Farm Market Report for Sept 15, 2015 Keith Helmuth
Pickle Making at the Market on Saturday
Pickle making is a good old tradition that never loses its importance. Almost everybody likes pickles of some kind. When the harvest is at it’s in early fall and the field and garden crops are rolling in, pickle making becomes an important way of preserving perishable vegetables for all-season use.
On Saturday the 19th the Woodstock Farm and Craft Market will be the site of a pickle making party. A pickle making demonstration will be set up and the results will be available for tasting. Pickle products will also be for sale.
Pam Burpee will be the hostess and pickle making guru. She will be demonstrating the art of pickle making and will be happy to share her knowledge of different recipes and processes.
The Market opens at 10 AM on Saturday and Pam says she’ll be up and running at that time.
If you have never made pickles but are curious about getting started, talking to Pam will be a good place to begin. Or, if you are an old hand at pickle making, come on down to the Market on Saturday and share your information.
Sharing information between producers and customers has always been an important feature of the Farm Market. Pam Burpee’s pickle making party will add a new opportunity for this sharing.
The good thing about the process of pickling is that it can be applied to many different vegetables. Cucumbers are, of course, the mainstay of the pickle making world, but you can make pickles from zucchini as well. Beet pickle is widely made and enjoyed and don’t forget green tomato chow chow. You can pickle green and yellow beans, small onions, carrots, corn, pumpkin, even watermelon rinds.
My grandmother used to harvest sweet corn ears when they were just two or three inches long and pickle them. As a kid, I looked forward to that speciality at her dinner table. Pickled corn relish was always on hand as well.
These are just few of the pickling possibilities to think about. The pickle party at the Woodstock Farm Mark on Saturday may be the start of a new tradition. We are thinking of it as the “First Annual Farm Market Pickle Party.”
The Market is open six days a week, 10 AM to 4 PM. It opens at 8 AM on Friday.