Fresh Sheet: July 17th Market

This week sees us partnering with a fantastic organization: momstown. A unique blend of early education programming and mama support, delivered both online and in-person locally in Edmonton & Sherwood Park and St. Albert, momstown offers an online calendar chock-full of momstown exclusive events, a 24-hour interactive message board (perfect for those sleepless nights), and member privileges and discounts. momstown chapters exist across Canada and its national website includes lots of arts & crafts ideas, minds product reviews, great contests, family-friendly meals, and the personal moments that connect us all. Be sure to ask about their memberships or go to their website for more information: http://edmonton.momstown.ca

We have offered kids' crafts for a few weeks running at our SWEFM Info tent at the market and they have been a seriously big hit with the under 12 crowd. Momstown has now stepped up and offered to take this over, hosting a series of farming-themed crafts at the market each week. This week, children can make apple print paintings to take home from their trip to the market. As always, these crafts are free for all children to enjoy.

Last week you probably noticed all the lively furniture on site. Breezesta has partnered with the Southwest Edmonton Farmers' Market to act as a living showroom for their unique outdoor furniture. They will be back once again! The tables, chairs and rockers that you see all over the market come in a wide colour selection and a terrific array of sizes and are incredibly durable. Grab dinner at a food truck and have a seat... and browse a brochure (they are laid out on their tables if you are interested in them for your own porch, deck or patio).

We've done it! We've really tried to develop our social media presence this year, trying to reach out to and connect with our market community in more ways and our following has grown! We reached 1000 facebook likes this week!

Come help us celebrate! Meet us at the information tent, and say "I liked SWEFM on FACEBOOK" and we'll give you a free SWEFM market bag (while supplies last).

This week we have a number of artisan vendors at the market, making this week an artistic showcase! Be sure to build in time to browse their stalls and experience the creativity that they have to offer. Be inspired by:

• Jewels By Amy
• Orange Avocado Jewellery
• Three Muffin Top Charms
• Capiluv Creations
• Rock Me Baby Cocoons
• Farmstead Bath & Body

Go to our website section on artisan & craft vendors (this is a hyperlink) if you would like a sneak peak at what they bring to the market. Purchases at these vendors would give you great housewarming gifts, baby shower gifts and birthday presents.

We have a new vendor coming to market this week: Sara's Korean Food. Korean food is full of wonderfully fresh flavours. And Hejong makes very authentic Korean food for your meals-to-go. At her stall, you will be able to purchase green onion cakes, kimchi, spring rolls and bulgogi to take with you for your meals at home.

Rock Me Baby Cocoons will be here with their stylish swaddling cocoons that are perfect for newborn babes up to about 4 months of age. Rock Me Baby Cocoon designs slings that keep baby swaddled, snuggled and ever so cozy! Each has its own unique colour and pattern, and as a result, is a creative, and often humorous, work of art. Rock Me Baby Cocoons keep your little one looking cute as a bug, berry, or animal ... all while keeping your baby safe and snug. You can turn your baby into a bee, an owl, a bunny... or even a cupcake, a football or a peanut!

Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a little longer for those Saskatoon berries and delicious saskatoon berry pies from Peter's Lakeview Farm as they have seen too much water to be able to harvest their delicious fruits. Stay tuned as they will hopefully be here next week!

Lastly, it is with mixed feelings that we say goodbye to Evangelina of El Mercado. We will miss her tremendously, but are very pleased that her local foods success story has made it into the big leagues. She and her authentic Mexican tortillas will no longer be available at our market as they have been picked up by Save On Foods. We wish her good luck and great success with her venture!

Fresh vegetables & fruits in season, and available now at this week's market:

The fruit trucks are bringing a wealth of beautiful fruit in from BC. This week expect to see:

• Peaches!!!
• Blueberries
• Apricots
• Blackberries 
• Cherries (dark cherries & yellow Rainers)
• Raspberries
• Apples (think galas & macs & other delicious BC apples)
• Pears (green & red)
• Dehydrated apples, sparkling cider, 100% pure apple juice and a few other goodies
• Strawberries (not a sure thing... the season is winding down for strawberries)

As for veggies... they are now officially pouring in from the fields! Expect to see:

• Pickling cucumbers!!! from the field & long stalks & flowers of dill ready for canning
• Peas
• Kohlrabi
• Fennel
• Heirloom tomatoes... they're starting to come in from the field!
• Swiss chard (it comes in three colours: rhubarb red, peppermint stick pink and golden yellow)
• Spinach, Romaine, Leaf Lettuce, Kale, Scapes (garlic tops) and more greens
• Fresh baby carrots
• Fresh, baby potatoes... don't forget to pick up fresh dill to go with them.
• Fresh red, purple and golden beets
• Fresh green/spring onions
• Green & purple cabbages
• Over-wintered potatoes (purple, pink, & white fleshed varieties)
• Over-wintered squashes
• Long green hothouse beans
• Hothouse cucumbers (long English and mini varieties that are perfect for packing in lunches)
• Field-grown rhubarb (not a sure thing)
• Field-grown spinach (not a sure thing)
• Fresh cut basil & chives & dill & other herbs
• Fresh herb plants (thyme, basil, oregano, parsley, mint, sage, rosemary, dill, sorrel)
• Hothouse & field grown lettuces (green leaf lettuce and butter lettuce),
• Hothouse tomatoes (large, small & on the vine red, the wonderfully flavourful & meaty green & red striped mini zebras) 
• Hothouse peppers (small & large orange bell, yellow, red, green, & red & green spicy chiles)

PLUS…

•  A variety of artisan breads, cinnamon buns, cinnamon breads, sweet loaves, gluten-free loaves & baking, cupcakes, homemade cookies, other finger-licking good baked treats
• Fresh & frozen meats (beef, bison, pork, chicken, fish) 
• Farm-fresh eggs
• Jarred pickles
• Dehydrated garlic powder
• Fresh raw honey & bee pollen (Want to know more about bee pollen? Click here.)
• Specialty gelatos (great in this blistering summer heat!)
• Greek dips (humus, tzatziki, spicy feta & red pepper) and specialty Greek food items
• Korean Foods (green onion cakes, kimchi, bulgogi as ready to go meals )
• Indian Foods (naan & butter chicken as ready to go meals, Samosas, Indian cookies & salty snacks)
• Thai Foods (frozen & ready for your weekday meals)
• Ready-made meals and spice mixes and other items perfect for the BBQ season
• Smoked meats (sausages, pepperonis, sandwich meats, jerkies)
• Jams & jellies & condiments to compliment everything from your toast through to your meats and fish
• Sweet treats like fudge, mini cupcakes, snow cones & soft ice-cream to eat on the spot
• Gourmet marshmallows
• Kettle corn

What else???

• Lots of Jewellery this week (necklaces, earrings, bracelets... as always, Jewels By Amy is here & we'll also have Orange Avocado, Capiluv Creations & Three Muffin Tops Charms) 
• Specialty soap (Farmstead Soap is back)
• Great seating, picnic tables, patio & deck furniture from BREEZESTA Patio Chairs
• Rock Me Baby Cocoons to keep your newborn stylishly swaddled

Barring high winds and wild weather, the inflatable slide will be on site along with the face painter and balloon creator. momstown will be there offering apple print painting crafts for the kids to enjoy, free of charge. Of course, Pretzel the balloon man, Dolphin Lady the face painter and Austin the guitar player will all be back. And failing that, there are plenty of curbs and rocks to balance on along the avenue of trees that goes down the centre of our market!

Come on up to the market for dinner. The food trucks will be on site, and you can grab a spot of shade under a tree (and perhaps even a spot at one of the highly coveted picnic tables, if you're lucky!) and then devour a scrumptious dinner. Choose from :

• Sailin' On (vegan), 
• Bully (gourmet comfort food) 
• Yellow Bird (Japanese fusion) 
• Fat Franks (gourmet hotdogs, sausages & smokies)
• Butcher's Bus (sausage on a bun, pierogies & soft ice cream cones)
• Pink Kernel (snow cones, mini donuts, popped carnival corn, cotton candy)

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Recipe: Salsa (Fresh & Canned)

Hello there! Well it's Friday again, and at the Southwest Edmonton Farmer's Market, that means only one thing... it's recipe blog post time again! Charles, at the Butcher's Bus, told me that there was a time, years ago, when vegetable vendors would sell literally TONS of produce at a market for people who did home canning. He lamented the fact that no one cans anymore... no one makes pickles or jams and that it's a dying art. 

Well... I'm here to tell you that it just ain't so! And I've accepted his comments as a bit of a challenge. I've been putting out very, very simple canning and jam making recipes of late on the market blog, and today's is no exception, to help to fulfill my friday recipe blog purpose:

1. To get people to purchase fresh veggies and fruit at the market.

2. To get people back into the kitchen preparing simple & nutritious home-cooked meals & to get families gathering together for their meals.

3. To teach people a little something... whether it be a new cooking skill or a piece of nutritional knowledge.

4. To entertain people who love food.

5. To give people another way to support and connect with the local food system.

6. To encourage people to stay connected to our market, and to become loyal shoppers & patrons.

I hope you enjoy today's blog post... here it is! 

Peppers are not only spectacularly beautiful vegetables, but they are incredibly nutritious as well. Jonny Bowden, in his book The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth writes,

Both Animal and human studies have indicated that consumption of chile-containing meals increases both fat burning and calorie burning. And a recent study in the July 2006 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that chile pepper has a beneficial effect on insulin levels. Subjects fed a meal containing accayenne chile blend had less insulin in their bloodstreams after eating, meaning something in the chile helped clear the insulin from their bloodstreams after it did its job. Since high insulin is a risk factor for a lot of things, that's a good effect. The researchers think that the active ingredient responsible for the effect is capsaicin. And by the way, the results were even more dramatic in the subjects with the highest body weights.

These peppers were available at last week's
market at TR Greenhouses.

We all know that fresh peppers are good for you... their vibrant colours mean that they're chock-full of antioxidants. Their crunch and their juicy (yes juicy) flesh is delicious. Both sweet bell peppers and their spicy, thin-walled jalepeno and red chile counterparts have capsaicin. So clearly, both sweet and spicy peppers are very good for you.

The Southwest Edmonton Farmers' Market has TONS of beautiful looking peppers crying out to make it to your family's lunch & dinner plates! And what dish has them in abundance? Why salsa, of course!

making spicy salsa
Salsa is one of those easy, go-to recipes that for me, defines a vibrant, fresh tasting summer meal. In our house it comes about in one of two ways...

1. It is made up quickly with fresh ingredients and served on tostados or refritos or eggs. It's also delicious on fish and even on a bed of lettuce with a sliced, barbequed/grilled chicken breast.
2. It is cooked up in a huge batch each summer or fall and canned and put away to be pulled out in the winter and eaten with baked tortilla chips, turned into nachos, put in and on meatloaf, etc.

Canned (homemade jarred) salsa tastes infinitely better than any salsa that you can buy in the store. And it is both far less expensive to make up a batch at home... and far more nutritious!

I have included two recipes here. Fresh salsa is quick and easy to make. There's really nothing to it. Canned salsa takes an investment of time... there's lots of chopping and a good hour or more of cooking to get it nice and think and to get the flavours blending, and then there's the bottling and processing. But that investment of time is SO well worth it and you have access to a bit of bottled summer bliss in the depths of winter!

Fresh ingredients for both salsa recipes are pouring into the market now that the summer growing season is upon us. See our vendors for their spectacular produce...

• Holden Colony has hot house tomatoes, red & green peppers and onions, and they will have field tomatoes to come soon.
• T.R. Greenhouses has hot house red & green peppers, spicy red chilies, beautiful deep green jalepenos and many varieties of tomatoes to choose from (Tena recommends the fleshy roma tomatoes for cooked, canned/jarred salsa).
• Dargatz Family Farm is starting to have field grown tomatoes. And if you want to try growing your own peppers, they have full grown potted plants for your garden or deck, hung with peppers... they had bell peppers, spicy long red chiles this past week.

fresh salsa
The fresh jalepeno here is key... it gives it heat and crunch... chop it finely, using disposable gloves if you want to avoid getting the chilli oil into your eyes or stinging any cuts you may have on your hands. The other thing that makes a world of difference is using fresh squeezed lime juice rather than bottled juice... once again, the overwhelming nutritional differences aside, there's a world of difference in taste when you go fresh with all of your ingredients.
ingredients
½ c. cilantro leaves
1 c. chopped tomatoes
1/4 c. chopped red pepper
1/4 c. finely diced red onion
1 small jalepeño pepper, seeded & finely diced
2 T. freshly squeezed lime juice
instructions
Mix all salsa ingredients until everything is thoroughly melded. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

making bottled/canned salsa
I had this recipe for the first time over 15 years ago in my good friend, Kathy Toogood's, backyard, and I've been making it every year since. I usually double it and use a huge canning pot to hold & cook it all.

The number of jalepenos here are approximate... you'll need to adjust to your taste. Start with the lower number if you like very, very little heat. I usually put all 6 in, but if you like things quite spicy you will want to put more in OR switch to the spicier Thai chilies or little orange habenero peppers... they're very powerful little heat bombs, so be careful!!! As a general rule with spicy peppers, the smaller the pepper the more spicy heat it packs, so don;t be fooled into thinking you need to swap them volume for volume!

The cooking process definitely reduces the peppers' spicy heat, so half way through cooking, you'll want to taste the salsa and see if it is as hot as you'd like it to be. You can always add more spicy chills, but you can never remove them.
ingredients
4½ lbs ripe tomatoes (18 med... or as many as you can jam into a large sized ziplock freezer bag)
3 chillies, diced finely (or a tin)
1 lg. red onion, chopped
1 large green pepper, diced
1 large red pepper, diced
2-6 jalepenos
1 sm tin tomato paste
3/4 c. vinegar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1T pickling salt
2T paprika
instructions
Put tomatoes in the freezer overnight in a large ziplock bag. When you're ready to make the salsa, remove them from the bag and place the tomatoes in a sink of very hot water. The skins will easily slip off and the tomatoes are super easy to chop up with a sharp knife when they're frozen like this. Discard the skins. Roughly chop the tomatoes (they will break down when they are cooking).

Boil all the ingredients together in a large pot, stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn, uncovered for 1 hour. Place into sterilized jars (200F 20 minutes in oven). Wipe rims with clean cloth before putting lids on. Process in a boiling canner at a rolling boil for 10 minutes. Remove and set on the counter overnight. Check their seals once cool and store  in a cool, dry place any with lids whose dimples successfully popped. Refrigerate any that don't seal.

Fresh Salsa Recipe from The Healthy Kitchen, Page 217
Cooked Salsa Recipe from Dr. Kathy Toogood, Principal with Edmonton Public Schools and dear friend of mine
Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Fresh Sheet: July 10th Market

From fresh vendors to innovative experiments, there are a few new fun things happening at the market this week:

• Sweet Grass will be here with spectacular cut flowers... they specialize in gorgeous, eye-popping lilies! Take home a bright bouquet to your table and bring that vibrant flash of colour and the beauty of a summer garden into your home. Lilies are one of those "wow" factor flowers! They'll be available in pots too.
• Breezesta will be providing extra seating this week while demo-ing their lawn & deck furniture, a series of brightly coloured pieces made from 100% recyclable poly lumber .
• For the second week in a row, our mobile atm machine will be back on site, situated in a trailer just north of Bully's bright orange food truck at the main entrance to the market. Many people used the ATM machine last week, when we trialled it for an hour and a half (please stop by the info tent to tell us how you found this service)
• The summer heat we are welcoming is bringing with it a few baking challenges to Raspberry & Cocoa. So OJ & Kevin are using their highly skilled, creative baking talents and trying something other than their decadent croissants... they plan to be bringing out a few new recipes at the market this week: a French version of shortbread called a Sablé Cookie in green tea with chocolate, and walnut and tea flavours, along with a Brioche style of bread including bostock with almond fillings or hazelnut fillings and brioche with orange peel and aniseed)
• Everything Cheese will be here! I know we said it before, and then the market was cancelled because of the tornado... but this week they really will be here! They'll be bringing Oka, Chevre Noir (goat cheddar), Smokehouse cheddar, Italian Style Gouda (from Sylvan Star) and also Local Pecorino (sheep's milk) from The Cheesiry.
• The South Terwillegar Playground Committee will be at our Community Engagement Tent

Fresh vegetables & fruits in season, and available now at this week's market:

The fruit trucks are bringing a wealth of beautiful fruit in from BC. This week expect to see:

• Apricots
• Blackberries 
• Cherries (dark cherries and what our market manager calls the extra sweet sugar bombs... the Rainers... those pale yellow cherries with just a blush of red colouring)
• Raspberries
• Apples (think galas & macs & other delicious BC apples)
• Pears (green & red)
• Dehydrated apples, sparkling cider, 100% pure apple juice and a few other goodies
• Strawberries (not a sure thing... the season is winding down for strawberries)
• Field-grown rhubarb (not a sure thing as the season is winding down)

As for veggies... they are now officially pouring in from the fields! Expect to see:

• Peas! Fresh Peas!!!
• Kohlrabi
• Fennel
• Swiss chard, Spinach, Romaine, Leaf Lettuce, Scapes (garlic tops) and more greens
• Fresh baby carrots
• Fresh, baby potatoes... don't forget to pick up fresh dill to go with them.
• Fresh red, purple and golden beets
• Fresh green/spring onions
• Green & purple cabbages
• Over-wintered potatoes (purple, pink, & white fleshed varieties)
• Over-wintered squashes
• Long green hothouse beans
• Hothouse cucumbers (long English and mini varieties that are perfect for packing in lunches)
• Field-grown spinach (not a sure thing)
• Fresh cut basil & chives & dill
• Fresh herb plants (thyme, basil, oregano, parsley, mint, sage, rosemary, dill)
• Hothouse & field grown lettuces (green leaf lettuce and butter lettuce),
• Hothouse tomatoes (large, small & on the vine red, the wonderfully flavourful & meaty green & red striped mini zebras) 
• Hothouse peppers (small & large orange bell, yellow, red, green, & red & green spicy chiles)

PLUS…

•  A variety of artisan breads, cinnamon buns, cinnamon breads, sweet loaves, gluten-free loaves & baking, cupcakes, homemade cookies, other finger-licking good baked treats
• Fresh & frozen meats (beef, bison, pork, chicken, fish) & this week Lamb is back with Grenstein Farm!
• Farm-fresh eggs
• Jarred pickles
• Dehydrated garlic powder
• Fresh raw honey & bee pollen (Want to know more about bee pollen? Click here.)
• Specialty gelatos (great in this blistering summer heat!)
• Specialty chocolate bars
• Greek dips and specialty Greek food items
• Turkish foods (savoury dinner & lunch items through to sweet desserts)
• Indian Foods (naan, butter chicken, Samosas, Indian cookies & salty snacks)
• Thai Foods (frozen & ready for your weekday meals)
• Ready-made meals and spice mixes and other items perfect for the BBQ season
• Smoked meats (sausages, pepperonis, sandwich meats, jerkies)
• Jams & jellies & condiments to compliment everything from your toast through to your meats and fish
• Authentic Mexican tortillas
• Sweet treats like fudge, mini cupcakes, snow cones & soft ice-cream to eat on the spot
• Kettle corn

What else???

• Jewellery (necklaces, earrings, bracelets) 
• Specialty soap (Ada's is back)
• Fresh cut flowers!!! (lillies are here... double oriental, if you know your gargantuan bulbs!)
• Great new seating from BREEZESTA Patio Chairs

Come on up to the market for dinner. The food trucks will be on site, and you can grab a spot of shade under a tree (and perhaps even a spot at one of the highly coveted picnic tables, if you're lucky!) and then devour a scrumptious dinner. Choose from :

• Sailin' On (vegan), 
• Bully (gourmet comfort food) 
• Yellow Bird (Japanese fusion) 
• Fat Franks (gourmet hotdogs, sausages & smokies)
• Butcher's Bus (sausage on a bun, pierogies & soft ice cream cones)
• Pink Kernel (snow cones, mini donuts, popped carnival corn, cotton candy)

Barring high winds and wild weather, the inflatable slide will be on site along with the face painter and balloon creator. And this week we are continuing with our treasure hunt puzzle that takes the kids, young & old, hunting and seeking throughout the stalls of our market to solve clues and see just how well they know the Southwest Edmonton Farmers' Market. It will be a different puzzle this week! Younger preschool kids will do a visual picture puzzle, and the older kids will have to solve clues to complete their puzzle. Kids can pick up their puzzles at the SWEFM Info Tent, and then, once completed, return them to our volunteers at the SWEFM Info tent for the chance to win fun a prize! Last week's winner will be picking up Sweet Stuff cupcakes... yum!!!

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee

Recipes: Bee Pollen & Lemon Cider Vinaigrette & Honey Strawberry Jam

A book that I enjoy popping into from time to time is Jonny Bowden's The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why. I first heard the author interviewed on CBC radio and what he had to say intrigued me, so I went out & picked up his book. His conversational style, his method of selecting the foods that made the cut into the book, his discussion of the politics of food science and his steadfast belief that we are misguided in North America when we define the "perfect diet" in terms of fat, protein and carbohydrates, was enlightening, engaging and has influenced my thinking around nutrition profoundly. And, well... chocolate makes his list (of course what he means is more like the straight cocoa that you could add to chilli con carne to enhance its flavours and not a decadent chocolate bar with its fat and sugar partners, but I'll take the silver lining wherever I can get it!)....
Bee Pollen is one of nature's amazing miracles. A true superfood. And it's one of the specialty foods that made the cut and got into Bowden's book. On its own, it definitely has floral undertones, it tastes tangy and it can have a wee bit of crunch. Put a granule on the tip of your tongue and see what it does....

Bee pollen is gathered by the worker honeybees and brought back to the hive where it is mixed with enzymes, nectar or honey, fungi and bacteria and packed and pounded, using the head of the worker bee, into the brood cells of the hive. The resulting granules look like very fine pea gravel, not unlike the stones used in the bottom of fish tanks.

Bowden asserts that bee pollen is jam packed with nutrition because it is "loaded with vitamins and contains almost all known minerals, trace elements, enzymes, and amino acids. It actually has more amino acids and vitamins than any other amino acid-containing product like beef, eggs, or cheese." Bee pollen contains:

• digestive enzymes from the bees
• 18 amino acids
• DNA and RNA
• vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 and B12 (it's one of the few non-meat sources of B12)
• niacin
• pantothenic acid
• folic acid
• vitamins C, D, E and K
• choline
• inositol
• rutin and other bioflavonoids that have significant antioxidant properties
• calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc
• 10 types of enzymes
• coenzymes
• hard to get trace elements like silicon, molybdenum, boron and sulphur

Bee pollen can be purchased at the Southwest Edmonton Farmers' Market at Good Morning, Honey where it comes in three sizes. Jill Provencal, that beautiful smiling face that is always behind the honey booth, has developed a recipe for us to try. She has also included a recipe for rhubarb-strawberry honey jam (and she sells jars of this jam at her stall).

Just one word of caution: bee pollen should not be used by people with pollen allergies. I have a bee/wasp sting allergy, and have used bee pollen for years, sprinkling it on salads, with no side effects. But that is the only way I have ever used it, so I was quite excited when Jill accepted the challenge of coming up with a recipe for us to try at home... a recipe that takes away its crunch!

Bee Pollen & Lemon cider vinaigrette
ingredients
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoon ground mustard
1½ tablespoon bee pollen
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
½ teaspoon ground pepper
1 dash sea salt
instructions
Add all the ingredients together. Refrigerate for at least an hour to let the bee pollen dissolve. SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE!!! Drizzle over your salad and enjoy!

Jill suggests that if you don’t like using bee pollen, you could take that out and make the 2 teaspoons of honey into 1-2 tablespoons of raw, unpasteurized honey. And if the vinegar just isn’t your thing, increase the lemon juice to 1/3 of a cup and add 2 tbsp of water.

a thought...
When you work with the granules of bee pollen in this recipe, just imagine the way in which each granule was head-butted into its unique shape by the determination, perseverance and actions of a single worker bee. What an amazing image.

rhubarb-Strawberry honey jam

Rhubarb is still available at Dargatz Family Farm and at Riverbend Gardens at our market. Strawberries were still available at AIG and Red Apple last week.

ingredients

3 cups rhubarb, chopped into 1/2" to 1" pieces 

1/2 cup water 

2 cups fresh strawberries, cut into half 

2 tbsps. lemon juice 

3/4 cup honey 

1 pouch liquid pectin (85 ml size)

instructions
Place 4 clean 250 or 236 ml jars, on a rack, in a boiling water canner, and fill with water. Cover and boil hard for 10 minutes to sterilize the jars.

Boil the discs for the lids for 5 minutes to soften the sealing compound on their rims. Keep the jars and sealing discs hot until ready to use. 

In a non reactive pan, combine the rhubarb and the water. Bring the rhubarb to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until rhubarb is tender. Add the strawberries and the lemon juice. Cover and allow to simmer until the mixture is soft (about 5 - 10 minutes). Add the honey, and bring to a boil. Stir constantly to avoid sticking. Add the pectin and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and skim off foam, if necessary.

Ladle the hot rhubarb jam into the jars and leave 1/4 inch at the top for headspace. Wipe jar rim if necessary with a clean cloth, apply the hot sealing disc, and screw lids until lids are fingertip tight. Place jar back in canner. Repeat for remaining jam. Cover the canner, and return water to a rolling boil. 

Process the jars - boil the filled jars for 10 minutes, or as per manufacturer's instructions, and then remove jars. Cool, undisturbed, for 24 hours. Store in a cool, dark place.

After opening, jam must be stored in the refrigerator. Makes approx. 4 jars. (250 ml. size) of DELICIOUS STRAWBERRY RHUBARB JAM!

Recipe from Jill Provencal of Good Morning, Honey
Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca
Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee & Jill Provencal

Fresh Sheet: July 3 Market

With sun in the forecast, it's bound to be a spectacular market! Who wants to cook when the weather is this hot!? Come on up to the market instead where the food trucks will be on site, and you can grab a spot of shade under a tree (and perhaps even a spot at one of the highly coveted picnic tables, if you're lucky!) and then devour a scrumptious dinner. Choose from :

• Sailin' On (vegan), 
• Bully (gourmet comfort food) 
• Yellow Bird (Japanese fusion) 
• Fat Franks (gourmet hotdogs, sausages & smokies)
• Butcher's Bus (sausage on a bun & soft ice cream cones)
• Pink Kernel (snow cones, mini donuts, popped carnival corn, cotton candy)

One sad piece of news for us... Gourmet Girl Cookies is withdrawing from the market to pursue a new venture, a restaurant in Belgravia called Belgravia Hub. She had hoped to manage both her cookie business and her restaurant business at the same time, but the juggling is turning out to be too demanding and challenging. We wish her all the best in her new venture! Check the restaurant out online... http://belhub.com or stop by and when you see Sarah at the Belgravia area near the university, and please be sure to tell her how much we miss her!

And while the intense sun and heat makes for a spectacular visiting-the-market-day, it can wreak havoc with some of our food producers. And so, it is with much regret that I have to inform you that Raspberry & Cocoa will also not be at this week's market as the heat has interfered with the making of wonderfully their buttery dough for their much sought after croissants....

Barring high winds and wild weather, the inflatable slide, face painter and balloon creator will be at our market for the kids. And this week we are introducing something new for the kids... a treasure hunt puzzle that takes the kids, young & old, hunting and seeking throughout the stalls of our market to solve clues and see just how well they know the Southwest Edmonton Farmers' Market. Younger preschool kids will do a visual picture puzzle, and the older kids will have to solve clues to complete their puzzle. Kids can pick up their puzzles at the SWEFM Info Tent, and then, once completed, return them to our volunteers at the SWEFM Info tent for the chance to win fun a prize!

Fresh vegetables & fruits in season, and available now at this week's market:

The fruit trucks are bringing a wealth of beautiful fruit in from BC. This week expect to see:

• a taste of apricots and blackberries (because it's the beginning of the season, these are in limited quantities and can sell out fast)
• cherries (dark cherries and what our market manager calls the extra sweet sugar bombs... the Rainers... those pale yellow cherries with just a blush of red colouring)
• raspberries
• apples (think galas & macs & other delicious BC apples)
• pears (green & red)
• dehydrated apples, sparkling cider, 100% pure apple juice and a few other goodies
• strawberries (not a sure thing... the season is winding down for strawberries)

As for veggies... they are beginning to pour in from the fields as well. Expect to see:

• Riverbend Gardens will have the first fresh carrots of the season!
• Fresh, baby potatoes... don't forget to pick up fresh dill to go with them.
• Field-grown radishes
• Fresh green onions
• Over-wintered potatoes (purple, pink, & white fleshed varieties)
• Over-wintered squashes
• Long green hothouse beans
• Hothouse cucumbers (long English and mini varieties that are perfect for packing in lunches)
• Field-grown rhubarb (not a sure thing)
• Field-grown spinach (not a sure thing)
• Fresh cut basil & chives & dill
• Fresh herb plants (thyme, basil, oregano, parsley, mint, sage, rosemary)
• Hothouse & field grown lettuces (green leaf lettuce and butter lettuce),
• Hothouse tomatoes (large, small & on the vine red, the wonderfully flavourful & meaty green & red striped mini zebras) 
• Hothouse peppers (small & large orange, yellow, red, green, & red & green spicy chiles)

PLUS…

•  A variety of artisan breads, cinnamon breads, sweet loaves, gluten-free loaves & baking, cupcakes, homemade cookies, other finger-licking good baking
• Fresh & frozen meats (beef, bison, pork, chicken, fish)
• Farm-fresh eggs
• Jarred pickles
• Dehydrated garlic powder
• Fresh raw honey
• Specialty gelatos (great in this blistering summer heat!)
• Specialty chocolates and truffles
• Greek dips and specialty Greek food items
• Indian Foods (naan, butter chicken, Samosas, Indian cookies & salty snacks)
• Thai Foods (frozen & ready for your weekday meals)
• Ready-made meals and spice mixes and other items perfect for the BBQ season
• Smoked meats (sausages, pepperonis, sandwich meats, jerkies)
• Jams & jellies & condiments to compliment everything from your toast through to your meats and fish
• Authentic Mexican tortillas
• Sweet treats like fudge, mini cupcakes, snow cones & soft ice-cream to eat on the spot
• Dinner at the food trucks! (Bully & Sailing On & Yellow Bird)

What else???

• Jewellery (necklaces, earrings, bracelets) 
• Paintings

Visit our website at http://www.swefm.ca
Like us on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/swefm.ca

Contributed by Sheri Hendsbee