We eat a lot of chicken.

In fact, our grocery shopping is often dictated by the store that has the best price on boneless and skinless chicken breasts that week.

Until last week we had shunned Rockweld Farm chicken truck at the market. Too expensive we thought.

We are of no illusion about the chicken we consume. Sure, the food chains may promote their chicken as “grain-fed,” or “free-range,” but anyone who’s ever watched 60 Minutes or W5 knows those terms are often interpreted very loosely.

At Rockweld Farm we’re assured it’s the real deal.

But is it worth the premium price?

Two decent-sized frozen breasts cost us almost $19. Each was individually wrapped and they were placed in a zip-top plastic freezer bag.

When they thawed, the difference from grocery store chicken was immediately apparent; there was no pool of gross, slimy pink liquid pooled in the plate.

For comparison, we also decided to grill a chicken breast from the grocery store.

Each was prepared identically for our peasant’s dinner of chicken and grilled vegetables — a little olive oil, sea salt, garlic powder, sesame seeds and fresh rosemary.

On the plate, the difference between the Rockweld breasts and grocery store breast was still apparent; the Rockweld breasts looked just a little tighter. Cutting into the meat, the grocery store breast flopped around while the Rockweld chicken retained its shape.

But it’s when the chicken hit the mouth it would really count.

The Rockweld chicken had a bit more flavour, but the meat was also drier.

The latter could probably be remedied by adjusting the time on the grill. But, in our opinion, the former wasn’t significant enough to justify the bigger expense, especially considering how much chicken we eat.

I guess it comes down to what you value the most; if you want to know the farmer and have a level of assurance that the chicken you’re eating lived decent lives before they ended up on your plate, the premium price for Rockweld’s chicken is worth it. But in our household at least, we’re going to keep checking those grocery store flyers for the best deals.

Market Loot

Rockweld Farm

• 2 large chicken breasts $18.35

Zaklan Heritage Farm

• 1 head specialty bred salanova green spiky lettuce $2.50
• 1 head purple coloured lettuce $2.50

Ripple Creek Organic Farm

• 2+ pounds German butter potatoes $5
• 1 cucumber $1

Ossome Acres

• 1 bunch of collard greens $3

A Bread Affair

• 1 butter croissant $3.50

Fresh Quality Produce

• 4 yellow zucchinis $3

My mom and my sister accompanied me to the last market. When my sister picked up a few green zucchinis and told me she was going to bake no-noodle lasagna with them, I decided to give it a go too.

But instead of green, I got yellow.

Jeff at Harvest Direct told me yellow was believed to be sweeter than green, but looked somewhat skeptical at the theory. After tasting the cooked zucchinis, I, too, fell on the skeptical side. To me, they seemed more bitter than the green zucchinis I’d had of late.

The lasagna was a mess.

I had tracked down a recipe that had advised me to either grill or sweat the lasagna ahead of time due to its water content. I tried grilling a few batches of the thin slices, but they kept sticking to the pan or falling apart. So then I opted to sprinkle the remainder with salt and laid them flat over a colander for 20-30 minutes to try and suck as much of the water out as I could.

It didn’t work.

The lasagna was more a mish-mashed soup than a put-together, clean-looking meal. Albeit, a super tasty, mish-mashed soup though 🙂

My regrets with this meal was the timing. It’s not exactly soup season, nor is it a time to be turning the oven on – did you see the forecasted temperature for the week??? This was a meal suited more to winter than summer. But the problem is, we have all this super fresh zucchini, right. Well, why not slice it up, freeze it (according to this website, squash freezes well up to 10-12 months) and then a couple months down the road, throw it all together, and voila, a belly-warming soupish dish!

The delight of the shop, hands down, was the cucumber and the German butter potatoes. While the chicken, in my opinion, didn’t serve up enough flavour for the price point, the cucumbers and potatoes most certainly did.

The potatoes grilled were like butter in your mouth! They were caramelized crisp on the outside, and soft, flaky, warm on the inside. It was like eating French fries the way French fries were meant to be!

And the cucumber, my first bite was taken absentmindedly. I had been chopping up various vegetables for the dinner salad, and as is habit, I tasted each of them. When I took that first cucumber bite, the burst of flavour that filled my mouth, was incredible.

It didn’t taste like water, it had a firm texture along the skin, and every subsequent bite was super crisp.

The Ripple Creek cucumber cost $1. A long English cucumber at the local vegetable stand is $1.49, and I can tell you it does not have those same beautiful attributes.

Savings in price. Earnings in flavour. Win. Win.

In total, I spent $38.85 giving me a $1.15 extra to spend this week. The greens lasted 5 days (we eat a LOT of salads). We got two meals out of the potatoes. The collards gave us six individual wraps, that were used for both lunches and dinners. The chicken was one meal between the three of us. The cucumber lasted two days – it was that good! And the zucchinis gave our family about three meals, plus a couple of side dishes. There would have been more zucchini, but the grill catastrophe ate up one of them.

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Originally published on local blog Tenth to the Fraser, The Farmers Market Challenge, written by Katie Bartel (and the odd guest star) seeks to challenge the notice that you can’t get hardly anything for $40 at the farmers market. Each market, Katie explores what’s the best deal, and discovers food she’s never heard of. 

It’s funny what a simple question will do for a conversation.

At the last market I asked Jeff at Fresh Quality Produce why yellow wax beans were called wax. I mean, if green beans are called green, why not call yellow beans, yellow? Honestly, I can’t remember his response, but I do remember him leading the conversation over to strawberries and raspberries and asking why each were called that. We know why blueberries and blackberries have their names, he said, but what about strawberries and raspberries?

Out came both of our phones. Seriously, how did we survive before Google?

According to Almanac.com, there are two explanations for strawberries: some apparently thought strawberries looked like straw (what???) while others believe the name comes from the Old English word strew because when the plant grows it looks like it’s growing scattered along the soil.

Raspberries were a bit more complicated. Their scientific name, Rubus idaeus, means “bramble bush of Ida” signifying the Greek island of Crete where they are believed to have originated. Funnily, according to Greek mythology, raspberries were white until Zeus’ nursemaid Ida (see latin name above) pricked her finger on a thorn and stained them red, thus making them a red berry.

If I were at a grocery store, would I be asking these questions? Would I know the first name of the farmer I was buying from? Would I know the farmer, period? Would the grocer spend a good five minutes laughing along with me trying to find the answers to my oddball questions? I am going to go out on a limb here, not a very far one, and say no.

I do not have a relationship with the big box grocers. But I do have a relationship with Jeff at Fresh Quality Produce, with Gemma at Zaklan Heritage Farm, Aaron and Noella at Ossome Acres, Ron at Wild Westcoast Seafood, Doug at Greendale Herb and Vine, Jasbir at Mandair Farms, Param at Harvest Direct Farms, and so many others that I have met and chatted with along the way.

It makes a difference.

Market Loot

Harvest Direct Farms

• 1 basket apples $5
• 1 basket apricots $5

Ossome Acres

• 3 small pattypan squash (also called scallopini) $1.90
• 4 pickling cucumbers $4.90 ($4/lb)
• Ripple Creek Organic Farm
• 1 bunch broccolini $2.40 ($4/lb)

Zaklan Heritage Farm

• 1 head specialty bred salanova purple spiky lettuce $2.50
• 1 bunch pizzo mustard greens $3
• 1 bunch ruby streaks mustard greens $3
• 2 heirloom tomatoes $1.50 ($4/lb)
• 1 bunch rainbow carrots $3.50
• 1 Spanish white onion $1.25

Fresh Quality Produce

• 1 pint raspberries $4
• 1 bag mix of yellow and green beans $3

Total spent: $40.95

With the contents of this week’s market purchases, I felt like I should be the envy of every shopper NOT going to the farmers’ market.

My salads, oh my goodness, so fresh, so tasty, didn’t need dressing, none. I had experienced this very same thing last year, where I was blown away by all the flavourings in just the greens alone. All winter I had been waiting for this again. And this week, it came.

The purple, spiky lettuce is a specialty breed salanova, the seeds of which came from Bellingham, that produces beautifully spiked individual leaves even after the core’s been chopped. I remember falling in love with this lettuce last year, but had only seen it once at the market. Gemma from Zaklan Heritage Farm informed me it’s a regular feature in their salad mix bags.

Good to know 🙂

The greens are great on their own, but with the market so full of freshness, why not add a few berries, or sliced apricots, or slices of the season’s first apples. You could even grill up a few slices of pattypan squash to give it a nutty flare, or Spanish white onion for a savoury sweetness. There are so many options for your salads right now. You can spice them up. You can sweeten them up. You can make a rainbow of them. Even the most staunchest, anti-salad eater would have a hard time saying no to these beauties.

What kind of salads have you been making?

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Originally published on local blog Tenth to the Fraser, The Farmers Market Challenge, written by Katie Bartel (and the odd guest star) seeks to challenge the notice that you can’t get hardly anything for $40 at the farmers market. Each market, Katie explores what’s the best deal, and discovers food she’s never heard of.