Exploring New Markets- Our Trip to the Strawberry Festival

 

As markets around the country ramp up for their summer seasons, the Marketspread team is lucky to get to do some field research at local markets and festivals. Today we set out early for the Cape May Strawberry Festival. It’s a good tip to try and arrive early; as the temperatures are a bit cooler and the crowd hasn’t built up yet. In addition, parking is usually easier to find.

 

 

Festivals tend to be part farmer’s market/ part flea market, and this one did not disappoint. We found a variety of creative strawberry themed foods, from strawberry lemonade, wine, and honey, to empanadas with strawberry hummus and sandwiches with bacon and strawberry jam. Other tables held strawberry earrings, dishes, platters, and kitchen goods. 

 

      

Of course, there was more than just strawberries to be found. The festival had music, local vendors, crafts, and even tourist info. 

You can’t leave the Strawberry Festival without buying those tempting red berries! But what do you do with all those berries once you get home? With the abundance I brought home, I decided to try two easy strawberry salsa recipes: one spicy and one sweet. They’re super easy:

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Strawberry Salsa

1 pint strawberries, hulled and diced fine

½ to 1 jalapeno (depending on how hot you want your salsa), seeded and diced

½ cup of red onion diced

½ cup of chopped cilantro

Juice of ½ lime

Pinch of salt and pepper

Simply toss the ingredients together. Let the flavors meld a bit before serving.

I put some on a couple of plain grilled chicken breasts and I felt like a cooking diva.

 

If the kids aren’t into spicy salsa, try this super simple sweet blend:

     

Sweet Strawberry Salsa

1 pint strawberries, hulled and diced fine

2 Tbsp honey (It’s nice if you can pick up some local honey at your farmer’s market)

Juice of ½ lime

Pinch of salt

Mix your ingredients and top yogurt, ice cream, or cereal. We found this to be the perfect topping for the Key Lime Pie that we picked up from one of the booths.

As we were leaving the festival, I spotted a stand selling strawberry plants. Yes, I bought one; optimistic that the season of these ruby gems would last a bit longer for me.