New Maple Grove Farmers Market Vendors are Tempting Taste Buds

When you are walking around the Maple Grove Farmers Market and shopping among all the vendors, you might notice there’s not as much produce available right now due to cooler spring temperatures.

“The locally grown produce is two to three weeks behind last year. Farmers had to plant later than normal due to the long winter and really wet spring,” Maple Grove Farmers Market Manager Kirsten Bansen Weigle said. 

But what you will notice is several new and different vendors offering vendor-made baked goods, eggs, meat and dairy products, cheese, breads, syrups, sauces, jams, honey, candies and flowers.  

Newest to the block is Pam’s Pepper Jam made by Pam Hoepner of Robbinsdale. She said she started whipping up her secret recipe about 20 years ago for friends and family. 

“People kept telling me my pepper jam was so delicious that I should sell it, so I thought 'what have I got to lose',” said Hoepner.  

So when she was laid off two years ago, she decided to take it full time and open up her own business. 

“I have never been happier, I truly love making my jam. I use only the freshest of jalapeño peppers, a few bell peppers, onion and all natural ingredients,” said Hoepner. 

You will also find one of Maple Grove’s newest businesses, , which sells extra virgin olive oils and balsamic vinegars, all made in Italy by a family who’s been doing it for three generations. 

“We have 18 different extra virgin olive oils, three nut oils, two seed oils and nine balsamic vinegars, plus one balsamic that is 25 years old,” Maple Grove Oilerie Owner Terri Chaffer said.

Chaffer said all of the oils can be cooked or baked with much of the produce and products sold at the Farmers Market. 

“Our products match up really well anything you find at the farmers market. You can drizzle the balsamic over the vegetables or dip the homemade bread in the rich olive oils,” Chaffer said. “We have so many different flavors that will tempt any palate.” 

In addition to the lineup of vendors at the Thursday, June 23 Maple Grove Farmers Market, author and chef Jenny Breen will talk about cooking greens and sign/sell her cookbook "Cooking Up the Good Life: Creative Recipes for the Family Table" and talking about how to involve the family in the cooking process. Shoppers can stop by for market tours, canning information, family story time at 4:30 p.m. and live entertainment by musician/songwriter Brad Dunse from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The Maple Grove Farmers Market is 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Thursday through October at the .