blueberries

Blueberries two ways featuring Zuckerman Family Farms

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Mercado Kitchen, Vendor of the Week, Zuckerman's Farm | Leave a comment

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At Mission Community Market, Zuckerman Family Farms is your go-to-spot for asparagus and potatoes. The farm, located in Stockton, is known best for their white potatoes. But summer weather has brought changes to the booth: the season of asparagus, a spring vegetable, is over, and this summer, blueberries have joined the Zuckerman table.

“Every season something new comes through,” says Marvin, a seller for Zuckerman farms. This is his first year selling blueberries at Mission Mercado––in fact, as I speak with him, this is Marvin’s first day as a blueberry seller. The berries have a short season, and don’t come every year.

Shoppers linger around the booth, dipping their hands into an open blueberry container to sample. Marvin says that though the blueberries mostly go in oatmeals and muffins, the fruit is versatile. In fact, I can’t think of a berry more suited to a variety of cooking techniques––blueberries, while sweet, are relatively mild in flavor, and can be baked, grilled, pureed, or eaten raw.

For that reason, blueberries are an effortless summer classic, ready to be packed in lunches, enjoyed during sunset porch–dinners, or floated in drinks. I explored two ways that blueberries could be prepared and paired with corn.

blueberries two ways

Blueberries from Zuckerman farms are resilient and warm from the sun; the addition of fresh, locally produced blueberries is what makes the following recipes come to life. I encourage you to use berries from your local farmer’s market––the flavor in international bulk-produced fruit is just not the same.

The full recipes appear after the jump!

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Tasty Summer Cheese Pairings

Posted on by Mission Community Market in Achadinha Cheese Company, Blog, Flour Chylde Bakery, Rainbow Orchards, Recipes, Spring Hill Cheese, Twin Girls Farm, Yerena Farms | 1 Comment

As a self-described cheese fiend, I’m always looking for fun new ways to incorporate cheese into just about every minute of my day. While many of us may think of cheese mainly as a savory snack, pairing a subtly salty cheese with a basket of vine-ripened berries is actually one of my favorite things about summer. Both of MCM’s cheese vendors–Achadinha Cheese Company and Spring Hill Cheese–offer cheeses that pair deliciously with what’s in season right now, like blueberries from Rainbow Orchards or raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries from Yerena Farms.

Achadinha carries several goat’s milk cheeses, but my favorite is Capricious, an aged cheese hand-rolled in the European style. The following recipe from Achadinha’s website offers a simple way to combine it with the freshest summer fruits. Read more