MARKET to MARKET
TO BUY FRESH BERRIES, PASTA AND WHISKEY
Farmers market season is here, and that means getting a lot of things done all at one venue that has the sky as its roof.
It’s the place to check in with the farmer and get an education on how to shop for produce. Or grab a takeout meal for lunch or dinner along with baked goods (and gluten-free LIST OF MARKETS ones) for breakfast. Or buy bottles of jams and honey, jewelry and even handmade lamps. Or stop and smell the flowers and get bedding plants and hanging baskets. Or catch some zen listening to live music. This year, it also has become the venue to purchase alcoholic beverages, thanks to a change in state law allowing distilleries and breweries to sell at markets.
The new season comes with a few changes. Robinson Farmers Market is a new member. It will be open Mondays starting next week in the upper parking lot at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in McKees Rocks and feature bread from Mediterra Bakehouse, a coffee bar and PGH Pierogi Truck.
Some markets are not coming back, and they include Frazer Farmers Market, Saxonburg Farm & Flea Market and Dormont Farmers Market. Whitehall Farmers Market has lost its sponsorship and won’t return, and Pleasant Hills Lions Farmers Market has been canceled because it could not find a location. The market in North Huntingdon is now Irwin Farmers Market, and it will open on Saturday at 100 Pennsylvania Ave. in Irwin. And some markets have changed locations within the same community.
Markets will feature new and familiar full-time and temporary vendors, as well. Wigle Whiskey is among the newbies and distilleries selling booze and will be at 10 city and suburban markets through the season. Those age 21 and older can get samples of Pressed, an apple brandy with a lower proof, and After Glow Ginger Whiskey, a spirit made with roasted baby ginger and finished with simple syrup. The drinks are an agricultural act, says Wigle founder Meredith Grelli, when they are sold beside a farmer selling apples, honey and grains.
This is the first year that Eric Earnest, owner of City Fresh Pasta, is a fulltime vendor at Market Square. In addition to his popular garlic-chive and tomato-basil pastas, he’s selling six to seven types of red sauces, olive and basil pestos, and four kinds of compound butters at the Downtown and East Liberty venues, and when the Squirrel Hill market opens on Sunday.
Meghan Pohl, co-owner of Batch, started off as a temporary vendor at the last minute at Market Square four years ago and has been coming back as a full-timer since then to sell her Black, Blue and Bourbon jam (made with blackberries, blueberries and maple bourbon), Kickin Tomato jam (made by slowly cooking tomatoes with fresh ginger and peppers) and strawberrythyme jam. “I make it with seconds I get from other vendors at the end of the day,” she says, adding they are not pretty strawberries but are in much better condition than the ones found in stores.