September 2, 2010
Chef Steve Poses: A Trip Through the Rittenhouse Square Farmers’ Market

The Rittenhouse Farmers' Market in Autumn (photo by M. McClellan)
The following is an excerpt from a blog post by local restaurateur and caterer Steve Poses. This is one in a series of features he’s running on area farmers’ markets. To read the full text on his blog, click here.
Rittenhouse Square has a rhythm of the seasons and the days. This is the backdrop to Saturday’s Rittenhouse Square Farmers’ Market which both borrows from, and adds to the energy of the square. There is an abbreviated market on Tuesdays with shorter hours. The Farmers’ Market both benefits from and contributes to that rhythm and the success of the square.
The Rittenhouse Square Farmers’ Market is sponsored and managed by Farm to City, one of two principle organizers of Philadelphia’s neighborhood farmers’ markets. The market runs along Walnut Street adjacent to the square. Nineteenth Street is generally its end point. This year, as more stalls have been added — there are about 25 — the market wraps around on to 18th Street. Saturday hours are 9:30 AM to 3 PM, though on busy days by 3 PM pickens’ are slim. Tuesdays it runs from 10 AM to 1 PM.
At the top of the market at 19th Street is a large and comprehensive stand run by Rineer Family Farms of Lancaster. They also offer grass fed meat and poultry.
The Rittenhouse Square Farmers’ Market is the market I know best. I shop here nearly every Saturday. It is where I look forward to asparagus in the Spring, tomatoes and peaches in the summer and apples in the fall. It helps me know where I am in the world. While I worked on At Home, the Saturday farmers’ market provided a weekly jolt of seasonal inspiration.
Next door to Rineer is the Fahnestock Fruit Farm, one of two fruit specialty stands. These folks, from Lititz in Lancaster County, specialize in tomatoes, peaches and apples. That’s it.
Beechwood Orchards is the other fruit stand with a far wider selection of fruit and berries as well as some specialty produce on a side table.
Here are Beechwood’s Santa Rosa plums and Doughnut Peaches and Elephant Heart Plums. Don’t you just have a try a plum named for an elephant’s heart? Who even knew that there was an Elephant Heart plum?
In the foreground is something I first saw this year. They are variously called husk tomatoes or ground cherries. Under the husk, which you discard, are a little berry-like tomatoey fruit. I have tried them a few times and so far I’m not convinced they are anything but a novelty. But try for yourself.
Not many farmers’ markets have a dedicated mushroom grower. Kennett Square, about 45 minutes west of Philadelphia in Chester County is the “Mushroom Capital of the World.”
A recent discovery for me — and one of my favorite stands is Cherry Grove Farm. They produce world class cow’s milk cheeses in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Can the town that named Philadelphia Cream Cheese embrace a cheese as fine as their Toma Primavera? They also offer grass fed beef and lamb and certified Berkshire pork as well as organic eggs.
Click here to continue reading this post at Just in at Homegrown.
Steve Poses is founder of Frog Commissary. A local restaurateur, caterer and author, it’s his goal to increase home entertaining. Steve’s latest book, At Home by Steve Poses: A Caters Guide to Cooking and Entertaining, was released in 2009. It’s the inspiration for At Home Online, a website and blog designed to make home entertaining as easy as possible with tips, guides and recipes. Click here to subscribe to his e-newsletter. Steve can also be found on Twitter as @SPoses. Click here to follow him.















