Marlene Werth and Bob Radcliff of Tombstone own Desert Blossom and are vendors at the Bisbee Market on Saturdays. Marlene is a painter and has been a florist for 25 years. She spent her childhood in her father’s large prolific vegetable garden in Washington state and works daily in her organic garden in Arizona. In between plantings and watering she spends time painting in the garden.
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This is an exciting elegant food not to be ignored. Paired with lemon, garlic and olive oil it is a salad to be savored! Balsamic vinegar, feta cheese or anchovies also stand up to these wonderful flavorful greens.
One source of these delightful greens is mesclun. Mesclun (pronounced MESS-klunn) is a blend of young farmed and wild salad greens. A staple in the market towns of Provence long before it became popular in the 1970’s in the rest of France; it has caught on in the past two decades in the United States.
Many cultures have a tradition of harvesting and consuming wild young greens in spring, when fresh new growth is very refreshing after a long, dark winter. In addition to being flavorful and interesting, the diversity of mesclun is also health promoting as it includes a rich cross section of minerals and vitamins. This probably explains why mixes of young greens have historically been very popular especially for pregnant women to “renew the blood” each spring.
Little can surpass the delicious tastes, textures and pretty colors of tender baby salad lettuces freshly harvested, simply dressed, and enjoyed just minutes after they are cut. Despite the fact that many mesclun mixtures are now available pre-bagged in supermarkets, nothing can compare with mesclun harvested from your own garden.
You can grow your own mesclun or some of the darker tangy greens in a nursery tray, your garden, or any flat container with a large surface area and good drainage. Fertile soil is an essential ingredient for these delicacies. During our hot summer months planting in the shade or filtered sunlight is suggested. A shade cloth can be constructed over your plants if necessary. Suspend the cover at least 12 inches above the soil. Lettuces and other small salad greens are ready for light harvesting when 5 to 6 weeks old. Pick only the outer leaves to encourage the plants continued growth.
When purchasing lettuce seeds look for packages that say “heat tolerant” or “summer” on them. Many of the darker greens such as beets and the mustards do well with heat and filtered light. A good mesclun has a variety of flavors, textures and colors striking a balance between strongly flavored greens and the milder lettuces.
The following is a list of greens starting from mildly tart to tangy, these are suggestions to get you started in your exploration of flavorful salads: Endive, Escarole, Dandelion, Frisee, Radicchio, Mustard greens, Kale, Tatsoi and Arugula.
Stop by our booth at the Bisbee Farmers Market for live Mesclun Trays, lettuce plants as well as herbs and greens and Mesclun Growing Kits (this includes the seeds and a proprietary soil blend.)
Bisbee Farmers Market
Find out how to grill the leaner and healthier grass-fed meats this week. Follow your nose to where Ranchers Nathan Watkins and Dennis Moroney will demonstrate grilling of the pork and lamb chops and steaks they raise.
Live music by Ghandi Flower with comfortable listening in the cool shade of the music tree while you sample the market’s baked goodies, fresh coffee or Mexican food.
Elvia Villa’s home-style Mexican food at the market’s outdoor restaurant will offer all her specialties such as shredded beef green chile burritos, crispy chicken tostadas menudo and albondigas soup this week. Also for sale homemade flour tortillas and fresh salsa.
Burda Farm will offer young chard, red and golden beet tops and fresh herbs in nifty re-sealable plastic boxes to flavor salads, salsas and other foods. Try some chopped fresh cilantro, dill, lemon thyme or lime mint. Give your dog a treat of Bubba Burda’s Bountiful Dog Biscuits. Also on offer are spring lettuce mix, sugar snap peas, red and yellow onions, green house tomatoes and English style cucumbers, pecans and walnuts and Bing cherries from Ft. Bowie Vineyards, local pistachios, pinto beans and soup mix and European style breads, pies and pastries from La Baguette Bakery. Gourmet vinegars (Mango Balsamic, Hot and Spicy Balsamic, Sherry, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon) and oils (Grapeseed, Roasted Walnut, Roasted Hazelnut, Organic Sunflower and Roasted Almond) to elegantly dress salads.
Elfrida Community Garden will bring great spring onions, summer squash, mustard greens, lettuce, collards, shelled pecans, and strawberries as well as strawberry, Spanish lavender, and rosemary plants for the garden. The ECG also has shopping bags with its beet logo for sale and gourds. The community garden is located just north of the Chiricahua Community Health Center and welcomes area gardeners to participate in the garden and its own farmers market held on Friday afternoons from 2 to 6 p.m. For more information contact Carl Hawley at chawley@cchci.org.
Fresh Produce: Bob Berry will have collard greens, cabbage and tomato plants and honey from his hives. Keith Johnson will offer carrots, chard, onions, pecans, and turnips with greens as well as garden starts (egg plants, peppers, tomatoes, squash.) Keith Parker will bring his ecologically transported (by motorized bicycle with trailer) fresh produce from his Bisbee backyard (peas, carrots, lettuce, greens.)
Baked Goods: Mo Vekol will offer fresh baked lemon ginger cream scones, banana walnut bread and muffins made with local eggs and organic ingredients in the market’s coffee stall where hot coffee made from fair-trade, locally roasted Just Coffee is available. Roy Goodman also sells Just Coffee beans in decorative one pound bags. Breads, cookies, brownies and lemon bars made with healthful, ancient emmer grain are available from River Organica (at both markets) as well as whole emmer grain.
Stop by for a sample of the signature rocky road fudge made by Bisbee’s Bonne de Blas which can be purchased in special gift wrapped bundles for birthdays and special occasions.
Sierra Vista Farmers Market
(The farmers market will now be open year-round from noon to 4 p.m. as hardly any customers shopped during the extra hour (4 to 5 p.m.) last month.)
Agua Linda Farm will bring lots of farm-fresh produce to market including two kinds of carrots, sweet peas, colorful beets (including chiogga variety) spinach, Asian greens, arugala, leeks, onions, and garlic.
Carol Berty will bring Swiss and ruby chard and carrots and the Gray family, carrots, beets, fresh herbs, green onions and farm eggs.
Simmons Honey will offer local mesquite honey and honeycomb. Kerry Simmons produces an extraordinary line of jams, jellies, butters and preserves using local produce when she can including Strawberry Rhubarb jam as well as peach and mango salsas. For honey by the gallon, call ahead to 364-2745. (Also at the BFM.)
San Ysidro Farm has locally raised whole chickens from Joshua Koehn who raises them on green pasture on his family farm south of Willcox. These chickens are the only ones I eat and the best you can buy with minimal and yellow fat as they have led a good life and been raised eating grass, bugs and worms outdoors on fresh pasture. (Nathan also has a few of Josh’s pasture-raised turkeys left.) Also available are naturally raised chicken breasts, leg quarters, thighs and ground chicken great for chicken tacos with shredded cabbage, cheese and one of the market’s fresh or bottled salsas. (Also at the BFM.)
Little River Nursery will bring desert willow, red yucca, torch cactus (Echinopsis huascha or Tricho cereus hybrids), plus other cactus and drought tolerant plants such as pink Mexican evening primroses in pots and hanging “Flower Sacks.” These mini burlap sacks filled with potting soil and flowering primroses make a fun and attractive hanging plant and an unusual gift idea. Joe has been raising butterflies for the past couple of years so he will also bring cute transparent butterfly houses with live Gulf Fritillary chrysalis. Owners can witness the transformation from chrysalis to butterfly and release these beauties when they emerge in a few days.
Salsas: Salsa Time Salsa will bring its fresh very local salsa made in Hereford. Stop by for a sample. Fresh salsa including mango and peach is also available from the tortilla lady. Burnt Orange Gourmet Foods has lots of bottled salsas including patent-pending coffee salsa and evergreen guacamole to choose from plus one of Armando’s new creations on offer each week.
Max McCarty will bring smoked Yukon River king salmon fillet portions along with lots of frozen wild ocean salmon, other fish and seafood. He says, “These kings go so far up river to spawn they are most prized of all.”
(Also at the market: 47 Ranch (grass-finished beef and goat & jerky), RPMS Jams & Jellies, agave nectar, prickly pear products and chia, Grammy’s Garden (fresh produce, pinto beans & DeCio pastas), Dr. Hummus middle eastern foods, Fiesta Growers (herbs & garden plants for the garden), Adventure Coffee (hot coffee and coffee beans), Desert Oasis Soaps, Dragoon Marketplace, Azmira pet products, Next Door Kitchen (home-style foods and baked goods), Coyote Corners eggs.
Recipes
Classic Mesclun Dressing
(adapted from www.reneesgarden.com)
1 1/2 to 2 tblsp high quality balsamic vinegar
5 tblsp high quality fruity olive oil
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
pinch of sea salt
6 or 7 generous grinds of fresh black pepper
Combine vinegar and olive oil in a glass jar with a lid. Add mustard, salt and black pepper. Put on the jar lid and shake well. The mustard will emulsify the vinegar and oil. Shake again and pour sparingly over the salad at the table and toss.
Mesclun Salad with Walnuts & Grapes
The sweet flavors and mouth-filling textures of freshly harvested mesclun lettuces tossed with juicy grapes and toasted nuts make a memorable salad combination.
1 quart mixed mesclun lettuces, washed and dried
1 cup red Flame or other seedless red grapes
1/3 cup chopped toasted walnuts
Dressing
2 tblsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp grated orange zest
3 tblsp orange juice
1 tblsp chopped fresh tarragon
6 tblsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
In a small bowl, combine vinegar, orange zest, juice and tarragon. Add oil gradually, whisking until thoroughly combined. Place mesclun in a salad bowl and toss with dressing. Sprinkle grapes and nuts over salad just before serving.
Mesclun Salad with Blood Oranges, Radishes, Avocado & Blue Cheese
(adapted from www.mayoclinic.com)
2 small blood or other oranges
1 tblsp rice or apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tblsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
6 cups mesclun or young mixed salad greens
4 red radishes, thinly sliced
1 small avocado, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tblsp crumbled blue cheese
Peel and section oranges over a large bowl to capture all juice. To make the vinaigrette, whisk together 2 tablespoons of the captured orange juice, the vinegar and the mustard in a small bowl. While whisking, slowly add olive oil in a thin stream until emulsified. Whisk in the salt and pepper. Combine the mesclun and radishes with the orange sections in the large bowl. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss gently to mix well and coat evenly. Top portions of salad with slices of avocado and sprinkle with cheese.
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