The Pearl Farmers Market is now selling pork.  South Texas Heritage Pork will be selling chops, ribs, sliced pork belly (uncured bacon), ground pork, and fresh ham steaks.  The farm, located southeast of Floresville, raises Tamworth, English Large Black, and their crossbreeds.  Their website is www.southtexasheritagepork.com.

Today, Pearl will also be hosting the San Antonio Herb Society’s Basil Fest.  There will be a seminar on growing and harvesting the herb, a Mediterranean cooking demonstration, a youth gardening event, as well as a cooking competition among local chefs, the People’s Choice Pesto Challenge.  More information is at their website: www.sanantonioherbmarket.org.

This week, the farmers market at San Antonio Botanical Gardens only had two vendors plus the plant sales.  Celia Rios of Peralta Farms said that there are usually five sellers and that this week was an anomaly.  Even though there was a limited number of booths, her farm offered a great selection including potatoes (Idaho and red), squash (zucchini and yellow), okra, jalapeños, onions (1015 and white), pickling cucumbers, beans (green, purple hull, and black-eyed peas), and melon (watermelon and cantaloupe).  Anthony Micheli of Hillside Farms in Stonewall brought tomatoes, green beans, squash, and Gala peaches.  He said that he anticipates that his freestone varieties will be ready in 3 weeks.

Leon Springs Farmers Market has posted on Facebook some of the produce items available today:  tomatoes, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, okra, potatoes, onions, cantaloupe, watermelon, and pecans.  They are also offering fresh seafood, grass-fed beef, honey, eggs, and goat cheese.  For the garden, there will be plants and herbs.  The market features live music.

Leon Springs Farmers Market
24133 Boerne Stage Rd.
Leon Springs, TX
www.leonspringsfm.com
Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. – noon

Pearl Farmers Market
200 E. Grayson St.
San Antonio, TX 78215
www.pearlfarmersmarket.com
Saturdays, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

San Antonio Botanical Garden
555 Funston Place
San Antonio, TX 78209
www.sabot.org
Thursdays, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Close

In this photo from summer, 2009, vendors setup for the farmers market at the San Antonio Botanical Garden.

The San Antonio Botanical Garden Farmers Market was scheduled to start today, but, according to personnel at the garden, none of the sellers showed up.

The market is scheduled for next Thursday, May 16, as well.  SavorSA will follow up to see if it gets off to a better start, since so many are looking forward to it. Also, you might call the Botanical Garden before going over, the spokesperson said.

Hours are 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursdays.  Vendors from Bexar and surrounding counties will offer seasonal fruits and vegetables, from berries to zucchini.

In addition, a group of volunteers from the Botanical Society Plant Team will be selling “Texas friendly” plants, including fragrant herbs. They will also answer questions about where in your garden they will prosper and how to to help them thrive.

The farmers market will be open through Dec. 9, but the plant sale will take a break in August, sparing the workers and tender plants from the excessive heat.  Plant sales will continue until October.

San Antonio Botanical Garden
555 Funston Place
San Antonio, TX, 78209
210-207-3255
www.sabot.org

Close

While driving back from Hondo Saturday, I saw a huge sign proclaiming Cataplana. I immediately turned the car around and headed back.

If you’ve ever been to southern Portugal, you might understand why.

Cataplana is a regional specialty made with clams, ham, sausage and all sorts of seasonings, from wine to parsley. I fell in love with it from the moment of my first taste. The word also refers to the clam-shaped dish in which it is cooked. It’s unique in that you turn it upside down halfway through the cooking process.

In this case, Cataplana turned out to be the name of a specialty kitchen supply store run by personal chef Cecelia Fetty.

She has plenty of kitchen gadgets and dishes with brands like Rösle, Viking and Emile Henry as well as Fiesta Dinnerware. And, yes, she has two sizes of cataplanas hanging in the front window. Tagines are more popular these days, however, she says, as the popularity of Moroccan and Middle Eastern foods continues to grow.

There are a few specialty foods, from vanilla paste to powdered egg whites, but the vast majority of items include pots, pans, scales, cookware and the popular six-sided Italian measuring jug that has side-by-side grams-to-ounces measurements for rice, sugar, flour and more.

I picked up a pair of elephant mugs with the trucks as handles.

The store has been open for six months now. In that time, Fetty’s special order business has taken off.

She also teaches a free monthly cooking class on the first Thursday of each month at Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, 12525 Farm-to-Market 1957, San Antonio. Call (210) 679-7800 for the time and to reserve a seat.

Cataplana
810 U.S. 90 E.
Castroville
(830) 538-9911
Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, Friday; 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday; and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday.

Close

If you want fresh vegetables and fruit from a farmers market, then look no further than Olmos Basin every Saturday morning.

Since the 1980s, this has been the gathering place for people in search of fresh tomatoes, okra, zucchini and melons from a large variety of vendors. Last Saturday, a dozen booths offered different types of seasonal Texas produce while a few others offered fresh eggs, grass-fed beef and herbs.

And the produce went beyond the expected to include tomatillos, figs, plums, blackberries, black-eyed peas and more.

Zamudio Farms from Natalia  had shallots, beans, new potatoes, cantaloupe and seedless watermelon at its booth among others, but it was the tomatoes that most customers were interested in.

That’s Manuela Zamudio’s favorite as well. “We eat tomatoes,” she said. “It’s the one thing we can’t live without.”

She uses her tomatoes in everything from salsa to salad.

“They’re perfect over the sink with a touch of salt,” one customer chimed in.

That they are.

Or you could what I did later that evening: I sliced the tomatoes and let people eat them atop  sourdough slices covered with mayonnaise. A sprinkling of dill weed or a few tears of fresh basil leaves finished off the open-faced sandwiches in style. An entire loaf of bread and three enormous tomatoes disappeared quickly.

Jose Estrada of Estrada Farms in Devine has been bringing his produce to Olmos Basin for three years now. This past Saturday he had baskets full of okra, tomatoes , figs and more. It’s been a dry year for the farmers, as well as everyone else, and Estrada was one of several farmers who talked about having to rely on irrigation to keep the plants thriving.

Also from Devine was Joe Peña of C&F Farms, who was offering baskets of mixed vegetables perfect for starting a soup stock.

It was great to encounter some vendors from previous farmers markets, including  the folks from Engel Farms in Fredericksburg as well as Dora Peralta and her sister, Celio Rios, from Peralta Farms, both of whom I’d met at the San Antonio Botanical Garden’s Thursday market.

At Auntie Pen’s Backyard booth, a host of herbs and flowering plants designed to live through the Texas heat could be found. Seven varieties of basil, various styles of mint, even artichoke plants filled the tables set up by Penny and Juan Gonzalez.

The plants were all chosen because they are drought tolerant and yet still pretty, Penny said. The easy way to do that for your own home is to “look around your yard and others and see what looks good,” she suggested. “There are lots of things not struggling in the midst of this drought.”

That could be anything from chives to plumbago with its bright blue flowers.

The couple live out near Sea World and grow everything they sell, Juan said. Standing in the shade of their booth, situated under the sheltering branches of a tree, isn’t enough to keep the heat away entirely, so they use a small battery-operated fan to keep air circulating.

The market at Olmos Basin proved to be a great place to run into old friends who were also on the lookout for the freshest produce to be had that day.

Joyce Hotchkiss had to talk herself out of buying squash because she had bought some the previous week and hadn’t cooked it yet. She mentioned it to one farmer who replied that week-old squash from the farmers market should still be good as it was about as fresh as the squash you’d find in a supermarket.

I left with a bag full of tomatillos, shallots, tomatoes and a dozen fresh eggs as well as an oregano plant for the herb garden. A satisfying stop for the week. Who knows what lies in store this week?

The Olmos Basin farmers market is on Jackson Keller Road between McCullough and San Pedro. The market is from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays through the beginning of December. For a full list of Texas Department of Agriculture farmers markets in Bexar County, click here.

Boricua Food Market
110 Corinne Drive (at the intersection of Harry Wurzbach and Rittiman)
(210) 824-5759
Hours: Monday – Saturday 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Specialties: Moderate-sized market with Puerto Rican, Panamanian, Caribbean, and South American selections.

This casual market is now 15 years old and supplies the ingredients to make many Caribbean favorites.  Fresh produce includes  culantro, the long, sword-like herb leaf that tastes much like cilantro, but more powerful.

There are many more usual vegetables and then there are gems like cachucha peppers.  I was told that means “hat,” and they do look like a beret, but so do scotch bonnet peppers.  Still, I was assured that these are not the hot peppers, these are very mild.  Well, after taking the advice of the proprietor, I ground the culantro, the cachucha peppers, a couple of cloves of garlic, salt, and the juice of half a lime.  It was delicious, but not what I would call mild!  Maybe a scotch bonnet was accidentally in the batch.  Still, it was a great fresh salsa.
The store also sells a few herb plants like the brujo oregano.  It looks much like what I know as Cuban oregano, but I was again assured that this one is slightly different.
There were fresh and frozen staples like yucca, meats, fruits, and then there were some enticing coffees, jams, sauces, spices, and flours.  Plenty to keep you experimenting in the kitchen for the rest of the summer.

Close

Last Saturday morning, I took a cruise up I-10 to Boerne Stage Road and dropped by the farmers market at the Leon Springs Baptist Church parking lot. On a sunny morning it was easy to park and not yet steamy hot, so I could enjoy making the rounds of vendors.

Even at a distance, the plants and flowers displayed were a welcome eyeful of color in our currently dusty landscape. There were two tents with beautiful, healthy looking herbs, Hibiscus, and an intriguing flowering plant named a Rangoon Creeper.

I met Mario Obledo as I photographed some of the produce. He is the vice president of the Hill Country Farmers Market Association, the organization that promotes this market and three other markets in the area (see below for details). I learned that the Leon Springs market is year-round, 2 1/2 years into its growth and development, still with room for new additions and new ideas.

Every day you hear about “going green,” and at The Green Brownie company they are doing green in brownies! No, this isn’t a St. Patrick’s Day gimmick; these are delicious treats made with all-organic ingredients so you can feel good about indulging. Owner Tracy Carlson told me that they even used packaging that is eco-friendly. If you are in a more playful mood, the stand also has Brownies-on-a-stick (they are cute) as well as gluten-free brownies.

But the vision that most of us hold about a farmers market includes lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. As it should be, there were three well-stocked displays of bright, fresh, produce. I saw some good looking squash that were named Sunburst and White Scalloped, very much like a pattypan squash, at Bob Mishler’s Uncertain Farms. Lots of people were buying peaches and tomatoes, cucumbers and okra, potatoes and green beans, plums, bell peppers, jam, wow!

But there were baked breads, pecans (even pecan oils at Circle H Orchards), and some super yummy granola at Cowgirl Granola. Heather Hunter, the Head Cowgirl, has been making her toasty, oaty, nutty, tasty, amazing granola for about 8 years. She is out at Leon Springs every week, as well as the other three markets in the association. You can also contact her at cowgirlenterprises@gmail.com.

There is usually a grass-fed beef dealer, but he was out-of-town that morning. He’s expected back soon; meanwhile, there are other vendors with free-range eggs and various goodies to keep you busy until then.

I have been to a few farmers markets in our area and in other states — and even other countries. Leon Springs is not the biggest, but it has a good variety, easy to get service, and just a friendly, can-do, attitude. Go see for yourself and try something new!

Close

Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Leon Springs Baptist Church
24133 Boerne Stage Road (behind the H-E-B)

The other markets affiliated are:

• Boerne, Kendall County Fairgrounds, 1307 River Road, Boerne TX  Wednesdays 2-6 p.m., now through Nov. 18
• Bulverde-Spring Branch, The Branches Church, 4594 Highway 281 North, Bulverde, TX  Saturdays, 2:30-5:30 p.m., year-round.
• Helotes-Grey Forest, Helotes Hills United Methodist Church, 13222 Bandera Road, Helotes, TX  2nd & 4th Fridays, 3-6 p.m., now through Nov. 13

As I walked onto the grounds at the Pearl Brewery farmers market last Saturday, I was amazed at the huge crowds.  I started coming to this market since its inception and even attended the one that coincided with the opening of the River Walk extension, which forced drivers to park as far away as Sam’s Burger Joint.  This Saturday’s crowds were not quite as large, but trust me, San Antonio has found the Pearl.

An abundance of variety, though not necessarily of quantity, was available from Oak Hill Farms.  The booth had tomatoes, corn, cucumbers (both slicing and pickling), dill, potatoes, peppers (jalapeños, anaheims and bell), leeks, basil and peas.  To decorate your table, they also had small bunches of flowers at $3 each.  Business was brisk and the lines were long for this market favorite, but they were already out of a few items by 9:30 a.m.

At the first tasting tent, Melissa Guerra was serving up vegetarian tamales filled with Swiss chard.  I sampled the moist masa surrounding a flavorful center.  Although I know there is a staunch camp that believes tamales must be made with lard, or at least have been made in the vicinity of a pork product, I can assure you that these tamales had great flavor. They also are a nice change from the heavier tamales.  And Guerra shared her recipe here.

HGB Foods from Converse had a diverse selection of gluten-free mixes, including some for pizza crust, bread, brownies and pancakes.  I sampled a prepared pancake, slightly sweet and still fluffy.  According to Sarah Dauphinais, the $4 mix is enough to make three breakfasts for a family of five.  To top the pancakes, I would suggest their sweet apple butter. Give the mix and apple butter together for a great hostess gift.

JDsquared Ranch, a grower who specializes in cut flowers, irises and day lilies, offered naturally red Florenza sunflowers as well as colorful zinnias.  Next week, this grower, located on 137 acres southeast of San Antonio, promises to have Sunrich Lemon Sunflowers, with vivid yellow petals.

After passing Watson Farms’ booth of jams and jellies — and tasting a few — I first smelled, then saw the La Feliciana freestone peaches from Rhew Orchards of Floresville.  Was that giddiness sweeping over me?  Peaches always remind me of trekking out to Marburger Orchards with my family and spending a hot morning in their peach grove, picking bushels of peaches to eat on the spot and make into jam later.  Although I have a distinct fondness for freestone peaches for the ease of removing the flesh from the pit, I have always been partial to the semi-freestone variety June Gold. Fortunately, these were  available from Casket Orchards of San Marcos, which also offered some freestone Harvester peaches that were perfectly sweet and juicy.

Alligator Creek Farms offered green beans, cherry tomatoes, sunflowers and tomatillos.  It was the first time that I have seen tomatillos at the Pearl market and they looked like they would make a great roasted tomatillo salsa.

I waited in line to sample corn-dusted shrimp with a salsa made from market ingredients, but the tray was empty by the time the line reached about four people in front of me.  Chef Johnny Hernandez said that he used ingredients from three of the farmer’s market vendors, including cornmeal from HGD and NaturalShrimp from outside LaCoste.  As it would take about 15 minutes until the next cooking demonstration and since the sun was very strong, I decided to continue my rounds.

Braune Farms of Geronimo brought a variety of produce including watermelons, cantaloupe and sweet corn.  In retrospect, I should have gotten a huge watermelon and topped it with lime, cayenne pepper and salt like I had last month from a roadside vendor in L.A.  It would have been a great appetizer for Father’s Day.

I managed to find some shade while waiting in line for gazpacho from Brian Montgomery of Texas Farm to Table.  The cool soup was garnished with a slice of banana pepper, which made this sample extra special.  It was just the pick-me-up I needed to combat the crowds by Toyota’s give-away tent where free herbs were being offered.

Lori McLain, the daughter of Kitchen Pride’s owner, offered white, baby bello (crimini), portobello and oyster mushrooms — all picked the previous day.  I selected a perfect ¾-pound oyster mushroom, which smelled faintly of oysters from the sea.  Others in line asked what I planned to do with such a beauty.  I replied that I actually had no plan, but was going to straight to their Web site for recipe ideas.  The workers at the booth were very pleased with their Pearl debut and commented that they were definitely going to sell out.  They reassured me that this coming Saturday they would bring even more of their scrumptious mushrooms.

While waiting in line for mushrooms, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who lamented the fact that there were no good Jewish delis in San Antonio.  Any of you have suggestions?  I told him that unfortunately, I was unaware of the presence in San Antonio of a Jewish deli like those I have found in New York or Brookline, Mass.  In his bag, he had challah from Sol y Luna Baking Co. and hoped it would be similar to the version that he missed.  I sought out the booth and also found other bread selections, including olive and caraway rye.  I bought the latter as a small Father’s Day gift. Upon sampling it, my father commented that it tasted like an authentic German rye, but it would have to be consumed quickly to avoid becoming stale.  In his household, bread does not last long; I am sure that it was finished at the next breakfast.

Finally exhausted by the sun, I made my way to cover.  At the back of Melissa Guerra’s store was a table set up with “cash and carry” lead-free pottery.  I lamented the fact that I generally carry very little cash and was unprepared to purchase the beautiful dishes and candelabras.  Next week, I’ll be sure to pad my wallet a little heavier.

Much has been written about the new farmers market at the Pearl Brewery, including quite a few words by myself.

Since its opening last month, there has been some honest criticism about the shortage of vegetable vendors and the lengthy lines to purchase fresh produce from some of those who are there.

Yet Saturday morning, I may have stood for 40 minutes in line to purchase corn, leeks and pickling cucumbers from the Oak Hill Farms people, but I didn’t mind. I enjoyed meeting my neighbors in line and discussing what we were going to do with all those treats once we were served.

A few mentioned grilling corn, a true summertime favorite . Others were hankering for the taste of vine-ripened tomatoes, bursting with a flavor and an acidity that you just don’t get from those in the store.

I brought up a recipe I tried several weeks ago in which you baked leeks in a mint-flavored cream (check our recipe file).

Squash, so prevalent at many of the booths, would be perfect in anything from salads to sautés.  And their blossoms can be eaten, too, as Zocca chef Chip McMullin demonstrated at the cooking booth. He removed the hairs from the outside and the stem from inside before filling it with a seasoned goat cheese mixture.

Johnny Hernandez of the chef’s table, MesaLegre, and the catering company, True Flavors, spoke of his new restaurant, set for a spot near the River Walk extension. It will be called La Gloria and will offer his take on Mexican street foods, which we can’t find too often in San Antonio. He hopes to have it open before the end of the year.

This was my third visit to the market, and I have been surprised to see how it has grown from its first preview.

Organizers have said they want the weekly market to be about more than luscious freestone peaches that dripped juice down your chin or bunches of beets with fresh greens still attached. It should be about more than the natural meat vendors, the honey farmer, the bread bakers and the seasoned nut sellers.

It’s meant to be a community center, a place where people congregate on a Saturday morning to celebrate what the San Antonio area has to offer, whether it be bunches of fresh dill, live music or the gorgeous new extension of the River Walk.

Many of the people there Saturday seemed to get that. They had dropped by after their morning run or they were taking their dogs for a walk. For some it was merely a place to enjoy a cup of coffee and a breakfast taco.

I heard a number of comparisons, good and bad, to farmers markets in places like San Francisco and Santa Fe. The difference, we should remember, is that those markets have been open for years, whereas the Pearl’s has been open for four weeks. Yet it also shows that the people of San Antonio are not the food hicks the national media would have use believe. We have standards, and we long for the day when our farmers market reaches that level.

The thermometer started climbing early and showed no signs of going in the opposite direction, so tables in the shade were at a premium. That’s where my colleague Nick Mistry and I encountered 2-year-old Isabella Gilliam and her brother, Tristan, 4, enjoying cheese danishes with blueberries in the filling.

A even cooler spot is the walkway of the Full Goods building that leads to the market. Giant fans — Big Ass Fans, actually, if you want the maker’s name — kept the air moving. It was there, we met Tessa Bodnar, who was visiting the market for the first time. She had with her two granddaughters, Sydnie Bodnar, 11, and Amelia Meissner, 7, with their dog, Murphy. All three enjoyed themselves.

“It’s wonderful, isn’t it,” Tessa Bodnar said.

Short trips to Melissa Guerra’s culinary shop and a slammed Texas Farm to Table, with great music outside and air conditioning at a high crank inside, rounded out a full and flavorful morning.

5360 Walzem Road (get map)

(210) 653-9911

Hours: 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily

Specialties: Large, clean market with plenty of Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai and Chinese options.

Fresh produce, fresh seafood and meats are offered as well as plenty of Asian noodles. More exotic items include boiled lotus root slices, frozen fried grasshoppers, banana leaves, purple yam candies, bitter gourd chips, banana brittle, pure palm sugar, canned spicy squid bits, pickled look neang and canned cassia flower.

Excellent drink selection includes Sarsi soda from the Philippines, almond juice, pennywort, tamarind, aloe vera, lychee, basil seed, apple sidra, mangosteen and calamansi.