At the Greenmarket

Bi-Color Corn’s Got It All, But Golden Raspberries Have More Fun

A salsa encounter session awaits you.
A salsa encounter session awaits you.haha Photo: Zoe Singer


Summer’s A-listers — think corn, tomatoes, striped bass, peaches, and chile peppers — have arrived at the Greenmarket en masse. Be there to greet them.

What to Look For
Bi-color corn offers the best of all worlds; it’s as buttery as yellow-kernel varieties and as sweet as white. If this is your first time this year, we recommend steaming the ears to eat with butter and salt. After that, go wild. The market has some great cherry tomatoes already, if you’re inclined toward a succotash (widely available).

Fino Verde basil, a.k.a. Greek basil, is a marvelously peppery, spearminty variety. It will enhance everything from salad to lemonade, not to mention pesto. Also consider buying up bunches for bouquets — the tightly clustered, pointed little leaves are pretty enough to carry down the aisle, if you’re headed that way ($2 per bunch at Eckerton, available Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday).

Golden raspberries, with their peachy complexions, are so gorgeous that their superb flavor is practically a bonus. Nonetheless, their delicately fragrant, honeyed taste deserves attention. Try tossing with an herbal syrup, or eat them with your bare hands ($5 per half-pint at Stokes, available Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday).

Oushi Washi plums, a flavorful, early-ripening Japanese variety, are heart-shaped, with tangy purple-red skin and yellow, sweetly juicy flesh. They’re small, and their flesh clings to the pit, so they’re best enjoyed out of hand ($4 per pound at Locust Grove, available Wednesday and Saturday).

Organic tomatillos are what your tortilla chips have been waiting for. They look like small green tomatoes in papery husks, and their tart green flesh, studded with tiny seeds, makes a brighter tasting salsa verde than anything you can buy premade ($2.50 per pound at Ryder, available Saturday).

Blink and You’ll Miss It
The enormous blackberries (larger than many apricots) at James Durr farm have a much higher fruit-to-seed ratio, they’re bursting with purple-black, sweet-tart juice, and they are so big that you won’t want to miss the opportunity to sprinkle them over ice cream or bake them into cobblers ($6 per quart at James Durr, available Saturday).

Overheard at the Market: “Whatever She Had” Department
“Which cherries did you sell Karen the Sheep Lady last week? She said they were outrageous!”
— Zoe Singer

Bi-Color Corn’s Got It All, But Golden Raspberries Have More Fun