Webb City Sentinal Market Column - Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Today is our last Thursday market of the year.  We’ll be open from 11 to 2.  And in addition to our usual vendors we have some new faces.  There will be a lemonade stand run by our manager’s 10-year-old son.  Maxwell read a book from the library about junior entrepreneurs and tried a lemonade stand outside his house.  Now with some experience and food safety guidance from his mom he is ready for the big time.  I hope you stop by for a drink.  Maxwell has a big heart, all his profits go to the Humane Society.  Freeman Advantage will be doing free blood pressure tests and in these times shouldn’t we all be watching our blood pressure! 

Songbird’s Kitchen will serve Asian specialties for lunch tomorrow.  We’ll have seven growers loaded with fresh local produce.  Harmony Hill will have baked goods, Stormy Farms locally raised meats, we’ll have cut flowers, as well as hanging baskets and fall planters.

On Saturday, we expect about 17 producers, including our flower farm, two ranchers with beef, pork, lamb, and chicken, two mushroom growers, and our shrimp farmer.

2Ts Soap is coming, as well as Juniper Coffee, Helm Family Farm with honey and honey products, DnD Smoked with seasonings, Good Golly Tamale,  three bakeries,  and MaMa JoJo’s Pasta.  The Girl Scouts are doing the Cooking for a Cause breakfast and Max Barnett will play in the Kids Tent.  Remember, we’re open on Saturdays year-round.

Tuesday Ghetto Taco is back with delicious street tacos and other food with a Mexican flair.  We are usually open on Tuesdays through mid-October.

We have three more Free Kids Meals on the schedule, though that could change if the USDA decides to issue a waiver to continue the meals. 

Tomorrow from 11 to 1 -  we have pizza pasta bake until we run out, and then we’ll switch to ham sandwiches.  The kids get to try the long bean recipe I shared in this column last week, plus market melon, and milk. 

Saturday from 9 to 11 – each child gets both breakfast and lunch.  Breakfast is ham and egg burritos, market melons, and milk.  Lunch is BLT’s, cherry tomatoes, melons, and milk.

Tuesday from 4:30 to 6:30 – a cheeseburger with lettuce and market tomato, chips, (surprise!) market melon, and milk.

The Kids Meal is free to any child, aged one through 18, regardless of residence or income.

I’m going to close with a melon salad recipe I made for the Kids Meal yesterday.  Of course, I made a much larger batch but you’re probably not going to feed 100 people so I’ve cut the recipe down a bit.  All the ingredients except the lime came from the market.

Melon Salad

Ingredients

1/2 large cantaloupe

1 small canary melon

1/4 to 1/2 small seedless watermelon

1 tablespoon honey

Juice from half a lime

Mint to garnish

Change the proportions of each melon to suit your taste.

Remove the rind from the melons and cut the meat into bite-sized cubes or if you want to get fancy scoop with a melon baller.  In a small bowl whisk together the honey and juice and drizzle over salad, mixing gently.  Serve with a garnish of mint.  Serve immediately and refrigerate leftovers. 

If cutting melons ahead, add dressing and mint right before serving.  Since melons release a lot of juice if you cut them ahead, you should drain the melons before dressing.

We have an abundance of melons at the market.  Enjoy them while you can!