Fruit Slinger: 2009 - Fruit Slinger

Entries in blueberries (5)

Thursday

30Jul2009

Thursday, 30 July 2009 at 02:14 PM

"These taste different from those"

If you are, say, ridiculous enough to join the Facebook page for a fruit blog, but not quite ridiculous enough to be on Twitter — and I say this as someone who, of course, has joined the Facebook page for his own fruit blog and is a relatively frequent Twitterer — boy, have I got great news for you: Some of the stuff from my Twitter stream will be showing up on the blog's Facebook page.

Not all of it, though. Just a thing or two a day, probably.

* * *

You'll want to check out the blog More Please by Margie. My thanks to Margie for her contribution to this blog's Kickstarter project. As I write this, her most recent post features, among other things, a recipe for chicken breasts with a cherry marinade and a recipe for a cherry balsamic vinaigrette. Both sound fantastic.

* * *

One blueberry. Two blueberries. Three blueberries. Four blueberries. I just watched while he picked them from the baskets and popped them in his mouth.

"These taste different from those."

"They're not all going to taste exactly alike." I watched for some silent sign of acknowledgment. I got nothing. "You know?"

"Well, I had one and it was really good and flavorful. So I figured it couldn't be representative of them all. And then I tried another one. And it was pretty good, but it had a little more of a bite."

"Oh. OK."

There was a pause before he spoke. "I'll take two of the boxes from this table, please."

"Nine dollars, please."

Give the customer what he wants.

And then blog about it in your head.

"Were these raspberries picked this morning?"

"Where are these peaches from?"

"South Haven, Michigan."

"No, not where. When?"

"They were picked yesterday."

"So they're from this year?"

"This year?"

"Yeah, they're not from last year?"

"No . . . these peaches are from this year."

"OK, good."

Some people are hard to figure out, but easy to please.

He bought some peaches.

* * *

"Were these raspberries picked this morning?"

"Are you kidding me? No, we did not pick raspberries in the dark this morning before we came to the market."

* * *

Peter: "She was a 'Dan Special.' "

Me: "Hmm?"

Peter: "Wasn't that irritible bowel lady?"

Me: "No."

Peter: "Well, she still seemed like your type of customer."

Me: "Thanks, Peter."

* * *

We were packing up when a woman with a familiar face came up to me.

"We chatted the other day about freezing blueberries."

Uh oh.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know, it worked out exactly like you said it would."

Score! "Oh, I'm so glad to hear that. Thanks for letting me know."

"Yeah, well, a lot of people around here dispense a lot of advice. But yours actually worked."

"Well, thanks for saying that. I appreciate it."

There was that. Plus, only one person walked away in a huff today.

So it was a good day.

* * *

Don't trust any fruit recipe that doesn't include a little bit of salt.

* * *

Bring re-sealable containers — old take-out containers, Rubbermaid containers, whatever — to the market and use those to carry your berries home. More and more people are doing this. Even more should.

* * *

I couldn't choose between a blueberry or peach crumble, plus I had some red and black raspberries on hand. So I made a mixed-fruit crumble.

It came out of the oven looking like hell. But it tasted like heaven.

* * *

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, it has started again. The poking of the peaches.

And if you're on your cell phone? And you're just mindlessly poking the peaches while you tell someone that you're totally at the farmers market and they have, like, peaches?

I am tempted to poke you until you stop.

6 Comments |

Email this post | |

File under:

markets

Tagged:

black raspberries,

blueberries,

green city market,

lincoln square market,

peaches,

raspberries

Sunday

05Jul2009

Sunday, 05 July 2009 at 05:42 PM

"Would you like to throw in some cherries?"

"Five dollars for the blueberries. Would you like to make it $9 and throw in some cherries?"

"I was looking at those. They look good."

"They are good. They are very good."

"The problem is that I'm not sure if I'm going to eat them."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, because I'm going out of town."

"Well, if it were me, I'd just stay home and eat cherries."

2 Comments |

Email this post | |

Permalink

File under:

customers,

markets

Tagged:

blueberries,

cherries,

wicker park market

Thursday

02Jul2009

Thursday, 02 July 2009 at 08:58 AM

Waffled french toast

While the espresso machine came to temperature, I warmed some maple syrup in a ramekin on the very lowest flame.

The bread I had sliced the night before, after I was finished prepping strawberries for jam. It was left to sit out on the counter to get slightly stale.

In a pie tin, I cracked two eggs. I stirred in some milk, a shot of vanilla, a pinch of salt and a dash of nutmeg. Two slices of bread soaked while I made my americano and preheated the waffle iron.

This is waffled french toast, which I discovered thanks to this blog, which I discovered thanks to this blog.

Yesterday I had a long discussion about raspberries with a frequent customer. She had plans to make jam, but wasn't in love with the raspberries.

"They're still too tart," she said.

"But don't you want tartness in your jam berries?" I shot back. "You're going to be burying them in sugar. Don't you want something that will stand up to that? Something that will be a little bright after all that sugar?"

She bought six pints of raspberries.

The waffled french toast was bathed in maple syrup. The tang of the berries stood up to it well.

2 Comments |

Email this post | |

File under:

Tagged:

Wednesday

01Jul2009

Wednesday, 01 July 2009 at 02:20 PM

"I'll let you have the final word on that."

"What are we going to do with all these raspberries?" Peter surveyed the table — so many unsold baskets on yet another gray, rainy market day.

"Well, I can pay you for some of them," I offered.

What was this new thing I had with paying for fruit? I had already bought another $10 worth of strawberries off another stand today.

This was becoming a bad habit.

Peter looked at me. "I think we're beyond where you need to pay for fruit."

He caught me a little off guard. "Well, I just meant it's a lot of berries and ..."

"We are beyond you paying me for fruit," he said, matter-of-factly.

"I'll let you have the final word on that, Peter."

I took home three quarts of strawberries, two pints of blueberries, two pints of raspberries and two pints of cherries. I try to be conscientious when I take fruit — if something's left over or abundant, that's one thing. If my taking it deprives the farm of a revenue opportunity, that's another.

Today, I deprived the farm of a few small revenue opportunities.

Oh, maybe yesterday, too: I took home three baskets of fraises des bois.

But Peter told me to take those home. In fact, it was the first thing he said to me Saturday morning, when we threw open the back of the truck and found the flats of wild strawberries stacked on the edge.

"Don't you think you should take some of these home and make jam out of them?"

Yes, Peter. In fact, I do think that.

Yes, I do.

4 Comments |

Email this post | |

Permalink

File under:

markets

Tagged:

blueberries,

cherries,

fraises des bois,