Farm Fresh Produce
Summer time is the perfect time to enjoy the fresh local produce that our area offers in abundance. It’s easy to pass roadside stands with the pickings of farms large and small laid out to tempt the passerby. One of the largest permanent and well-stocked roadside fresh produce stands is Linda’s Farm Fresh Produce located on Hwy. 58.
Before Linda’s opened for their summer season this year, they were located further down Hwy. 58, toward Harrison Bay State Park. But Linda’s has moved closer to town now, right past Central High School, and expanded to offer more produce from and for local people.
Stopping by Linda’s on a Saturday, her business was booming despite the heat. Three cars turned in before me, and many more arrived while I shopped. I originally visited Linda’s that day to find fresh ingredients to make a favorite dish of mine, a Caprese Salad. Yet, while I was there I saw several items I could not pass up.
First, I focused on the ingredients for my salad, though. I bought two large tomatoes, a bundle of lettuce, Linda’s brand homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette, and Guggisberg’s Amish butter cheese.
Except for the butter cheese, all the other ingredients were from local sources. Taking these items home, I set to work preparing the delicious and simple salad.
For those interested, my version of a Caprese salad consists of first, washing all your vegetables, and slicing your tomato and cheese. Then, laying out the slices of tomato with pieces of lettuce or basil and the slices of cheese on top. You then drizzle balsamic vinaigrette over your pieces and dig in. They are slightly messy, but using a fork is harder than just picking up the individual tomato topped piles and eating.
Usually, fresh mozzarella is the cheese topping of choice for Caprese salads, but the Amish butter cheese went well with this dish. The Amish butter cheese is a salty and very milky tasting cheese. I could see it going well on hamburgers or grated over vegetables.
The Linda’s brand Balsamic Vinaigrette was also a good choice. It wasn’t as sour as store bought balsamic, and it felt good to support a local business.
Besides the ingredients for my Caprese salad, I also tried some of the specialty items that Linda’s features. I try to avoid the sodium benzoate that is found in store bought pickles and have always wanted to try fresh made pickles to see if there was a difference.
Trying the Amish wedding dill pickle spears that Linda’s carried, I found that I could have these pickles without the side effects of store bought pickles. These pickles also have a lot less sodium than store bought pickles. A store bought pickle usually has over 200 milligrams of sodium for half of a pickle spear!
While at Linda’s I also picked up a bottle of Hillside Orchard Farms Cherry Flavored Apple Cider. This cider had a powerful cherry taste even though it was from concentrate. Hillside Orchard Farms is from Tiger, Ga., and have been operating from there since 1983 in providing their products.
Linda’s also has basketfuls of all kinds of local produce. There were red and white grape baskets for only $1.99 a pound. I chose a basket of white grapes that were a perfect side dish to my Caprese salad. Also in season and on display at Linda’s were baskets of peaches, okra, tomatoes, plums and nectarines.
In the canned and jarred section, Linda’s had jars of locally made jams including cherry and blackberry. There were all sizes of locally made honey. They also had a good selection of salad dressings made by the Linda’s brand. In the refrigerated case, there were more Amish produces like jerky, eggs, and several different varieties of cheeses.
At Linda’s, there are snacks everyone will love. They have a big barrel filled with unshelled peanuts. Load up a bag for only 99 cents a pound.
Linda’s sells a good variety of plants. From budding flowers to herbs and producing plants, they have whatever the amateur farmer is looking to get into. During the weekend I visited, they were also having a buy one get one free plant sale.
My favorite time to go to Linda’s is fast approaching. During the month of October, Linda’s gets in a huge selection of pumpkins.
Pie pumpkins, painting pumpkins, jack-o-lantern pumpkins and yard decorating pumpkins are all laid out for customers to pick their favorite.
Linda’s is a valuable resource for the community because of their support of our local farmers, but also because Linda’s encourages us to get in our veggies and fruits. It’s guaranteed that when you visit Linda’s, you will walk out with more goodies than you anticipated.
Email Erica Tuggle at reporter@hamiltoncountyherald.com.