Photo: Courtesy of Edible Boston

Ilene Bezahler, Guest Contributor
Edible Boston
Wandering through a farmers market is a social event for many of us. We may meet old friends and, if you’re a regular customer, talking with the vendors is like talking to a friend.
In “Anatomy of a Farmers Market – Part 2 – To Market, to Market,” Sara Coblyn Porth, co-owner of Atlas Farm, shares with us her view from the other side of the table. Beginning with preparing for the market through the trip home, Sara offers a glimpse into how the market day comes together.

Photo: Lizi Beth/Flickr

Donna Kirk

THE LOCAL DISH

A crazy kind of spring fever
Okay, spring is here. You work, you go home, you pace your room. Something is stirring. You head to the outdoor market where you spend time staring at the fresh green lettuce, chard and orange bell peppers. You wander to the park to gaze longingly at the flowers. You lay on the grass and feel it between your fingers. At work, you’re distracted. You can’t explain what you feel. Is it the urge to…plant something? Continue reading →

Photo: Susanna Bolle

With its phosphorescent color and complex mix of flavors, Chartreuse is a truly enigmatic liqueur. Its exact recipe–consisting of 130 plants and flowers–is known by only three monks at the Carthusian monastery in Chartreuse, France, which has produced the green liqueur since 1737 (the lower-alcohol yellow version dates from 1838). It’s tough stuff to describe without inadvertently conjuring images of overpriced botanical cough syrup. Yet while Chartreuse may be good for what ails you, it’s also oh-so tasty.

This Friday, June 4, you can sample some of this lovely liquid for yourself in both its emblematic green and slightly less well-known yellow varieties at The Boston Shaker, a charming little cocktail supply shop in Davis Square, Somerville.

Photo courtesy of The Boston Shaker

The shop is run by Adam Lantheaume, who is a font of information on all things cocktail-related and an ardent fan of Chartreuse. “Chartreuse is one of my absolute favorites,” he says. “And, oddly enough, it was one of the first liqueurs that I liked. It’s an incredibly complex, herbal liqueur that has a totally different flavor profile. But it’s the kind of thing that really, really grows on you.” It’s also a versatile, if challenging, mixer and the ingredient in some inspired cocktails. Adam is partial to a drink called the Alaska that features gin, Yellow Chartreuse and orange bitters.

Friday’s tasting has itself grown in scope in the last few days. At first, the program was simple enough: Green and Yellow Chartreuse, plus a canonical (and wonderful) Chartreuse-based cocktail known as the Last Word. Now there will also be a tasting of two new types of mezcal (a traditional Mexican liquor) from the brand Ilegal, as well as Bols Genever, a wheaty-flavored liquor which, as Adam describes it, is a kind of ur-gin: “If you want to find out about the origins of gin,” he says, “this is where it’s at.”

The Boston Shaker is located at 69 Holland Street, Somerville. Check their website for more details. The tasting runs from 4-6 p.m. on Friday, June 4.

Photo: Ivan Walsh/Flickr

There’s a several-week-long celebration of local strawberries slated to begin next Friday that we just had to share with you our readers. It’s the Mass Farmers Markets (MFM) Strawberry Dessert Festival, its third annual, beginning June 11th and lasting til July 4th. It works like this: if you eat at one of the participating restaurants (check the MFM site) during those three weeks of June/early July and order one of their specially-prepared desserts made with local berries, a portion of the proceeds will go to the MFM, the only non-profit “tasked with supporting and promoting the over 200 markets” in Massachusetts. So, get sticky sweet from local berries and raise some money for our local markets!

Note #1: Verrill Farm of Concord is holding its own Strawberry Festival on Saturday, June 19th, with music, hayrides, pony rides, strawberry shortcake made from scratch and a strawberry dessert contest open to all.

Note #2: the farmers market season is getting into swing. Check out PRK’s “Find a Farmers Market Map” (look right!) to find local produce markets (read: berries!) most convenient to you.

BIG NOTE #3:  we asked our friend Ilene Bezahler of Edible Boston AND Mass Farmer Markets (she wears many hats) to fill us in a bit about Massachusetts strawberries. Here’s what she had to say… Continue reading →