The farmers market is a magical place filled with fresh, local food that you can feel good about buying year-round.
There are exceptions, however.
In speaking with experts, we discovered there are some items that should give you pause at your local food-slinging hangout. But with a few tips, youll be the farmers market savant you always wanted to be.
Raw Milk
When it comes to picking out food at the farmers market, its best to skip the tent espousing the merits of raw milk. Unless, of course, you consider yourself a culinary daredevil.
From a food safety point of view, one thing you should never buy at a farmers market is raw milk, says Melissa Morris, who has a masters in exercise science and serves as a fitness, food and healthy living expert for InsuranceProviders.com . Raw milk has not been pasteurized and has a lot of bacteria that could cause foodborne illness, like E. coli, salmonella, listeria and campylobacter. Any of these can cause diarrhea, cramping or abdominal pain.
And the symptoms can be even worse for the more fragile among us. Certain groups, like infants, young children, older adults or those with compromised immune systems, could be seriously affected, which could mean hospitalization or even death, Morris, whos also a certified nutritionist with the International Society of Sports Nutrition, tells HuffPost.
Lisa Richards is a nutritionist and author at The Candida Diet . She echoes Morris concerns and notes the dangers specifically of raw milk and cheese at local markets.
These unpasteurized dairy options are becoming more popular among those who prefer to buy local and organic, she says. The danger with purchasing these items is their high susceptibility for pathogens like salmonella and listeria.
Carrots, Onions And Shallots
The farmers market is the perfect place to stock up on items for the week. However, as Amanda Frederickson, author of Simple Beautiful Food , explains, some produce is best purchased at the store.
So many recipes start with onions or shallots as the base and its easy to go through them quickly, Frederickson says. Because of that, I prefer to buy them in bulk at the grocery store, where they are cheaper.
The same is true for carrots. Also, grocery stores generally stock a more versatile variety.
Not only are carrots generally more economical at a store, but the [store has the] best kind for cooking the large, thick ones that I learned from working in commercial kitchens to call horse carrots, she says.
Generally, the farmers market will have thinner carrots that are great for roasting, but less useful for everyday cooking.
Root Vegetables Without Their Tops
Carrots, radishes, beets, etc., are all more nutrient-dense when they are sold with their greens still attached, says Lindsey Becker, founder of Farm Cut .
Once those are lopped off, the vegetables quickly lose their nutrients. So if you see a bunch of turnips with their greens still on, scoop them up and saut the greens on the side. But if the tops are off, youre not getting many more nutrients than youd find at the grocery store.
Perfect Produce
Its almost second nature to enter any grocery store or market and pick through the produce as if you are seeking out the holy grail. Stop torturing yourself over the perfect peach or unblemished tomato.
Chef Rick Doherr of Imagine One Hospitality oversees the culinary programs at both Cafe Rule and Highland Avenue in North Carolina.
He has some simple advice in this regard: Dont buy only the best-looking produce; some of the ugly looking produce might actually have a reduced price and same wonderful flavor.
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