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Ferry
Plaza Farmers Market Story
and photos Posted July 1, 2011 "Life's short...dessert first," said the young fellow behind the Scream Sorbet stand. And with that, I began my visit, in an oh-so-sweet way, to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, the foodie "love fest" at the historic Ferry Building on the city's Embarcadero waterfront.
(The San Francisco Ferry Plaza, with its distinctive clock tower, on the Embarcadero)
I delighted in sampling foods at the visitor booths outside the Ferry Building and inside, at the permanent shops. And since I started with the sorbet, let me count the ways: there was Seascape Strawberry, Limemint, Tangelo, and Ollalieberry, the last flavor reminding me of a pancake syrup I once had up on the Mendocino Coast.
(Measuring out a serving of sorbet at the Scream Sorbet stand)
What a wonderful day it was: the sun was out in full force, people were strolling or jogging, and San Francisco's historic trolley cars -- each "imported" from another city -- were sailing by effortlessly on tracks in the middle of the Embarcadero. The farmers market is sponsored by the non-profit Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA).
(Lovely red onions for sale at the market!)
You can visit Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and, believe me, you will be awed by the variety of foods covering just about every taste, from meats and cheeses to chocolates and wines...and more, including flowers and garden supplies, cookware and tableware, specialty grocery and prepared foods, cafes and small eateries, pastry products, and books and ferry tickets. The Ferry Building opened in 1898 and is topped by a distinctive clock tower, a replica of the 12th-century Giralda bell tower seen in Seville, Spain. When I arrived on my visit, people were already lining up at the outdoor stands to buy BBQ pork sandwiches, tacos, or, as the advertising sign said, the "BEST DAMN CHEESEBURGER."
(The San Francisco Bay Bridge looms in the distance, a perfect view from the marketplace) After your purchase, you can swing around to the side of the Ferry Building and grab a bench for the stunning of perhaps a sailboat slowly slipping under the Bay Bridge, which itself casts a picture-postcard sweep across the water. After my introduction to the sorbet, I moved on to the Farmhouse Culture kraut stand. The company, based in Santa Cruz, offered different flavors of the tangy food: smoked jalapeño, horseradish, leek, and classic caraway.
(At the Farmhouse Culture stand)
Then there was something that really caught my eye: kraut juice, which, I was told, is made from cabbage juice produced during the fermentation process.
(Filling a jar with kraut)
The juice was full of vitamin C and probiotics, I also was told, and is consumed in a shot glass. And so it went… Then, as if by some mysterious design, I went from the pungent kraut to the sweet, with a stop at Marshall's Farm honey stand. Based in American Canyon near Napa, the company has hives all over the Bay Area.
(Honey products come in a variety of shapes)
I was able to taste the medium blackberry honey, which was quite flavorful, and then moved on to the sage, whose mid-range flavor, I learned, had less sugar and was lighter tasting. There were also colorful honey straws for sale (three for $1 or a package of 12 for $5). At the Frog Hollow Farm's stand, they were selling organic conserves (like apricot and nectarine), chutneys (like Asian pear and peach) and marmalades. When you move indoors into the Ferry Building itself, you find a vast space with a high-domed ceiling that lets in the day's light. I first stopped at a watery container of live lobsters, for sale at $18.99 a pound; next to this were live crab, priced at $10.99 a pound. If you were hungry for oysters, there were plenty, arrayed on a table with appropriate sauces, at $2 a piece. Soon I came to one of my favorite products, chocolate, at Recchiuti Confections, where I sampled the Burnt Chocolate, which had a rather enjoyable bite to it. From there, I moved on to Scharffen Berger chocolate, the brainchild of the late Dr. Robert Steinberg, a Harvard University graduate, family physician and accomplished cook, and John Scharffenberger, his friend and former patient, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 1973 with a combined degree in botany, cultural anthropology, food history and geography. Steinberg had become interested in making chocolates after visiting France. In 1996, he and Scharffenberger produced their first batch of chocolates in Steinberg's kitchen - a far cry from the company's factory today! At Scharffen Berger, I sampled a very interesting chocolate described to me as in the 70% cocoa range with up to nine different cocoa beans in it. It was, I was assured at the shop, a "very complex blend" with beans originating from Venezuela, Ghana, a couple of islands in the Caribbean, Madagascar, and Indonesia -- an amazing collection of geography stuffed into a piece of chocolate! For another sort of taste, it's possible to stop at the Imperial Tea Court, where you can sample teas from China, India and Taiwan.
(Oil for sale at Stonehouse California Olive Oil)
Or, you might like to sample wine at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant after some olive oil tasting at Stonehouse California Olive Oil. And well, wouldn't you know, I found still more sweets, this time at MeringueO, where CEO Carolyn Wendler was offering tasty tidbits to passersby. "We make meringue cookies," said Wendler, whose company is based in Tiburon, "but we've dressed them up to be a little fancier than most meringues.
(Meringue cookies sold by MeringueO)
"They come in flavors and are filled with chips, coconut and other treats....Like all meringues, they are low in calorie, low in fat, and gluten free." And, I should add, they have attractive colors, too, like white, pink and yellow. Just more color to add to all the other colors - and tastes - you find at the farmers market! IF YOU GO: The market is open Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. You'll find a stronger emphasis on street food on Thursday. For more information, call (415) 291-3276 or visit www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com and www.cuesa.org. "Summer Celebration" Planned for July CUESA
will hold a "Summer Celebration," featuring what it calls the best bites
and sips of the season on Sunday, July 10 from 6 p.m. --9 p.m. in the Ferry Building
Marketplace.
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