Onions by Linda Nelson

Dear WCM Shopper,

Celebrate Dairy Month and welcome Sassy Cow Creamery to the Market this week! Brothers James and Robert Baerwolf and their families offer two lines of milk: organic and traditional, both made with rBGH-free milk produced on their farms in the Columbus and Sun Prairie area.

“Great quality dairy products come from the milk of cows that are respected and treated well…that’s what it is all about,” they write on their website. They invite shoppers to free creamery tours the first Friday of each month, including June 4, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.at 4192 Bristol Road, Columbus.

Here’s what they’ll bring to the Market this week: organic and traditional milk, and traditional butter and a few flavors of ice cream (Cappuccino Crunch!) – including in cones and bowls. If you’re buying ice cream to take home, bringing a freezer bag would be a good idea.

Then pick up some strawberries to have with your ice cream – or slice and add berries to spinach tossed with raspberry vinaigrette. The berries started coming in a week earlier than usual. If you didn’t splurge on them last week, you’ll find lower prices as they’re more plentiful.

Shoppers also likely will find pea pods coming in, along with more flowers, radishes, leeks, fresh cut herbs, shallots, garlic, mushrooms, asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers, spinach and various greens, turnips, bok choy, potatoes, green onions, rhubarb, eggs, cheese, meats, dry beans, bread and other bakery, and specialty products.

And, of course, more dairy products.

The whole milk small curd cottage cheese from Murphy’s is a treat – and no surprise considering it earned first place for Tom and Sally Murphy of Soldiers Grove at the 2010 World Championship Cheese Contest at Monona Terrace. This is also a place to find “squeaky fresh” cheese curds. Choices include plain, dill, pepper, and onion and chives.

And there are more winners among us from that prestigious competition that drew cheese makers from 20 countries around the world. Bruce Workman of Edelweiss Creamery in Monticello took honors including a first for his havarti. I’m sure the plain is great but you can’t beat the habanero havarti in a quesadilla. For a flavorful cheese with less bite, try English Hollow Cheddar. Shelf curing it allows the acid flavor to dissipate, leaving a fruity flavor, he explains. Workman brings at least 20 varieties of cheese to the Market each week – and he says he’d pair any of them with Potter’s Crackers. Here’s his tip to improve the flavor: Take cheese out of the refrigerator 45 minutes before eating and put it under a dish so it doesn’t dry out while you wait for it to come to room temperature for the best flavor.

Sugar River Dairy of Albany is a small family run plant that uses non-homogenized milk from Sassy Cow’s pasture-raised cows and adds no stabilizers but lots of active culture for a creamy yogurt with probiotic benefits: plain and vanilla in 24-ounce containers and raspberry, blueberry, strawberry and peach in the 6-ounce individual serving size. Check out their yogurt recipes below.

Among our vendors who are third generation farmers is Bryon Schroeder of Schroeder’s Cheese of Rewey. He and his wife Angela get milk from a single farmer for their milled Cheddar curd. The most popular are the medium and sharp Cheddar curd but they offer flavors, including garlic.

Among your other dairy choices are Dreamfarm goat cheese from Diana and Jim Murphy of Cross Plains, Driftless Sheepsmilk Cheese made by Brenda Jensen at Hidden Springs Creamery in Westby, and cream puffs filled with organic pastry cream from Honey Bee Bakery of Madison, where Mary White points out how good those would be with strawberries!

Got a recipe to share? Send it to me at kalliosandra@yahoo.com – or drop it off at the Information Tent with your contact info – and we’ll have a $5 Market certificate for you at the tent after your recipe appears in the newsletter. Also, the same deal stands if you want to submit a Market photo. Please make sure to identify the vendor’s stand.

If you’re looking for DOLCI Italian-American Sweets, Sandy Hunter and her biscotti only show up every other week – and, as president of the Italian American Women’s Club — she’ll be busy this weekend at Festa Italia, which is Friday through Sunday at McKee Farms Park in Fitchburg.

See you at the market. I’ll be the one clutching a Sweet William bouquet from Thae Yang of Madison in one hand and a Sassy Cow Cappuccino Crunch cone in the other!

Recipe Corner

Yogurt Ranch Dressing (Sugar River Dairy recipe)

• 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon or more grated onion
• 1/4 teaspoon or more minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced parsley
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk yogurt

Mix everything but the yogurt, blending well. Add yogurt and blend well.

Yogurt Cheese (Sugar River Dairy recipe)

2 cups yogurt

Suspend a small colander over a bowl. Line colander with three layers of cheesecloth or coffee filter. Spoon in yogurt. Cover and refrigerate 24 hours. Whey can be used in place of milk or buttermilk. Note: Use yogurt without gums, gelatins or fillers to ensure whey and curd separate.

Invite your friends and neighbors to the Market: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at Hill Farms State Department of Transportation parking lot at the corner of Segoe Road and Sheboygan Avenue, one block south of University Avenue and one block west of Hilldale Shopping Center.  Tell them to bring the kids to play along with Moldy Jam, the Market house band that plays in fair weather at reasonable times (not before  9:30 a.m.).  WCM offers free coffee for shoppers and invites all to stop in at the WCM Information Tent to fill out a chance to win the raffle for a $5 WCM gift certificate.

Until next week,
Sandy Kallio
for the Westside Community Market

Send recipes to: kalliosandra@yahoo.com