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Saturday, February 27, 2010

Underground Market: March 6

Last month's underground market hosted by ForageSF was such a success that all of the vendors sold out of their items! It was so crowded you could barely move through to even see the vendors. I did, however, manage to purchase the most unique brownie I had ever had! We met a man who milled his own acorn flour and then roasted the flour until it developed a rich, nutty roasted flavor and then used that flour to make these pitch black brownies that had a unique, almost savory flavor. I loved them!

Anyway, the next market is on Saturday, March 6 from 5-11pm at 9 Langton Street in San Francisco. And I am so excited to tell you that I will be a vendor, along with my amazingly talented friend, Elianna.


Elianna and I are going to make a couple of homemade kegs of fresh ginger beer, lots and lots of jars of spiced pickled grapes and possibly even some hawaiian baked goodies like coconut mochi!!! These pickled grapes (an idea inspired by Seattle's Boat Street Cafe) are a k-n-o-c-k-o-u-t. They are just a tad sweet and warmly spiced with mustard, cloves, black peppercorns and freshly smashed cinnamon (which makes a huge difference, I swear). They really pop with flavor and would be the perfect addition to salads and cheese plates. I've even heard through the grapevine that Fish & Farm serves pickled grapes as a garnish for cauliflower soup, along with toasted almonds, olive oil and chives. What an idea!


Inspired by our pickling madness, my friend Jesse even made some pickled green garlic, which would really complement a nice charcuterie plate.

And, have you ever had fresh ginger beer?! Yes, its non-alcoholic, but it is packed with flavor. Jesse is the mastermind behind this one. We juiced up an enormous amount of fresh ginger (even the lady at the farmer's market asked me what I was going to do with that much ginger!). Then we added some freshly squeezed lemon juice to knock down the spicyness of the ginger and added just a little bit of sugar to please the palate. We put it all in a keg and pressurized it until it carbonates. Also, on Saturday morning we will spike it with some more fresh ginger juice to really jazz up the flavor and bring it to the front just before we serve it up over ice. Believe me, you're gonna want to try some!

We're pretty darned excited about these things and we would love for you to come check out the market!!! See you then!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Definitely checking this out! The last one was really fun.

Jason said...

Those pickled grapes are a revelation.

Unknown said...

yummy!

Brian Yaeger said...

Mmm. I want to start pickling...pickles. You're clearly advanced picklers. Do you ever do cucumbers anymore?

Morgan Lee said...

Brian--just between you and me, I've never pickled cucumbers with an actual hot brine as opposed to the quick-pickling method. Just sped right ahead to things like grapes, figs, onions, and quail eggs!