ISSUE 32, FARMERS MARKETS, Part 1: Santa Fe
The Santa Fe Farmer’s Market
Skirting the tracks at the city railyard, the vendor stalls of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market open at 7 a.m. each Saturday. Farmers from a 100 mile radius cart their wares to Santa Fe for sale. The crowds coalesce early. It was a classic 21st century major city market in that conventional offerings sit next to unique local foods. Superb carrots, turnips, and squash abounded in booth after booth. Rarer stuff-baby bok choy, rhubarb stalks, and rainbow chard had two vendors providing, making for competitive pricing. The usual pitfalls of produce sales were in evidence: zukes were ripe and everyone had too many; carrots were everywhere and unless you had them artfully displayed no one gave then a second glance.
I was expecting to see some things that just wasn’t there: melons, tomatillos, sweet potatoes, and mountain asparagus. On the other hand I saw things that I had never seen before on a vendor’s table in the United States: Amarillo Pepper Powder, fresh Anasazi Beans, and most magical of all—the Yellow Spanish (Bigareau) Cherry. Along with the Black Tartarian, this is the most important of the old sweet cherries from which most modern sweets derive. I bought a carton, since I had never tasted this classic. There was only one vendor. For many sugar besotten Americans, the Yellow Spanish would lack the gaudy sweetness of the Rainier or the improved Bings you now find in grocery produce section. But its marriage of sweet with subacid tang is just fine. The stuff to build centuries of cherry growing and breeding upon.
The meat vendors had the exotic (Yak) with the standard beef and pork. There was lamb, but no mutton. I didn’t see cured meats for sale. There was one bread baker and one confectioner-baker (this was for the most part not a prepared foods venue), and there were fine loaves on display. Many vendors offered custom chile blends. Those who offered herbs, often arrayed them with artistry and craft, creating objects both fragrant and beautiful to behold.