Bloomington, IN: Bloomington Community Farmer's Market

Besides checking out the Handmade Market Saturday morning, I also went to one of the last Farmer's Markets of the year. I was hoping I took photos back in the summer (when this place is PACKED, both with vendors and market-goers), but I'll make sure to do that this coming summer so you can see just how big Bloomington's market is. It's awesome!


These two photos are from the view of the Showers City Hall lookout on the top of the steps. There are food and goods vendors, as well as musicians. I've seen up to three separate bands/musicians playing around, but there have always been at least two. And they are always very good, no matter how cold it is outside. Sometimes they also have special events going on (like apple tasting, arts fairs, or crafts for kids). Coming up is the Holiday Market!


I've bought everything from maple syrup to honey to pumpkins to bell peppers to corn to ground beef(!) at this market. And I always, always, always want to buy pretty much everything in sight. The prices are right (unlike the farmer's market near us in Maryland), just like Indiana markets are supposed to be. And the food is GOOD.


On Saturday I gave in to a giant bag of apples. I've been wanting to try making apple butter (and wanting to try canning!). So I stopped at this booth and talked to the guy and his granddaughter who own this apple orchard. He said that last week he sold a guy a bag of these apples (the group had a sign saying "great for apple butter!" on them), who came back that morning with a taste of the apple butter he had made (and it was really, really good, so he said). Who am I to refuse a half a bushel of homegrown apples for only $10?


So I took them home and started my culinary adventure. I made a lot of applesauce. (Apple butter essentially gets made from applesauce.) It was really, really good and realllllllly easy - just cut up your apples (peeling is optional, but I peeled them), put them in a pot with water/apple juice/apple cider (I used apple cider) and some spices, let them cook for 25-30 minutes on medium, and blend them up. Bam. Applesauce. Pictured below is half the apples. I ran out of room to make the other half. Now there's a completely full crockpot (like 5+ quarts) of applesauce currently cooking away at home making me apple butter!


The point is: I love the farmer's market. I will be sad when it's closed during the winter. Homegrown food beats grocery store food any day of the week. I can't wait to have a garden again this summer, and I hope my canning experiment goes well so I can add that to my arsenal of domesticity!
Bloomington, IN: Bloomington Community Farmer's Market Bloomington, IN: Bloomington Community Farmer's Market Reviewed by Maria on 10:00:00 AM Rating: 5

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