Blog Post: New Vendors Bring it All Home

Hello, back again after a short hiatus –here is your Vienna Farmers Market Blog.

Lots of great changes are underway at the Vienna Farmers Market. We’ll be talking about these over the next few months and asking for your input.

We’ve been thinking a lot about family since we operate the market as happy and fun loving and successful family. We ask our market family for input on decisions – like any family -- we hear about it when they don’t like something! J Recently the dairy vendor who had been with us from the beginning had to leave the market for reasons beyond our control; it broke everyone’s heart. But we decided to find a new dairy vendor.  So it is with great excitement that Farmer Dave and Farmer SJ announce that starting on June 2, we welcome a new vendor to our fold and we welcome back an old friend and vendor who has been gone too long this year.

Please read on to find out more details AND to finally find out what Garlic Scapes are and how to use them! C’Mon you’ve always wanted to know!

We’re welcoming Everona Dairy from Rapidan, VA this week to our market. This wonderful cheese creamery is known for its prize winning cheeses. Have you tried cheese before—yes you say? You have tried goat’s cheese, cheese from cows but not from sheep? Then you haven’t tried this true cheese. Many people who are lactose intolerant can eat sheep cheese! It is true for me and it is exciting. Found out about it a few years ago and it’s opened up a whole new world for cooking and eating especially since I need the calcium!  Cheese from this vendor routinely wins or places in the American Cheese Society Competition and the United States Cheese Contest.  The aged sheep cheeses include the Piedmont a farmhouse cheese with a nutty flavor almost flowery, the Stony Man a smooth dense textured cheese with a pronounced flavor aged to a sweet finish, the Shenandoah a Swiss style cheese known for its tangy flavor and Swiss texture, and the Pride of Bacchus a red wine soaked cheese. These are just a few of the aged cheeses in addition to fresh ricotta, membrillo (to serve with cheese), lamb summer sausage will be sold and a wonderful lanolin skin cream will also be available. Please join us in welcoming this new vendor to the market. I’ll be posting pictures from the dairy on our Vienna Facebook page over the weekend.

Elise from Pearl Fine Tea is happy to be back at the market and we are hoping to fit in her in wherever and whenever we can.  Look for her trademark chalk on the sidewalk! Welcome home Elise.

Garlic Scapes—What are they? Everyone is raving about them right now and yet if you don’t ask for them at the market you might overlook them. Garlic scapes are the flower stalks of the hardneck plants yet they don’t produce flowers (usually the Rocomobole). The stalks appear a bit after the first leaves and if they aren’t cut off the plant it diverts the strength away from the garlic bulb itself.  The scapes found at Farmers Markets usually curl giving them the nickname ‘serpent garlic’ but the type and flavor of garlic scapes vary considerably.  When they start to poke from the ground they are usually ready to eat, and the older and longer they get –the more fibrous they get.  They also twist and require peeling and some gentle cooking before eating. For the ‘serpent variety’ cut yours as they start their first circle to get the best flavor. The scapes snap like asparagus when cut in the field. The season for scapes is very short so if you really love them buy extra and freeze them for later (I suggest freezer bag storage).

How to use them-If they are young and tender chop them up and use in salads or as a topping like you would a scallion. Older scapes should be sautéed and cooked with greens (I put then in with collard greens), pickled, or used over pasta or rice. 

Here is a great dressing recipe using garlic scapes-

• 2 garlic scapes, coarsely chopped
• 1 green onions, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 tsp honey
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 4 tbsp red wine or apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Blend all ingredients until smooth slowly adding in oil last until well blended.

The red caboose that is the icon of our market has been painted for the last two weeks by the volunteers of the Optimist Club of Greater Vienna, yep the same volunteers who run the Farmers Market. We’re proud of the market and of the caboose. Hopefully you’ll notice the bright new tones of orangey/red and yellow and black trim on the caboose. Funny you don’t think about painting a caboose until you actually get started on one. And it also makes you appreciate volunteers. This summer the farmers market will be seeking help in the way of Saturday volunteers at the market. If you are interested in helping out, contact us via manager@viennafarmersmarket.com or like us and comment on our Facebook page at Vienna-Farmers-Market. This is a test program, something we’ve never done before.  See you at the Farmers Market.