Enhance the farmers’ market experience through Facebook!

By: Isla Ruffo, NFM Board Member and former NFM Market Manager

     In modern society, where grocery stores can sustain a wide array of produce from all over the world, all year long,  the awareness of what’s in season locally has become elusive.  You can buy perfectly sweet table grapes imported from Chile in the middle of December when our local climate is too cold to grow them. It’s nice to have the luxury of limitless produce year round, but it also forces us to lose touch with the seasonality of our own geographic area.

Now there’s an easy and fun way to keep track of what’s in season and what will be available at the market each week. Use Facebook to connect with the Napa Farmers Market and with our vendors, then ask them for information about produce and products or place a special order to be picked at market.  If you’d like to be better in tune with local seasonality but don’t know where to start, you can begin by “liking” the Napa Farmers Market  on facebook to receive updates of what’s new each week.  Tenbrink Farms actively uses this communication tool, and if you hit them with a “like”, you will find out that succulent apriums (apricot-plum hybrid) are now in full swing and that there’s something delicious out there that you’ve never tried, like a loquat - a unique and delectable fruit, indigenous to southeastern China, that successfully grows here in California right now, for a short time.  

You can also keep up-to-date on other market news through Facebook, such as the seasonal debut of Story Time, which begins today at ten o’clock – it’s a half hour of  animated story telling for the little ones.  You may also want to know that Napa Humane will be at the market this coming Saturday with some very special four legged friends--including Lofty, the friendliest and sweetest pup that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and who, ironically, has been at the shelter since November.

Since blueberries will be available at the market for only two more weeks, I’m including this simple but delicious recipe that I came up with last summer, which allows us to enjoy the simply beauty of the fruit itself, fresh and raw.  Enjoy!

Fromage Blanc & Blueberry Toasts

Yield: about 20 bite size pieces

-6 ounces of fresh blueberries

-1 small loaf of walnut bread

-1  half-pint size container of Fromage Blanc

-1 lemon, juiced

-1/2 teaspoon of Honey

-Sea salt to taste

-Mint leaves for garnish

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

1- Slice bread about 1/8 of an inch thick so that there are at least twenty bite size pieces. You may cut the pieces in half to make them smaller if they are too big around.

2- Place bread on a sheet pan in the hot oven for about ten minutes or until they start to gold. Then pull out and let cool.

3- Wash blueberries and place them in a bowl along with the lemon juice and honey, and toss together being carefull not to damage the berries too much.

4- Scoop a small spoonful of the Fromage Blanc on each piece of toast and then drop a few of the marinated berries on top.

5- Garnish each toast with a  few grains of sea salt and a small mint leaf.