Hello!

It’s JUNE!!  Can you believe it? Because of the cold weather this spring, I can’t lure you to the market with any fresh veggies (until next Saturday, that is), but there will be so many fun things to eat and plant and buy at the market, please come anyway!

perennials
Have you ever dropped a load of cash on “discount” perennials at a big-box store and then been disappointed because they didn’t come up the second year, or the third year? I admit, when I first started my perennial garden many years ago, that’s what I did… I didn’t realize that buying perennials at those places is risky, because they sell all kinds of plants that aren’t specifically chosen for our Alaskan climate—and they are unlikely to survive a hard winter. Also, they aren’t always very well taken-care of, so by the time you get these plants, you may be waiting a few years for them to get strong enough to flower. I had given up on flowers altogether and was working on appreciating foliage until the third year, when a few of those poor plants finally got big and strong enough to flower. That’s about the time I realized that even though perennials from our local nurseries (who are selling flowers and plants at the Farmers’ Market) seem more expensive at the outset, I was actually getting a better deal than shopping for “bargains” at the chain big box stores. The plant sellers at our market will sell you top-quality plants that are especially chosen to thrive here in Alaska. You can ask them questions about what plants will grow well in your garden, in what types of conditions (shade or sun, wet or dry conditions) and they can help you pick the right plant for the right place.

pigs
A.D. Farms will have jams, dessert breads, and eggs. You can talk to Alex, as well, about buying a pig, if you’re interested—you can order one for $350 down, plus $1.75/pound at the time of butchering. You can choose the size of your pig, up to 300 pounds.

bread
This is the first market of the summer for Rise & Shine Bakery’s whole grain breads! I’ll be there with two brand-new Alaskan breads, plus three of our old favorites. I’m so excited about our new breads—the first one is the Alaskan barley bread that I’ve been playing with for a few months now—it’s a large pan loaf, like the regular 100% whole wheat sourdough levain, but it’s made with hull-less barley grown in Delta Junction! We grind the barley in our bakery, and it makes up about a quarter of the grain in the bread. I tried lots of different renditions of this recipe—one trial used barley malt syrup because I thought it would be fun to have the sweetener and the grain made of barley. But the barley flavor in the malt syrup was a little too assertive, so I went back to using a touch of the milder honey. This loaf is a basic multi-grain type loaf—it’s perfect for toast, sandwiches—anywhere you need a good, hearty, basic bread.

Our second new Alaskan flavor is Alaskan potato & chive! If you’ve ever baked your own bread, and used potato cooking water, or leftover potatoes in the dough, you’ll know already that potatoes are a wonderful conditioner for the dough. I don’t know why it took me this long to try Alaskan potatoes in the bread, but I think you’ll be really happy with the results! Speckled with little green flecks of chives and subtly flavored with onion, this is the softest, most luscious bread we make, thanks to the addition of lots of freshly-baked Alaskan potatoes from the Valley! It’s wonderful as toast with a slice of cheese, or as sandwich bread for any savory filling.
The other three flavors we’ll be making are the regular 100% whole wheat sourdough (levain) pan loaf, our fresh rosemary hearth loaf, and the all-time favorite breakfasting and snacking loaf, the raisin & pecan bread. Check out the recipes at the end of the newsletter for a fun dish to serve with the raisin & pecan bread!!

I’m so excited to see you at the market!! Please stop by for a taste of bread, especially if I haven’t seen you all winter! See the long-term bread schedule and list of ingredients toward the end of the newsletter for more information.
You can also get breads of all kinds from Mary Jane, selling bread from the French Oven bakery. She will also have those yummy macaroons , ham and cheese croissants, and those delicious, layered, buttery cookies called palmiers!

storage vegetables & recipes!
I’m still being inspired by the onions and potatoes that Vanderweele Farms is bringing to the market!! Now that it’s June, are you thinking about barbecues in your backyard—even though the weather hasn’t seemed quite warm enough? What could be more apropos than making a big batch of Boston baked beans? I’ve included a recipe at the end for these delicious beans to go with your hotdogs or burgers or grilled chicken! Now wait—if I’ve just lost you (are you thinking “are you crazy? Just open a can!”), please give these beans a chance. They have a similar savory-sweet and complex flavor to the canned beans you probably grew up on (yes, I loved canned beans with weenies as a child), but these are just so much better and more delicious. Aren’t you wondering now what that flavor is? The sweetness in my recipe comes from molasses, tomato paste, and the massive amounts of onions in the recipe—they cook down and disintegrate into a delicious sauce. The beans do take a while to cook, but it’s mostly oven time, so you don’t have to watch them while they cook. And they really are worth the time. You can make a big batch and freeze them in plastic containers and have them ready to thaw any time you feel like a barbecue! Another thing about these beans—you know how baked beans are often served with Boston brown bread, with raisins and nuts in it? Well, you could get a loaf of Rise & Shine Bakery’s raisin & toasted pecan bread (although it’s not baked in a can) for a reasonable facsimile!

I have a great cabbage salad recipe to go along with the beans! If you’re like me, and love best the side dishes at the picnic, you’ll be all set with the beans, this brightly colored cabbage salad with creamy tahini dressing, and maybe a few toasted marshmallows for dessert! Try these recipes as soon as we’ve got some sun in the forecast and you feel brave enough to bundle up and eat outside!

Also, I’ve been neglecting the seafood these last few weeks in my recipe-writing! I have a great idea for you—try a slice of the potato & chive bread with a smear of cream cheese and some of that smoked salmon from Arctic Choice, sprinkled with a few thin red onion slices!

cookbook
I’d love to see you at the market and show you my Farmers’ Market cookbook! The cookbook is a compilation of all the recipes from my previous summertime farmers’ market newsletters, as well as from my wintertime Rise & Shine Bakery Bulletin emails, plus some additional recipes. The book contains over 100 recipes, on full-sized, spiral-bound pages, thoroughly indexed, organized, and cross-referenced, so you don’t have to worry about organizing or printing out anything from last year. They are $15, which includes a really cool folding wire cookbook holder while supplies last. (Additional holders sold separately for $6.)

seafood
Arctic Choice Seafoods will have all kinds of fresh, delicious, Alaskan fish, and the debut of the fresh Alaskan side stripe shrimp!  Also note the fresh salmon! Here’s a list of what they will have, along with lots of free seafood recipes for you to take along with you.
• fresh side stripe shrimp are back! from Prince William Sound
• fresh Sockeye salmon from the Copper River
• live razor clams from Nikiski
• fresh white king salmon from the Stikine area
• fresh king salmon, troll-caught from the Stikine River
• fresh rockfish from Prince William Sound
• fresh halibut from Prince William Sound
• fresh clams from Ketchikan
• fresh oysters from Cordova
• fresh halibut cheeks from Prince William Sound
• king crab from Bering Sea
• scallops from Fairweather Grounds
• smoked salmon bellies from Kachemak Bay

Saturday South Anchorage Farmers’ Market
Dates: May 10-October 4
Hours: 9am-2pm
Location: Subway/Cellular One Sports Centre at the corner of Old Seward and O’Malley

Wednesday South Anchorage Farmers’ Market
Dates: July 2- October 1
Hours: 10am-4pm
Location: behind the Dimond Center, in front of the Dimond Center Hotel

Please pass this email along to anyone you think might be interested in receiving the weekly market news—they can email if they’d like to be added to our newsletter list.
For more information about the market, contact Arthur Keyes, South Anchorage Farmers’ Market Manager, at 907-354-5833, or at . Please respond to this email if you’d like to be removed from the newsletter list.
Cheers! And see you at the market!

Alison Arians
Farmers’ Market Reporter

related recipes

Boston-baked beans
colorful cabbage & carrot salad with creamy tahini dressing