THE MAINE MARKET BASKET

 A weekly news service for promoting 

 Maine's healthy, local and seasonal

 foods.

Featured crop: Peppers

Whether sweet or hot, peppers are a part of the native vegetable parade that travels through Maine each summer. 

Kids have a great time marveling at all the shapes and colors peppers can take, while cooks have fun experimenting with their different flavors ranging from candy sweet to 3-alarm fire hot.

Be sure not to miss out on the excitement. The parade of native peppers only comes once a year and is stopping by a farmers' market and farmstand near you.

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Shopping info:

Peppers are a family with members of different sizes, shapes, and flavors including hot and sweet.  Choose peppers that have deep vivid colors, tight skin, and that are free of soft spots. Their stems should be green and fresh looking. 

Bell peppers should have a dense, heavy feel to them.  The shape of the pepper does not generally affect the quality, so don't shy away from one at a farmers' market simply because it doesn't look like the ones you are used to seeing in the grocery store.  Red peppers tend to be more expensive than green ones because they take longer to grow.
 

Preparation info:

Peppers can be stored in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator for up to a week before becoming soft.  The seeds and inner membranes are where the most heat is found in chili peppers.  They can be used in cooking depending on how much spiciness is desired.  With bell peppers, the insides should be removed and thrown away.  Sweet peppers are delicious eaten raw as a snack at any time of day.  Peppers can also be roasted in the oven (10-20 minutes), grilled whole (10-20 minutes), or stir-fried or sautéed (3-5 minutes). 

Featured Recipe:

Linguini with Peppers, Onions, and Garlic

Ingredients:
1 1-pound box of linguini pasta
1 onion, red or white, chopped
2 tablespoons of olive or vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bell peppers, red or green, sliced thinly

grated cheese

Procedure:
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or as indicated on the box. Drain.
2. Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet. Stir in onions, garlic and pepper slices and sauté until vegetables have softened. 
3.Toss vegetable mixture with hot pasta in a large bowl. Sprinkle with cheese.

Serves 4-5

Did you know?

-Green, sweet bell peppers have 2 times as much vitamin C as oranges; red and yellow bell peppers have 4 times as much.

-Sweet peppers originated in South America and were carried throughout the world by the Spanish and Portuguese explorers who traveled through this continent.

-Bell pepper is one of the vegetables in the nightshade family, which includes eggplant, tomatoes and white potatoes.

What else is in season?

Seasonal availability of produce in Maine varies from week to week and from one farm or farmers' market to the next.

Fresh, Maine-grown peppers are available from mid July through September.

The following items are also considered widely available statewide as of this date: salad greens, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, snap and wax beans, beets, blueberries, broccoli, beet greens, eggplant, herbs, leeks, melons, onions, peas, new potatoes, peppers, raspberries, sweet corn, swiss chard, scallions, tomatoes, zucchini and summer squash.

For more info on the seasonal availability of Maine produce, see the chart posted here.

Where to buy fresh, Maine-grown foods in your area:

       Find farmers markets in your area here

         Find farmstands in your area here

        Find CSA farms in your area here

     Find local "pick-your-own" farms here

For more info about the availability of Maine food and farm products, please see: http://www.getrealmaine.com

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