Dawn Troutner

The Toledo Farmers Market started with the blow of the whistle, after the rain stopped and the weather man still predicting a chance of thunderstorms after 5 pm. They were wrong, the rain passed and fifteen vendors prepared for market this Friday evening. Kristi after cutting her thumb and having it stitched up still had her table full of cookies, kolaches, breads, pies and more. This was Caryn’s week to be in Toledo with her caramel corn, kettle corn, snack mixes, and jams. Cindy and Rod had a truck load of onions, cucumbers, broccoli, beans, sweet corn, and very LARGE potatoes. After a little bantering, Rod hand delivery a half of dozen ears of corn to the market manager. It was fantastic. Thanks guys. Darold had beautiful purple gladiolas, cabbage, cucumbers, taters, tomatoes, and beans. Shirley, Freddie, and Michael had their table full of good ole Czech bakery along with noodles. Chuck and Ginger had the south end of their table full of bakery, along with popcorn, eggs, cucumbers, taters, okra, summer squash, beans, leeks, beets, and ground pepper powder. Dawn had rhubarb, summer squash, zucchini, beets, dill, houseplants, pond plants, jams, bakery, popcorn, taters, cucumbers, tomatoes, and cabbage. Sheryl had ceramics’, towel sets, potholders, adult bibs, and holding up the south end of her tent was IOWA towels, & potholders. Holding up the North end of her tent was IA STATE towels, & potholders. Joe and Barb had cucumbers, very large heads of cabbage, beets, kale, bakery, Watkins products, jams, and taters. Pam had potholders, burp clothes, baby blankets, and booties. She also had jar grippers and cat toys. Karen had soy candle on the North end of her table and holding up the South end was taters. Kathy had a large assortment of her delicious bakery. Nina had her pies. Tassy brought those individual cookies, pie bars, oatmeal cake, and home made popsicles. Red Earth Gardens were under a tent this week they brought tomatoes, summer squash, beans, broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, okra, and hot peppers. With the heat of the day the market had a cooler with fresh pink lemonade to help quench your thirst. Be sure to come out on Friday nights from 5-7 pm and visit the Toledo Farmers Market. I am sure I missed something.

Summer squash and zucchini, what is the difference? “Summer squash” is a bit of a generic term to apply to many different varieties of the Cucurbita pepo. This includes scalloped squash, crookneck, straightneck, and zucchini. There are many similarities between zucchini and yellow squash. Both are a type of summer squash. They can be interchangeably in recipes, including substituting yellow for zucchini in zucchini bread. They are relatively the same shape and size, except for the crookneck variety, which the name says it all. Both are high in water content, and have virtually the same nutritional value. Both have a very mild flavor, enabling them to pair well with many other ingredients in dishes. Summer squash is picked while still immature, so that their thin skins and soft seeds are still edible. A yellow squash is of course yellow, with either a straight body and smooth rind or a crookneck and bumpy skin, which looks odd but is fine to eat. Yellow squash is said to have more seeds than a zucchini. So I hope this helps you next time your at market and see signs that say summer squash and/or zucchini.

Zucchini Fritters

Shred two cups of zucchini, one egg, one eighth teaspoon of onion powder, one fourth teaspoon of parsley flakes, pinch of garlic powder, one fourth cup of parmesan cheese, one fourth cup of flour. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix this all together and drop into hot oil. Flatten out as much as possible to avoid a mushy center. Flip when well browned and remove to drain on a paper towel when both sides are brown. A great sauce to dip them in is one individual serving container of Greek yogurt, add chili powder and ground red pepper as you mix until you get the right level of heat you like. And there you have it delicious zucchini fritters. See you at market.