A New Farmer’s Market: Now with more knifiness.

Here in lovely downtown Bethesda, we are blessed with a few farmers’ markets. I don’t know why we’ve got three, but maybe now that I’ve pointed it out, they will battle to the death and only one will reign supreme.

• The Montgomery County Farm Women’s Cooperative Market: A longstanding tradition with an eclectic mix of handmade handbags, cut flowers, beads and rugs, the Best Damn Bakery in Captivity, and assorted other schlock, and – oh- some vegetables. This market is open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with some kind of semi-sanctioned flea market action happening on Sundays as well.
• Bethesda Farmers Market: This is a weird one – open 10-2:30 on Tuesdays and Saturdays, this has your standard fare – small cardboard quart containers of fruits and vegetables, some potted herbs and breads and schmears. I say weird only because I resent it being open 10-2:30 on Tuesdays when I’m downtown working so I can live in this neighborhood.
• Bethesda Central Farm Market: This newcomer has a whole bunch of stuff – artisan cheeses, fruits/veg, bread, sausages, chicken, eggs, fish, schmears, honey, flowers… and, apparently, an itinerant knife sharpener. It’s migratory – appearing in two spots on Thursdays and Sundays – and pretty energetic.

I heart beets

Spouse and I went to the Bethesda Central Farm Market on Sunday, and bought flowers, bread, tomatoes, mozzarella, salad mix, radishes and beets. In our advanced age, we’ve discovered the joy of beets and have just recently learned how to administer them:

• Procure beets.
• Remove leafy stems from beets.
• Wash beets and pick off beet whiskers.
• Wrap beets festively in foil.
• Bake at 350 for as long as you’d bake a similarly sized potato. Say, an hour.
• Let cool. This is important.
• Put down a tarp or something because this is where beet juice comes into play.
• Remove skins. They come off pretty easily with water and a standard issue vegetable peeler.
• Rend them into salad-sized pieces, making your kitchen look like the location of a massacre.
• Combine them with greenery, crumbled Stilton, walnuts and a very light, citrus-y viniagrette.
• Enjoy.

Next up, Mitch Berliner of the Bethesda Central Farm Market answers a few questions about the neighborhood and this young upstart of a market.