This past weekend saw the launch of the Union Station “Growers Only” farmers’ market. The market will take place every Saturday from 9am until 2pm through October 22 and will feature 40 local vendors and a weekly chef demo program, sponsored by EatDenver. We stopped by early Saturday morning looking for inspiration for our evening meal.
Stop 1: Bean Acres Farm
The giant three-foot, scallion-shallot looking thing at Bean Acres booth—the farm operated by LoDo restaurant The Squeaky Bean—immediately caught our attention. Chef/Farmer Josh Olsen explained that they were “Walking Onions” and their bulbs should be sliced like shallots, the stalks used like scallions, and the buds would be delicious pickled. We also bought a couple of super ripe greenhouse tomatoes and the idea of a pickled salsa was born.
Stop 2: Jodar Farms
During our search for protein, we came across Jodar Farms out of Northern Colorado. Known for their delicious chicken, Jodar has been raising pigs since 2011. The pigs roam freely on a full acre of land and help turn the compost as they search for extra food. We selected some pork ribs and German sausages for our evening barbecue and picked up some farm fresh eggs to make breakfast on Sunday morning.
Stop 3: Chiporro Sauce Company
The booth next to Jodar Farms was the Chiporro Sauce Company owned by Chef Carlos Ruiz in Longmont, Colorado. After tasting through some amazingly tongue-numbing hot sauces, we settled on the slightly tamer Hawaiian Barbecue Sauce to pair with our pork ribs. The sauce is sweet and tangy with enough of a punch to keep you going back for more.
Stop 4: Fruition Farms and Mercantile Dining and Provisions
We stopped to get a restorative Gumby juice made with celery, kale, cucumber, apple, pear, and lemon, but couldn’t resist the allure of the cheeses from Fruition Farms. We picked up all three: a fresh sheep’s milk ricotta, a hard cacio pecora, and the soft, oozing Shepherd’s Halo.
Stop 5: Grateful Bread Company
You can’t have cheese without some delicious bread and it doesn’t get much better than Jeff Cleary’s Country Batard, or his Jalapeño Tillamook Cheddar Batard, or even the Kalamata Olive Bread. It was just too hard to decide so we bought them all! The bread and cheese were the perfect ending to our meal.
By Elizabeth Woessner
The post 5 Things We Found at the New Union Station Farmers’ Market appeared first on DiningOut Denver/Boulder.