Autumn has come to the Port Angeles Farmers' Market. The tomatoes are passing, but pumpkins and other squashes are coming in, as are the potatoes, cabbages, chards and kales. We'll try for a more detailed report soon, but for now we'll offer a recipe for banh mi. There was a booth at the market offering samples made using Pan d'Amore sourdough bread and Clark Family beef along with a collection of other market vegetables.

NOTE As usual with our recipes, feel free to experiment.

This is an awful picture we took of the ingredients. We promise to take better pictures for our next market report.

INGREDIENTS FROM THE MARKET

3 cups finely shredded cabbage
1/2 cup finely shredded carrots
1/3 cup thickly sliced green onions (including tops)
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1/2 pound ground beef or pork, browned w/ salt & pepper to taste
1 thick, light-textured baguette, cut into 4 sections
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

INGREDIENTS FROM ELSEWHERE

1/2 cup rice vinegar, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
8 teaspoons of garlic chili paste

INSTRUCTIONS

In a bowl, mix cabbage & carrots with 1/4 cup rice vinegar, the salt, and sugar; let stand about 30 minutes.
In a food processor or blender, combine remaining 1/4 cup rice vinegar with green onions, lime juice, ginger, garlic, and five-spice powder. Whirl until smooth
Split baguette sections lengthwise almost all the way through, leaving halves attached at one side. Spread about 1 tsp. chili paste on 1 cut side of each. Add on top, then add cooked pork on cabbage mixture and cilantro leaves.

08/18/11 - Summer Comes to the Port Angeles Farmers' Market Let's see, there are all sorts of greens, lettuce, chard, carrots, scallions, broccoli, cauliflower, basil, summer squash, bok choy, cucumbers, cabbages, raspberries, and even tomatoes. Don't forget the oysters, salmon, beef, lamb, bread, rolls, croissants and cheeses. You can do an awful lot of your grocery shopping at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market on Saturdays (10-2) and Wednesdays (2-6). (We're guessing on the hours. The official web site doesn't seem to have them anymore.)	West Wind Farms
The Korean Garlic Lady - with a lot more than garlic and dumplings	Johnston Farm
The market survey, preliminary results	The venerable Nash Huber

07/02/11 - Farmers' Market Update

Things have been getting much more lively at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market. Nash Huber has fava beans, spinach and strawberries. Did he also have that Swiss chard? We aren't sure if we got it from him or Westwind Farm. We're pretty sure Westwind had carrots. Everything is a bit late, but summer is coming in. Ars longa, veggies brevis, so enjoy the season.

Nash Huber's stand

06/18/11 - The Farmers' Market - Almost Summer It is hard to believe, but summer starts in just a few days. That also means that the Wednesday afternoon market will be starting as well. We gather it starts at 3:30 on the 22nd with a special fund raising opening. We aren't too sure of the regular Wednesday hours, but we'll find out soon enough.	Summer and the Wednesday market
Today the leaves, tomorrow whole heads	Greens
The Family Farm	Pane d'Amore

06/09/11 - Port Angeles Farmers' Market Update

The Port Angeles Farmers' Market gets greener by the week. Everyone has salad greens and the baby turnips are tiny, but tasty.

Preston, of Wild West Seafood, has been selling gathered foods: morels, bear claw shoots and wild ginger. We tried the wild ginger, which has no relation to the ginger root one buys at the supermarket, and it did indeed have a gingery taste, but it did not go down well. As with a lot of gathered foods, a lot can depend on preparation. Next time, we'll do a bit more research.

We also dropped by the Good To Go stand and tried some of their croissants. They definitely went down well. The baking at Good To Go just seems to get better and better.

Wild ginger - one of the asarums

Baby turnips at Westwind Farm

Salad greens and eggs

Greens and garlic at Johnston Farm

A high speed photograph of a Good To Go croissant 50 milliseconds before it was eaten. This was a true photographer's challenge.

05/15/11 - Devil's Claw Shoots

Preston, of Wild West Seafood, also sells wild foraged products. This week he had morels and devil's claw shoots. Devil's claw is a pretty nasty looking plant, and never seemed particularly appetizing. Still, these little shoot lookd interesting. Preston says they have a pine-y flavor, and we suspect that this might be a bit much for us. Still, they'll probably be appearing on a number of spring menus along with the fiddleheads. We were tempted, by curiosity, but we'll pass for this year. There were too many other good things at the market.

05/09/11 - Look Who's Back

The Port Angeles Farmers' Market is getting more and more spring-like. This time the asparagus were back, real spring vegetables. Both Westwind and Johnston Farms had them. That's right, Johnston Farms is back. That's wonderful news.

Johnston Farms is back at the market.

05/01/11 - Farmers' Market Update

The Port Angeles Farmers' Market is going green now that the weather is a bit more cooperative. There are lots of raabs. Those are just kales and cabbages and the like that have started to flower. They have a wonderful, slightly fuller and perhaps sweeter note than the unflowering vegetable. They're great sliced thinly as the base for salads or sauteed.

Johnston Farm was only present by proxy. This time Westwind Farm had their salad mix, and a welcome sight they were. Westwind is also selling kale and cabbage raab along with those sure signs of spring, rhubarb and nettles. Yes, they're awfully late this year. Late too are the asparagus. Usually we've been living on Westwind Farm asparagus for weeks now, but not this year. We haven't seen a spear. Hope springs eternal and all that.

Westwind raab and rhubarb

Westwind was selling Johnston Farm salad mix.

Raabs and more at Nash's stand