Beat The Heat with Mass Farmers Markets

Belmont Farmers Market shoppers enjoying their fresh popsicles!

Record temperatures...Heat warnings throughout Boston and much of Massachusetts... IT'S HOT.

 

Last week represented the longest stretch of heat since the 80s! Temperatures held steady in the 90s every day and it felt far worse in Boston and areas set away from the coast.

When it’s this hot outside, how do you deal with it? 

 

Ice cream, Frozen yogurt, Popsicles.... anything from a freezer sounds like a good plan to us!

Despite the high temperatures, Massachusetts Farmers Markets have held strong. Everyday vendors bring their fresh produce and homemade products to markets so that you can still enjoy the spoils. Now more than ever, take the time to visit your favorite market or vendor to thank them for their dedication. Then buy some fresh fruit, because we have just the thing for you...

Homemade Popsicles!

You can make popsicles quickly and easily with just a few items and even fewer steps. All you’ll need is fresh fruit of your choice (Raspberries,blueberries or peaches are in abundance at the markets for the next few weeks!), sugar, optional lemon juice, and molds of some sort (you don’t need fancy molds either, small cups and popsicle sticks will yield perfect single serving fresh fruit popsicles). 

 It's Super Easy to Make Your Own Popsicles: 

1. Prep your fruit: If you’re using fresh berries, just wash and remove any stems. Stone fruits, remove the pit and consider removing the skin too if you want to ensure a very smooth consistency. For any kind of melon, remove the seeds. 
2. Fill a blender with all of your fruit and blend until smooth.
3. Add about a tablespoon or two of sugar to sweeten and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to enhance the flavor, then blend again.
4. Fill your molds with the fruit mixture and freeze until frozen solid. Note: If you’re using small cups with popsicle sticks, freeze for about 45-60 minutes to allow the fruit to begin to set before placing a popsicle stick in the middle.

 

Who's selling Fruits at MFM's Farmers Markets This Month?

• Dick's Market Garden: peaches, raspberries, and blueberries
• Farmer Al: blueberries (both pints and humungous buckets full)
• Kimball Fruit Farm: raspberries and stone fruits
• Hamilton Orchard: blackberries, blueberries, stone fruits, pears, and apples
• Cook's Farm: blueberries, currants, gooseberries, peaches, and raspberries
• Foppema: apples, apricots, currants, gooseberries, stone fruits, raspberries
• Hanson Farm: blueberries, melons, peaches, raspberries
• Nicewicz Family Farm: apples, stone fruits, blueberries
• Bug Hill: currants and raspberries

 

What’s your favorite kind of popsicle? Let us know in the comments!

BLUEBERRIES 10 WAYS

What's hot at the farmers market?

This week, it's blueberries! These sweet berries are packed with antioxidants, delicious, and readily available at the market closest to you. Grab a pint (or 5) the next time you go and come up with a creative way to use them. Or, try one of our suggestions below!

10 ways to prepare your blueberries

1. Make a smoothie. Blend up one plane yogurt, milk, blueberries and bananas for a healthy and flavorful breakfast or snack.
2. Bake a pie. Summer and pie go together like macaroni and cheese — the second makes the first so much tastier! Try a classic blueberry pie with a sweet crumble topping or mix in some stone fruit or cherries from Kimball's Farm for a twist.
3. Top a pizza. Surprise your friends with a sweeter than average pizza pie. Skip the tomato sauce base and top the pie with a creamy soft cheese from Crystal Brook Farm, fresh berries and basil from your garden for a fresh farmers market feel.
4. Toss in a salad. Get some farmers market fresh lettuce from Dick's Market Garden and toss it with grilled fish from C&C Lobster, toasted nuts from Fastachi, a lemon poppy seed dressing and of course, fresh blueberries.
5. Make muffins: Blueberry muffins are a tried and true breakfast favorite! Spice up a traditional recipe with some fresh lemon zest or chia seeds. 
6. Get in the jam. Making your own preserves or jam is a great way to utilize an abundance of berries and it's easier than you'd think. Since most recipes make very large batches, share with friends and freeze a few jars of jam for those dreary winter months.
7. Pour some syrup! It's even easier to make than preserves, blueberry syrup can be in a single pot with just blueberries, water and sugar. When you've made a bottle, pour it over pancakes, sweet breads, cakes, really anything you want!
8. Pancake it up. Wake up to some blueberry pancakes. Mix some flour-coated blueberries into your favorite pancake batter and fire up the griddle. Top with blueberry syrup and more fresh blueberries. 
9. Scream for Ice Cream. Blueberries and cream? White chocolate and blueberry? Blueberry Lemon? Get creative and add fresh berries to any ice cream recipe, or if you don't want to take the time to make your own ice cream, toss fresh berries on top of your favorite local scoop. 
10. Quench your thirst. Blueberry lemonade is delicious! The sweet berries mellow out the tart lemon in a healthier and less overwhelming manner than granulated sugar. Buy some fresh lemonade and blueberries from Hanson's Farm, mix 'em together and enjoy!

Farmers currently selling Blueberries at Central, Copley, and Davis Square Farmers Markets:

•  Dick's Market Garden
• Kimball Fruit Farm
• Farmer Al
• Bug Hill Farm
• Hanson's Farm
• Cook's Farm Orchard
• Foppema's Farm 
• Hamilton Orchards
• MacArthur Farm

You can find the markets these vendors attend and all the farmers markets around the state on our website.

What are your favorite uses for blueberries? Let us know in the comments! Looking forward to seeing you at the market this weekend.

Welcome to the Blog!

The farmers market can mean different things to different people; some, enjoy picking up the fresh crop of vegetables in their farmer specific CSA shares, for others it’s the fresh fruit for pie making and preserves, and still for more it’s about the locally made sweets and breads that just taste better than store bought. For Mass Farmers Markets, the farmers market season symbolizes new growth and opportunity.

As our summer season moves into full swing, we are excited to see new and veteran faces.  Currently you can find a bounty of locally produced goodies including fresh raspberries, snap peas, fennel, salad greens, baked goods, jams and jellies, wine, as well as the sweetest strawberries. This delicious and versatile fruit is the focus of our Annual Strawberry Dessert Festival going on right now through July 7^th!

If you haven’t visited a participating restaurant yet, now is your chance! Only 3 days left so act fast. Check out our list of participating restaurants AND their sweet strawberry desserts. A portion of the proceeds of each of these menu items goes toward Mass Farmers Markets to help us help support the local communities.

Make a weekly date at your local farmers market, as most are already in full swing! Visit our website, enter your zip code in our Market Finder to find information about the market closest to you. For member farmers markets you can even see the vendors and their products (just look for the little tractor).

Subscribe to our blog to stay up to date with all the exciting things going on!