Markets « Thai Food and Travel Blog

Archive for the ‘Markets’ Category

Nakhon Thong – Portrait of a Thai Community

Kasma Loha-unchit, Friday, June 3rd, 2011

The Nakhon Thong community is situated just north of Sukhumvit Road and across the canal from the large municipal market and bustling town center of Samrong in Samut Prakan province.

(Note: scroll down for a slide show of images from Nakhon Thong.)

Samrong canal

My sister moved to this community about a year and a half ago along with my elderly mother whom she has been taking care of the past five years. It’s a convenient neighborhood with all essential services within a short walking distance, including two large, open-air fresh markets, a shopping mall with a big department store and modern supermarket, branches of all major banks, and the post office. Although it is in Samut Prakan province, the town of Samrong is only a few kilometers across the boundary line from Bangkok and is very much part of the greater Bangkok metropolitan area. Mass transportation systems and freeways make commute to jobs in the heart of the capital easy.

In many ways, Nakhon Thong is a typical Thai working class community with most of the residents living in two- to three-story townhouses or rowhouses along quiet dead-end streets and alleys. Many of the rowhouses have been converted into primary residences from machine shops prevalent in the area in years past. Most are homes to families with two to three generations living under the same roof, so it is common to see grandmas and grandpas visiting one another and small children running around the alleyways playing.

Offering alms to a monk

Like in many communities, there are social programs for the residents sponsored by the district government. For instance, for several weekends last year, free cooking and craft classes were offered in the open area by the canal that serves as the community’s forum. Every weekday evening, a free aerobic exercise class is given in this same space. Neighborhood meetings are frequently held here as well with good attendance and most of the residents know one another and watch out for each other. Living in the community is a district representative who visits every home to make sure underweight children are provided with free milk and the elderly and the handicapped are given assistance in applying for the central government’s 500 baht per month welfare program for the disadvantaged.

As in many working class communities, there are cottage businesses operating on the ground floors of many of the rowhouses. Among them is a home that makes coconut ice cream in large canisters for tricycle street vendors. Another home sews striped fiberglass bags like the ones you see selling in most marketplaces around the country. Still another home makes beautiful cloth cosmetic bags for vendor stalls by the shopping mall.

Cooking on the street

But perhaps the most common cottage business is food and there are many cooks along the alleyways of the community offering a range of either pre-made or cook-to-order food. Together with all manner of tricycle, motorcycle and pushcart food vendors who regularly come into the neighborhood, busy home-makers and the elderly need not leave their homes to be well-fed. For more choices, a short walk over a pedestrian bridge by the Sukhumvit Road overpass, or an even quicker and easier 2-baht ferry boat ride across the canal will bring you to a bustling marketplace selling all kinds of fresh produce and meats, as well as a wide assortment of ready-to-eat foods. From there, a short walk across the street takes you to another large open-air food market by the big shopping mall, in which are plenty of eateries on several floors. Busy commuters tired out by Bangkok’s notorious traffic have plenty of choices to pick from on their walk home from the bus stop and need not worry about cooking after a long hard day.

Click on “Play” below to begin a slideshow. You can also click on any picture individually and either scroll through the images using “Next” and “Prev” or start the slideshow at any image. Captions accompany the images. Clicking on a slide will also take you to the next image.

Nahkon Thong Community – Slide Show

Play Prev|NextShow thumbnails

A community meeting sponsored by the district government announces social programs planned for the neighborhood.

My sister waits for her turn to buy coconut ice cream from a tricycle cart parked in front of her townhouse.

The vendor makes a Thai-style ice cream sandwich for my sister.

Wan, a neighbor hired by my sister to help take care of my mother, takes her blood pressure. Wan is also very active in helping handicapped people in the community.

A pushcart fried chicken vendor visits the neighborhood.

This motorcycle vendor is well-known in the neighborhood for his delicious barbecued pork and crispy pork rice.

This is the community's spirit house.

Nan, an elderly neighbor, gives alms to a monk across the alley from the community's spirit house. The woman kneeling in front makes a variety of food (in the large pots) each morning for sale outside her home as alms offering.

A couple of doors down from where residents gather in the morning to give alms to monks, coconut ice cream is being made in large canisters for tricycle cart vendors who will come by to pick them up.

A motorcycle food vendor makes his way into the community, announcing his arrival with the sound of a peculiar horn.

A motorcycle cart sells fresh and pickled fruits and snack foods.

Neighbor Keow, who loves to cook, makes delicious dishes on propane burners outside her home to sell to residents in the community who doesn't have time to cook. She also makes some money on the side by selling transportation services with her pickup truck. We've relied on the convenience of hiring her to take us to the airport on our trip back to the USA, especially with our big pieces of luggage which wouldn't fit in a single cab!

Appetizing home-made food to go varies from day to day from neighborhood street stalls, giving busy residents choices and variety in their diet.

Jeng, who lives across the alley from Keow, is slicing up yummy crispy fried pork belly for me to take on my plane ride home. She cooks just about any standard wok dishes to order.

Dtia and Jae make pork soup noodles from a push cart parked outside their home.

A couple make green papaya salad and grill chicken and fish on a pushcart outside their waterfront townhouse.

Hohm is proud of her made-to-order Isan-style hot-and-sour salads, which sell out every day.

Across the walkway from Hohm's cart, Oy sells a home-made herbal drink of pandan leaves and butterfly pea flower, which she grows herself.

Oy's herbal drink is colored naturally with fresh green pandan bai toey leaves and the deep blue butterfly pea flower (dawk anchan).

Oy's brother sets up the tables along the canal, selling various cold drinks and snacks on a hot summer afternoon.

Petch and other members of his family operate a simple wooden boat "ferry" service to cross the canal to the marketplace for two baht per ride.

This view of the Klong Samrong is seen from the middle of the pedestrian bridge crossing the canal. The community is situated on the right bank where the ferry boat is seen at a distance in the middle of the picture.

The pedestrian bridge straddles the concrete Sukhumvit Road bridge. This picture is taken from the marketplace side.

The huge Samrong municipal fresh food market as seen from the bottom of the pedestrian bridge.

Vendors sell ready-made foods, as well as clothing and household items, to passersby from stalls beneath the Sukhumvit Road overpass

In another large open-air market across the Sukhumvit Road overpass from the municipal market is bustling with shoppers.

Weeklong food fairs are frequently held in the wide open area on the ground floor just inside the main entrance of the Imperial World shopping complex. This is another reason why residents in nearby communities hardly need to cook.

Outside the Imperial World shopping complex are more food stalls under tents along the sidewalk.

Written by Kasma Loha-unchit, June 2011.

Tags: Markets, Nakhon Thong, Samrong, Samut Prakan, street food
Posted in Markets, Thai Culture | No Comments »

Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipal Market

Michael Babcock, Monday, May 23rd, 2011

We always enjoy visiting the Southern Thailand city of Nakhon Si Thammarat and, when we visit, we always visit the Municipal Market, the talaat sod (fresh market). It’s a morning market and we make a point of getting there early for a bit of breakfast before we browse the market.

Nakhon Si Thammarat Market Sign

(Note: scroll down for a beautiful slide show of images from the market.)

This market has been in this location at least since 1992, when we began coming to Nakhon Si Thammarat. In December of last year (2010), right around the time of the King’s Birthday, the market completed a renovation and re-opened in this location after being relocated for 8 months. In addition to getting spruced up, the market became appreciably larger. Like many Thai markets, it’s an enclosed market with built-in stands for the vendors. It’s now probably as large or larger than the morning market in Krabi. (See our blog Krabi Morning Market.)

Vegetable aisle

This market is primarily a morning market and to see everything, you’ll want to get there early: certainly by 8:00 a.m. in the morning, and earlier if you can. It’s different from a separate Sunday market, which we’ll feature in a future blog. This is definitely a local market. You won’t see a lot of fahrang (the Thai word for Caucasian) here, especially inside the market where most of the wares are targeted for cooks.

Nakhon Si Thammarat has one very long street running from east to west – Ratchadamnoen Road. The municipal market is found on Thanon Pak Nakhon (I’ve also seen it spelled as “Pagnagon Road” – thanon means road) – which intersects Ratchadamnoen Road – leading away from the Train Station. If you have turned off the main road the market is on your left, about a half block past the Nakhon Garden Inn.

Thai snacks

Unlike the market at Krabi, all of the sit-down stalls with hot food are on the outside of the market and it does not have as many eating stands as at Krabi.

Once you enter the market, it’s organized by section. On the side closest to Thanon Pak Nakhan there are sweet snacks (khanom wan) and flowers. Other aisles (or parts of aisles) feature fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, prepared pastes, and so on.

The vendors here are very friendly and mostly enjoy having their pictures taken. It’s always more fun to walk through a market when you’re greeted by lots of smiles.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Click on “Play” below to begin a slideshow. You can also click on any picture individually and either scroll through the images using “Next” and “Prev” or start the slideshow at any image. Captions accompany the images. Clicking on a slide will also take you to the next image.

Nahkon Si Thammarat Municipal Market – Slide Show

Play Prev|NextShow thumbnails

Sign for the Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipal Market, seen from Pak Nakhon Road

Approaching the market from Ratchadamnoen Road, it’s on the left.

Prepared food is found on the outermost aisle of the market.

Just inside the door, the flower & snack Aisle

Some of the beautiful flowers for sale.

A snack vendor, also found on the aisle closest to the street.

Some traditional Thai kanom (snacks).

Fruit vendor with a combination tropical fruit plus (imported, usually from Washington state, U.S.A.) apples.

At one end of the market there are a number of vendors selling kanom jeen - fermented rice noodles.

One of the highlights of the market for me are all the vendors selling pre-made chilli and curry pastes.

Here's a close-up of some delicious looking curry paste.

There's also many vendors selling luscious mounds of kapi - shrimp paste.

Another view of this vendor, who sells curry pastes, chilli pastes and kapi (shrimp paste)

Here's a view of the vegetable aisles.

Almost a one-stop vegetable vendor.

This vendor has several kinds of eggplants, winged beans (in the middle), cucumbers and more.

Here's some very fresh and young galanga (kah) with bright orange turmeric in the back.

These winged beans (tua poo, in Thai) are a bit more frilly than I've seen before.

This woman is a pork vendor - meat vendors tend to specialize in one kind of meat (pork, beef, chicken, duck)

Here's another view of our pork vendor: not quite the way pork is sold in the United States!

Every part of the pig is sold: here we see small and large intestines.

Did I mention that they sell every part of the pig?

Traditionally, the Thai people are not afraid of a little fat, such as we see in this delicious-looking pork belly.

These two Muslim women are selling ducks and chickens. In Thailand it's quite common to see them with both feet and head still attached.

You get quite used to walking through the aisles at the market.

We usually come across some cute Thai children on our market walks. Hard to resist.

These three seafood vendors were quite keen to have their pictures taken.

Need a large amount of an item delivered in the market? Use a motorcycle!

This fish vendor is scaling, cleaning and fileting a large fish.

Very fresh seafood of all kinds, such as the crab, are found here.

So many varieties of fresh fish, such as these snappers. Whole fish are preferred.

This man was very proud of the large fish he had for sale.

Written by Michael Babcock, May 2011

Tags: market, nakhon si thammarat, seafood, vegetables
Posted in Food, Markets | 1 Comment »

Cha-Om – A Delicious and Nutritious Tropical Acacia

Kasma Loha-unchit, Friday, May 13th, 2011

Cha-om, a tropical member of the acacia family (Acacia pennata) native to mainland Southeast Asia, is a well-loved herby vegetable among Thais, Cambodians and Laotians. The parts that are eaten are the ferny young leaf shoots and tender tips before the stems turn tough and thorny. It has a particular fragrance that may seem unpleasant at first to the unaccustomed, but when it’s cooked up, it’s so tasty that most people can’t stop eating it and the aroma is just part of the package and soon becomes quite likable. This happens a lot whenever cha-om is cooked up in my cooking classes.

Click on an image to see a larger version.
There’s a slide show with all images in this
post at the very bottom (scroll down).

Fresh cha-om from Sontepheap

Prickly thorns on lower stepms

De-stemmed, ready to cook

Cha-om is a small shrub with prickly thorns on its branches and stems, though I hear breeders have come up with a thornless variety I have yet to personally come across. In tropical Southeast Asia, it is a fast-growing shrub that puts out new shoots year-round and most robustly during the rainy season. People in some regions, particularly the North, prefer to eat cha-om in the dry season since cha-om grown during the monsoon season tends to develop a tartness and has a much stronger smell. Growers prune the shrubs regularly to harvest the young shoots, wearing long gloves to protect themselves from the nasty thorns. A mature plant can put forth enough shoots for cutting every three days or so. In the more temperate climate of northern California, growth is less profuse and the plants need protection from the cold. They stop producing new shoots when temperatures dip in late fall and stay semi-dormant through the winter.

Cha-om egg squares

The most common way cha-om is cooked is with beaten eggs, like in an omelette, which is then cut into squares or rectangles to serve with pungent nahm prik (hot chilli sauces, usually with fermented shrimp paste – nahm prik kapi in Thai) and fried fish (usually Asian mackerel, or pla too).(See Kasma’s recipe, Pan-Fried Mackerel and Assorted Vegetables with Hot-and-Pungent Fermented Shrimp Dipping Sauce – Nam Prik Pla Too.)

Nam prik pla too

Nam prik with cha-om egg pieces

Cha-om egg rounds

Cha-om omelette

Cha-om egg squares are also frequently cooked in a spicy sour tamarind curry with shrimp (kaeng som). One of my favorite restaurants, Mallika, located in the outskirts of Bangkok, makes a fabulous crispy fried cha-om in a ferny nest, topped with a hot-and-sour sauce containing squid, shrimp and chopped pork (yam cha-om gkrawb). It’s one of the first dishes people in my Thailand travel groups get to savor as I usually take them to Mallika for lunch right after picking them up from the airport. Most fall for cha-om and look forward to eating more of it in other dishes through the trip.

Cha-om egg squares in curry

Crisp-fried cha-om

Stir-fried cha-om with egg

Because of its fairly assertive flavor and higher price, cha-om is usually not stir-fried by itself like other leafy green vegetables, but is instead used much like an herb to flavor other things cooked with it. For these reasons, it is sold in small bundles in markets across Thailand. Eggs go especially well with cha-om and in my classes, we make a delicious stir-fried cha-om with eggs and bean thread noodles.

Cha-om at Hua Hin market

Cha-om at Krabi market

Cha-om at Sontepheap

Starting last spring, we’ve been lucky to be able to get cha-om fresh in the Bay Area during the warmer months beginning in April until the weather turns cold in the fall. Being a tropical acacia, cha-om needs warmth to enable it to put forth new shoots. However, there’s only one store I know of that carries the fresh shoots and that’s Sontepheap, a Cambodian market on International Boulevard in Oakland. Last summer the store even had cha-om starter plants for sale. But the supply is very limited and disappears quickly in spite of its price (retails for around $15 a pound).

Cha-om plants at Sontepheap

Sam, who owns Sontepheap, tries to carry as many of the tropical herbs and vegetables that his Southeast Asian clientele craves and misses after immigrating to this country. He’s made an arrangement with farmers he knows in Modesto to grow many of these exotic produce. Among them is cha-om. During the growing season, Sam drives down to the farm two to three times monthly, usually late in the week (often Thursdays) and the produce would be available over the weekend. Cha-om is usually gone within a few days. Since both Michael and I are very fond of cha-om, as are many of my students who’ve been introduced to it, Sam would call or email me whenever he’s been to the farm and brought back cha-om. As soon as I receive the message, I would dash down to the store to pick up some before it disappears and then shoot off a message to my students. Sam is the main fresh cha-om supplier in the Bay Area and many of his big Southeast Asian customers, including some restaurant owners, often place special orders with him and are among the people he would contact whenever he brings cha-om back from the farm.

Frozen cha-om at Sontepheap

Short of being able to get cha-om fresh, it is available for a lower price in 4-oz. packages imported from Thailand in the freezers of several East Bay stores (haven’t checked the Cambodian markets in San Francisco which most likely would have it). Sontepheap sometimes has frozen packages of de-stemmed leaves which make it easier to use and you get more for the same weight. But most frequently, the frozen packages contain cha-om still on the stems. The Laos International Market two blocks further down the same street also regularly carries frozen cha-om and a third store in the same vicinity to check is Thien Loi Hoa on East 12th Street at 12th Avenue.

Frozen Cha-om at Lao Market

Frozen Cha-om at Thien Loi Hoa

Not only is it delcious, cha-om is a nutritious vegetable, high in vitamin C and beta-carotenes. It is good for the heart and is known to be an anti-cancer agent. There’s nothing like a natural food that tastes great and, at the same time, is good for you!

Click on “Play” below to begin a slideshow. You can also click on any picture individually and either scroll through the images using “Next” and “Prev” or start the slideshow at any image. Captions accompany the images. Clicking on a slide will also take you to the next image.

Kasma’s Cha-om Photo Slide Show

Play Prev|NextShow thumbnails

Fresh cha-om from Sontepheap market in Oakland.

Notice the prickly thorns on the lower part of the stems.

De-stemmed cha-om leaf shoots and tips ready for cooking.

Cha-om egg squares to accompany nam prik and fried fish in the next picture.

Nam prik plah too at Nong Beun in Inburi.

Nam prik with cha-om egg pieces at Mae Sa Valley Resort.

Cha-om egg rounds at Or Tor Kor (Aw Taw Kaw) market.

Cha-om omelette and fried mackerel at a rice shop in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Sour tamarind curry with cha-om egg squares at Chula in Sukhothai.

Crisp-fried cha-om with hot-and-sour sauce, Mallika.

Cha-om sold in small bundles at Hua Hin market.

Cha-om bundled with banana leaf in Krabi market.

Stir-fried cha-om with eggs and bean threads.

4- to 6-oz. packages of fresh cha-om, Sontepheap Market.

Cha-om plants for sale at Sontepheap.

4-oz. frozen packages of de-stemmed cha-om at Sontepheap.

4-oz. frozen packages at Laos International Market.

4-oz. frozen packages at Thien Loi Hoa.

Written by Kasma Loha-unchit, June 2011

Tags: cha-om, Markets, sontepheap, vegetable
Posted in ingredient, Markets | 2 Comments »

Thong Lo Street Vendor (Wednesday Photo)

Michael Babcock, Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

Seafood Vendor on Sukhumvit Road

Fish vendor, Thong Lo

Kasma has her tour groups stay at a hotel right at the intersection of Sukhumvit Road and Sukhumvit Soi 55, popularly called Thong Lo (but pronounced “Tawng Law”) so we’ve had many opportunities over the year to enjoy the lively street scene.

Heading towards the higher soi numbers on the odd soi side right past Sukhumvit there’s always vendors right on the street in the morning, selling everything from aprons to delicious Kanom Krok (Grilled Coconut-Rice Hot Cakes) – see Siripon, Maker of Kanom Krok.

I recently began scanning some of my old black and white negatives onto the computer and came across this seafood vendor. Most probably taken in 1994, on one of my very first trips to Thailand, seeing her smile, even after all this years, brings a responding smile to my face.

The Wednesday Photo is a new picture each week highlighting something of interest in Thailand. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Tags: Bangkok, market, Sukhumvit Road, Thong Lo
Posted in Markets, Wednesday Photo | No Comments »

Hua Hin Treats

Michael Babcock, Thursday, September 16th, 2010

In Hua Hin, Thailand, about 120 km south of Bangkok, there’s a great place to buy snacks. Readers of this blog can be forgiven for thinking that all Kasma and I ever do in Thailand is visit restaurants and markets where we eat all the time. Come to think about it, that’s pretty accurate! Actually, though that’s a bit of an exaggeration, food is never too far from our minds in Thailand, in part because it is so widely available and visible. When we travel around Thailand we rarely miss an opportunity to visit a market and inevitably, over the years, we’ve gotten to know some markets very well.

Look for this intersection

Mee Chai Shop

(Click on an image to see a larger version.)

Look for this sign

One of our regular markets is Hua Hin Market, for we drive through Hua Hin once or twice a year on our way down South, both on Kasma’s small-group trips to Thailand and when we travel on our own.

Another reason we stop in Hua Hin is to pick up Thai kanom (snacks) at one of our favorite snack spots in all Thailand. It’s a storefront called Raan Mee Chai or, in English, “Mee Chai Shop.” It’s found directly opposite the main market in Hua Hin, right on the main road through town. It is just past Soi 55/2 and as you head south it will be on your left hand side.

Sign and Kanom Tian

We make a special visit to this store to buy a number of treats. I’m convinced that they make the best Kanom Tian in Thailand. You may have seen this treat in Thai markets and not known exactly what it was – it’s one of a number of Thai treats that are wrapped in banana leaves. This particular kanom is a pyramid-shaped, dough-filled savory treat and is widely available in markets everywhere around Chinese New Year as well as Songkran (Thai New Year). The Thai word, tian means candle, so it is the “candle snack.” (It is perhaps named that because of all the candles lit on the holidays when it is usually available.)

Kanom Tian, unwrapped

The dough is made from sticky-rice flour while the stuffing contains mung beans and spices, sometimes pork. The dough at MeeChai is particularly gooey and tasty while I’ve never had a filling elsewhere that is so peppery and savory; this one is pork-free. It’s worth a trip to Hua Hin (and this shop) just for this one snack. I’ve pretty much stopped buying kanom tian elsewhere because it always disappoints: it’s never as good as from this shop.

Here’s a recipe for Kanom Tian – Stuffed Dough Pyramid Dessert. Although I can’t vouch for how good the recipe is, I’m including it because it has a sequence of pictures that give a very good idea about how the snack is made.

Trays of custards

The second treat that I like at Mee Chai shop is their Baked Coconut Cream and Taro Custard (Kanom Maw Gkaeng Peuak). (Another transliteration of the Thai might be Khanom Maw Kaeng.) This is actually a snack that another town on the way to Hua Hin – Phetchaburi – is famous for; Thai travelers will make a special stop at Phetchaburi just to buy this custard. They’d be better off going to Hua Hin! I’ve had this snack from several different places in Phetchaburi and I think Kanom Maw Gkaeng here at MeeChai is the best I’ve ever had. It is an incredibly rich, creamy delicious baked custard.

Baked custard – Kanom Maw Gkaeng

One of the secrets to this delightfully rich custard is that it uses duck eggs rather than chicken eggs. I’ve made it at home using 100% duck eggs and 100% chicken eggs as well a combination of both; by far the best result comes from using 100% duck eggs. The other ingredients are coconut cream (the thicker the better), palm sugar, and taro that has been cooked and mashed. This dessert is very, very rich. With the Mee Chai version a small square is enough; I eat small bites at a time wanting the delectable smoothness and taste sensation on my tongue to go on and on and on.

Pineapple Cookies

The other snack we always get is a box of pineapple cookies. These consist of a pineapple filling between two almost cracker-like outer cookies. Although we see these cookies in many places in Thailand, this shop sells the best ones we’ve found, though I don’t think they make the cookies themselves as they do the custards and kanom tian. I find these cookies are best eaten after snorkeling for a couple hours! (Underwater Photos from Thailand)

The shop also sells other treats, other types of custards and also sticky rice and mango. Try anything that looks good to you because it is all good. They also sell a number of nahm prik (chilli pastes), nahm jihm (dipping sauces) and gkabpi (shrimp paste), perfect for taking home or as gifts.

Previous blogs on Thai snacks (kanom):

Thai Sweet Snacks – Kanom (25 October 2009, by Michael)
Thai Crepes (Kanom Buang) (14 July 2009, by Kasma)
Thong Lo Mangos and Sticky Rice (4 April 2010, by Michael)

Serving sticky rice

Written by Michael Babcock, September 2010

Tags: Hua Hin, kanom, market, snack
Posted in Food, Markets | 2 Comments »

Berkeley Farmer’s Market (Saturday)

Michael Babcock, Sunday, August 15th, 2010

Saturday Farmer’s Market in Berkeley, on Center Street at Martin Luther King (MLK) Way, is one of our two favorite local farmer’s markets; the other is the the Friday Old Oakland Farmer’s Market. Every Saturday when we’re at home in the Bay Area, rain or shine, we go to the Saturday Berkeley Farmer’s Market. Although the market is scheduled to open at 10:00 a.m., we usually get there somewhat early in order to get good parking and make sure we get some of our favorite items before they sell out.

Saturday Berkeley Farmer's Market

I love local farmer’s markets. They are as close as I can get to the street markets in Thailand. I love knowing who is growing my food and that the producer gets all the money from my purchase. By going weekly, I get to know what is in season and what is not: in California where the seasons are often similar, it’s a way to be in touch with the changing year.

Here are the stalls where we shop week after week at the Saturday morning Berkeley Farmer’s Market. We prefer the Saturday market (Berkeley also has markets on Tuesday and Thursday) because that’s the only day that all of our favorite vendors are there. You can get a full listing of all the vendors at the Berkeley Ecology Center website. One advantage to the Berkeley Farmer’s Market is that nearly every stall is organic and the few that are not are often pesticide-free or transitional.

Pictures for this blog are from both Michael and Kasma. They were all taken in July of this year (2010) and reflect what is available at this time of year. Click on an image to see a larger version.

Mostly Vegetables

Riverdog Farms

Riverdog farm tomatoes

Kasma's dove likes Riverdog!

Riverdog Farms is one of the first places I look for produce at the Berkeley Farmer’s market. Everything always looks so fresh and eatable! Green beans, cherry tomatoes, asparagus (in season), snap peas, carrots (orange and red) are things I buy here. They also have delicious pastured chickens that are very tasty indeed. Their almond butter is absolutely fabulous!

Catalan Family Farm

Catalan market stall

Strawberries from Catalan Farm

I always check out the vegetables at Catalan Family Farms, often buying onions, green beans or cauliflower there. This year (2010) I think they’ve had the best strawberries at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market; week after week we tasted as many strawberries as we could (I love tasting fruit before I buy, a definite plus for farmer’s markets) and we usually bought them here.

Blue Heron Farms

Cilantro, roots attached

Flowers from Blue Heron

We are eternally grateful to Blue Heron for being the one place where, week after week, we can be certain of getting cilantro roots. Cilantro roots are a critical ingredient in many Thai curries, soups and stir-fries. In Kasma’s weeklong advanced classes, she may need a couple cups of cilantro roots for various dishes over the week: thankfully we can get them at Blue Heron. I’ve also bought their carrots and other greens. This summer they also have had a beautiful selection of flowers. Unfortunately, they take a break in the winter months: we miss them.

Vang Family Farm

Eggplants from Vang Family Farm

Vang Family Farm is the one Asian produce vendor at the Saturday Berkeley Farmer’s Market. He often has a variety of ingredients that we find useful: the Thai eggplants shown here, daikon, Asian greens such as Chinese broccoli (ka-nah, in Thai). Lemongrass and Thai Basil (bai horapa) are available sometimes. His prices are always a bit lower than the other stands.

Happy Boy Farms

Heirloom tomatoes from Happy Boy

Edible flowers from Happy Boy

Happy Boy Farms is another produce stand we like. This year (2010) they were the first to have heirloom tomatoes and they have been very, very good indeed. If I’m going to get a salad mix, I get it here.

Lucero Organic Farm

Okra

Lucero Farm summer squash

Lucero Organic Farms has excellent produce. Their summer squashes are great and they often have okra, including some varieties I never see elsewhere. Their heirloom tomatoes are also outstanding.

Brooks & Daughters

Sprouts from Brooks & Daughters

Brooks & Daughters sells sprouts of many different varieties. I’ll sometimes get the plain alfalfa, other times a clover mix and sometimes just plain broccoli sprouts. Sold by the handful, they are a great snack.

Solano Mushrooms

Mushrooms from Solano Mushrooms

It should come as no surprise that Solano Mushroom sells mushrooms; mushrooms of all kinds, in fact. Here we see Royal Trumpet (Eryngii) mushrooms, our favorite for a snap-pea with oyster sauce stir fry. They have many varieties such as chanterelle, porcini and oyster, all very fresh indeed.

Fruit

Frog Hollow

Frog Hollow peaches for tasting

For stone fruits, it’s usually hard to beat Frog Hollow. This is where I often buy my peaches, apricots, nectarines and pluots. Their Flavor King pluots are the best I’ve ever tasted. They are always very generous with their tastings. This year we depended on them for cherries.

Woodleaf Farm

Woodleaf Farm peaches

Woodleaf Farm is the other stall that we depend on for peaches. They have some of the best peaches I’ve ever eaten. Like many other vendors, they are always willing to give you a sample. It’s smart marketing: often once I’ve tasted one of their peaches I’m hooked.

Kashiwase Farms

Fruit tasting at Kashiwase

I think Kashiwase has the best tasting at the market; they usually have eight to ten varieties of stone fruit (in season) and have a tasting table with samples of all of them. Nectarines are the one fruit I find myself buying over and over here.

Smit Orchards

Smit Orchards is my go-to stall for Gala and Pink Lady apples, which become available in the fall. They are at the market year-round with other organic fruits, such as cherries and yummy grapes.

Meat & Fish

Highland Hills Farm

Highland Hills sign

Highland Hills Farm has the best pork I’ve ever tasted. We’ve especially enjoyed their pork belly, pork butt and ground pork. They also have wild boar. All their meats, beef, pork, lamb, goat and chickens, are pasture raised.

Fatted Calf

Fatted Calf market stall

The Fatted Calf is one reason we come to the Saturday market: it’s the only market it visits in the East Bay. They specialize in local and sustainably raised meats transformed into meaty goods. It’s an unusual week when I don’t get at least one of my favorite products: liverwurst (with a delightful smoked flavor), Mexican Chorizo (see my blog on Bitter Melon, Chorizo and Egg) or crepinettes (flavored meat patties – yummy!). I’ve enjoyed their sausages, duck liver mousse and sausages as well. And when they have leaf lard for sale, I jump all over it: lard is the best fat I’ve ever found for stir-frying.

Update, March 2011: Unfortunately, Fatted Calf no longer comes to the Berkeley Farmer’s market. They do have a store on Fell Street in San Francisco.

Hudson Fish

Hudson Fish black cod

Although everything here is fresh and wonderful looking, I rely on Hudson Fish mainly for the black cod (AKA butterfish). Butterfish is a good name for it: it melts in your mouth like butter. For a drunken stir-fry or a pad gkaprow (holy basil stir-fry), there is no better fish.

Prepared Food

Morell’s Bread

Morell's Bread

Raisin Rye Bread

Eduardo Morell’s breads are my favorite breads anywhere: they are true artisan breads. Naturally leavened by whole wheat starters (no commercial yeast or chemical leavening are used in any of the products), they are dense, chewy and full-flavored delicious. My favorite loaves are the Multigrain and the Raisin Rye bread. I’ll also get the 100% Spelt bread for variety and occasionally a loaf made with an heirloom variety of wheat from the local Full Belly Farm. Toasted and with butter, they are satisfying and filling. Eduardo also makes delicious scones, both multi-grain raisin scones and fruit scones using seasonal fruits from vendors in the market. Anything here is highly recommended! The only places these breads and scones are available anywhere are the Saturday and Thursday Berkeley Farmer’s Markets. (Morell’s Bread Website)

Cultured

Seasonal specialties at Cultured

Naturally fermented foods are some of the healthiest foods you can eat: the natural fermentation creates beneficial gut bacteria that helps with digestion and helps boost the immune system. Cultured is another reason to attend the Saturday market (they’re also at the Tuesday Berkeley market). In addition to sauerkraut (I like the Traditional, the Nutra Kraut and the Lemon Garlic Dill), Cultured offers seasonal specialties, which change from week to week. My absolute favorite product here is the Beets with Fennel. They also sell kombucha. (My favorite article on the importance of bacteria is Garry Hamilton’s Why We Need Germs.)

Bariani Olive Oil

Although we eat mainly Thai food at home, when I make a salad I’ll often use olive oil from Bariani Olive Oil. It’s a family-run operation that oversees every step of the process themselves. It’s organic and very tasty, with a slight grassy taste that I find enjoyable. They also make a very nice balsamic vinegar.

Big Paw Grub

Big Paw is the other olive oil I enjoy: it’s somewhat less grassy than Bariani. They also make balsamic vinegar here that, combined with olive oil, makes a very complete and tasty salad dressing. The Apricot Lavender is delicious but my favorite is the Mission Fig.

Old Oakland Farmer’s Market
Shopping at Asian Markets (for Thai Ingredients)

Tags: Berkeley, California, market
Posted in Markets | 1 Comment »

Archive for the ‘Markets’ Category

Nakhon Thong – Portrait of a Thai Community

Nahkon Thong Community – Slide Show

Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipal Market

Nahkon Si Thammarat Municipal Market – Slide Show

Cha-Om – A Delicious and Nutritious Tropical Acacia

Kasma’s Cha-om Photo Slide Show

Thong Lo Street Vendor (Wednesday Photo)

Seafood Vendor on Sukhumvit Road

Hua Hin Treats

Berkeley Farmer’s Market (Saturday)

Mostly Vegetables

Riverdog Farms

Catalan Family Farm

Blue Heron Farms

Vang Family Farm

Happy Boy Farms

Lucero Organic Farm

Brooks & Daughters

Solano Mushrooms

Fruit

Frog Hollow

Woodleaf Farm

Kashiwase Farms

Smit Orchards

Meat & Fish

Highland Hills Farm

Fatted Calf

Hudson Fish

Prepared Food

Morell’s Bread

Cultured

Bariani Olive Oil

Big Paw Grub

List of authors:

Pages

Archives

Categories