SD Weekly Market Blogs

Check out the crimson hued blood oranges, or arrancia, at the Pacific Beach Tuesday Farmers’ Market this week.

Visit Lone Oak Ranch or Gilbert Quintos Farm to pick up this unique citrus, which looks like an ordinary orange on the outside but bursts with bright red color when cut open. The color comes from anthocyanins, powerful antioxidant compounds also found in red berries, and some people find a hint of raspberry flavor in the taste of blood orange juice.

It makes a wonderful addition to vinaigrette dressing made with olive oil from Bistro Blends or the California Olive; try drizzling it over a salad of fresh greens and roasted golden beets from Maciel Farm. Try pairing arrancia with Suzie’s Farm fennel and wild caught fish from the Salmon Slinger in salmon with roasted fennel and blood orange salsa.

It’ll make a bloody good dinner!

Only in San Diego: the warm weather late in 2012 means fresh strawberries in January at the North Park Thursday Farmers’ Market from JR Organics, Kawano Farms and Suzie’s Farm.

These super versatile bright red berries are great in desserts but also add a splash of flavor to savory dishes like this strawberry-avocado salad made with honey from Meljess Bees and avocado and citrus from Paradise Valley Ranch, or this tasty ruby kale salad with almonds from Smit Orchards or Hopkins AG.

Wild caught fish filets from the Salmon Slinger get a berry burst in this halibut with strawberry salsa recipe and we can’t resist a cheesecake made with Springhill Cheese Company quark and fresh strawberries. Looks like it's going to be a berry happy New Year!

There’s no better way to warm up than with winter squash like butternut, delicata and kabocha at the Little Italy Mercato. Find your favorites at Schaner Farm, Gilbert Quintos Farm, JR Organics and more; simply roast them in the oven and drizzle with Mikolich Honey or top with Springhill Cheese Company’s cultured butter.

Stock up at Smit Orchards for this vegan butternut squash and apple bisque, or grab lacinato kale from Vang’s Farm and almonds from Hopkins AG for this hearty, crunchy squash salad.

Try Morocco Gold’s medjool dates and fennel from Suzie’s Farm in this stuffed acorn squash, or use sweet red walnuts from Terra Bella Ranch in this squash, caramelized onion, walnut flatbread. The sweetness of winter squashes means they’re also perfect in desserts like this creme brulee.

What will you do with squash this week?

Find button, shiitake, crimini, and portobello mushrooms at the Pacific Beach Tuesday Farmers’ Market, grown in Escondido by Mountain Meadow Mushrooms and sold at the Kawano Farms booth. Sautee them with garlic and bell peppers from Proios Family Farm or stuff them with sausage from Ochoa Family Chorizo.

SoCal Shrooms has been sending their beautiful pink oyster mushrooms (almost too pretty to eat... almost) to the PB Market with Suzie's Farm. Pick some up and use in any recipe that calls for mushrooms. You can also pick up a "mushroom grow kit"- perfect to give growing a try or give as a gift to your urban-farmer-wannabe friend!

Grab a bag of green or yellow string beans from J.R. Organics and make this easy and scrumptious mushroom-and-bean salad. Add some slivered almonds from Hopkins AG for a little crunch!

Use your choice of cheeses from Nicolau Farms or Springhill Cheese Company and bella mushrooms to whip up this tasty treat: pizza stuffed mushrooms!

These mysterious mycological marvels resisted human efforts to grow them for thousands of years; only in the 1890’s did scientists learn to reliably cultivate agaricus bisporus, the common brown or crimini mushroom. The now familiar white mushroom is descended from a mutant batch of ‘shrooms that popped up on a Pennsylvania farm in 1926, and the shiitake mushroom has only been grown commercially in the United States since the 1980’s.

Pick up some mushrooms today to add a little magic to your meal!