Making friends and learning new trades

📍German Coast Farmer’s Market

Saturday, as I was beginning to write this post, I sat on my patio sipping an icy caramel cold brew purchased from my local farmer’s market. And what a day it was for a farmer’s market stroll!

The sky was a brilliant blue, the grass a vibrant Spring green, and the wind kept the heat from the sun at bay. A Mardi Gras parade rolled through the West side of town, and I was glad not to be anywhere nearby.

Even though the rushing sounds of traffic deafened the songbirds’ melodies, I could still hear them singing joyfully. I believe they were just as delighted as I was with the brilliant sunshine and mild weather. It sounded like they were finding mates with whom to settle down at the tops of the local live oak trees.

Learning fun facts about eggs 🥚

I could instantly feel the lift in my spirits as the sun hit my arms and legs, which were finally free from sleeves and pant legs, the moment I stepped out of my car at the farmer’s market.

The first vendor was a local homestead farmer from 4C Livestock, selling thick-cut steaks, ground beef and pork, and fresh chicken eggs. Unfortunately, she was sold out of eggs (I was unsurprised, as I had arrived halfway through the farmer’s market’s open hours), but I did manage to snag two perfectly-marbled ribeyes for dinner, as well as ground beef for homemade enchiladas. (They made EXCELLENT enchiladas! Still drooling. Nothing like the flavor of locally raised beef!)

I moved on, sampling some herbal tea by Nola Botanical Tea, which was phenomenal. I picked up a bag of the hibiscus tea (mostly for relief with cramps), which I can brew as refreshing iced tea. I love its lightly sweet and cinnamon-y flavor! After sipping on my sample, I couldn’t leave without it. The vendor explained the benefits of each herbal tea blend, and sold me on some unbleached, disposable teabags and a wooden spoon. Using metal and plastic spoons, she noted, alters the benefits of the herbs. And also, who couldn’t use a little wooden spoon for something?

Meandering further, I noticed a coffee stand with quite the long line, so I headed toward the end in search of farm-fresh eggs. And I found them! The sweet farming family at James Zeringue Vegetables pops their tent up every week with fresh vegetables and, if you’re lucky, eggs from their hens. I was hoping for some duck eggs, but their ducks haven’t been laying many recently, due to old age.

Two of the farmers talked to me for a long while, very excited to teach me about eggs. I learned through asking about the duck eggs that the taste isn’t extremely different, but the texture and consistency would be the most noticeable. Duck eggs are better for baking because they act as a better leavener, according to one farmer. I will have to research this further for the scientific reason behind this improved leavening agent!

They also told me that a chicken will lay one egg every day for 30 days, but doesn’t sit on them to incubate until after that. Hatching would occur about 20 days later. So there could be a 30-day-old egg in one brood that would be 50 days by its hatching date!

Because eggs are porous, they can absorb bacteria that could infect the yolk/embryo inside. So the chickens naturally coat each egg once it hatches in a quickly drying film that forms a protective coating over the shell.

I’ve seen people who have chickens keep their eggs on the countertop. I never understood this, being raised a full-fledged city girl: why would they let them spoil this way?

Eggs can sit out on the counter if they still have this special, protective coat on the shells! To preserve this coating, whatever mess is left on the shells when harvested is knocked off or spot-cleaned before set into a carton on the counter. If washed, the coating will be removed, allowing the egg to absorb toxins and spoil. Eggs bought from the supermarket have been pre-washed, so they must be stored in the fridge.

Not only are the eggs I purchased from them counter-stable, but they are each about 3 oz in weight! That is larger than a single jumbo egg at the grocery. Another customer and I were laughing that the chickens must have been screaming to lay them. It is incredible to behold this size of egg. (Editing note: their yolks taste so much richer than the eggs at the store. I enjoyed some already!)

We discussed other eggs, such as guinea hens’ eggs, that have an incredibly tough shell despite being a much smaller egg. So tough, in fact, that when the farmer dropped one, it bounced on her kitchen floor like a bouncy ball! I mentioned to her that one of my friend’s moms raised quails and sold their eggs at the farmer’s market in my hometown. I used to work with her on Saturdays to sell her salsa. (Ahhhh the good ol’ days!) It was today that I learned, though, that after boiling quail eggs, you can put them directly into your pickling agent, shell and all. The vinegar will dissolve the shells as they pickle! The shells are much thinner than I realized.

The sweet farming family told me to come back closer to summer to reap the benefits of their summer crop: Creole tomatoes, yellow and zucchini squashes, peppers, and eggplants. Well, there were more, but these are the only veggies on my mind!

Bread-making is an art 🥖

I hopped happily to the next food vendor, as my stomach was growling: the bread baker! As the baker behind Fleur Dough Lis Bakery, the vendor was able to talk at length with me about the process of baking sourdough and other kinds of bread.

I mistook him for the baker who specializes in pastry, and he said, “Oh I get this all the time! No, I’m the bread guy. Bakers are all a little weird, but we think the pastry guys are the weird ones in our world!” It was all friendly humor, as he’s personal friends with the pastry chef. I agreed that I would probably venture into breadmaking before pastry, just because of the patience and time it takes to create a great product.

After tasting the different loaves, he showed me a little cup of dried…something. It almost looked like chalk shavings.

They were dry sourdough starters! He recommended using this 200-year-old starter in our South Louisiana climate, as the yeast in our air is not conducive to creating new sourdough starter successfully.

According to popular bread lore, San Francisco has the best climate for making a starter. He mentioned that the humidity level has to be just right, and I am wondering what other benefits there are of being on the windy coast for sourdough. I went to Boudin’s sourdough bread bakery when I visited several years ago, but I never realized there was a stigma behind San Francisco’s sourdough scene!

I mentioned to him that I would like to bake bread at home, but I have very little experience: beer bread and yeasted pumpkin rolls. Though he seemed to appreciate my toe-dipping into the yeasted bread world, he said that if I really wanted to build my confidence, I should begin by baking focaccia. Because I purchased his rosemary bread, he said that I’d love focaccia (which I do)!

He then said that once I had good experience with baking simpler types of bread, I would be prepared to explore the world of sourdough. Experience in breadmaking helps when making something as particular as sourdough: you know how your bread is supposed to behave, when something goes wrong, or if it is ready to move on to the next step. Cold weather makes every step last a little bit longer: individual ingredients like butter and flour at “room temperature” in the Winter is several degrees colder than “room temperature” in the Spring and Summer here. Proofing these doughs could take 10 hours as opposed to 6.

With this newfound knowledge and encouragement in bread baking, I accepted his invitation to a future sourdough starter demonstration and plan to find a nice focaccia recipe for Spring.

You’ve made it to the coffee! ☕️

Much to my delight, Paul’s Lemonade and Tea started to sell cold brew coffee! The barista told me she has been there for 3 years now, but she hasn’t sold coffee the entire time. It took time for her to decide what kind of coffee to sell. I appreciate the research and thought behind her beverages and look forward to filling out my punch card each Saturday.

Her menu is extensive, with so many fruit flavors to add to lemonades and teas. She also had an ice chest with a large jug of cold brew and a plethora of flavored syrups and milk options!

My beautiful iced coffee was (sugar-free, thanks CSID) a caramel cold brew with oat milk, topped with a sweet cold foam! The care she took in crafting this beautiful drink for each person really warmed my heart. I watched as she artfully drizzled the sides of the cup with the caramel syrup, poured in the cold brew, added the perfect amount of oat milk so there was enough room for the ice, and then piped on a thin layer of delicate cold foam. As a final touch, she drizzled a delicate design with the caramel syrup on top.

I was pleased and instantly refreshed! For so long, I thought the farmer’s market was missing coffee, which to me (obviously) was such a drag. Now that I know to hang around until her very popular line dies down, I’ll look forward to a cold brew at every visit!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of my local farmer’s market. After being shut inside with chilly winter weather and work woes, I was nervous to make conversation with strangers…

But I found that each artisan was so very passionate about their product that they wanted to share their experiences with me. I feel so grateful to have met these wonderful people. They really brightened my week.

Cheers, friends. Spring is on its way! ☕️🌷