Squash Blossoms, Quark, & Sexually Liberated Eggsfeatured

If you happen to stop by the Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Building this weekend, keep your eyes peeled for these prize items. Felt like I hit the jackpot last weekend when I went home with:

• Squash Blossoms, from Chue’s Farm
• Lemon Quark, from Spring Hill
• Rock Island Cage-Free (Sexually Liberated) Eggs, from Petaluma Farms

Squash Blossoms
These marigold orange beauties are so pretty you almost don’t want to eat them…except for the fact that they are most delicious.
I remember the first time I saw and tasted Squash Blossoms – or fiori di zucca – in Italy. I couldn’t believe that you could actually eat these vibrant blossoms and was tickled by the idea.

The delicate zucchini-like flavor of them come through nicely when simply prepared. I like to batter them in a little egg wash, roll them in a mixture of parmigiano and panko breadcrumbs, and lightly fry them up in some olive oil.

You could also try using a more traditional beer batter or tempura batter, or try stuffing the blossoms with a mixture of ricotta, parmigiano, and herbs, before battering and frying them up!

Whatever you decide, try to cook the blossoms as soon as possible after getting them home. After a day or two in the fridge and they’ll start to wilt.

Lemon Quark

Dangerously addictive, Spring Hill’s Lemon Quark is like lemon cheesecake in a tub. Sweet, fragrantly lemony, creamy, with a little tang. This is one of my favorite products at the Farmer’s Market!

Quark is a mild-flavored fresh cheese with a soft, spreadable texture that’s a cross between cream cheese and ricotta. It also has a low fat content, about the same as yogurt.

Snatch one up if you can – they sell fast!

Organic Cage-Free Brown Fertile Eggs

The Rock Island hens at Petaluma Farms live the good life. Raised without cages, free to roam around and feast on an organic all-vegetable diet, plenty of fresh air, sunshine, and roosters to cluck at.

What does sexual liberation have to do with tastier eggs with a denser white and more flavorful yolk? Everything.

As explained by the kind Egg Man from Petaluma Farms, if the chickens are allowed to roam free from the constraints of a cage, the girls chase the boys, the boys chase the girls, they eat more food because they’re hungry from all the tail chasing, and badabing badaboom – you’ve got eggs with a richer flavor.

Lesson of the day?

Frisky hens = good eggs.

(And sexual repression will get you nowhere.)