day 7 of a continuing series documenting my new job at annarbor.com
There's a wonderful weekly program on KCRW in Santa Monica called Good Food. Host Evan Kleiman does a roundup of reporting from the restaurants and farmers markets around Los Angeles, with interviews with restaurant owners, talks with farmers at markets about the produce they are bringing to market this week, and feature stories about restaurant excursions into the many cuisines that make up LA. It's a very fun show, and especially when it's the middle of an Ann Arbor winter there's something sunny and cheery about hearing that something is in season somewhere.
I went to the Wednesday market at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market today. It's about six blocks from the office, and for a number of years I've been a regular there, either at the Wednesday or the Saturday market. I came with pencil and pad of paper in hand and no shopping basket and walked around looking at what was there, and what caught my eye was berries - lots of berries - really, the high season of the berry season. So to provide a proper catalog, here's what's in season at market this week:
- Strawberries. Nearing the end of the season.
- Blueberries. Just starting the season.
- Gooseberries, red and green. One vendor, Wasem's.
- Currants, red and black, also both at Wasem's.
- Blackberries.
- Mulberries. I was surprised to see them, because I think of them as street tree food, but they were there.
- Red Raspberries, both conventional and organic.
- Cherries, sweet, sour, and Queen Anne. I've taken a taste to the sour cherries - more flavor and less sweet.
I might have missed black raspberries; they are ripe in bushes around town, including at Wheeler Park and Wurster Park. The juneberry / serviceberry season is either over or just about over depending on the tree you go to. Molly Notarianni, the market manager, says she saw wild gooseberries along a path around Pickerel Lake, near the stone fireplaces.
