NYBG’s Greenmarket is open today until 3 p.m. Stop by for fresh spaghetti squash, leeks, apples, and more seasonal delicacies. If you’re looking for a fun new recipe to try out, we have an exciting use for one of today’s special Greenmarket offerings: quince!
These interesting fruits can be difficult to find, but they are available at NYBG today. Membrillo is a quince paste popular in Spain, that can be enjoyed on toast like any preserve, or better yet, on a cracker with cheese for a sweet and savory treat.
Make you own membrillo with this easy recipe, and with holiday parties just around the corner you will have a delicious addition to any cheese platter—or a unique homemade gift.
Last week I wrote about festive fall arrangements, with pumpkins carved open and colorful table centerpieces placed inside them. This week, I will provide a profile of pumpkins and other cucurbits. Pumpkins are in the Cucurbitaceae family and are one of the two oldest food sources in North America (corn is the other). Seeds have been found in caves in Mexico dating back from 5000 to 7000 B.C.
If you peruse the farmers’ markets these days you will find a nice selection of pumpkins. One of my favorites for eating and for decorating is the Long Island Cheese pumpkin or Cucurbita moschata ‘Long Island Cheese’. It makes a great pie. Another exotic counterpart is ‘Musquee de Provence’ which is an heirloom from the south of France.
There is a seasonally appropriate, ghostly white pumpkin named Cucurbita maxima ‘Lumina’ that makes a delicious soup. If you are searching for Cinderella’s pumpkin, it goes by the name of Cucurbita maxima ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’, a French heirloom that was introduced into the U.S. in 1883 by the Burpee Seed Company.
As the bounty from the farmers’ markets will attest, fall is a wonderful season for a wide array of other winter squash. One of my seasonal favorites is ‘Delicata’, a sweet squash that has an edible rind and can be sliced and sautéed or baked in the oven. When selecting this squash, choose one that is heavy for its size.
Last week, I discussed the various taros or elephant’s ears (Colocasia esculenta) that we had on display in the Home Gardening Center. What I didn’t mention was that these robust tropical plants with their gigantic floppy leaves and their large round corms can be edible when properly prepared. Taro—or Cocoyam, or Yu Yu Tou—is a popular staple for many cultures.
It is believed that taro is indigenous to India. In Southeast Asia, it was grown near or in rice fields. In ancient times the Greeks and the Romans brought taro to Egypt and the Mediterranean. Spanish and Portuguese explorers then transported it to the New World. It is revered in Hawaii through prayers and takes on many forms in the cuisine. It goes without saying that taro is a globally important food source.
Wednesday is Greenmarket day at NYBG, until 3 p.m. Our local vendors are back today with fresh fruits and vegetables, including many varieties of cherry and grape tomatoes! A little sweet, a little tart, and always refreshing, we tend to think of these little morsels as a summer staple. With October right around the corner, we found a recipe to share with you that explores their potential uses in autumn recipes.
Click through for how to prepare Fall Salad with Corn, Cherry Tomatoes, and Oven-Roasted Green Onions. There are many other goods available today, including fresh flowers, lettuce, herbs, scallions, acorn squash, hot peppers, eggplant, sweet potatoes, plums, peaches, green grapes, and seasonal pumpkin baked goods. Plan your visit to the Greenmarket by checking out what’s in season. The Greenmarket accepts food stamps, EBT, WIC/FMNP, and Senior coupons, in addition to cash and credit or debit cards.
Today’s Greenmarket includes tomatoes of all sizes and onions of every shade, plus kale, sweet chard, leeks, fresh garlic, and more!
Leeks have a very special flavor without being overpowering. Click through for a bit of seasonal inspiration in a simple, savory pasta recipe—fusili with creamed leek and spinach. Try it out over the long weekend!
Be sure to visit the upcoming schedule for future special programs, demos, and Q&As at the Wednesday Greenmarket. Now that summer is winding down, be sure to look at GrowNYC’s calendar of what’s in season and explore some future possibilities for exciting fall meals.
Wednesday is Greenmarket day at NYBG! Our local purveyors are back with an abundance of fresh goods until 3 p.m. Today’s market features tomatoes, eggplants, cantaloupe, fresh garlic, potatoes, green bell pepper, and plums—plus baked goods including gluten-free options!
Today includes another visit from Montefiore Community and Population Health, who are providing free body mass index (BMI) screenings as well as nutritional counseling on how to stay healthy. It’s a beautiful day to enjoy the grounds and make healthy choices at the Greenmarket!
Summer is salad season, so we found a recipe that uses a delicious seasonal fruit—plums—to make a fresh and light summer snack. Click through to see a quick and easy recipe for buffalo mozzarella with balsamic glazed plums, pine nuts, and mint.
The NYBG Greenmarket is open today until 3 p.m., rain or shine! This week the NYC Compost Project hosts a Compost Q&A with a focus on outdoor composting. Stop by for info sheets and helpful tips from Master Composters between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and get your compost bin started today.
Our specialty vendors offer organic fruit juices, a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables—from apples to eggplants—as well as cookies, pies, and other baked goods. Among the produce is okra, which can be roasted for a quick, easy, and healthy side snack. We found a recipe that will add some green to your next barbecue. Read on for more!
When I feel like going on a culinary adventure, I’ll often travel to the Polish markets in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint. It’s one of the few places that I can find one of my favorite items, a drink or syrup made from chokeberries (Aronia melanocarpa). You simply dilute the syrup with mineral water to create a refreshing beverage with a robust berry flavor reminiscent of black currants—minus the bitter edge.
European markets tend to offer a wealth of products like this, many of them made from herbs and berries that you won’t often find in the mainstream North American marketplace. They herald back to a time when people lived off the land and were more intimately connected with their natural environment.
We often assess native plants in terms of their ornamental value, but rarely view them in terms of their culinary value, even though there is a long and colorful history of foraging and using native species in our kitchens. For the most part, these traditions have since been isolated to local communities and small groups of enthusiasts.
Being a “foodie” (I know, that term has run its course with so many of us who love to eat!) is often something left up to adults—people who know how to order off-menu or pick a perfect table wine. And alternatively, someone who’s tried every form of offal under the sun, but let’s tackle one thing at a time. As with so many things, your passions can often find their footing when you’re a kid, meaning taste and good eating habits start early. So to help our young gourmands get off on the right foot, we’re setting aside an entire week dedicated to the celebrated relationships between plants, farms, and every kid’s favorite foods.
Join us February 17 through 23 for a full week of edible fun in our Conservatory Dining Pavilion, where our staff and a team of experts from Growing Chefs will be on hand offering demonstrations, choice recipes, and hands-on activities backed by plenty of music and food tastings. A variety of activity stations will have your little ones making the rounds from pickles to cheese, tinkering with the kitchen chemistry that brings the staples of your table to life. And a daily cooking demonstration at 1 p.m. supplies kid-friendly recipes and delicious samples with support from local chefs.
Warm days, cool nights. This weather screams for soup! And the Garden’s free, weekly Wednesday Greenmarket has everything you need to cobble together a quick soup for dinner or for a long-simmered stock this weekend.
You can find everything you need to make the best soup ever at the Greenmarket. Produce aplenty is available from Gajeski Produce and Migliorelli Farm. Red Jacket Orchards has apples, pears, and ciders that are an exciting addition to your dinner table. And Meredith’s Bread has rolls for serving alongside your soup, and dessert, too.
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