The Secretary Comes to Market

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited the Reading Terminal Market today to announce a $20 billion increase in food stamp funding thanks to the economic stimulus program. It means an extra $80 a month for a family of four participating inn the program in Philadelphia. Congressman Chakah Fattah joined Vilsack, the former governor of Iowa, for a lunch at the Market's kitchen, a tour of the market, and the announcement.

Iovine Brothers produce set up the display in center court (which did not include any imported produce, unless you consider California a foreign country). Standing behind the secretary in the photo is Jimmy Iovine.

Although commonly referred to as the food stamp program, it's now formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

According to USDA, the RTM is the largest redeemer of the benefit program in Pennsylvania. The 15 participating merchants accepted $1.1 million through SNAP last year.

An excuse

Outside of yesterday's two-sentence ramps post, I realize I hadn't added any content since late February. Yes, I was away for a week in Norway (when I write about that I'll add a link), but that doesn't account for all the missing missives.

When I saw the ramps, I realized why it's been so long between posts: there wasn't much to write about during the winter produce doldrums. How many times can I report the price of citrus fruit?

Now, however, things are beginning to change. Easter and Passover have prompted meat and fish vendors to strut their stuff, the local farmers' markets will open in a month (Headhouse May 3, Fairmount May 7), and, just like the blooming of daffodils and blossoming of pear trees, we are predictably pleased with the end of winter and green onslaught of spring.

About those fish vendors . . . there are still people who make their own gefilte fish for Passover, so John Yi at the Reading Terminal Market has stocked whole carp, yellow perch and whitefish (the fresh, unsmoked variety). The carp (no need for a filled bathtub; it's no longer alive) sells for $2.99, the other fish for $7.99. (Then again, you can buy gefilte fish ready-made at Hershel's Deli.) Another spring fish is much in evidence: buck shad for $2.99, roe shad for $3.99, as well as roe sets (sorry, didn't write down the price). Artic char, a trout-salmon relative, was $12.99 for filets; the sign said it was wild, but most of the char sold in this country is farm-raised, though in a very sustainable and eco-friendly closed-system way.

Over at Iovine Brothers, although it's not yet local asparagus has been prominently displayed. The white variety, $1.49, comes from Peru; the green, $1.99, is unattributed but probably hails from either Mexico or California.

For the second day in a row, the sign at Iovine's said they had ramps, but none were to be found in late morning. Vinnie and Charlie (between setting up for this afternoon's visit by U.S. Ag Sec Tom Vilsack swear they have them, they just weren't out yet. By the time Vilsack made his tour in mid-afternoon, they were there.

Bargain alert: Hass avocados are two for a buck at Iovine's. Red and green bell peppers, 99 cents a pound. California strawberries, two one-pound clamshells for $3. Chilean green seedless grapes, $1 for a one-pound clamshell. Small navel oranges, 5/$1. I didn't check today, but yesterday Argentine Bartlett pears were 89 cents a pound. Very large mangos were selling for a buck apiece.

Given the economy, a lot of vendors selling hard goods (like at least one home design store I Philadelphia) are cutting back on inventory, which is expensive to carry. When I walked by Downtown Cheese yesterday, I thought Jack was doing the same. But no fear, it must have just been during a lull in restocking. The cases were full today.

Pretzels and Candies

During my interregnum from posting, the pretzel store reopened as Miller's Twists across the aisle from the original location. Fisher's, which sold off the pretzel and ice cream part of its business to Roger Miller, has since expanded its candy operation to the former pretzel-ice cream-counter area and added fudge as a product. Photo shows sign at Miller's Twists being installed.

The contiguous spaces formerly occupied by Dutch Country Meats and Everyday Gourmet remain vacant, although the market has deals for both a butcher, S&B Meats, and a prepared foods vendor, Barb & Suzy's Kitchen, two related businessest. Today, proprietor Moses Smucker was at the stall going over architectural plans. He bopes to open in June. The Kitchen part of the businesses will feature sausage sandwiches and batter-fried veggies, he said.

Cheesesteaks galore

There's no dearth of cheesesteaks at the RTM, with both Spataro's and Carmine's selling them. Now add a third vendor: By George, which fires up the grill Monday.

Sunday Success

The RTM has had to shoo people out the door at 4 p.m. on Sundays. So why fight it? The market has extended its Sunday hours to 5 p.m. It opens at 9 a.m. No Amish vendors on Sunday, some of the lunch operations don't participate, as well as some food vendors.

Parking Rates Rise

It's no surprise that the discount parking offered by the Reading Terminal Market has increased its price to match the city's meter rate increase. What is surprising is that it took so long. the new rates at the Parkway garage supposedly went into effect April 1 ($4 for two hours), but I was charged the old $3 rate when I stopped by the market at midday.

Fair Food Progress

The Fair Food Farmstand remains optimistic they can open at its new 12th street side location by the end of spring. They don't want to miss the big growing season.

Maple Daze

You better like all things maple if you wander into the Reading Terminal Market on Saturday, April 18. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day, the RTM will celebrate the new vintage of Pennsylvania maple syrup with Maple Daze. You can learn how maple syrup is made, watch a maple sugar-making demonstration, and sample maple baked goods, maple fudge, Bassetts maple ice cream, maple bacon, maple sugar cookies, maple trivia, and more.

St. Pat's Day Redux

It my look a bit like St. Patrick's Day in and around the Convention Center, because about 10,000 are attending the World Irish Dancing Championships April 5-12. Market merchants have been asked to offer Irish-themed specials or spruce up their stalls in a Celtic fashion.

Ramping up for Spring

The first sign of spring was the appearance of shad, even before the vernal equinox. This week it's the real thing: ramps at Iovine Brothers, $3.99/bunch.

Boston Trying To Play Catch-Up

Boston hasn't had a public market since the 1950s when Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market fell so deep into disrepair that the federal government threatened to close them, forcing many vendors to relocate. Now, according to an article in yesterday's Boston Globe, city officials are hoping to turn the ground level of a vacant five-story parking garage and office complex owned by the Mass Turnpike Authority into one. Boston, the article notes, is one of the largest cities in the country without a public market. The article cites the Reading Terminal, along with Seattle's Pike Place, as "highly successful attractions that provide a unique window into the culture of those cities. "

Shad Update

It seems my earlier report that the shad at John Yi's were harvested from Southern U.S. rivers was mistaken. According to the signs, these comes from European waters. Further research shows that there are two species of European shad inhabiting eastern Atlantic waters from Morrocco north to Norway, though the commercial shad fishery is centered in the Gironde-Garonne-Dordogne basin of France.

Although these fillets, whole fish and roe sets looked fine, you're probably better off waiting for the local run, which arrives in late April and early May. Or visit the annual Lambertville shad festival, scheduled this year for April 25 and 26.

Greensgrow Goal: Farmers' Market
Earl Livengood first to give it a test

Earl Livengood became the first regional farmer to directly market at Greensgrow's Kensington urban farm.

Greensgrow, entering its twelfth season, is a favored nursery among many Center City backyard gardeners. (I love their pepper plants; She Who Must Be Obeyed was ecstatic last spring when she discovered Moonflowers there.) The Kensington non-profit also hosts a CSA and sells its own produce and that of other regional farms, urban and rural. It also supplies city chefs who want local produce.

Now, however, Greensgrow founder Mary Seton Corboy would like to see area farmers sell their product directly at Greengrow, located at East Cumberland between Almond and Gaul streets, just a couple of blocks from Aramingo Avenue and its strip malls and fast-food franchises. She and her market and CSA manager, Natalie, are seeking participants both from the current crop of growers who supply Greensgrow's own retail operation, and others.

Earl, who is also selling this winter at Clark Park's Farmers Market (where his helper John greeted customers today), plans to try it for a few weeks to see how it goes and whether it's worth his time and effort. Winter sales at the Reading Terminal Market, he told me last month, tend to be okay for the first couple hours in the morning but then die. One advantage at Greensgrow when compared to outdoor farmers' markets operated by The Food Trust and Food To City is that Livengood doesn't have to set up his own awning to protect him and the produce from the elements. Greensgrow plans to located any farmers they can attract within the largest structure, which in spring, summer and fall is filled with plants for sale.

Greensgrow's own retail operation reopens for the 2009 season April 28, selling produce, meats and dairy products from many of the same farmers who market through Fair Food and/or participate directly in regional farmers' markets.

No Fresh Pretzels!

At least temporarily, as Fisher's has demolished its existing stand in order to build a new one, which should be open by Flower Show, which begins Feb. 28. When it reopens, Fisher's will be strictly a candy vendor. In the meantime, Fisher's is selling candy in the spaces formerly occupied by Dutch Country Meats and Every Day Gourmet, as shown in the photo.

Across the aisle, Miller's Twists is well along on construction, anticipating opening Feb. 25, which is when you can satisfy your fresh-baked pretzel addiction. (In the meantime, you can indulge on a fine example of street pretzel sold at the Pennslylvania General Store.) As previous reported, Miller's has bought Fisher's pretzel and ice cream business and is moving it to the west side of the Green Court seating area.

Right now seating is scarce in the Green Court, but will be restored to pretty much the previous level when the Fair Food Farmstand makes its move to the 12th Street side in May.

Fair Food Funding Gain

Fair Food is closing in on its funding needs for the move, thanks to a $50,000 state grant being arranged through State Rep. Dwight Evans, who just happen to chair the House's Appropriation Committee.

Members of the Fair Food staff attended Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture Conference in State College earlier this month, and in addition to attending various workshops also exhibited a "mini" farmstand. One of the goals was to find new farmers to let them know how the Fair Food Farmstand can help in selling their products.

Stands To Remodel

Lancaster County Dairy needs more space, Old City Coffee's adjacent stand is a jury-rigged mess. Solution: Old City reduces its footprint in a redesigned stall, making the operation more efficient (particularly important on a morning like today, when attendees and exhibitors from the crafts show at the Convention Center caused long lines). And Lancaster County Dairy gets the space it needs.

Signs of Spring

Shad from Southern rivers appeared at John Yi's last week. Today they were selling for $3.99 (buck), $4.99 (roe) and roe sets were commanding $7.99. Local shad don't appear in the Delaware until May.

Based on how good it was a few weeks ago, I bought some haddock fillet at $7.99. I'll pan fry it tonight, perhaps in a panko crust.

More About Citrus

Or, at least, price reports from Iovine Brothers at the Reading Terminal Market.

The prices have held relatively steady except for a whopping reduction in the cost of limes. For the past week limes have been selling for a dime apiece. With Hass avocados under a buck (89 cents), it's once more guacamole time.

On to the other citrus:

• Honeybells, small 8 for $1
• Honeybells, large 2 for $1
• Temple oranges, 4 for $1
• Cara Cara oranges, 5 for $2
• White grapefruit, 89 cents
• Jumbo red grapefruit, 3 for $1
• Small ruby grapefruit, 4 for $1
• Navel oranges, 3 for $1
• Mineola oranges, small 4 for $1
• Mineola oranges, large 2 for $1.49
• Jumanji oranges, 2 for $1.49
• Juice oranges, 4 for $1

Also at Iovine's, red peppers 99 cents, greens $1.29, red and green frying peppers $1.29.

Oh, and black truffles, $300/pound, with the two packs I saw priced at $18 apiece. Makes a heck of an omelet.

Clark Park Going Strong

About nine vendors attracted a moderate but steady stream of customers this morning. Since I had already visited the RTM and was bound for Greensgrow in Kensington/Port Richmond, I limited my purchases to four small storage winesaps, from Keystone Farm at $1.29/pound. They had good flavor, were relatively unblemished but, like almost all storage apples, had lost their crunch. Lots of good looking root vegetables and, especially, winter greens at the various produce vendors. Also some spring greens, like dandelions, courtesy of some growers' greenhouses and high tunnels.

I'm Baaaaack . . .

Has it really be three weeks since I've posted? Shame on me.

That means I neglected to tell you about the odd raddicchio Iovine Brothers Produce featured for one week back in January, the Tardivo (photo at right), which apparently is created by some forced growing method that creates the elongated leaves out of the more common Raddichio di Treviso. Priced at $22/pound, I don't think the Iovines had many takers, certainly not enough to keep this winter specialty in stock.

In his monthly newsletter to merchants, Reading Terminal Market GM Paul Steinke notes that the market's parking program at the Parkway Garage is now less expensive for customers than on-street parking, since the Philadelphia Parking Authority's meter rate is now $2 an hour, vs. $3 for two hours at the garage. To reduce expenses to merchants, who subsidize the customer parking program, consideration is being given to raising the cost to customers to match the city's on-street rate.

The Valentine's Day tradition at the RTM continues, with five couples scheduled to tie the knot Saturday at 11:30 a.m. in center court. Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart will officiate, and the newlyweds he couples will be treated to a complimentary dessert reception hosted by La Cucina at the Market and other merchants

Working is progressing apace for Miller's Twist, the successor to Fisher's now taking over part of the "Green Court" space across the way. Signs are also up for S&B Meats, which will occupy the former Dutch Country Meats space along with Barb & Suzy's Kitchen, which will sell sausage sandwiches and other items.

New Pizza Place

Simply because I liked it (it certainly doesn't fit into proclaimed subject matter of this blog, though there is a tenuous connection), I want to shamelessly advance the cause of a new pizza-maker in town, Danny DiGiampietro.

Danny's been supplying the bread for Tommy DiNic's sandwiches (that's the tenuous connection) and other steak, hoagie and pork sandwich makers in town for about a year out of his South Philly bakery at 8th and Watkins (1712 S. 8th). He's been experimenting with making pizza in the last few weeks in order to add another line of business to his efforts. But he didn't just want to slap pizza together to add to his profit. Danny's got pride in what he produces (as anyone who has enjoyed a DiNic's sandwich knows, the bread is pretty good, too), so he's taken the time to search out quality ingredients and pin down the right technique in order to produce a quality pizza.

It's very tasty, well-balanced pizza. The crust is on the thin side (but with enough structure to support the lightly-sauced pie) baked to a nice char. The sauce itself is straightforward, exercising restraint on the seasoning. The cheese, of superior quality, comes from Grande's in Brooklyn, so there's no need to add oil on top of the pie to keep it from burning in the oven.

It's not, as one wag put it, a "destination" pizza. But it's among the better pizzas I've consumed in Philadelphia where, surprisingly, good pizza is not necessarily easy to find. (I include Pizza by George at the RTM as among Philadelphia's better pies.) Danny's done right. If I lived in the neighborhood, I'd make it a habit; as it is, I'm going to stop by every once in a while and ask him to underbake one so I can finish it up on the baker's stone in my home oven. I think his availability of other toppings will probably be limited, so don't expect to order a clam or pineapple and ham pie.

So far, he's given the pie away to his retail bakery and commercial customers asking for comments. But he plans a "soft" opening starting Monday. Hours for pizza will be from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., I think seven days a week. Although his business has been geared primarily to commercial baking, he retails sandwich rolls, big Italian loaves and a few other bread items at the South Philly shop.

Right now the sign in front says "Coppola Bakery", which was the name of the bakery before Danny took over the shop nearly a year and a half ago. The sign might be changed to "Giampietro" by Monday. Maybe not.

He does have a big, unused brick oven in the basement, which probably dates back 80 or 100 years, since he figures the building was built as a bakery. It's restorable, but would take a major investment, one he's not planning to make in the foreseeable future.

Fishy Stuff

A steaming bowl of chili or cauldron of soup seems essentially in cold weather. Fish chowder also satisfies that craving for me.

I went with a piece of haddock from John Yi's Saturday. Since I'm the only one in the house who enjoys this New England classic, I only used about a quarter pound of filet. A lot of folks think New England chowders have be creamy and thick. They don't. IMHO, whole milk allows the flavor of the fish to come through best.

I start out by gently sautéing in bacon fat a small onion, a stalk of celery, and half a carrot, all diced to about one-quarter inch. Once they turn translucent I add a medium diced potato, and gently sauté for about 10 minutes. Next comes about a cup of stock (I used vegetable stock made primarily from last fall's red celery from Tom Culton of Headhouse Square, though either fish or chicken stock would work very well) and a cup of milk, which simmers the veggies for another 10 minutes. By this time the potatoes are just about done, so it's time to add the fish (cut up into spoon-sized pieces), salt and pepper to taste, and thyme, dried or fresh, maintaining the pot at a simmer. After five minutes add a tablespoon of butter -- don't stir, just let it melt atop the liquid. By the time the butter adds its yellow sheen, the fish is probably cooked through. Once in the bowl, I top the chowder with fresh chopped parsley. To accompany, I used the last of my precious stock of Crown Royal crackers, a Maine favorite which has been discontinued by Nabisco, but OTCs would work well, too. Saltines and oyster crackers just don't have the necessary heft for those soup.

If you don't like plain white fish, no reason why you can't use shrimp, lobster, scallops or clams.

That filet of haddock at John Yi's in the Reading Terminal Market set me back $7.99/pound, which was also the price of the flounder. Fluke was $9.99. It was also one of those weeks where wild striped bass cost less than its farmed-raised cousin (a striped bass-white bass cross), $4.99 vs. $6.99 for whole fish. Boston mackeral has made an early appearance (it's strongest runs start in the spring), with prices ranging from $1.49 to $2.59, depending upon size. Medium-sized porgies were $2.99, cod filet (which would be an other good choice for chowder) $9.99, black sea bass $5.99.

A Wan's Seafood, the haddock would have set me back $11.99/pound. Whole striped bass as $3.99 (though the quality didn't look quite as good as at Yi's), though the filets were appealing at $9.99. Wan's was the only RTM fishmonger still selling sardines, $3.99.

Golden Fish's new cases displayed wild striped bass at $4.99, whole black sea bass at $4.99, Bronzino (another sea bass, farm-raised in Europe) for $7.99 on the bone, and particularly good looking, fat mackeral at $2.99.

Another Twist

In my earlier post, I neglected to mention the name of Miller's Twists' proprietor. It's Roger Miller, who is no stranger to the market. For the past nine year's he's been store manager of the Dutch Country Eating Place for owner Junior Esh.

Also, the two businesses which will share the former Dutch Country Meats stall are S&B Meats (the butcher) and Barb & Suzy's Kitchen.

Citrus City

I counted more than a dozen varieties of citrus fruit at Iovine Brothers Produce Saturday morning. Here they are, along with prices:

• Temple oranges 5/$1
• Jumanji oranges 2/$1.49
• Blood oranges 4/$1
• Tangelos 5/$1
• Tangelos (3-pound bag of about 11) $2.99
• Tangerines 10/$1
• Ruby grapefruit (medium) 3/$1
• Red grapefruit ( large) 2/$1.49
• Navel oranges (California) 2/$1.49
• White grapefruit (medium) $2/1
• Honeybells 2/$1
• Cara Cara red oranges 2/$1.49
• Navel oranges (Sunkist medium) 3/$1
  
• Juice oranges (Florida) 4/$1
• Red navel oranges (Florida) 4/$1

Among those varieties I've tried in the last couple of weeks, the red navels from Florida were interesting, but I don't think they hold universal appeal. The sweetness and juice levels were well below those of regular navels, and the taste was more akin to grapefruit. I've been unable in web searches to pin down this variety's ancestry, and wonder if it's a cross or derivative of grapefruit. Not a bad orange at all, and a nice change of pace. But not a knock-your-socks-off variety.

If organic and small grower citrus from Florida is one of your requirements, you might consider stopping by the Fair Food Farmstand and paying a premium. Navels and Cara Cara red oranges were selling for $1.50 apiece, Sunburst tangerous 95 cents each. A premier juice variety, Hamlin, priced at 60 cents apiece. Red grapefruit were $2.75.

And Second Prize Is?

Jonathan Best, the new fancy foods grocer at the Reading Terminal Market, will celebrate a grand opening next Tuesday. Jan. 27. The festivities include a raffle for "a weekend getaway in Chestnut Hill," where the business's main store is located. Also on the agenda: music from a Beatles cover band and soup samples. The celebration will be celebrated from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The store will donate 20 percent of the day's proceeds to Project H.O.M.E.

The Plot Twistens

By the time Flower Show comes around in early March, the soft pretzel operation at the Reading Terminal Markets will have moved under new ownership.

Miller's Twists will be the name of the new business, and it will be located across the aisle from the existing pretzel stand operated by Paul Fisher, occupying some of the space that's now a seating area. Miller's will also add ice cream, another transplant from Fisher. Once Miller's opens, Fishers will expand its candy business from its current tiny alcove into the current pretzel/ice cream space; design work for that expansion is not yet completed.

The space formerly occupied by Dutch Country Meats will be shared by two related businesses. One will be a butcher primarily selling pork products, the other will be a lunch vendor selling cooked sausage and related products for both on and off-premises consumption.

Absolutely no movement on filling the space vacated by Everyday Gourmet (before that it was Andros), though RTM GM Paul Steinke would love to locate an ethnic grocer there, perhaps a Russian, Polish or Ukrainian food purveyor.

Natural and Unnatural Meats

When Charles Giunta opened his Giunta's Prime Shop at the Reading Terminal Market his goal was to offer strictly organic or hormone-free meats. Though his signage suggested he'd be carrying USDA prime grade meats, he did not.

Now, Charles' products happen to be of excellent quality; I think his wet-aged beef, particularly the steaks, are about the best value you can find in red meat protein.

But the signs are misleading, and only a portion of the beef he carries is hormone-free, let alone organic. You have to ask whether a particular cut is hormone-free before you buy it, and the staff is not uniformly informed. Although I prefer hormone-free meats, I don't have hard-and-fast rules about it – if the beef tastes good. But I don't think he signs should suggest otherwise.

As for the "Prime" moniker, while that is also deceiving, I don't have as much of a problem. When USDA changed its grading standards more than 20 years ago, the difference between Prime and Choice became a lot fuzzier, as far as I am concerned. There's plenty of Prime out there that isn't, and, likewise, it's not that difficult to find Choice that tastes like Prime. And I won't even get into how most of the prime rib roasts (more properly called standing rib roasts) sold in this country are not Prime grade beef.

Likewise, only some of Charles' poultry products are hormone-free organic. He initially carried a lot of Eberle product, but now he focuses on Bell & Evans, which is a natural bird, i.e., no additives, non-therapeutic antibiotics or growth hormones. The all-natural ducks from Joe Jurgielewicz & Son of Shartlesville, about half an hour north of Reading, are superb.

When I recently asked Charles about this issue, he observed that he simply couldn't have survived on just organic and natural meats because they are more expensive; his customers just didn't purchase them in high enough quantities to justify basing the business on them. While there are a few customers who will pay $18 or $23 for a steak, the vast majority of shoppers, including those at the Reading Terminal Market, look for the least expensive product that still offers reasonable quality.

A tip of the hat to fellow blogger Gaetano of Philly Market Cafe for refocusing my attention on the signage discrepancy.

Clark Park in Winter

I visited the winter market at Clark Park Saturday. The Food Trust has managed to attract 8-10 vendors each week to this year-round venue.

This past Saturday vendors were:

• Forest View Baking
• Keystone Farm (root veggies, beef, pork, apples)
• Slow Rise Baking
• Eden Garden (apple syrup, apples, root veggies)
• Margerum's (preserves, root veggies, herbs and spices)
• Earl Livengood (root veggies, greens)
• Betty's Buttons (fudge)

Two other vendors who usually make the market, but didn't last week, were Landisdale Farm and Mountain View Poultry.

The most interesting product I found was pointed out to me by Jon Glynn, who manages the Clark Park market for the Food Trust. It was the apple syrup from Eden Garden. It's definitely apple-y fruity and sweet, but with a bit of a tannic bite like molasses. Might be interesting to use in a cocktail, as well as on pancakes.

Earl Livengood is considering shifting his winter presence strictly to Clark Park, since he had found his Saturday business at the Reading Terminal Market drops off considerably at and after lunch. Also, he can no longer be two places at once, since son Dwain is spending a year in Honduras.

Case Study: Old

When the Fair Food Farmstand moves to its new location within the Reading Terminal Market sometime this spring, this old, recalcitrant freezer case will be replaced. A week ago Friday is went kaput, forcing FFF to sell it's contents (mostly meat) at half-price, much to the delight of shoppers. The few items that remained were donated to a local food bank. That's FFF co-manager Sarah Cain lamenting her cool problems.

Case Study: New

The new cases at Golden Fish, one of three fishmongers at the Reading Terminal Market, have been in place for about a month. They make a big difference in how the product looks. Much more attractive than the old cold cases.

Red Sauerkraut!

I'm a sauerkraut fan, so I picked up a jar of Wills Valley Farm's fermented red cabbage at the Reading Terminal Market's Fair Food Farmstand a couple of weeks ago.

Straight out of the jar, I did not care for it. But when cooked . . . WOW!

I came to this conclusion after gently braising some German-style hot dogs in the red cabbage kraut. First I gently sautéed a medium onion in canola oil (butter would work, too) until just barely starting to turn golden, then I added the red cabbage, allowing it to cook covered for about 10-15 minutes. I had an old Asian pear, slightly shriveled, sitting in the crisper, so I peeled it and grated the pulp into the cabbage. (An apple is the usual addition, but none were in the larder.) Then I added maybe a quarter cup of water (if I had an open bottle of white wine, I would have used that), a couple of the foot-long franks, covered again and simmered low for another 10-15 minutes. Delicious, especially when served with a German-style mustard.

Headhouse Season Ends

Eight vendors showed up for the last day of the 2008 season at the Food Trust's Headhouse Square Farmers Market.

Amazingly, those vendors included one produce seller: Queen's Farm. It helps that much of the Yin family's output is in the form of shitaki and varieties of oyster mushrooms, but they also had some tatsoi to sell yesterday. Others who showed up included meat and poultry vendors, bakers, cheesemongers, and plant sellers.

What's Open In Winter?

One of those Headhouse bakeries will be selling outdoors all winter long at Fairmount & 22nd, home of the Fairmount market which closed for the season at Thanksgiving. Versailles, with its baguettes, boules and pastries, will be out there both Thursdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Clark Park and Fitler Square markets on Saturdays will continue year-round with a handful of vendors. Earl Livengood showed up at Clark Park this past Saturday and is considering being a regular there.

(So that's where Earl disappeared to while I was sipping coffee Saturday morning at the Reading Terminal Market's center court! Shortly after he brought in the produce with son Dwain and helper John, he left for Clark Park while they remained to sell at the RTM.)

Fair Food Move Advances

Much of the funding is in place for the Fair Food Farmstand's move to the 12th Street side of the Reading Terminal Market, according to RTM GM Paul Steinke.

In addition to the previously reported grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the SVF Foundation of Newport, R.I., is kicking in a substantial proportion of the needed funds. The SVF foundation is largely the creation of Campbell Soup heiress Dodo Hamilton. Its primary mission is to help protect the world's food supply by preserving rare and endangered breeds of livestock, and it sees Fair Food's mission as complementing its goals. The SVF Foundation has a history of supporting efforts of the White Dog Foundation (Fair Food's parent organization) furthering the marketing of heritage breed farm animals. SVF is based at Swiss Village Farm in Newport, where Hamilton maintains a home. Much of SVF's breed preservation work is done in conjunction with the Tufts University veterinary medicine school.

Steinke said about 75 percent of Fair Food's moving costs appear to be covered through these and other grants. Much of the remainder will probably come in the form of a low-interest loan from the Reading Terminal Market Corporation, the non-profit organization which runs the market. Similar loans have been made to other vendors at the market for improvements.

Christmas Fish

John Yi, the center court fishmonger at the Reading Terminal Market, has added a fine array of swimmable food for Feast of the Seven Fishes celebrations. Although baccala could not be found, there was plenty of fresh cod, octopus, squid (whole as well as cleaned and separated), as well as herrings ($3.99/pound for either large for smaller sardine-sized specimens), smelt ($4.99) and spearling ($3.99).

Giant oranges are traditional holiday fare, too. The Fair Food Farmstand was selling organic varieties from Florida for $1.50 apiece; the prices for similar conventionally-grown large oranges were only slightly less dear at Iovine Brothers where tangelos seemed the best deal in orange-type fruits, at six for $1. Juice oranges and small navels were twice that price.

Also at Iovine, Hass avocados from Mexico were down to 89-cents apiece; alas, if you want to make guacamole, the limes (and lemons) remain pricey at three for a buck. Iovines was selling organic Granny Smith applies for 99-cents a pound, the same as for many conventional varieties, including Grannies, Staymans, Red Delicious, etc.

Back at Fair Food, a split open sample of watermelon radish was drawing attention from passersby who had never seen them before. As always there was an interesting collection of winter squashes, varyingly priced about $1.50-$2.00 a pound, including Blue Hubbard and Turban.

Dwain Livengood was back at his family's Saturday stall helping out before he and his wife Audrey leave for a year in Honduras volunteering at a Christian home for children. They spent this past week in Florida at a training course, where Dwain learned the wonders of the Moringa tree, which can grow in subtropical climates with poor soils and can be used as food (its leaves offer complete protein), animal feed and fuel; its powdered seeds (in the form of defatted meal) can be placed into a container of turbid water and will remove 99 percent of the sediment and organic impurities. Alas, it can't withstand Lancaster County winters, so don't expect to see Moringa tree products at the Livengood farm stand.

Headhouse Square Stalwarts

Headhouse Square vendors didn't outnumber customers this morning, but it was close.

Five produce vendors displayed their product: Beechwood Orchards, Blooming Glen Farm, Margerum's, Queen Farm, and Weaver's Way. Among the other vendors present were Mountain View Poultry, Griggstown Quail Farm, and Versailles Bakery, among others. David Garretson of Beechwood Orchards said he'll keep showing up until the last day for Headhouse, scheduled for the Sunday before Christmas, unless foul weather prevents him from making the long drive from Biglerville in York County.

Although all but two of the city's other outdoor farmers' markets have closed for the 2008 season (the exceptions being Clark Park and Fitler Square, which are open Saturdays year-round), Versailles Bakery intends to keep showing up at the site of the Fairmount market (Fairmount and 22nd) as long as there are customers. Although that market had its last day the day before Thanksgiving, Versailles was doing a brisk business in brisk weather this past Thursday, setting up just before lunchtime.

Versailles had some nice prices this morning at Headhouse, with baguettes selling for $1.75 or two for $3, and most other loaves at $2.75 or two for $5.

Fair Food Plans Move to Rick's Space
Funding Sought from USDA for expansion

Back in September I reported that Reading Terminal Market GM Paul Steinke would like to relocate the Fair Food Farmstand to the space since vacated by Rick's Steaks. It's looking more likely, as the market and the Farmstand are now working on the details of such a move. Steinke said Fair Food could pop up along 12th Street as soon as early 2009.

From the RTM's perspective, having a produce purveyor located behind a broad expanse of windows on the market's busiest pedestrian perimeter cements its image as a place to buy food for home preparation and consumption rather than as a mere food court.

For the Fair Food Farmstand, the move would further its educational mission by dramatically increasing its visibility while providing needed expansion space.

It's no secret that the Fair Food Farmstand has been seeking to expand since it has outgrown its current space, acknowledged Ann Karlen, the White Dog Foundation's director of Fair Food programs, including the farmstand. Initially the FFF considered enlarging its existing stall into some of the adjacent seating area. Those plans were placed on hold while Karlen and her colleagues considered the future direction of the non-profit operation and funding possibilities.

The move won't come cheaply. Karlen, however, believes much of the funding can be secured through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, based on preliminary discussions with officials in charge of disbursing grants for programs like Fair Foods'.

"We've outgrown our space and were planning on expanding even if we didn't move," Karlen said. The new location "is the perfect size, more than double what we have now. It's a premier location on a busy corridor with window frontage. We're a non-profit, and a big part of our mission is promoting local food, so it gives us more visibility, furthering our educational mission while allowing us to expand the business."

Steinke told me Fair Food might first take over the kitchen area of the former cheesesteakery and expand, as needed, into the stall's seating area on a seasonal basis when they've got more produce to sell. A Fair Food Farmstand café, serving soups, sandwiches and other items prepared from locally producted agricultural products could also be part of the future.

Besides obtaining funding, one of the more difficult aspects of any move will be refrigeration. Like many other purveyors, all of the Fair Food Farmstand's refrigerated storage space is located in the rear of the market (others have their storage space in the basement). Stand volunteers will have long a long way to haul those boxes of produce every morning when they relocate.

More Cheese Steaks

The Down Home Diner put cheese steaks back on the menu and is touting that fact with their blackboard.

Cheese steaks are also on the menu now at the Dutch Eating Place as well as Spataro's, which added them when they relocated to center court more than a year ago.

But that's not all.

The market recently gave permission to Carmen's and By George to augment their existing menus with cheese steaks, beginning in the New Year.

GM Steinke says any number of existing cheese steak sellers from outside the RTM have filed applications to become vendors. He said those application will be considered if a suitable space becomes available. Steinke's point of view is that the demand for cheese steaks is big enough to profitably support multiple vendors.

One suitable space could be the vacant stall opposite Tootsie's Salad Express, which formerly housed Everyday Gourmet and, before that, Andros. The space already has a heavy-duty exhaust system installed, which is necessary for any sort of grill operation.

In the adjacent space, temporarily being used by Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce, the paperwork is moving along for a new pork purveyor to replace Dutch Country Meats, which gave up the ghost earlier this year. A draft lease is now being reviewed by prospective butcher.

New Day Stall Vendors

The Reading Terminal Market's day stall space on Saturdays is nearly at capacity, with the addition of two new vendors.

Lindendale Farm of Lancaster County, operated by Andrew Mellinger and his family, is selling various goat cheeses and goat cheese cake made of milk from their herd. Also new is the "Applesauce Lady" who claims to sell an applesauce that "tastes like apple pie". both are located near Fisher's Pretzels.

Italian Bread Bag?

Found this morning on the counter of DiNic's at the Reading Terminal Market: bags full of bread delivered from an Italian bakery, to be filled later in the day with roast pork, veal, sausages, roast beef, brisket, pulled pork, etc., etc., etc..

Not unusual, except for the printing on some of the bags. It's in Hebrew. Hard to explain how they came into the possession of Dante's, the bakery at 8th and Watkins that supplies DiNic's, other than the bag manufacturer had an overrun.

Still, the bags are suitable, since they advertise Agadir, small Israeli chain featuring burgers, but also roast beef, sausage (merguez and chorizo) sandwiches and an interesting array of salads and starters. And yes, you can get a cheeseburger: the chain is not kosher.

Home-grown Mangoes at Livengood's?

No, even though Dwain Livengood will be spending a year in a tropical clime with his wife Audrey beginning in January.

Dwain and Audrey are taking the year off from working the family farm to volunteer at La Finca de los Niños, a Christian home for about 100 children in Valle de Angeles, Honduras, about 20 miles or so outside that nation's capital, Tegucigalpa. Audrey will school three children of workers at the home, and probably will also teach English as a foreign language to the children at La Finca de los Niños. As is only fitting at an institution whose name translates to "The Estate [farm] of the Children," Dwain says he "will help cultivate the fallow land surrounding the children's home" developing agricultural projects enabling "the older children to learn life skills while providing food for the children's home and increasing its sustainability."

Contributions in support of their work may be sent Dwain's brother Dale & Amy Livengood, 1713 Morningside Dr., Lancaster PA 17602. Checks should be payable to Lyndon Mennonite Church, designated for Dwain & Audrey's support.

PS: Look for Dwain on Channel 6 Action News today. Kathy Gandolfi was at the Fairmount stand today.

Livengoods Split Work

The Livengood's staffed two stands yesterday and today. In addition to Earl and Joyce Livengood at the Reading Terminal Market, their son Dwain and his wife Audrey took care of business at South Street on Tuesday and 22nd and Fairmount today. (I believe this week is the last for both of these markets.)

Thanksgiving Crush at the RTM

Local TV stations were scheduled to cover the crush of shoppers at the Reading Terminal Market during their morning shows today. Hundreds line up before the doors open at 8 a.m. the day before Thanksgiving.

In addition to the Pennsylvania Dutch merchants who made an early showing this week at the Reading Terminal Market, Earl Livengood was also there Tuesday and Wednesday (today). Among the many autumn produce stalwarts at Livengood's were romanescue heads of diminutive size, perfect for two eaters.

Arctic char made its appearance at John Yi's this week. The filets are selling for $14.99. Char is usually farm-raised in Canada and Iceland, and is considered to be considerably more environmentally benign than salmon aquaculture. Char, a salmonid, is somewhere between trout and salmon in size and flavor. Expect more fish variety at the market as we approach Christmas.

This past weekend busted all sorts of records for market visitors, according to RTM GM Paul Steinke, with the highest attendance seen since the Flower Show. Much of it was driven by Philadelphia marathon competitors and visitors.

Rutabagas
Or, I Say It's Spinach and I Say To Hell With It

If there's one root vegetable I cannot abide, it's rutabag, a.k.a. Swedish turnip or Swede. I find the taste utterly disagreeable.

Yet, I buy a few every winter fall, when young specimens are available, because She Who Must Be Obeyed adores them. Must be her Scandihoovian heritage.

As it happens, Earl Livengood had excellent looking rutabagas at the Reading Terminal Market yesterday. But they weren't loose in a bin. They were still connected to their tops. The greens were pristine and deep emerald green, absolutely gorgeous.

In preparing SWMBO's mashed rutabaga today (with lots of butter and a little whole milk), I just couldn't throw out those greens. My only concern was that they might, unbeknownst to me, harbor a toxin, like the oxalic acid found in rhubarb leaves. Multiple sources on the web indicated it could be treated just like any other winter green. So, using the same water in which I cooked the rutabaga tubers, I simmered the washed leaves for about 12-15 minutes until tender, then shocked them in cold water, drained and squeezed out the excess water. They'll sit in the fridge for a day or two until I get around to combining them with ricotta for a lasagne filling.

To accompany tonight's ham steak dinner will be two members of the brassica family. The aforementioned mashed rutabaga, and those tiny little cabbage heads, Brussels sprouts. I picked up the tiny packaged versions sold by Benuel Kaufman and simmered them in salted water for less than 10 minutes. When it's time to eat I'll reheat them in a sauté pan with butter and a dab of Dijon mustard (mustard being another brassica). The ham is a nicely smoked steak from Smith's Log Smokehouse of Monroe, Maine. I acquired the ham (and some chorizo and other goodies) this past summer while visiting Mt. Desert Island, where Smith's sells at the Sunday Bar Harbor farmers' market. The piece I pulled from the freezer a month ago was delish.

More on Headhouse Hours

On the day before Thanksgiving, hours at Headhouse Square will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. As previously noted, the last Sunday of the 2008 season will be Dec. 21. Then it's less than five months 'til the beginning of the 2009 season, on Sunday, May 3.

If you can't wait two of The Food Trust's markets will be open year-round: Clark Park at 43rd and Baltimore and Fitler Square at 23rd and Pine, both on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Today at Headhouse Square they were down to about a dozen vendors. North Star Orchards had a sign saying today would be their last visit of the season.

Pre-Thanksgiving Rush at the RTM

Over at the Reading Terminal Market, extra checkouts have been added at Iovine Brothers Produce for the holiday rush in an effort to keep those long lines moving.

Many of the Pennsylvania Dutch merchants, who are usually closed on Mondays and Tuesday, will be open on those days (as well as Wednesday) before Thanksgiving. Those planning to be open both Monday and Tuesday are AJ Pickle Patch, Beiler's Bakery, Hatville Deli, L. Halteman Country F0ods, and Lancaster County Dairy. In addition, the Dutch Eating Place, Dienner's BBQ Chicken, and the Rib Stand will be open Tuesday.

On the day before Thanksgiving, shoppers lined up waiting for the doors to open at 8 a.m. will be treated to free sample cups of coffee, courtesy of Old City Coffee. But it won't be at all the doors: just the 12th & Filbert entrance.

This morning 12 servers were working at Godshalls to push out those Thanksgiving birds, with a lineup of customers as soon as the market opened at 8 a.m. Expected even longer lines Wednesday.

Temporarily, at least, the Fair Food Farmstand has some extra display space, though no sales space. It's in the vacant stall formerly occupied by Everyday Gourmet and, before that, Andros. Squashes and other colorful items point the way to the the farmstand.

Speaking of Andros, he's the only retailer in town (2056 Pine) where you can acquire Leonidas chocolates, a high volume but nonetheless delicious Belgian praline manufacturer. As was once snootily explained to me by the proprietress of the old Belgian Chocolate House on S. 17th, "That's what you buy your domestic for Christmas." I'd do windows for that stuff!

The paperwork is moving along for a new pork purveyor who will move into the space formerly occupied by Dutch Country Meats. The stall has a long history of pork vendors dating back to Moyers and Charles Giunta (who now operates Giunta's Prime Shop). The butcher will sell the Stoltzfus Meats' product line, including scrapple and sausages as well as fresh pork. Not determined whether he'd handle deli products. In addition to its store in Intercourse, Stoltzfus sells at the Ardmore Farmers' Market, the New Castle Farmers' Market, and Beechwood Deli at the Fairgrounds Farmers' market, Allentown.

The Philadelphia Daily News' has selected the Reading Terminal Market as recipient of two of its People's Choice Awards: Best Farmers Market and Best Produce.

Headhouse Schedule

Headhouse Square will be open this Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, but closed the following Sunday. The farmers' market resumes Sunday, Dec. 6, continuing through the first Sunday before Christmas.

Follow Linus Pauling's Advise . . .

Just in time for the flu and cold season a plethora of citrus fruit has arrived, including at Iovine Brothers Produce at the Reading Terminal market.

Florida juice oranges, Valencias and small navels were selling for 20 cents apiece. Sunburst tangerines continue to be eight for a buck. Among the grapefruits, larger pink and white grapefruits were two for a buck, small ruby three for a buck, larger Star ruby 99 cents apiece. Lemons and limes were both selling for 25 cents each, though O.K. Lee offered bags of limes (8 to a bag) for about half that price. In buying citrus, don't go by looks alone; instead, go for the fruit that's heaviest in the hand for its size.

Iovine's is also pushing imported berries. Half-pint clamshells of Argentine blueberries and Mexican raspberries could be had for a buck apiece. More attractive, to me, were the California brown figs, $1.99 for a box of about eight.

With Thanksgiving approaching, string beans are in demand, and Iovines featured bins of crisp fresh ones for 89-cents a pound.

Even though it's still autumn, John Yi must think it's spring. You could buy small whole shad there for $2.99/pound. In a few weeks we should start to see a wider variety of fish as Yi and the RTM's other fishmongers stock up for the holidays.

Ikea At The Market

Ikea showed off holiday food treats Thursday at La Cucina, the demonstration kitchen and cooking school at the Reading Terminal Market. Ikea staffers outfitted in blue-striped frocks lured customers in with Pepparkoker, a ginger snap-like cookie.

I tasted the gravlax, with various cheeses, meetballs and sweets also available to sample. Alas, I was disappointed in my search for, as Ulla would say, "many different herrings": not a single tidbit of Culpea harengus, the Atlantic herring species that finds its way into so many excellent Scandinavian buffets.

Jonathan Best opens
Limited groceries, at a price

Jonathan Best opened last week in the spot formerly held down by Margerum's and the Natural Connection. The high-end grocer is a welcome addition to the Reading Terminal Market. The homemade soup selection looked inviting, the flavored spreads appetizing, and the chocolate bar selection downright sinful.

That's the good news. The bad news: it's not Margerum's.

The beauty of the old Margerum's store, which closed in 2001, was that if you needed a jar of Hellman's mayonaisse or a bottle of Heinz ketchup for a recipe, you could get it. You'd pay a bit more than at a supermarket, but not unreasonably so. That was in addition to all the wonderful variety of dried legumes Noelle Margerum stocked.

You can still buy mayonnaise or ketchup at Jonathan Best. But the mayo won't be Hellman's and the ketchup won't be Heinz's. The mayo will be some organic, high-end variety priced at $6.59 for a 16-ounce jar. The ketchup will be an $8.99, 11-ounce bottle of from Wilkins & Son of the U.K.

The problem, of course, is that a merchant can't make a living selling Heinz ketchup and Hellman's mayonnaise at the RTM: the margins aren't great, the volume too low. To make the rent (which is lower for grocers and purveyors than it is for the lunch stand vendors), a grocer has to do something more. That appears to be where Jonathan Best succeeds. I haven't tried the soups yet, though they look good and plenty of market visitors this week were trying the free samples being ladled out. I did taste one of the spreads (pumpkin), and it would be a perfect nibble with cocktails for the fall season. The chocolate bars (expensive, the cassis-flavored dark bar I purchased was selling at the equivalent of $37/pound) are excellent.

If you prefer to buy your spices jarred rather than in bulk, as at the Spice Terminal, Jonathan Best is for you. They've also got a larger selection of dried pastas than Salumeria. And the selection of fruit jams and preserves expands upon that available at the Spice Terminal.

Still, it would be nice to be able to buy some non-gourmet mayo for my tuna salad or ketchup for my burgers at the market. Maybe even a box of corn flakes I can used for oven-fried chicken!

Celery Time

As Thanksgiving nears, local celery begins to hit area farmers' markets. Here are meter-long samples of red celery found Sunday at Tom Culton's Headhouse Square stall. Soon we'll see blanched celery, which is grown (mostly) under dirt to prevent the stalks from turning green.

Don't limit yourself to raw celery. This red celery, with thin, tough stalks and coarse leaves, is much more suitable for cooking, with a more intense flavor than the common celery. Braised celery (especially the blanched variety) makes an interesting veggie alternative; you can up the interest even more by finishing with some cream. I used the red celery as the major component in a vegetable stock (along with leek, carrrots and a whole head of garlic). Most of that stock is waiting in the freezer, but I used some last night to create an ersatz caldo verde, adding diced carrots, shredded kale and chorizo, but skipping the potato.

Culton recently returned from Slow Food's Salone del Gusto 2008 in Turin, where he was bowled over by everything, but especially the prosciutto produced from a southern Italian breed of goat. Culton hopes to begin raising the breed here. (No doubt Marc Vetri, who travelled to Turin with Tom, would be interested in Culton's animal husbandry.) Because Culton's pulled out his field crops to concentrate on vegetables, he's got the acreage to create room for ruminants to ruminate. Also impressing him was Eataly, the Turin warehouse food emporium inspired by and associated with the Slow Food movement. Culton said the display of various artichokes (a crop he grows here) was as long as the Headhouse shambles.

About that cream . . .

Most of the heavy cream you come across is ultra-pasteurized for a long, stable, boring shelf life. But you can find good, old fashioned regular pasteurized cream, which hasn't been subjected to the flavor-destroying high temperatures necessary for that longevity. It's been a couple of decades since supermarkets sold the regular stuff, but you can find it at Whole Foods and at the Reading Terminal Market (Lancaster County Dairy).

Jonathan Best

The Reading Terminal Market's web site says Jonathan Best, the grocer and soup purveyor, opened this morning.

Pictures and Words
As always, click on photo to enlarge

Colorful swiss chard enlivened Earl Livengood's

display at the Reading Terminal Market Saturday.
No doubt they'll also have them Tuesday afternoon
at South Street and Thursday afternoon in Fairmount.

Livengood's also proudly displayed these
turnip greens with proto-turnips.

Not to be outdone, Benuel Kauffman's Lancaster County
Produce stand artfully arranged these samples of brassica:
cauliflower in three colors, broccoli and brussels sprouts.
Not pictured was Ben's romanescue.

Iovine Brothers
Re-arranges
Once Again

Hardly a year goes by and Iovine Brothers Produce decides its time to play musical chairs with its Reading Terminal Market displays. It keeps customers and staff on their toes.

The net result of this year's re-arrangement is a much more open feeling. That was achieved by using lower level bins for the first two aisles, mostly containing fruits and featured veggies. The racks of dried fruits, nuts and other items was moved against the window wall along Filbert Street. The standard size display cases form the row between the window wall and the bins. The mushroom refrigerated cases now joins the other coolers along the Filbert Street windows nearest the checkout.

Another facelift could been seen at Harry Ochs, where a new case is home to prepared items (like stuffed flank steaks, stuffed pork chops, patés, etc.), making more room for raw meat in the main case. The big roast and steak subprimals, however, are now invisible in the walk-in refrigerator.

As of Saturday, Jonathan Best was not yet open, but it appeared that all the cases and shelving was in place, just waiting to be stocked. I would expect they'll make every effort to open in advance of Thanksgiving.

With Rick's Steaks now departed, most of that space now serves as a seating area.

Cheese Steak Correction

Spataro's is the only spot at the Reading Terminal Market to obtain a cheese steak. The Down Home Diner used to have them, but now offers only a cheese steak burger, i.e., a burger with provolone, peppers and onions.

Return To Spring Garden

Earlier this week I returned to the Spring Garden Market, the large Asian supermarket at Fourth and Spring Garden and was delighted by some of my finds.

In the meat case, frozen whole ducks could be obtained for $2.19/pound, including those Pennsylvania-raised birds by J. Jurgilewicz & Son.

Over in the produce section a great-tasting find were the Clementines priced at $1.79/pound. The taste was marveous, and the 10 I bought were totally seedless. I'm going back for more. Avocados were a relative bargain at 94-cents apiece.

Cider Time

I've neglected these past few weeks to mention that fresh, unpasteurized apple cider has been available at the Reading Terminal Market. You can get it at Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce and, on Saturdays, at Earl Livengood's. I've taken lately to heating it up, then adding a shot of bourbon and half a shot of apple brandy (Laird's 7-1/2 year old 100 percent version). If the weather's warm, use a highball glass, fill with ice, and top with a splash of ginger ale. Unless I've missed something, the ciders I've seen at Headhouse have been pasteurized.

Making a butternut or pumpkin soup? A splash of the cider won't hurt.

Craving a cheese steak while at the Reading Terminal Market? Rick's may have moved on, but you can still satisfy your urge at either Spataro's or the Down Home Diner. I haven't tasted either, so I can't vouch for them.

It shouldn't affect shoppers, but a new validation technology started this week for the Parkway garage across 12th street from the RTM. Merchants had to install new validators. Still the same price for customers: $3 for stays under two hours with when you spend $10 (cumulative) and get your parking ticket validated at by an RTM merchant.

The Pennsylvania General Store will be honored by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce as its Retailer of the Year. Proprietors Mike and Julie Holahan opened the business at the Reading Terminal Market 21 years ago. Market representatives will be among those attending the Nov. 6 awards dinner at the Hyatt Regency.

Little Cracow
A visit to Krakus Market in Philadelphia's Port Richmond neighborhood

With the cold, rainy, windy weather, what better way to fortify ourselves against the day then a hearty Eastern European lunch. So after filling ourselves with soup, pierogy and potato pancakes at Syrenka Luncheonette, we ran between the raindrops on Richmond Avenue to Krakus Market, whereupon we arrived at Krakus Market home to many different kielbasi. (Please correct my Polish for the plural!)

Among the many varieties I spied: Warszawska, Warsaw style; Weselena, Wedding kielbasa; Kabanosy, Polish "slim jim"; Mysliwska, Hunter's kielbasa (smoked longer); Zwyczajna, regular smoked kielbasa; Krakowska Swieza, Cracow kielbasa (cooked); Jalowcowa, Juniper kielbasa; Kielbasa Ostra, hot and spicy; Polska Surowa Wedzona, double smoked kielbasa; Szynkowa, ham kielbasa; Poznanska, smoked rope kielbasa;Wiejska, country style (whatever that means); Serdelki, wieners; and Kaszansa, kishke (blood sausage).

Lots of other goodies in the meat case, too. I walked away with Boczer Zawijany, rolled bacon with herbs. But also available were: Pieczek Rzymska, Meat Loaf; Pasztetowa, liverwurst; Pasztet, pork liver pate; Salceson Wloski, Italian headcheese; Salceson Czarny, blood and tongue; Salceson Bialy, headcheese; Metka, metwurst; Boczer Pieczony, roast rib belly; and Galareta Wieprzowa, jellied pigs feet.

But the biggest find, to me, were the herrings, particulary the salt herring fillets, loose bulk in a tub of brine. I've been considering mail ordering a few pounds so I could create my own pickled herrings, now I've got a source just a trolley ride away on Route 23, and for only $2.99/pound (vs. up to $8 a pound plus shipping if ordered off the web)! Krakus Market also had a tub of milkers (headless but innard-intact male schmaltz herrings, so you can enjoy the milt). Plus there was a very decent variety of packaged herrings: in cream and various other sauces, matjes, rollmops, etc.

Fair Food's Thanksgiving

Those same Griggstown Quail Farms Red Bourbon turkeys I mentioned in the previous post are also availalble through the Fair Food Farmstand at the Reading Terminal Market. And they are even less expensive! The Farmstand is charging $6.50/pound for the heritage birds. In addition, you can reserve a traditional turkey for $2.99 (naturally raised) or $$4.50 (certified organic).

For the rest of your Thanksgiving table, you can take advantage of Fair Food Farmstand's other offerings, including both common and unusual squashes and white and red cranberries.

Aaack! The Farmstand is still using the term "wildcrafted". Last spring it was used to describe fiddlehead ferns. In the FFF's most recent weekly newsletter they are promoting Hen of the Woods mushrooms "wildcrafted by Patrick Murphy". Wildcrafted is taken to mean the gathering of wild plants in a manner which causes no permanent harm to the environment or the species. The goal is laudable, the nomenclature deplorable, a grave abuse of the English language worthy only of the most depraved advertising copywriter. How about "sustainably-gathered" instead? Wild-crafted erroneously suggests Patrick created/raised/nurtured the mushrooms.

Oh, well. At least the newsletter no longer considers the Jonamac a heritage apple!

Headhouse in Autumn

Based on visits the last two Sundays, Headhouse Square's roster of vendors, though still strong, are fading with the autumn leaves. But there's still plenty of good produce from a variety of farmers to choose from.

Queens Farm offers a small, selective but unusual array of vegtetables, including these bowl-shaped Ta Tsai greens suitable for use as salad or in cooking, though I can't imagine the latter since it would destroy the beautiful sculpture formed by these lovelies. Better to place of scoop of Asian-inflected chicken or fish salad in the center.

North Star had three different Asian pears the last two weeks. I picked up the Hosui variety, which were crisp but incredibly juicy. Five or six varieties of apples were also offered by North Star, as well as at other fruit vendors, including Three Springs and Beechwood Orchard.

Bunches of credibly fresh, thin-bulbed scallions (a.k.a. green onions) were selling for $2 at Blooming Glen at the south entrance to the Headhouse shambles. Queens Farm, meanwhile, had what at first glance appeared to be scallions but upon closer inspection (by the nose) were clearly small bunches of pugent fresh garlic.

A number of the Headhouse vendors will be there on the day before Thanksgiving (Nov. 26). You can order pies, turkey, sides, etc., in advance from them. Griggstown Quail Farm offers Red Bourbon turkeys at $7.99 pound, traditional birds at $3.79.

Bones
Termini offers
All Saints Day
tradition

One of the staffers at Termini Brothers' Reading Terminal Market shop holds a tray of "Bones," a tradional All Saints Day treat.

These hard-to-the-teeth pastries (they appear to be flour-reinforced meringue) are shaped in the form of bones, spirits, gravestones, etc. Hard to imagine they're not also available at the South Philly bakery and Termini's other locations.

New Photo Gallery

New photos of goodies from various markets can be found in a new gallery here.

So what is this?

This could be found at Iovine Brothers Produce Saturday at the Reading Terminal Market. The fruits, about four or five inches long, reminded me of cactus pears (a.k.a. prickly pears). Although one of the Iovine managers told me they are similar in taste (and structure, with tiny seeds mixed in with the flesh) to kiwifruit, some Googling uncovered the fact that these Dragonfruit (more properly called Pitaya) are, indeed, the fruit of a cactus-like plant from semi-arid regions. The flesh can be either red or white. I passed them by, but maybe I'll try them (if I can extract the seeds, which can be eaten but are indigestible) in a sorbet.

Blue Danube
Hungarian restaurant survives in Trenton

Another restaurant report, this time about Blue Danube, a mittel-european outpost in the Hungarian heart of Trenton, Chambersburg (well, it used to be at least partially populated by Hungarians, as well as the larger Italian community; now it has a distinctly Latino tone). Rather than take up room in my Market Report, here's a link to a post I made on eGullet, along with photos. Chicken paprikash lives!

Winesaps Arrive!

With my store of Cox Orange Pippins rapidly dwindling it's time to resupply. And, just in time, the winesaps are here. These Stayman Winesaps were offered at the Headhouse Square market today by the Wenk family's Three Springs Fruit Farm. Over at Beechwood farms they offered a variety called Turley Winesap. A quick Googling divulged that it was developed in the late 19th century in Indiana. It's apparently not quite as fine a fresh-eating (dessert) apple as the Stayman, but is very good for baked applications. It was particularly important in the early 20th century because of its storage quality and ability to be shipped by rail with little delerious effect.

Over at North Star I picked up a couple each of Golden Russet and Sugar Snap varieties.The former is another fav: a crisp, sweet, medium-sized apple that's a good keeper. So what if it's not red! I haven't tasted the Sugar Snap yet, which has a nice red inflected skin. North Star's website says it's a sweet-tart apple derived from the Empire.

What is it, precisely that separates a common apple from an antique/heirloom variety? That's a discussion I had with Sarah Cain, co-manager of the Fair Food Farmstand yesterday when I noted the sign for the Jonamac's called them heirlooms. Just by its name, I expressed my doubt that the apple qualified, because it's an intentional Jonathan-MacIntosh cross. Sarah contends that even hybrids developed by orchardists qualify fror the "heirloom" nominclature so long as they are 50 years old.

Even on that basis, however, it's hard to justify calling this cross an heirloom or antique. Although the New York State Agircultural Station in Geneva began experimenting with Jonathan-MacIntosh crosses in 1944, a final cross wasn't introduced to the commercial market until 1972, though the strain was largely developed, bred and tested since the late 1950s.

Although I've yet to fine a clear definition of what makes an an apple an "heirloom" or an "antique," my readings suggest that to most people, they mean a variety of apple that was developed introduced prior to the mass shipping by rail of apples in the early 20th century. Apples like the Jonamac, which were developed by government-funded entities after World War II, clearly don't qualify.

An excellent account of the search for heirloom apples under this definition can be found in the November 2002 issue of Smithsonian magazine.

Roney's Restaurant: A South Jersey institution

A diversion from my normal market report blogging . . .

At the intersection of Rt. 130 and Haddon Avenue in Collingswood, just across the line from Camden, Roney's has been serving up breakfast fare, burgers and sandwiches since 1981, and before that as an outpost of the Midwestern-based White Tower chain, established as a White Castle immitator.

I first found Roney's about 10 years ago in search of authentic Jersey sliders akin to the White Diamond burgers I enjoyed in the 1960s and 70s. Alas, the small slider was taken off the menu a couple months ago, so now it's just a regular-sized burger (my guess is it's five or six ounces). But it's a decent burger, even if it had been pre-shaped. The secret is that the shaping doesn't compact it to death, and the cook restrains herself from further compacting on the diner's small grill. Hence, it arrives reasonably juicy even when well done. Topped with sauteed onions (photo at right), the burger definitely satisfies. And at $2.80, fairly priced.

This is a joint that looks like it's a favored sobering-up spa after the bars close. Breakfast looks to be the main attraction, with pancakes, three-egg omelets, Jersey pork roll and similar goodies.

When I visited yesterday in the late morning, a man with a food truck (the type serving manufacturing plants at lunch and college dorms at night) was loading up on burgers, french fries, onion rings and a limited assortment of sandwiches.

For nostalgia sake alone, a visit to Roney's Restaurant would be rewarding. And the burgers beat out McDonald's and Burger King any time.

Leeks and Sweets

Tom Culton never fails to put together a photogenic display of his produce, like these leeks and white sweet potatoes at his Culton Organics stand at the Headhouse Farmers' Market Sunday. No less impressive are the varieties of colorful French carrots from Culton.



This was the weekend for me to pick up some Roma (plum) tomatoes. I purchased mine from Margerum's at Headhouse, but there were beautiful speciments from other vendors there, as well as at the Reading Terminal Market Saturday (Rineer's Family Farm, selling via Fair Food Farmstand, and at Benuel Kaufman's Lancaster County Produce). The price at most vendors hovered around $2/pound, though you could get a deal if you were planning to make a lot of sauce and could buy by the case. I skinned, cored and seeded the quart from Margerum's and made a sauce with onions, garlic (lots) and basil, which then went into some penne baked with parmesan, fresh mozzarella and ricotta. I topped it with some slices of sauteed mild Italian sausage from Martin's of the RTM.

Radishes seem to be back en force with the autumnal equinox. I purchased a bunch of French radishes, along with some Toscano kale. Among other fall vegetables, Culton, Earl Livengood and others are offering sweet, young knobs of celeriac; julienne and serve tossed with a remoulade sauce, or puree and mix with mashed potatoes.

Over at the RTM, those $6.49/pound packs of duck legs at Giunta's I wrote about in a previous post are now $5.95.

White and red cranberries are in season at the Fair Food Farmstand. Lemons and limes were both eight for a buck at Iovine Brothers Produce Saturday, and rather ripe but eminently useable Hass avocados were a buck apiece. Iovine's local red bell peppers were selling for 99 cents, as were suntans; the orange and yellows (not local) were $1.99. Regular and Sicilian eggplants from South Jersey were two pounds for a dollar. Across the way at L. Halteman, quince was $1.99 and both butternut and acorn squashes 69-cents.

Andy of Hershel's East Side Deli said he's eliminated the middleman and is now buying his briskets (for corned beef and brisket) and navels (for pastrami) directly from one of the major Midwest suppliers. He's also brining his own corned beef and pastrami. Much to my surprise, Andy said he doesn't smoke his pastrami; it's all done through the magic of the cure and the seasonings. After some web research I learned, indeed, that pastrami does not necessarily have to be smoked to be authentic and tasty. Whodathunk?

Chocolate By Mueller at the RTM has long been a licorice-lover's delight. This week I discovered a favorite hard candy among them: Hopjes, a Dutch coffee-flavored confection. I was reacquainted with this treat earlier this year when a couple of pieces arrived with the check at the Belgium Cafe in Fairmount.

Work has started at Jonathan's Best, the grocery-soup-sandwich emporium which will occupy the former Natural Connection/Margerum's space. The new shop is looking for a late October opening.

Last week I complained about the condition of the stools at Fisher's. RTM GM Paul Steinke advises the vendor will be re-doing his stand, but not until after Christmas.

The RTM's annual Harvest Festival is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 18. There will be hayrides around the block, stacks of hay along Harry Ochs Way (Filbert Street), a pumpkin patch, and special autumn treats from a number of vendors.

Mitch "Wild Thang" Williams was selling his salsa and signing autographs Saturday. A portion of the proceeds went to the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the ALS Association.

The hurricane remants that but a damper on outdoor activities the Saturday before last caused the postponement of 10th anniversary festivities of the Clark Park Market operated by The Food Trust. Re-mark it on your calendar for Oct. 4.

Last Thursday was a beautiful day for a field trip, so I visited some fields. In this case, they were in the Black Dirt belt of Pine Island, N.Y., just over the border from northewestern New Jersey, a three-hour ride from Philadelphia.

The ostensible purpose of the trip was not to view the Black Dirt farms (ideal for growing yellow onions, but also good for potatoes and all sorts of other veggies), but to collect my annual supply of Cox Orange Pippins, an apple variety that I am quick to tell all and anyone is one of the finest dessert (fresh-eating) apples in the world. They're hard to find, but Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery's pick-your-own operation has a row of them along with many other varities of apples. The winery is located just a half-mile down the road form the fields pictured here.

The Cox Orange Pippin is a finicky fruit; like many other "antique" apples, it's not a commercially appealing variety, since you only get a decent yield every other year. The variety dates back to the early 1800s and remains a much-loved apple in England, which is imported from South Africa in the off-season much as we do fruit from Chile. Today's Gala applie is a descendant of the Cox Orange Pippin.

Other than Warwick Valley Winery, the closest grower of this apple to Philadelphia of which I'm aware is Holy Root Farm in New Tripoli in Lehigh County. Farmer Rick Stuby advised me that his crop doesn't look so hot this year, hence, the trip to New York State. Warwick Valley Winery, btw, makes killer hard cider from apples and/or pears.

For those wishing to learn more about the Black Dirt Belt of Pine Island, there was an interesting article last year in The New York Times.

I concluded my jaunt with a visit to nearby Bobolink Dairy, Jonathan White's artisanal cheesery and bakery just over the border in New Jersey where I picked up his Drumm and Amtram varieties to accompany those lovely apples. Thence back home, via East Hanover, N.J., for a late lunch stop at Jimmy Buff's for that classic North Jersey treat, an Italian hot dog. It's an all-beef hot dog deep fried with onions, peppers and round-cut potatoes, served on a quarter wedge of round Italian bread. I prefer Tommy's version in my native Elizabeth, but Jimmy Buff's original in Newark is the acknowledged creator of this sandwich.