For us, Saturday mornings and farmers markets are synonymous. When we are in an area with a Saturday Farmers Market, you will find us at the market. The last two months, we have been in the North East and have not found many farmers markets, mainly due to the time of year. When arriving in the DeFuniak Springs, FL area, we found a Saturday morning market and it did not disappoint.
Unfortunately there were very few fresh vegetables due to the time of year. We did find homemade bread of all types, jams and jellies, eggs, hot sauce and dessert along with fresh mushrooms.
When we arrived at the mushroom booth, Panhandle Organics, the only fresh mushroom left was Lion Mane. We purchased ¼ # and looked forward to enjoying them for dinner. We sauteed shrimp with onions and garlic, sauteed lion mane mushrooms and served over pan fried eggplant medallions.
Our fresh bread from Double O and Company was a small loaf of sun dried tomato sourdough. The flavor was excellent with the right amount of sun dried tomato flavor.
One of our exciting purchases for Laurie was from Frost Lane Farms. It was Persimmon Hot Sauce. We have not tried it yet but are looking forward to using it. We enjoy hot sauce in many dishes, yet have never tried one made with fruit.
The Holley Farms booth had a sign “Cowboy Candy”. Ok, not familiar with Cowboy Candy. Found out we are familiar with it, just not the name. Sweet and hot jalapenos is Cowboy Candy. Given, these are more candied than we are used to eating. They were very good, both very hot and sweet.
Another favorite of Laurie’s is anything hibiscus. Double O and Company had some hibiscus items. So into our bag went Hibiscus Pepper Jelly. Have not tried it yet. We will use it in a special way, no plan yet.
Of course, eggs are always a welcome item at a farmers market. We found fresh eggs and we were happy.
Now for desserts! Salted Caramel Kettle Corn. John bought it for Laurie because she loves anything salted caramel. Let’s just say, John ate his fair share of it. The kettle corn had a great flavor and was covered with salted caramel.
Something we don’t usually buy is anything gluten free. Walked up to The Cupcake Cottage not knowing it was all gluten free. Laurie admitted to Greta she did not like gluten free. Greta had samples and started bringing them out. Laurie was amazed at the taste, better than she had tasted. So we left with a lemon loaf cake and have been enjoying it since arriving home.
Even though there was very little fresh produce, the DeFuniak Springs Farmers Market was a success. We will be enjoying many of our purchases for weeks. This is proof, never pass up a farmers market no matter the time of year. There is always something special, interesting or unique to be found.
