Mercado Kitchen: Palmero Date Smoothie

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Mercado Kitchen, Palmero Date Shop, Recipes, Vendors, Winters Tree Fruit | 3 Comments

palmerodatesign

Have a sweet tooth but want to fulfill the craving with something healthy, kosher, and organic? Stop by the Palmero Date Shop stall this Thursday to pick up some tasty and succulent dates! Ronald will guide you through his wide variety of dates for any sweet or savory craving. His Jumbo Medjool dates are the best for snacking, as they embody the true unique flavor of perfectly ripe Medjool dates from Bard Valley California. Also highly recommended are his unique, dainty, and incredibly sweet Khadrawy dates that melt in the mouth — a delectable treat! This week Palmero Date Shop will be introducing new Varietal Date Paste balls that are great for making Vegan Date Shakes, as featured in the recipe below.

Palmero Date Shop is no ordinary date vendor. They provide traceability for all of their five varieties of dates produced on a small farm in Bard, California; 100% Organic, Kosher. They follow strict food safety procedures to ensure that their smooth pillows of natural sugar are dispersed responsibly and ethically to a wide range of communities in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City. Not only do Palmero Dates track and document every batch of their mouthwatering dates, they work hard to educate the public about the unique date growing region in Bard, California.  One of their goals is to create a larger demand for varietal dates so growers will be encouraged to plant new date palm cultivars and ultimately expand the selection of dates for farmers market consumers in the future.

PalmerostallRon

For this weeks recipe, Ronald recommends their new Varietal Date Paste pack for a healthy, sweet, protein-packed Palmero Date Shake. To add to this tasty smoothie, stop by the Winters Fruit Tree stall to pick up some Raw Nonpareil Almonds! Check out the full recipe after the jump!
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MCM Vendor and Volunteer Appreciation Party

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Blog, Interns, Vendors, Volunteers | Leave a comment

This past Sunday, MCM threw a little bash at a.Muse Gallery in honor of our hard-working vendors and volunteers who make Mission Community Market happen every week! Here are some photos of the special night!

We were thrilled that so many local businesses were willing to generously donate to help make this event a success! We’d like to thank and recognize all of our event sponsors, including the following amazing folks!

Food was provided by:

Lolinda Restaurant | Wise Sons Deli | Azalina’s Malaysian | Roli Roti | Flour Chylde | Mission Cheese | Tacolicious | Arizmendi Bakery | Sour Flour | La Victoria Panaderia | Three Babes Bakeshop | Trader Joe’s | Pretzel Crisps

Beverages were provided by:

Almanac Beer | Lagunitas Brewing Company | Cole Hardware | Onigilly | Purity Organic | Bluxome Street Winery

Decorations were provided by:

Casa Bonampak

We’d also like to extend our deepest gratitude to Lori of a.Muse Gallery for offering her space for this party and helping make it a success – for anyone looking for a great event space, definitely check out a.Muse located at 18th and Alabama in the Mission.

And last but certainly not least, thank you to our amazing vendors and volunteers for helping make the market awesome each and every week!

MCM Returns next Thursday, January 23rd!

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Blog, Live Music | Leave a comment

After a brief hiatus, MCM is thrilled to be returning to Bartlett and 22nd Streets next Thursday, January 23rd. We’ll be back in action with that perfect blend of healthy local produce, tasty dinner options, locally-produced artisanal goods, live music, and fun! Here’s a sneak peek of some of the goodness that’s in store for you in just nine short days.

Live Music: Steve Long & Otto Mobile

We’re thrilled to kick off our 2014 season next week with two very talented artists.

At 4pm, help us welcome the supremely talented Steven Norman Long back to the market!

At 6pm, Matt Lundquist of Otto Mobile and the Moaners will entertain us with a mix of urban country, rock ‘n roll, and twangy bluegrass.

 Welcome Minnie Bell’s to MCM

As we announced in December, 4505 Meats and Onigilly have left MCM to focus on their brick-and-mortar establishments (4505 Meats will stay on as a retail vendor). Though this news is bittersweet, we are thrilled at the chance to support and grow other small local businesses! This month, we’re excited to introduce you to Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, a La Cocina business ready to feed the MCM masses their delicious gumbo, tri tip sandwich, and more. Come say hello!

Volunteer with MCM!

Love MCM and want to get more involved? We want to hear from you!Our volunteers help out with a two-hour shift weekly at the market, or whenever their schedule allows. We also have volunteer opportunities outside of Thursdays to do building projects for the market, outreach, help with translation or data entry, and more.If you’re a Mercado lover and want to take your relationship with MCM to the next level, contact us for more info!

The Mercado Match is Back!

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Blog, Health promotion | Leave a comment

Wondering what kind of awesome programming MCM offers to the community with funds from our fundraising efforts?

One example is a recent partnership with the Bi-Rite Family of Businesses, which will enable us to bring back the Mercado Match program, which we previously offered in 2011 and 2012.

This wildly popular matching benefit gives CalFresh (food stamp) users up to $10 free to use toward fresh fruit and vegetables when they swipe their card at the market. Beginning Thursday December 5th, 2013, we’ll make this weekly benefit available as long as possible to help incentivize grocery shopping at the market this holiday season and on into 2014. If you’re an EBT user, come by the MCM info booth this Thursday to learn more! 

The Mission Community Market would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Bi-Rite for their generosity!

We Need Your Donation to Keep the Mercado Magic Alive

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Blog, For Kids, Health promotion, Live Music, Mercado Plaza, murals, public art | Leave a comment
We are asking for your support to continue to bring the mercado magic to you every week! Please donate to MCM this holiday season by clicking here.

youth in urban sprouts cut outs

Mission Community Market was created by the people and for the people of the Mission.  Our weekly market is full of healthy, farm fresh products, small artisans, and local music. Add friendly faces with a place to gather and enjoy delicious dinner with your family, and you have the makings of a place con corazón, with heart!

MCM goes beyond the friendly farmers market by also offering the following unique ingredients:

Bilingual Health Promotion and Mission Mercado Match

To help reduce obesity and diabetes, we provide bilingual cooking demonstrations, a play space, and the nutritional resources you need to make everyday cooking fun and healthy. MCM is proud to offer these programs thanks to a strong partnership with Urban Sprouts and the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN). Thanks to another partnership with Bi-Rite Market, MCM doubles the dollars for all WIC and CalFresh (formerly food stamps) participants who shop for healthy produce at our market, supplementing diets of families who are food insecure, especially in the face of current CalFresh budget cuts.

Growing Small Businesses

Artisans and local merchants give MCM the homegrown and neighborhood feel that contributes to the community. For this integral sector of our family of vendors, we provide a platform to reach a weekly audience, technical assistance, access to market, guidance on packaging and marketing products, and sales opportunities to other businesses.

Musicians SOTA chorus w little audienceYouth Arts

Youth can dance, sing or act on the street at MCM. Sometimes it’s their first public performance, and it gives them an opportunity to soar! Participating youth are from Ruth Asawa School of the Arts (SOTA), The Marsh Youth Theater, Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8, San Francisco School, Mission Cultural Center, Everett Middle School, Edison Academy, and many others.

The Mercado Plaza – A Sense of Community Space

MCM successfully lead the efforts to create the Mercado Plaza on Bartlett Street. Canopies, lights, wider and beautiful sidewalks, murals and landscaping will make Bartlett a safer shared street. The space will be perfect to host a variety of community events for all – we can’t wait!

Creating a celebrated space and programming for all

Mission Community Market is the only community-based organization whose mission is to bring the diverse people of the Mission together through food, music, murals, or just gathering with neighbors. The Mercado Plaza will enable more positive programming to give back to our community, improve the quality of life in the Mission, and beautify the neighborhood.

We are asking for your support to continue to bring the mercado magic to you every week! Please donate to MCM this holiday season by clicking here.