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The Market:
Flagstaff Community Market
Phoenix Ave. and Beaver St.
Sundays, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (May-Oct.)
(928) 774-7781
Marketgoer:
Mark Thompson
This is the last day of the year for the Flagstaff
Community Market, which is managed by by the Center
for Sustainable Environments at nearby Northern Arizona
University. In Flagstaff, at 7,000 feet, an hour's drive south
of the Grand Canyon on the flank of the San
Francisco Peaks, a hint of winter is in the air.
Five vendors of produce are here today along with several
jam and chutney makers, a bread man, a weaver, soap maker, honey man,
and egg lady. Many of the farmers have wound down for the season.
But there is still a last-ditch selection of summer vegetables,
including okra, tomatoes and eggplant. I pick up a few of the summer standards. But I'm here today looking
specifically for unusual foraged foods from the wilds of northern
Arizona. I'm not disappointed. I find elderberries, serviceberries and an
intriguing -- and often misnamed -- herb called scented lippia.
I figured I might find a few such items here because
the Center for Sustainable Environments has made a concerted effort to help preserve native
food traditions of the region with programs including Canyon
Country Fresh, a network of stores and restaurants
“committed to purchasing
ingredients, foods, and products directly from
local sustainable farmers and ranchers in northern
Arizona.”
| The center also administers Seri Fair Trading Post, an
organization for Seri Indians of the Sonoran Desert and
the islands in the Gulf of California, which is dedicated to
"revitalizing Seri traditions while protecting their
environment." One way it does so is by selling a few Seri
products on the center's table at the farmers market. |
John Munk of
Thunderfoot Earthworks, sells foraged seeds and herbs
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For more about local foods in
northern Arizona, read the profile of John
Sharpe, chef/owner of the Turquoise Room at the La Posada Hotel
in Winslow
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What I Bought:
Pumpkin, Acorn Squash, Butternut
Squash, Acorn Squash, Pumpkin
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Pumpkins and
Acorn Squash
on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon
With my market purchases in hand, I took an
afternoon road trip north of Flagstaff to the south rim
of the Grand Canyon, 70 miles north of town.
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On a
loop along the south rim to Cameron and back to
Flagstaff, I stopped at another of my favorite
places in the vicinity, Wupatki
National Monument, about 35 miles northeast of
Flagstaff. Amidst the early Pueblan ruins scattered through
the monument, I have put some of today's farmers
market purchases on display. For some, this is an
historically appropriate setting. The shallow
depression in the desert floor beneath the Box
Canyon dwellings is at the bottom of a funnel in the
landscape for winter rains. In the damp ground on
the canyon floor, the inhabitants of this site
nearly 1,000 years ago grew crops including
pumpkins, squash and chile peppers.
Price: $1.50/lb. for pumpkins and
squash
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Pumpkins, Acorn and Butternut Squash
in the
Box Canyon Dwellings near Lomaki Pueblo
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Pomegranates amidst the Box
Canyon Dwellings
Pomegranates are a native of the Middle
East. Spanish settlers introduced
them to the Americas in the 1700s.
Price: $2/lb.
(Clockwise from middle top)
cherry tomatoes; tomatillos; Jerusalem artichokes;
cayenne; chilepeno, serrano and jalapeno pepper; turnips
Cherry Tomatoes and Tomatillos
at Wukoki Pueblo
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(left to
right) Jalapeno, Serrano, Chilepeno and Cayenne Peppers at
Wukoki Pueblo The peppers, as
well as the cherry tomatoes, tomatillos and turnips are
from Whipstone
Farm, north of Prescott in the Chino Valley southwest
of Flagstaff. Chilepenos are said to be a hybrid mutant
jalapeno, larger and milder than its relative. Price:
$3/basket for tomatillos and tomatoes
$1.50/lb. for peppers
Jerusalem Artichokes on a
wall at the Box Canyon Dwellings
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Called Jerusalem artichokes, despite the
absence of any connection to Jerusalem or artichokes, this
is a native
American food crop, though not a native to the
Southwest. When Europeans arrived, they found tribes along
the eastern seaboard growing the perennial tubers, which
are produced
by a species of sunflower and were among the crops
introduced to the Pilgrims by the indigenous tribes of
Massachusetts. They have the
mild, sweet taste and texture of water chestnuts. I tried
some raw -- similar too but somewhat tougher than jicama.
Others (see photo to the right), I peeled, sliced,
carmelized in butter, and sprinkled with salt, pepper and
lime juice.
Price: $3/bag
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Carmelized Jerusalem Artichokes
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(left to right) Osha Root,
Scented Lippia, Elderberries,
Utah Serviceberries, and Arizona Black Walnuts
The Center for Sustainable
Environments, the sponsor of this farmers market, has a
table where
I pick up some literature about several of the center’s
other projects. Today the center is selling, on behalf of
the
Seri Fair Trading Post, $3 bags of a sustainably harvested herb labeled
"Sonoran oregano (Lippia graveolens)."
That
actually is a misnomer. Lippia graveolens isn’t even in the
same plant family as oregano. The herbs both reside in the order of Lamiales.
But oregano comes from the mint
family branch while lippia, which can grow as large
as a small tree, is one of the verbenas.
The crushed dried leaves of the plants certainly do smell
alike. But that's no excuse for calling the herb Sonoran
Oregano when it's got a much more melodious, botanically
correct name, Scented Lippia. Other appellations bestowed
on the herb in its range from the Southwestern
borderlands of the
United States
through
Central America include Hierba Dulce, Romerillo de Monte,
and Redbrush. In
Central America, it is used as a tonic, stimulant and expectorant as well
as a condiment, according to the Texas
Native Shrubs Web site.
I acquired the other herbs and
berries from John Munk, founder of Thunderfoot Earthworks,
and a forager as well as a propagator of organic heirloom
seeds. I sampled a tiny nibble of Osha root that Munk
gathered in the Rocky Mountains near Telluride. He
recommends it for sore throats and insists it will ward
off colds, and in fact saved him on a couple of occasions from getting
pneumonia. He gathered the two types of
berries near Mormon Lake 30 miles or so from
Flagstaff. To
prepare the dried elderberries for use in muffins or other
recipes, Munk recommends soaking them in orange juice. The
serviceberries can be used to make tea or simmered in
maple syrup, for a serviceberry-flavored pancake
topping.
Price: $1.25/gram for Osha
root
$4/ounce for elderberries and serviceberries
$5/lb. black walnuts
$3/bag for Scented Lipia
Black Walnuts amidst red
rocks near Sedona
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The Flagstaff area got drenched with
rain last winter. Consequently, Gayle and Richard
Clark, of the Cowboy Honey Co. in Camp Verde, a few
thousand feet below Flagstaff in the Verde Valley
south of Sedona, were blessed with far more wildflowers than they had
seen in years. |
Their bees had a field day. Most of the
honey on the Cowboy Honey table was from bees that had
feasted on a potpourri of wild flower varieties and
it had the standard
golden hue. But one bottle stood out. It was filled with dark,
amber colored honey.
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Fairy Dusters
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The dark honey is from bees that
gorged on nothing but the nectar of the fairy
duster, after a bumper crop of the
desert flower, which hasn't made a good showing in years of
drought that preceded last winter's
reprieve. |
Price: $6/bottle for Fairy
Duster Honey |
Verde Valley Fairy
Duster Honey
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It was a
good summer for wildflowers here in a clearing
in a pinion-juniper forest north of Flagstaff
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