One of the things I love most about living in Memphis in the summer is the Downtown Memphis Farmer’s Market.
Memphis Farmers Market
Since 2006, every Saturday from April until October, the Memphis Farmer’s Market is open from 7 am until 1 pm. I would not wait until close to 1, though. Go as early as possible for the best selection.
Located right next to the train station, the MFM has an abundance of so many things, not just fruits and vegetables.
Just some of the things you can find at the Memphis Farmers Market.
New vendors have to go through a selection process with the MFM board, and there are two very important rules. Number one, every vendor must either grow or make everything they sell. So you won’t find any tomatoes shipped in from who-knows-where being sold for local here. Also, any prepared food items must be made in a health certified facility. This also means the vendor must be licensed to make and sell any prepared food item sold, and it must be packaged correctly. So in addition to fruits, vegetables, and baked goods, you will also find things like local cheese, farm fresh eggs, local honey, local canned goods, flowers, meat and seafood, granola, plants, and even craft items like pottery. This past Saturday, I even saw really unique items like duck eggs and squash blossoms.
My favorite new vendor this year is Pistache.
Pistache specializes in delicate French macaron cookies.
Pistache is a French pastry company that specializes in French macaron cookies, not to be confused with coconut macaroons.
Beautiful macarons made by Pistache
These are meringue type cookies with wonderfully flavorful fillings. They are a bit pricy but so worth it for an occaisional treat.
MFM truly is a complete experience, too. They always have live entertainment, and lots of times they’ll have children’s activities.
Live entertainment at the Memphis Farmers Market
If you want to bring your dog, they have volunteer dog sitters to keep Fido entertained while you shop. No dog? They always have a few rescues on hand that you can take home with you if you’d like. Of course, they keep all of the dogs far enough away from the food so there will be no chance for, um, contamination.
This is also the second year for something fairly new in Memphis–food trucks!
Fuel Truck at MFM sells a variety of tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and grilled cheese.
On any given Saturday you can choose from Healthy and Delicious for smoothies, Fuel Truck for tacos (among other things), and Rock’n Dough for pizza. I recently tried the pizza for the first time. This is not your normal red sauce pizza. There was not a single selection available that I have ever had before anywhere else.
Pizza with cilantro pesto, corn, jalapeno, and chorizo from Rock’n Dough
What I tried had a cilantro pesto sauce base, 2 different cheeses, jalapeno, corn, and chorizo. It was so delicious! The crust was just a little bit sweet and was so crispy that it crunched when I bit into it. It was perfect!
They even have small plots available for those who live downtown with no land on which to plant anything but still would like to try their hand at growing their own herbs and vegetables.
These are small flower bed plots so even downtown residents can grow their own herbs and vegetables.
Without a doubt, the MFM is my favorite place to be on most Saturday mornings. Later in the week, I’ll be making homemade blackberry ice cream with a recent MFM find. Stay tuned for that.
Where is your favorite farmer’s market and what are your favorite finds?
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We have never been down there; we’ll have to try to make it this season, it looks awesome!