Locals Enjoy New Saturday Greenmarket

Posted in Programs and Events, The Edible Garden on August 7 2009, by Plant Talk

Hilary Johnson, a freelance writer, is a volunteer for The New York Botanical Garden.

It’s Saturday. You’ve finally got a free day, and you want to cook up a storm. Maybe you’ll even invite some friends over for dinner. So, where are you going to shop? This year, the answer could be the Greenmarket at the Botanical Garden.

For the first time, the Garden’s Greenmarket is open also on Saturdays, not just Wednesdays. At the Mosholu Parking Lot, just across from the Mosholu Gate at Kazimiroff Boulevard, you can buy fresh, seasonal vegetables as well as breads, fruits, and desserts.

New Yorkers in all the boroughs already know about the City’s Greenmarkets. They’re some of the best places around to buy food. They give upstate farmers an opportunity to sell direct to consumers and City residents a chance to eat healthier, at reasonable prices.

Vanessa Sowell-Skeeter, 54, visited for the first time one recent Saturday (July 25). An elementary school teacher who lives nearby, Vanessa said she’s been meaning to come by the market for a while.

“Today I said, ‘Okay, this is my destination,’” she told me while shopping at the market. Looking over her purchases, she added, “I was able to find some things that I needed, and some things that look very tasty. So I’m happy.”

So was her daughter Njeri Johnson, 30, who’s a chef for private clients. Njeri, who also lives in the area, regularly visits Greenmarkets around the City, but Saturday was her first time at the Botanical Garden’s market. Among her purchases: cauliflower, string beans, and herbs from the two vegetable stands as well as some grass-fed black angus filet mignon and short ribs from Ledge Rock Farm in Medusa, New York.

Adam Pierce, 25, also snapped up some short ribs in order to prepare one of his mom’s favorite recipes: short ribs braised in red wine and simmered with vegetables in a slow cooker for about six hours. He said he would probably invite some friends over Saturday night to partake in the feast.

“My mom says use whatever vegetables you have on hand,” Adam, who’s a Fordham student, said. “But she also says to make sure you add some color.”

His mother favors tomatoes, Adam explained, but since they’re not his favorite, yellow from fresh corn in season would be the accent color instead. He would also use fresh fennel, onion, carrots, and potatoes, all purchased at the market that day.

The Saturday market is growing, with new vendors expected in the coming weeks, said Greenmarket manager Oscar Perpinan, who can be found at the Greenmarket booth fielding questions and comments. He plans to bring in a goat cheese vendor, another bread maker in addition to the Bread Alone organic bakery, and a new meat vendor to replace the departing Ledge Rock Farm.

Fruit vendors will also be headed down to the Bronx soon, too. “It’s been a rough year for fruit farmers, with all this rain,” said Oscar. “But we’re here until November.” (The NYBG Greenmarket runs through November 14 and is open all day. On Wednesdays, the market is held inside the Garden’s Mosholu Gate.)

So, did all this fresh produce and meat inspire yours truly to get cooking, too? You bet. Inspired by Adam Pierce’s recipe, I headed home with two pounds of short ribs to try his braised ribs in red wine recipe. And, I couldn’t resist a lovely head of cauliflower from Gajeski Farms in Riverhead, L.I., and six ears of fresh corn from Migliorelli Farm in Tivoli, New York.

Though I can never hope to compete with him, as Jacques Pepin says, “Happy Cooking!”