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Now that summer sunshine has arrived, Market shoppers look forward to the season of freshly picked, delicious, local stone fruits. This year, cherries came very late, but it was worth the wait! Right now, Portland Farmers Market is a cherry heaven, whether you favor the deep burgundy Lamberts, bright Royal Annes, sweet Bings, or tender Rainiers that are second to none.
Like most other fruits, cherries are fat-free, low in calories and sodium, and high in certain minerals and vitamins such as potassium, Vitamin C, and B-complex vitamins. A ‘superfruit’, cherries are packed with antioxidants that fight free radicals in the body. They may help prevent cancer and heart disease, slow the aging process, and may contain natural compounds responsible for reducing painful arthritic inflammation.
Here is our suggestion: Buy two bags of cherries. The first will be eaten while you shop the market; because let’s face it, you can’t resist! The second bag will actually make it home with you to be baked in pies, preserved as jams, served on salads with blue cheese, served plain as a dessert or side dish, or made into juice, ice cream, or wine. Try this recipe for Cherry Clafoutis at your next summertime bash, courtesy of Market volunteer and co-author of Throw a Great Party, Mary Bartlett.
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In 1909, the Tamiyasu family, part of a wave of Japanese immigrants settling in the area between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, started a farm in the Hood River Valley. In those early years they grew mostly asparagus and strawberries. Three generations later, Tamiyasu Orchards has evolved to encompass 110 acres of pear, apple, cherry and peach trees. Tom Garofalo and his wife, Ramona Tamiyasu, an acupuncturist, run the farm.
While commercial fruit production is the bread and butter of Tamiyasu Orchards, the farm dedicates 15 acres to organic, heirloom fruit trees to bring to the farmers market.
“For us, the farmers market is like having guests for dinner.” Garofalo says, “You want to share things with them and you want them to enjoy what you grow. We do the farmers market because it’s fun for us.”
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When the Market day comes to a close, vendors pack up their tables and load their trucks to take home their belongings and unsold items. Increasingly, the vendors are choosing to donate the day’s leftover food to Urban Gleaners, a nonproit organization that takes food that would otherwise be composted or thrown away and gives it to groups that feed the hungry.
Urban Gleaner’s founder, Tracy Oseran, said that volunteers gather leftover produce, pastries, meat, and bread to the tune of 100 to 300 pounds at each Saturday downtown farmers market, Wednesday downtown market, and Thursday Eastside market. “There’s plenty of food out there–people don’t have to go hungry,” Oseran said. “The more I see the more I’m convinced that hunger is a question of redistribution.”
Volunteers from Urban Gleaning collect food from farmers and prepared food booths when the market closes. The vendors don’t have to pack the food home, and they receive a tax credit for donating. Urban Gleaners then takes the food to the Blanchet House, the Sunshine Pantry, New Avenues for Youth, and other groups that feed the hungry.
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Since opening their first Portland store in 2000, supporting local and regional foods producers has been a core value of locally owned New Seasons Market. This commitment is exemplified through the abundance of regionally produced products available in all nine of New Seasons Market’s neighborhood centric stores.
New Seasons Market’s eat local ethos is best exemplified in their Pacific Village branded products. This private label designates organic and natural products produced on local farms and ranches. Besides offering shoppers sustainably produced foods from the Pacific Northwest, a portion of each Pacific Village sale is donated to local organizations dedicated to supporting local farmers and access to regional foods. Since 2007, New Seasons Market has disbursed $100,000 through this grant program.
Proceeds from the Pacific Village program help sponsor Portland Farmers Market’s unique “Taste the Place” booth at the Saturday PSU farmers market and the season sponsorship of the Eastbank farmers market. Taste the Place highlights under-appreciated fruits and vegetables, providing free samples and recipes to market shoppers ready to try something new. Stop by Taste the Place on Saturdays and enter a drawing for a free cooking class. Each weekend in August, New Seasons Market will award one lucky winner and a friend the opportunity to attend any scheduled cooking class at their recently opened Happy Valley Cooking School.
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