Farm Market Crawl: College Park City Hall Farmers Market

Farm market shoppers in College Park now have a second weekend market to visit on Sunday mornings. The new market is held in the parking lot of the College Park city hall building at 4500 Knox Road from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The market will run until October 30^th. Miller Farms organized the market as a way to accommodate shoppers who couldn’t make the original College Park market on Saturdays. Their farm offers wholesale produce, as well as fruits and vegetables grown locally on their farm in Clinton.

Pong’s Orchard, run by Al & May Pong in Fulton, Maryland, sells a variety of locally-grown fruits at the city hall market. The orchard specializes in Asian pears, persimmon and kumquats. They also offered the sweetest and juiciest red and yellow I’ve ever tasted. I’m talking perfectly ripe, juice running down your hand plums.

Pong’s also specializes in white peaches, which are a sweeter, more delicate peach. White peaches typically have shorter growing season and a higher sugar content than standard peaches. The best thing about them is you don’t have to wait until they soften to enjoy them, they are perfectly sweet and delicious while still firm. I wanted to savor the refreshing peach flavor in a cool treat—popsicles.

Simmer the peaches in water and a splash of Peach Schnapps until tender, then puree them with a little sugar. You can replace the Schnapps with water for a kid-friendly version.

Peach-sicles

Makes 4 2-ounce popsicles.

1½ cups roughly chopped white peaches, peeled

¼ cup water

3 tablespoons peach schnapps

1-2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons finely chopped, peeled white peaches

Combine 1½ cups peaches, water and peach schnapps in a medium sauté pan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until peaches are fork tender, about 10-12 minutes. (Firmer peaches may require more time to soften.)

Pour mixture into blender and add sugar a tablespoon at a time or to taste. Blend until smooth and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Divide finely chopped peaches evenly between 4 2-ounce popsicle molds. Pour cooled peach puree into molds and freeze until hard, about 4 hours.