Farmer's Market

To Market, To Market

You may not know it, but your local farmers’ markets are packed with healthy, flavorful treats and ingredients that go beyond the traditional tomato or apple. We take a peek at some of the more unique offerings found at Twin Cities markets.

Photo courtesy of DeVine Melon Farm

Welsh Harlequin Duck Eggs

Vendor: Mystic Prairie Eco-Farm, Wilson, Wisconsin
Why It’s Good for You: Duck eggs are richer and more nutritious than chicken eggs. Pastured and flax-fed, these organically raised ducks produce eggs high in omega-3 fatty acids. They have twice the vitamin A, seven times the vitamin D, and five times the B12 of chicken eggs.
How to Eat It: Cook the eggs as you would chicken eggs. It’s a good alternative for people who are allergic to chicken eggs.
Locations: Mill City Farmers Market.
Price: $12, one dozen

Photo courtesy of Mystic Prairie Eco-Farm

Handmade European Artisan Bread

Vendor: Real Bread, baked out of the St. Paul home of Brett Laidlaw and Mary Eckmeier
Why It’s Good for You: The bread has the best ingredients from local products, such as organic flours. Favorites include “Wheaty,” an organic sourdough whole-wheat bread, and “Strasbourg Seedy,” which has ground flax seed in it.
Locations: Midtown Farmers’ Market
Price: $5–$5.50 for a large loaf

Photo courtesy of Real Bread

Organic Heirloom Dried Beans

Vendor: Paula Foreman, St. Croix

She is part of the Minnesota Food Association’s Big River Farms. This is her first year growing the beans at her farm.
Why It’s Good for You: Beans are nutritional powerhouses with plenty of protein, fiber, and vitamins.
How to Eat It: Soak them in hot water for an hour, cook for forty-five minutes, and they’re ready to eat. Great to eat alone, put them in salads, or make refried beans.

Photo courtesy of Paula Foreman

Premium Gold Flax Products & Processing Inc.

Vendor: Eleanor Theobald (who gets the flax from a gourmet flax farm in Denhoff, N.D. The Miller Family Farm is a fifth-generation active farming operation.)
Why It’s Good for You: The lignans found in flax helps fight cancer. Gold Flax uses no preservatives, not additives, and is non-genetically modified. Flax is also heart healthy, full of omega-3s, and gluten free.
How to Eat It: Tasty enough to eat alone or mix it into food you eat everyday, such as a yogurt smoothie.
Locations: Kingfield Farmers’ Market, Maple Grove Farmers Market, Mill City Farmers Market, Midtown Farmers’ Market, and Shoreview Farmers’ Market
Price: $30, one ninety-six ounce container of whole seed ($55 for two); $20, one forty-ounce container of pre-ground flax ($30 for two)

Photo courtesy of Premium Gold Flax

Ames Farm Single Source Honey, Raw Honey, Comb Honey

Vendor: Ames Farm, Watertown
Why It’s Good for You: Raw honey is useful to combat allergies and also has mild antibiotic properties. Compared to mass-produced cooked honey, raw honey has more flavor, yeasts, and enzymes.
How to Eat It: Put it in your tea or on your bread instead of jam. Ames farm also has recipes for honey cinnamon buns and Irish soda bread.
Locations: Minneapolis Farmers Market (on Lyndale Ave.), Nicollet Mall, and Mill City Farmers Market. You can also place orders online.
Price: Prices vary by size of the product

Photo courtesy of Ames Farm

Heirloom Melons

Vendor: DeVine Melon Farm–a branch of Brewery Creek Garden Center, in Jordan
Why It’s Good for You: DeVine grows more than forty varieties of heirloom melons from around the world, such as Charantais, Galia, and Ananas. They are a seasonal specialty usually ripe in August and September, and the heirloom varieties are flavorful, juicy, and sweeter than newer hybrid melons. They are full of vitamin A, folate, and potassium.
How to Eat It: Cut them open for a juicy summertime treat.
Locations: Minneapolis Farmers Market, St. Paul Farmers’ Market, Mill City Farmers Market, Minneapolis Nicollet Mall Market
Price: $3 and up per melon

Photo courtesy of DeVine Melon Farm