By Katherine Jones
For the Salisbury Post
We have a lot to look forward to this week at the Salisbury Farmers Market. There will be the usual tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, squash, peppers and okra — and Mr. Bostian told me he will have the first mixed greens of the season. These will go well with the new crop of sweet potatoes now available. The produce vendors also have cabbage, onions, zucchini and white potatoes as well as apples, peaches and cantaloupes.
Now that apples have made their debut for this year, an apple tasting study will be conducted using five or six varieties of apples. The test will be similar to the tomato tasting held at the market several weeks ago. Results of the study will be published next week.
The most exciting news is that Toi Degree of the Rowan County Cooperative Extension office will be on hand to give us the benefit of her food knowledge and cooking skills. She will be preparing some dishes with apples that are currently available at the market. Toi has made many appearances at the market and her presentations are always wonderful.
Some items at the market are phasing out and some things are just coming into prominence. Dawn’s Greenhouse will not have any fresh figs after this week. On the other hand Joyce’s Flowers have some outstanding fall mums in many colors and will carry them for several more weeks.
I bought a quart of spaghetti sauce from The Funky Pepper last week. Let me tell you, it was incredibly good. The sauce was so thick and flavorful I did not add meat, which I usually do. This week I will get another quart and intend to try a package of homemade cheese bread sticks from Kris of How Sweet It Is to complement the sauce.
Summer produce is dwindling and the farmers are not harvesting as much as a few weeks ago. As a consequence, Sept. 14 will be the last Wednesday of operation for the Salisbury Farmers Market. The Saturday market will continue until the end of October.
For more information about the Salisbury Farmers Market, visit www.salisburyfarmersmarket. com. The Farmers Market is located in downtown Salisbury on the corner of South Main and Bank streets. It is open on Wednesday from 7 a.m.to 1 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon.
Katherine Jones is a Master Gardener volunteer for the Cooperative Extension Service in Rowan County.