East End Eats: Blackberries and Gooseberries From the Sag Harbor Farmers' Market
One of the only poems I have committed to memory is “Blackberry Eating,” by Galway Kinnell, a fourteen line homage to the pleasures of picking produce at the peak of ripeness. (The Italian term scorpacciata, loosely translated as gorging on whatever is in season, evokes this same sentiment.) Galway’s verse takes place in September, but as some farmer friends recently told me, and as the wild berry bushes behind my garden indicate, the East End’s berry season is climaxing now.
A couple weekends ago I was fortunate enough to rendezvous at the Sag Harbor Farmers' Market (Saturdays, from 9 to noon, on Bay Street) with chef Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern, whose ripeness radar zeroed in on blackberries and gooseberries. Gooseberries are making appearances at more and more farmers' markets around the country. Growers like their exotic sexiness. Shoppers like the pop delivered by the tart little turgid balls. Chef Mike liked what their sourness could bring to a vinaigrette when mixed with blackberries and enjoyed on top of tomatoes and assorted greens from the market. (All the same ingredients can also be found at the East Hampton farmers market on Friday mornings in the Nick & Toni’s restaurant parking lot, the Westhampton Beach farmers market on Saturday mornings in the parking lot on Mill Road next to the Historical Society, and the Riverhead farmers market on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. near the Aquarium.)
