In This Issue
• Your Holiday Weekend Market Guide
• Introducing The Embarrassingly Easy Series: Vinegar Shrubs
• Take a Quiz
Sun in Forecast for Market Holiday Weekend
OK, so we’re having a couple of days of Weather Wars: March Strikes Back. But the forecasters predict a quick return to spring already in progress, a good thing since June starts on Tuesday.
Regional farmers really need this rain, since this has been one of the driest Mays on record. But they need bright sunny days to draw maximum crowds to buy their products at farmers markets. Better to have a gross Friday than a washout weekend.
So take advantage of the sun and moderating temperatures and get thee to one of these weekend farmers markets. It is, of course, the three-day Memorial Day weekend, so if you are having family and/or friends over, wow them with delicious, fresh, locally produced food (which also happens to be nutritious and environmentally sustainable). And you’ll wow yourself in the process.
Have a great weekend and buy local!
Saturday, May 29
Weather.com Forecast: Mainly sunny, breezy, high 58
Accuweather Forecast: Sunny, breezy, high 58
Division Street City Market, 100 W. Division St., Chicago
7 a.m. to noon
Downers Grove Farmers Market, 5001 Main St., Downers Grove
7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Downtown Evanston Farmers Market, 1800 Maple Ave., Evanston
7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Grayslake Farmers Market, 201 Center St., Grayslake
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Green City Market Lincoln Park, 1817 N. Clark St., Chicago
7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Homewood Farmers Market, 18020 Martin Ave., Homewood
8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Huntley Farmers Market, 11704 W. Coral St., Huntley
8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Kankakee Farmers Market, S. Schuyler Ave. & Merchant St., Kankakee
8 a.m. to noon
Oak Park Farmers Market, 460 Lake St., Oak Park
7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Palatine Farmers Market, Smith and Wood Sts. (Train Station), Palatine
7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Park Forest Farmers Market, 152 Main St., Park Forest
7 a.m to noon
Park Ridge Farmers Market, 15 Prairie Ave., Park Ridge
7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
61st Street Farmers Market, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave., Chicago
9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
South Chicago Farmers Market, 9000 S. Mackinaw St., Chicago
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
South Loop Farmers Market Printers Row, 632 S. Dearborn, Chicago
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Lincoln Park Farmers Market, 2001 N. Orchard St., Chicago
7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Woodstock Farmers Market, Historic Woodstock Square, Woodstock
8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sunday, May 30
Weather.com Forecast: Mainly sunny, high 63
Accuweather Forecast: Partly sunny, high 64
Logan Square Farmers Market, 3107 W. Logan Blvd., Chicago
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
95th Street Farmers Market, 1835 W. 95th St., Chicago
8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Pilsen Community Market, 1821 S. Blue Island Ave., Chicago
9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Wicker Park Farmers Market, 1425 N. Damen Ave.,Chicago
8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
[Note: Vegan Paradise at The Plant is taking this weekend off and will be back next Sunday, June 6.]
Monday, May 31 (Memorial Day)
Weather.com Forecast: Mostly cloudy, high 71
Accuweather Forecast: Mostly cloudy, high 68
Hinsdale Farmers Market, 30 E. Chicago Ave., Hinsdale
7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Click links below to find other regional markets at:
Illinois Farmers Market Association
Michigan Farmers Market Association
Wisconsin Farmers Market Association
The Embarrassingly Easy Series: Vinegar Shrubs
Here is one of the most important things I’ve learned in the excessive time I spend in the kitchen: A lot of things that we have always bought prepared because they sounded too complicated are really embarrassingly easy to make. So I’m going to share some of this received wisdom in our new Embarrassingly Easy Series.
Today’s subject is the shrub. Shrubs are drinkable vinegars usually flavored with fruit, and because they were a means of preserving fresh produce, they were very popular from the days of colonial America to the late 19th century.
Then refrigeration came along, and shrubs went out of fashion — until quite recently, when many nutritionists started touting the health values of vinegar and mixologists started promoting the sweet-tart flavors as mixers in their cocktail recipes.
The reason this came up is that it is rhubarb season. I like rhubarb, but there’s a problem: Because rhubarb is very tart, most recipes using it are for baked goods that have lots of sugar (and usually combine rhubarb, a vegetable, with fruit like strawberries). We don’t eat a lot of desserts as Chez Bob and generally try to limit our sugar intake. So I decided to look up rhubarb shrub because I’d generally use it in small portions.
Here is the embarrassingly easy part: Shrubs are made with exactly three ingredients — cut-up produce, sugar and vinegar. Here’s the recipe I found on a food blog: 2 cups of rhubarb (cut into small pieces), 1 cup sugar, 1 cup vinegar (apple cider, white, or whatever you like).
The process: Put the cut-up rhubarb in a bowl, and mix in the sugar. Cover and refrigerate, stirring once a day for four or five days. Strain the liquid, squeezing every last drop out of the rhubarb, add the vinegar, and mix. You can drink it straight, mix with water for added refreshment, or use as a cocktail/mocktail ingredient. It keeps well in the fridge.
I just started mine last night (with produce purchased at Thursday’s Daley Plaza Farmers Market), and there is already a lot of liquid in the bowl. We’ll be back with the finished result next week. In the meantime, a couple of pretty prep pictures.
Take a Quiz
The word “shrub” in reference to drinkable vinegar causes some confusion, because the shrub most people know is a woody plant often using in landscaping (and by the Knights Who Say “Ni!” in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, who demanded a shrubbery from King Arthur and his knights). From what language does the drinkable shrub derive?
a) Arabic
b) Greek
c) Latin
d) Russian
Answer: a) Shrub is derived from sharāb, the Arabic word for “to drink.”