Market Produce -- Glamour Shots

Beet Bouquets - Merlin, Chioggia & Touchstone varieties

Carrot Bunches - Nelson, White Satin & Purple Haze varieties

Bright Lights Chard & French Breakfast Radishes

French Filet Beans -- Red Rocket, Islander & Tiburon Peppers -- unlabeled eggplant
from the World Crops Project

Costata Romanesco & a last minute addition
yellow zucchini variety that I didn't write down (it happens).

Lemon Cucumbers

We grew some lemon cucumbers in our high tunnels at both Hastings and Vernon. These babies are delicious! One of my favourite things we grew. They have a similar crunch to a green cuke and the seeds are very similar. I think they taste citrusy, but that may also be because I am thinking "lemon" when I eat it.

Lemon cucumbers are also great for a school garden - any time you can grow something that produces lots of small plentiful fruits is great for students. Just like tomatoes, it's easier to share lots of cherries with students than to try to slice up a beefsteak.

They were also a pleasant surprise for most market shoppers. We would always put out a small chalkboard with the lemon cuke name and do samples of slices. People were always interested to give it a taste and they were always hot sellers.

I've heard that the specks on them are both normal and bad - they brush off with your hand or a soft cloth, but they also are fine to eat. Any insight on what they are?

Zucchini

Costata Romanesco Zucchini - an Italian heirloom variety with a delicious nutty flavour and firm texture. We would harvest them fairly small so that they maintained that firmness and not be too watery or spongy. We would sell them at the market with the blossom still attached - a way for us to distinguish ourselves and also a great way to chat with market goers about different ways of preparing and cooking parts of the zucchini plant. One of our regulars told me about a Mexican dish of slicing up the blossoms, cooking them with onions and lots of cilantro and serving with fresh corn tortillas, yum! This variety also has ridges along the side of the fruit which makes for a beautiful shape when you slice it up. Once they got too big (if you leave zucchini - it will get bigger than your head, folks) then they make some delicious zucchini bread!