Alaska News

Market Fresh: Goat meat, macarons and the power of positive thinking

Snow showers in April? It happens all the time.

Goat meat at the farmers' market? That's rare.

Duane Clark of Country Health Foods will have a few cuts of goat with him this week at the Center Market at the Mall at Sears. Clark says he will have some leg roasts and some ground meat.

"These are young bucklings from last summer," Clark says. "A local lady raises cashmere goats for the long hair. I generally get requests for products that are not always available such as goat, buffalo, lamb; and I am able to find them every once in a while.

"I often get requests for moose, caribou, Dall sheep and other Alaskan game. I just remind folks Alaskan game is not allowed to be sold. We process all of our local meats through Mount McKinley Meats and Sausage Co. in Palmer. It is all processed to USDA standards and brought to our weekly markets by the best local farmers and producers."

Clark also will have beef, yak, coon-stripe shrimp, local raw honey and Alaska Sprouts items this week at the market.

Saturday will be Rempel Family Farm's last Center Market for the season.

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"It's time to start farming," Mark Rempel says. "We must focus on this summer's crops. We plan to be selling fresh greens Saturday, June 6."

The Rempels will have carrots, beets, cabbage, parsnips, 11 varieties of potatoes and yak meat.

James Strong of Sweet Caribou says despite the snow this week, they are thinking spring.

"We're combating this strange spring snowfall by channeling warm-weather positive thinking into macaron flavors like milk-chocolate passionfruit and dark-chocolate coconut on Wednesday," Strong says. "This is our gastronomic anti-snow, bring-on-the-sunshine dance!"

Other Wednesday macarons include passionfruit orange guava, blood orange, chai tea, chocolate salted caramel, lavender milk chocolate, Mexican hot chocolate and chocolate cherry. On Saturday, look for strawberry lemonade, hot tamales, ginger lime, passionfruit orange guava, lavender milk chocolate and chocolate lovers' macarons. The sweets also include raspberry chocolate cupcakes, toffee blondies and some other surprises.

Alaska Vegan & Gluten Free will be at Wednesday's market with a full lineup of tasty meals, including red lentil dahl, lentil vegetable soup, Moroccan tagine soup/stew, red beans and wild brown rice, spaghetti sauce, panzanella Tuscan bread salad, pico de gallo, bread, vegan parmesan cheese and chocolate pot de crème.

La Grassa will be at both markets this week featuring a new lemon pepper farfalle. They also will have spinach and original hand-cut noodles, vegan basil strozzapreti, feta and kale ravioli, parsnip ricotta and fine herbs ravioli and ricotta cavatelli.

Alex Davis of A.D. Farm says "I got reloaded on pork last Thursday so now I have Italian sausage, spicy sausage and hocks -- all of which I have been out of for a while." Other pork items include chops, roast and fresh side pork.

Davis also has carrots in four colors and French fingerling and peanut potatoes, along with fresh eggs and items from Alaska Flour Co., including cinnamon chip pancake mix, whole barley and barley cereal.

Other vendors this week include: Earthworks Farm will have their Abeille Alaska lineup of beeswax and honey skin care products on Wednesday; Monica's Confection Connection will have five nut brittles on Wednesday; Farm 779 will have krauts, red and golden beet kvass, and coconut and cashew kefirs; and Daisy Nicolas will be at both markets this week with a variety of treats and meals for dogs, including fresh-frozen meals including wild Alaska salmon, beef and chicken.

Steve Edwards lives and writes in Anchorage. Contact him at akmarketfresh@gmail.com.

Local farmers’ markets

Monday: Depot Farm Market, noon to 6 p.m., Palmer Depot

Wednesday: Center Market, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mall at Sears, Benson Boulevard and Denali Street

Friday: Top Shelf Artisan Market, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., 550 S. Alaska Street, Palmer

Saturday: Center Market, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Mall at Sears, Benson Boulevard and Denali Street

Steve Edwards

Steve Edwards lives and writes in Anchorage. He writes the Market Fresh column weekly and can be reached akmarketfresh@gmail.com.

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