Coral Gable Farmer's Market: 8 AM-1 PM, Jan-March, on the corner of Le Jeune and the Miracle Mile (in front of City Hall).
David and I went to the Coral Gables Farmer's market a couple of weeks ago with no idea what to expect. The verdict? While you are able to buy local produce there, it is a far cry from farmer's markets in other large cities (and even Des Moines, for that matter!). There are about 20 vendors there, and I counted only 2 or three selling vegetables. However, the vendors at this small markets offer very good product at fairly reasonable prices. We bought local honey, freshly baked bread, eggplant, cucumbers, beets, tomatoes, lettuce, as well as pastries and coffee for breakfast. It was really a lot of fun.
There are activities accompanying the market: gardening lectures, stuff for kids, and I believe sometimes music. What's more, going to the market is the perfect excuse to have brunch nearby, at say Graziano's Market.
Overall, I was disappointed at the size of the market, but it was still worth the trip. And the more popular it becomes, the bigger it will get, right? Hopefully it will grow in coming seasons. This is the last weekend for the market this season, so get out there while you can.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Buy local Miami---down south in Redland
Drive far enough south on Highway 1 and you will reach the Redland Agricultural area, one of the last bastions of farming area in south Florida. Named for the red clay in the "topsoil" (really crushed rock), the area has historically been a major producer of mango, avocado and vegetables. Today, much acreage has been moved to nurseries raising every ornamental plant you can imagine, as well as small specialty crops including everything from mamey to pitaya to lychee and longan.
Because of its proximity to the Everglades, many Redland stops are popular among tourists and offer fun food experiences. In the winter, I buy almost all of my produce down here. There are informal fruit and vegetable stands dotting the sides of most major roads (try across from the Fruit and Spice Park on 248th ST and 187th Ave, or on Krome Ave before 288th ST). There are also several larger, more established places you can go to get fresh products. You can easily turn a trip to the Redlands into a food adventure.
These are a few places I recommend trying:
1) Knaus Berry Farm, 15980 SW 248th ST. Open M-Sat, Dec-Apr.
Knaus Berry Farm is a a must stop if you've got a sweet tooth. They have cinnamon buns that are to die for, and only cost about $6 for a dozen! They come out warm and gooey, everything a cinnamon bun should be. And then there are the strawberries. Red, juicy, sweet, and huge! You can pick your own or just pick up a pint. Or, have a strawberry millshake. These are made with fresh, not frozen, berries and soft serve. People drive all the way from North Miami to get what Knaus has to offer.
But if you are in the mood for milkshakes...
2) Robert is Here, 19200 SW 344th Street, closed Sept-Oct. Robert, the proprieter, started the stand as a kid in 1959, and yes, he is usually there behind the counter. This is a big tourist stop, but I am also a regular there. The milkshakes are a big draw, offering a multitude of tropical fruit flavors (my favorites are key lime and passionfruit strawberry). Robert is Here also has a large selection of rare tropical fruits, grown right here in the area. You can get the staples like avocado (winter) and mango ( summer), but als try some of the stranger fruits---pitaya, custard apple, black sapote, jackfruit, etc. These can be a bit pricey, but you can always buy a small amount to sample. Lastly, I shop here every week for vegetables, mostly locally grown. You can get great tomatoe (and they just started offering German Stripe and Brandywine heirlooms), as well as broccoli, onions, green beans, corn, herbs, arugula, spinach, eggplant, etc. Prices are comparable to Publix or Whole Foods.
3) If you are a wine drinker, travel on down to the Schnebly Winery, 30205 SW 217 ave. This place has undergone an amazing transformation in the last few years. It went from a single trailer offering about half a dozen fruit wines to a gigantic venue with a beautiful tasting room, courtyard with seating and waterfall, and private rooms for parties. There are about a dozen fruit wines to taste, including carambola (starfruit), mango, guava, passionfruit, and even avocado. The lychee wine has won multiple awards. Most wines are very sweet, but there a few drier ones as well. The winery also has several "special" wines: sparkling and sweet dessert wines. Tastings are $6 for regular wines and $7 for "special" wines. On the weekends you cna buy a bottle and enjoy it in the courtyard with live music.
I hope you have a chance to visit the Redland. Believe me, getting out in the "country" will do wonders for your nerves after the hustle and bustle of the city.
Next week...the Coral Gables Farmer's Market.
Because of its proximity to the Everglades, many Redland stops are popular among tourists and offer fun food experiences. In the winter, I buy almost all of my produce down here. There are informal fruit and vegetable stands dotting the sides of most major roads (try across from the Fruit and Spice Park on 248th ST and 187th Ave, or on Krome Ave before 288th ST). There are also several larger, more established places you can go to get fresh products. You can easily turn a trip to the Redlands into a food adventure.
These are a few places I recommend trying:
1) Knaus Berry Farm, 15980 SW 248th ST. Open M-Sat, Dec-Apr.
Knaus Berry Farm is a a must stop if you've got a sweet tooth. They have cinnamon buns that are to die for, and only cost about $6 for a dozen! They come out warm and gooey, everything a cinnamon bun should be. And then there are the strawberries. Red, juicy, sweet, and huge! You can pick your own or just pick up a pint. Or, have a strawberry millshake. These are made with fresh, not frozen, berries and soft serve. People drive all the way from North Miami to get what Knaus has to offer.
But if you are in the mood for milkshakes...
2) Robert is Here, 19200 SW 344th Street, closed Sept-Oct. Robert, the proprieter, started the stand as a kid in 1959, and yes, he is usually there behind the counter. This is a big tourist stop, but I am also a regular there. The milkshakes are a big draw, offering a multitude of tropical fruit flavors (my favorites are key lime and passionfruit strawberry). Robert is Here also has a large selection of rare tropical fruits, grown right here in the area. You can get the staples like avocado (winter) and mango ( summer), but als try some of the stranger fruits---pitaya, custard apple, black sapote, jackfruit, etc. These can be a bit pricey, but you can always buy a small amount to sample. Lastly, I shop here every week for vegetables, mostly locally grown. You can get great tomatoe (and they just started offering German Stripe and Brandywine heirlooms), as well as broccoli, onions, green beans, corn, herbs, arugula, spinach, eggplant, etc. Prices are comparable to Publix or Whole Foods.
3) If you are a wine drinker, travel on down to the Schnebly Winery, 30205 SW 217 ave. This place has undergone an amazing transformation in the last few years. It went from a single trailer offering about half a dozen fruit wines to a gigantic venue with a beautiful tasting room, courtyard with seating and waterfall, and private rooms for parties. There are about a dozen fruit wines to taste, including carambola (starfruit), mango, guava, passionfruit, and even avocado. The lychee wine has won multiple awards. Most wines are very sweet, but there a few drier ones as well. The winery also has several "special" wines: sparkling and sweet dessert wines. Tastings are $6 for regular wines and $7 for "special" wines. On the weekends you cna buy a bottle and enjoy it in the courtyard with live music.
I hope you have a chance to visit the Redland. Believe me, getting out in the "country" will do wonders for your nerves after the hustle and bustle of the city.
Next week...the Coral Gables Farmer's Market.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Shop local first, Miami. Introduction.
I've decided to do a three part series on buying locally grown food right here in Miami. Today I will wax on about the benefits and importance of trying to buy local, followed in the weeks to come by several posts on vegetable stands and farmer's markets available to us: the Redlands and the Coral Gables Farmer's Market.
Local agriculture has been a pet issue of mine since I was in college, going to school with farmers in Iowa. It was right around the time the Des Moines Farmer's market was really taking off, and I was getting to work with smaller vegetable and fruit grower's through my undergraduate research job at Iowas State. I found these grower's to be excited about farming, ready to try experiment with new crops, new way of cultivation. At the same time, I learned in classes that while the industrialization of agriculture dramatically increased yields, it has lead to the death of rural communites and farms, with more and more of our produce being shipped from California, Chile, Mexico, etc. Being from the Midwest, with agrarian roots, that made me sad. And also a little worried to think that we rely on food supplies from other regions and countries.
The motto "shop local first" is getting easier because of the mutlitude of farmer's markets and CSA's that have popped up all over the country. Of course not everything I eat comes from farmer's markets. But I do purchase most of my produce at a local vegetable stand during the growing season, and because of Florida's great law requiring origin of production labels on all produce at the frocer store, I try to limit my grocery store purchases to the eastern United States, and not from Chile or Mexico. That's not to say I don't buy the occasional banana or apple.
So why should we all adopt the motto "shop local first"? There are many direct benefits to us as consumers, even without consideration of the broader impacts. First of all, the food usually tastes better. Compare a local, fresh tomato that was picked ripe to a store bought tomato picked green then ripened in an ethylene chamber. There is no comparison. Buying locat fruits and vegetables really allows us to enjoy the foods from where we live. In Iowa, we enjoy apples, raspberries, strawberries. In Miami it is mango, lychee, avocado. What is more, you will find the produce you buy from local growers stays fresh a lot longer in your fridge. This is especially good for me because I always buy ambitiously, but it takes me awhile to get to cooking everything I had planned.
The best benefit to buying local is the fuzzy feeling you get when you know you are helping support local growers, your community, the local economy. It really makes everything taste even better. Talking to people at a farmer's market, you'll find they have developed almost an emotional connection to the grower's they buy from. "That Rita, the asparagus gal, she always asks me how my week was." or "Joe, the eggman (not the walrus, ha ha!) always saves a dozen of those beautiful blue eggs for me."
Buying locally produced food also encourages a healthier diet. You can't buy overprocessed, already prepared meals, so we all get back in the kitchen and start putting healthier food in our mouths.
But what about the cost you say? I cannot dispute that some things are more expensive when you get them from local sources. But believe it or not, many things (especially produce) is comparable if not cheaper. It all has to do with buying seasonally. Tomatoes and cucumber, basil and spinach, etc. gets really cheap during the growing season (winter here in Miami). You'll be surprised how little you spend on the week's veggies.
What about broader impacts? Well, we can alter the previous course of the food industry: vertically integrated, megalithic companies that outcompete small, local growers. We can lower our carbon footprint by cutting out the hundreds or even thousands of miles that most food in the grocery store is shipped. We can contribute to the sustainability of our local economy, of our community itself.
So go visit a vegetable stand or farmer's market this weekend. Try some heirloom tomatoes, some Kirby cucumbers, some sweet onions. How about freshly baked bread or some local honey? Believe me, it is well worth the trip.
Local agriculture has been a pet issue of mine since I was in college, going to school with farmers in Iowa. It was right around the time the Des Moines Farmer's market was really taking off, and I was getting to work with smaller vegetable and fruit grower's through my undergraduate research job at Iowas State. I found these grower's to be excited about farming, ready to try experiment with new crops, new way of cultivation. At the same time, I learned in classes that while the industrialization of agriculture dramatically increased yields, it has lead to the death of rural communites and farms, with more and more of our produce being shipped from California, Chile, Mexico, etc. Being from the Midwest, with agrarian roots, that made me sad. And also a little worried to think that we rely on food supplies from other regions and countries.
The motto "shop local first" is getting easier because of the mutlitude of farmer's markets and CSA's that have popped up all over the country. Of course not everything I eat comes from farmer's markets. But I do purchase most of my produce at a local vegetable stand during the growing season, and because of Florida's great law requiring origin of production labels on all produce at the frocer store, I try to limit my grocery store purchases to the eastern United States, and not from Chile or Mexico. That's not to say I don't buy the occasional banana or apple.
So why should we all adopt the motto "shop local first"? There are many direct benefits to us as consumers, even without consideration of the broader impacts. First of all, the food usually tastes better. Compare a local, fresh tomato that was picked ripe to a store bought tomato picked green then ripened in an ethylene chamber. There is no comparison. Buying locat fruits and vegetables really allows us to enjoy the foods from where we live. In Iowa, we enjoy apples, raspberries, strawberries. In Miami it is mango, lychee, avocado. What is more, you will find the produce you buy from local growers stays fresh a lot longer in your fridge. This is especially good for me because I always buy ambitiously, but it takes me awhile to get to cooking everything I had planned.
The best benefit to buying local is the fuzzy feeling you get when you know you are helping support local growers, your community, the local economy. It really makes everything taste even better. Talking to people at a farmer's market, you'll find they have developed almost an emotional connection to the grower's they buy from. "That Rita, the asparagus gal, she always asks me how my week was." or "Joe, the eggman (not the walrus, ha ha!) always saves a dozen of those beautiful blue eggs for me."
Buying locally produced food also encourages a healthier diet. You can't buy overprocessed, already prepared meals, so we all get back in the kitchen and start putting healthier food in our mouths.
But what about the cost you say? I cannot dispute that some things are more expensive when you get them from local sources. But believe it or not, many things (especially produce) is comparable if not cheaper. It all has to do with buying seasonally. Tomatoes and cucumber, basil and spinach, etc. gets really cheap during the growing season (winter here in Miami). You'll be surprised how little you spend on the week's veggies.
What about broader impacts? Well, we can alter the previous course of the food industry: vertically integrated, megalithic companies that outcompete small, local growers. We can lower our carbon footprint by cutting out the hundreds or even thousands of miles that most food in the grocery store is shipped. We can contribute to the sustainability of our local economy, of our community itself.
So go visit a vegetable stand or farmer's market this weekend. Try some heirloom tomatoes, some Kirby cucumbers, some sweet onions. How about freshly baked bread or some local honey? Believe me, it is well worth the trip.
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