginger Chutney on a Parmesan & Cracked Pepper Biscotti;
Blueberry Shortcups: Mini Cupcakes filled with Margarita Curd, Fresh Blueberries and Whipped Cream,
Ice Cream Sinwiches: Almond Macaroons with Vanilla Ice Cream and Blackberry Compote

So join Sinplicity Catering from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on June 26 for some deliciously delectable taste sensations.

Next Page »