The mercury’s dropping, the leaves are turning, and the nights are growing longer.

And you know what that means. It’s harvest time!

Our favorite veggies and fruits are in season. Think tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, beets, squash, and apples. We found some delicious ways to use your bumper crops from The Pearl Market. Check out these recipes from Taste of Home:

This one pan meal of Maple Roasted Chicken & Acorn Squash will make you look like a rock star chef!

With all the beautiful colors of fall, this recipe for Beet & Sweet Potato Fries offers a new spin on traditional French Fries. And it might finally get your family to eat beets!

There’s nothing better than hot soup for those cool days. You’ll love this recipe for Butternut Squash Soup with Cinnamon.

Finally, this Woman’s Day Kitchen recipe for Cottage Pie with mashed potatoes offers hearty meal that’s sure to please everyone.

Thanks for shopping at the Pearl Market!

Music at the Market

Thanks to its partnership with entertainment sponsors the Greater Columbus Arts Council and Capstone Dental, The Pearl Market provides customers and vendors with live, local entertainment each market day.  Here’s who will be playing this week:

Tuesday October 2, 2018

Mike Dudley

Friday October 5, 2018

Innervision

Got a sweet tooth? A chocolate addiction? The Pearl Market has your fix. You can find brownies, pies, cinnamon bread, cake, merengues, cookies, muffins and more!

On any given market day, there are 8 to 12 vendors with freshly baked goods all made from scratch like your grandmother and mother used to make. They include Aunt Vickie’s Pies, The Baker’s Rack, Food for Good Thought, Great Harvest Bread, Hearth Bakery, Mary’s Catering, Solo Merengues, Sweet Cheese Cheesecake, Yvonne’s Cookies.

Hankering for some pie? Pecan pie, Peach pie, Blueberry pie, Cherry pie or just a piece of pie? Aunt Vicky’s’ Pies has it all. Mary’s Catering also offers a variety of fresh baked pies by the slice.

Craving cookies?  Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Cranberry, plus more? Check out The Bakers Rack, Food for Good Thought, Great Harvest Bread and Yvonne’s Cookies

Longing for chocolate brownies? Food for Good Thought and The Baker’s Rack offer dense chocolate brownies. They’re gluten-free to boot!

Coveting some cake? Mary’s Catering has a wicked German Chocolate Cake and Brown Sugar Pound Cake. Solo Merengues also offers specialty cakes.

Can’t eat gluten? No worries, there are a few bakers that offer sweet treats for you too. How about brownies, chocolate chip cookies, lemon bars, banana bread and more. Check out The Baker’s Rack, Food for Good Thought and Solo Merengue.

Of course not many of us make it in or out of the Pearl Market without a quick stop at Midway Concessions to grab a lemon shake up or bag of Kettle Corn!

Thanks for shopping at the Pearl Market!

Our Market Favs

Yes, it’s officially autumn, yet the warm weather persists! That never stops this shopper from going to The Pearl Market and exploring the produce, baked goods and crafts on the north plaza of the Ohio Statehouse. I’m always on the lookout for game day snacks.

Mayhem Foods Salsa is base for the perfect snack for watching the game at home or visiting a friend. Perryn’s Naturals soap is amazing, made with all-natural products so it’s gentle on your skin. When fall weather does arrive, I want to wear this soft hand-woven Turkish textile robe from Together Textiles and sip on a glass of wine from Camelot Cellars.

Sponsor the Pearl Market 

Get your brand in front of hundreds of downtown workers and residents each week at The Pearl Market.

The market is operated by Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District and needs public and private support to operate. We can tailor a sponsorship package to meet your budget.

Contact Michelle Chippas at mlchippas@sidservices.com
for information on sponsorship opportunities.

Sweet peppers don’t come in just red and green anymore—yellow orange, and even purple bell peppers are commonplace.

Plus, there are more kinds of sweet pepper than just different colors. There are Cherry, Cubanelle and Italian Frying peppers. But the sweetest of all are Ancient Sweets or Sweet Twister.

These elegant looking peppers are super sweet and never ever bitter because they have a higher natural sugar content than the average bell pepper. They were once called Ancient Sweets but are now called Sweet Twister. They’re very versatile. You can cut them into rings and use them in salads, stir fries, pizza and frittata. They’re great roasted and grilled and of course my favorite way is stuffed.

Like tomatoes, peppers originated in Central and South America. The name pepper was given by Europeans when Christopher Columbus brought the plant back to Europe. At that time, black pepper was a highly prized condiment. The name pepper was applied to all known spices with hot and pungent taste and was extended to these plants. Botanically speaking, bell peppers are fruits; however, they are considered vegetables in culinary contexts.

Sweet peppers are an excellent source of Vitamin B6 and folacin. Red, yellow and orange sweet peppers contain three to four times more Vitamin C than an orange. Add sweet red pepper strips to a spinach salad to help your body better absorb the iron in the spinach.

Here’s an easy recipe for Roasted Peppers:

• Preheat grill or broiler on high heat. Cook whole peppers about 10 minutes, turning occasionally by stems, until skin is blistered and blackened.
• Place in a paper bag and let steam.
• Remove skins, slice peppers open and scrape out core and seeds.
• Cut in strips and toss with a generous splash of olive oil, a little minced garlic, chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature

We found a wonderful recipe for Sweet Long Peppers Stuffed with Cauliflower Rice from Proud Italian Cook.

Thanks for shopping at the Pearl Market!

Feeling like Fall

Last week when the weather was a bit cooler, it felt like fall. I was immediately drawn to these wonderful apples at Fornof Farm that would make a great strudel. Then I saw this Cranberry Almond Oatmeal at the Oatmeal at the Great Harvest Company, followed by this Apricot Breakfast Bar from Hearth. It was amazing! To top it off, literally, I was drawn to this soft grey sweater from The Sweater Lady.

Perennial Facts

Did you know that many of the plants in your yard are considered perennials? A perennial includes plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees that live for two years or longer. As you can imagine, perennials come in many shapes and sizes. Here are some fun facts about these plants:

• These flowers don’t always bloom the first year that they are planted, but with proper care, they will bloom the next year and each year after that for the duration of their lifespan.
• Since they live a long time, they do not need to produce many seeds to survive. In fact, once they are planted and well established, they will need minimal upkeep with watering and fertilizing.
• They often have a rest period at some point in their life cycle where the plant will remain dormant.
• These plants include a wide variety of flowers, fruits, herbs and vegetables.

Lonny with Flora Go Go offers a variety of potted perennials to get you started. Based on where you want to plant the perennials and what your preferences in size and color, he can show you plants that will thrive in your yard.

And it’s not too late to plant!  According to Lonnie, as long as you plant perennials before the ground freezes, it will survive the winter and provide you with years of enjoyment.

As its name suggests, Delicata squash has a delicate rind or skin. And if you’re wondering how a squash can be user-friendly, it’s because you can eat the skin of Delicata squash, unlike other winter squash varieties! How cool is that?

Best of all, it’s delicious! Known for its ease of cooking and creamy flavor and texture, preparing Delicata squash is simple.  Just slice up, skin and all. It can be roasted, microwaved, sautéed or steamed. Not as much work as compared to a butternut squash that needs to be peeled and cut up.

The squash can also be stuffed with meat or vegetable mixtures. The seeds of the squash are also eaten, usually after being toasted.

Also known as peanut squash, Bohemian squash or sweet potato squash, Delicata squash is a good source of dietary fiber and potassium, as well as smaller amounts of vitamins C and B, magnesium, and manganese.

Delicata was first introduced in the United States in 1894. The squash almost disappeared after the Great Depression and wasn’t widely grown due to its susceptibility to mildew diseases. This was changed in the early 2000’s, when a group at Cornell University’s Department of Plant Breeding bred a non-hybrid open pollinated variety, Cornell’s Bush Delicata. Resistant to most known squash diseases, it is now the primary commercial cultivar for this squash.

Want to try to prepare this yourself? Here are recipes for Roasted Delicata Squash from Rachel Cooks from and Delicata Squash and Sausage Gratin from Kalyn’s Kitchen.

Thanks for shopping at the Pearl Market!

Our Favs This Week

There’s so many great things at The Pearl Market! Every week we find more stuff to love. Like these delicate looking lavender soaps from Onederings Lavender Farm, this singing dish from Sanu’s Nepali Bazaar, or the très chic bag from aerryel and perymon. This super cute pumpkin with paw prints from The Polish Pottery Shop has us thinking about Halloween.

Sponsor The Pearl Market

Get your brand in front of hundreds of downtown workers and residents each week at The Pearl Market.

The market is operated by Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District and needs public and private support to operate. We can tailor a sponsorship package to meet your budget.

Contact Michelle Chippas at mlchippas@sidservices.com for more information on sponsorship opportunities.

September is National Honey Month, so we thought this would be a great time to share information about bees and honey.

Why September? That’s the typical period which honey collection season concludes as bees begin to secure their hive and prepare for winter.

Did you know the Ohio Statehouse is home to the Capitol Square Honey Bee Apiary? The apiary was established in April 2015 to showcase that an urban setting is a great setting for bees. On any typical day, the bee hive at the Statehouse will host between 50,000 and 80,000 bees. To learn more about the Capital Square Apiary, watch this video on the Ohio Channel.

Honey is a sweet, thick liquid made by honeybees. And honey is the only food made by insects that humans can consume.

It takes nectar from two million flowers to make one pound of honey. In fact, a single worker honeybee produces approximately 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. That means around 22,700 bees are needed to fill a single jar of honey!

Jerry Hinton with Hinton Apiaries, sees honey as a better option than sugar. “Honey contains antioxidants, minerals and flavonoids making it more nutritious than sugar.”

Hinton Apiaries specialize in selling varietal honey also called single-flower-source honey. In addition to offering several varieties of honey, his offerings include honey comb, which is a fun and natural way to eat honey and bee pollen, which, he shares, is pure protein.

Want to learn more about how honey gets its different flavors? Stop by and talk to Jerry on Tuesdays and Fridays at The Pearl Market. He can share how different teams of bees in each hive harvest various plant nectar and pollen.

Wondering what to do with honey? Try this honey dressing recipe from My Recipes or this recipe for Honey Roasted Pecans from Genius Kitchen.

A few of our Favorite Things

We want to share some of our favorite picks from last week’s Pearl Market. Starting top left our selections include these cut indoor succulents from Flora-go-go, these colorful bracelets by Wearable Art, beautiful glass dishes from Engler Glass and we couldn’t make it out of the market without stopping for a Lemon Shake-up from Midway Concessions.

Sponsor the Pearl Market 

Get your brand in front of hundreds of downtown workers and residents each week at The Pearl Market.

The market is operated by Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District and needs public and private support to operate. We can tailor a sponsorship package to meet your budget.

Contact Michelle Chippas at mlchippas@sidservices.com for more information on sponsorship opportunities.

Who doesn’t love pork? Whether its bacon, ribs, pork roast with sauerkraut or a nice thick bone-in pork chop, it’s easy to cook and adaptable to just about any recipe. Depending on the cut, pork can be very tender and juicy (think pork chop) or crispy brown (umm bacon!).

Different cuts of pork vary in their nutritional value. Three ounces tenderloin, the leanest cut of pork, is as lean as skinless chicken breast at 120 calories and only 1 gram of saturated fat. The same amount of bacon has 466 calories, 12 grams of saturated fat and 1870 mg of sodium! So even though they both come from the same animal, tenderloin and bacon nutritionally speaking are two different animals.

Lean cuts of pork include the word “loin” like pork tenderloin or loin chop. A serving of pork tenderloin is a good source of protein, thiamine, vitamin B6, phosphorous and niacin while low in sodium. Though cured or fatty meats don’t have the same nutrients, eating bacon or sausage occasionally or using them to put flavor in a dish is a great idea.

Nothing is better than knowing your pork is locally raised and butchered. That’s why we love Happy Hogs Premium Pork. Located in Hillsboro, this family farm is dedicated to bringing Pearl Market shoppers their homegrown meats to your dinner table.

So, crank up the grill and get ready to cook some brats, ribs and chops supplied by Happy Hogs Premium Pork. Brandon will get you set up with the meat. Here are a couple recipes for pork chops by Taste of Home and the Food Network and this easy recipe for Short Cut BBQ Ribs on Delish.

Continue reading →

Every day Americans drink more than 300 million cups of coffee, the majority of those cups are brewed at home. Yet most of us are missing out on a great cup of coffee.

In an ideal world you would buy small amounts of green coffee beans, roast them yourself, and grind them immediately before brewing. However, most of us buy larger quantities of roasted beans than we can use in a few days.

Keys to the perfect cup of coffee:

Properly store the beans. The oils in coffee beans are water soluble-which gives us the flavor in the cup- but damp conditions will taint the oils. So don’t store them in the refrigerator because moisture will condense on the surface of the container. The freezer is no better. Coffee is porous and can easily absorb flavors and moisture from your freezer. It’s best to keep beans at room temperature.

Tightly seal beans. Another enemy of coffee is oxygen. Once the coffee has been ground, much more of its surface area is exposed to air, which means that the oils begin to evaporate along with the flavor. To help keep your beans keep their flavor, place in an air tight container and away from light.

Grind what you brew. For the freshest taste grind the beans immediately before you brew.  In an ideal world, it best to keep only 2 weeks worth of coffee on hand at a time.

Two Roasting Joe’s believes everyone deserves a fresh cup of coffee and is on a mission to educate fellow coffee drinkers on how to get the best cup. For more information, visit their website.

Their website also offers some great recipes, including how to make Cold Coffee. See all the recipes here.

Thanks for shopping at the Pearl Market!

A Few of Our Favorite things: 

We want to share some of our favorite picks from last week’s Pearl Market. Starting top left they include Biscuits on Tap, flavorful dog treats made from North High Brewing Company grains for our pooch, colorful cherry tomatoes from Fornof Farm Market,  Aunt Vicki’s Peach Pie (Yum!) and Flora Go Go’s colorful potted flowers.

Cooking Demo August 24

Chef Asa from Graze is at it again. He will be at Pearl Market this Friday with samples of his Ohio Chicken Corn Club made with kale, corn relish, spicy tomato jam, sweet corn crema, lettuce, tomato and bacon on a brioche bun. You can meet the chef and grab a recipe card to make this dish at home. We will also have a video of how he prepared this dish in next week’s Pearl Market newsletter.

Enter to Win a Market Bag of Goodies this Tuesday!

Stop by The Pearl Market tent on the Statehouse plaza each Tuesday to enter a raffle.

We filled a Pearl Market shopping bag with good stuff from participating farmers and merchants. Get your chance to take home this bag by entering the raffle!

Winners will be notified at 1:45 PM each Tuesday so they can collect their bag!

Music at the Market

Thanks to its partnership with entertainment sponsors the Greater Columbus Arts Council and Capstone Dental, The Pearl Market provides customers and vendors with live, local entertainment each market day.  Here’s who will be playing this week:

Tuesday August 21, 2018
Anna & The Consequences

Friday August 24,  2018
Colin John

Melons are plentiful this time of year. One unusual melon I spotted at Fornof Farm Market last week is the Canary melon. Also known as Spanish melon, Juan Canary and Amarillo, Canary melons have large, bright-yellow exterior with a pale green to white inner flesh and sweet like a cantaloupe.

Canary melons, which offer a good supply of vitamins A and C and fiber, are best in fresh preparations such as cold soups and salads. The mellow sweetness and slight tart flavors are enhanced with herbs such as basil, mint, cilantro as well as hot chilies and nuts.

To store, keep uncut melons at room temperature until fully ripe then refrigerate up to five days. Refrigerate cut melon in a covered container for up to three days.

I found a few recipes online to prepare soups and salads with Canary melons. Here’s a recipe from Martha Stewart for a Melon and Cucumber Salad, and another for Canary Melon Soup with Mint Coulis from Eats Writes Shoots.

Thanks for shopping at the Pearl Market!

We want to share some of our favorite picks from last week’s Pearl Market. Starting top left they include Simple Times Mixers (the Pineapple Mule mixed with Coconut Rum is delicious), Camelot Cellars Winery (I chose the Yakima Valley Pinot Gris), “Feed Your Focus” t-shirt from Simple Trinity Clothing and finally this made me smile, the over-sized chocolate chip cookie with a happy pineapple from Yvonne’s Cookies.

Snap beans, green beans, or string beans…no matter what you call them, they are one and the same and in they are in season!

Historically, bean pods contained a “string”, a hard fibrous strand running the length of the pod. This was removed before cooking, or made edible by cutting the pod into short segments. Today, most commercially grown green bean varieties lack strings.

Green snap beans are categorized into two different groups, bush or pole beans, based on their growth characteristics. If the bean plant needs support to grow, they are considered pole beans; if the beans can grow on their own without added support, they are bush beans.

Green beans are versatile

You can serve green beans steamed, boiled, stir-fried or baked in casseroles. You can also can or freeze them to enjoy when out of season.

And green beans are nutritious: they are very low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium; and contain high levels of vitamins, minerals, and are high in fiber and protein.

Click here for a recipe to make Easy Stir-Fried Pork with String Beans. Several of our farmers sell green beans, and you can pick up locally-raised pork from Happy Hogs Premium Pork.

Shopping Bag Raffle 

Don’t forget to stop by the Pearl Market tent tomorrow for your chance to win a shopping bag full of market goodness. Each Tuesday, the Pearl Market will raffle off one of these bags to thank you for your patronage. See you at the market!

Happy National Farmers Market Week!

Where you shop makes a difference for our farmers. National Farmers Market Week, August 5 through 11, celebrates the work of our local farmers. The infographic above indicates how your support of the farmersmarkets, like the Pearl Market, sustains the livelihood of local farmers.

Music at the Market

Thanks to its partnership with entertainment sponsors the Greater Columbus Arts Council and Capstone Dental, The Pearl Market provides customers and vendors with live, local entertainment each market day. Here’s who will be playing this week:

Tuesday August 7, 2018
Reya & Millie Weibel

Friday August 10, 2018
Casey Redmond

Eating Healthy is a SNAP!

The Pearl Market operates the Produce Perks program that matches food purchases up to $20 to encourage SNAP customers to purchase fresh fruits, vegetables, plants and seeds.

How It Works:
GO to the Pearl Market tent on market days
SWIPE your Ohio Directions Card for tokens to spend on fruits and veggies
DOUBLE your dollars with up to $20 in Produce Perks
SHOP for fresh produce at the Pearl Market!

Few things say “summer” like a freshly picked ear of sweet corn, grilled to perfection and served up with a light
smear of butter and sprinkle of salt.

Corn, also known as maize, was started from a wild grass called teosinte, which looked very different from our corn today. Teosinte kernels were small and not close together like kernels on the husked ear of modern corn. Scientists believe people living in central Mexico domesticated corn around 10,000 years ago.

There are many varieties of corn including flint corn, Indian corn, dent or field corn and finally sweet corn. Sweet corn gets its name because it contains more sugar. In the U.S. corn is boiled or roasted on the cob, creamed, converted into hominy or meal, and cooked in corn puddings, mush, polenta, griddle cakes, cornbread, and scrapple. It is also used for popcorn, confections, and various manufactured cereal preparations.

One plain ear of corn has about 100 calories, like an apple. And with nearly 3 grams of fiber per serving, corn can help you feel full longer. To get you inspired to buy and cook your own sweet corn, we’ve got a recipe for Mexican Sweet Corn from Chef Asa at Graze Seasonal Market Grill.

Mexican Street Corn

Ingredients

4 cobs of fresh corn from The Pearl Market
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ cup of crumbled Queso Fresco
Chopped cilantro
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

1. First of all, roll husked and cleaned cobs in olive oil and salt
2. Then roast cobs on heated grill for 8 to 10 minutes to achieve an even char around cob
3. Cut corn in thirds or cut from cob with sharp knife.
4. Whisk all other ingredients together.
5. Top the cut corn or corn on cob with sauce.
6. Finally, sprinkle crumbled Queso Fresco and chopped cilantro.

View the how-to video here.

Check it out: 

On Friday August 3, Chef Asa will be sharing samples of Mexican Street Corn and giving out recipe cards for you to take home!

More than just corn: Pearl Market Bag Raffle!

The sweet summertime days are happening at the Pearl Market! Our local farmers arrive at the Ohio Statehouse each Tuesday and Friday with freshly picked corn, berries and peaches. Oh yeah, and they have plenty of other bounty including tomatoes, zucchini, beets, cucumbers, potatoes and even beef and pork!

There’s no reason to slave over a hot stove. Here’s a sure-fire way to prepare your next meal: slice up a couple of heirloom tomatoes and peaches. Mix in some fresh mozzarella and basil for an enjoyable salad. Next put some fresh ground hamburger patties and corn (still husked with silks removed) on the grill. Pick up a bottle of wine from Camelot Cellars and a loaf of fresh baked bread from Harvest Bread Company or gluten-free buns for your hamburgers from Omega Bun.