All Hail the Bywater Market | January 13, 2020

Fresh & Local:

All Hail the Bywater Market

That’s right folks, spread the news and mark your calendars! After an extended summer break, we are excited to say that our Bywater Market on Wednesdays at Crescent Park will be back starting Wednesday, January 22nd! The market runs from 3-7pm every Wednesday, year round, rain or shine and is located at the Rusty Rainbow, the footbridge to Crescent Park at Chartres and Piety. Follow our Facebook event for updates and keep an eye on our website for a complete list of opening day vendors!

Come for the fresh local food, stay for the door prizes! Every customer who purchases tokens from the welcome tent will get a free CCFM 25th anniversary token magnet and every 5th person gets a jar of farmers market pickles.

As always, Crescent City Farmers Markets are producer-only markets that run rain or shine. Our Market Match program, which doubles SNAP dollars spent at market up to $20 per market day, along with all other fresh food incentive programs, runs at all six of our market locations.

Leo’s King Cake

One of our favorite market bakers, Kate Heller of Leo’s Bread who attends Tuesday and Saturday market will be dishing up two takes on the seasonal king cake, both inspired by her favorite Mexican rosca de reyes king cakes. One is a simple brioche with satsuma zest, and the other is a filled version with ricotta, local Acalli chocolate, and orange. We’re big fans of the alternative figurine, and each Leo’s king cake will come with a small animal trinket.

2020 is for Volunteering

Still deciding your New Year Resolutions? Volunteering at your favorite farmers market (CCFM) is a great way to start the new year! Come hang out and talk about your favorite seasonal recipes while you work alongside staff to set up and break down market and beverage service, lead children’s activities, as well as engage with customers and vendors. We are currently seeking volunteers to help us count market shopper attendees during the grand reopening of our Bywater Market on January 22nd. Give us two hours of your time and we will give you a “token” of appreciation, a 25th Anniversary magnet made out of a repurposed token!

Check out our calendar of available volunteer opportunities and sign up for a spot directly through the calendar. Check back often as we also use this calendar to post volunteer opportunities at various events we attend around town and host ourselves. We are always posting new shifts for market events :)

Community Compost Pilot

Did you know that you can bring frozen food waste to the Wednesday Ochsner and Friday Bucktown markets? Every week, Jefferson Parish Environmental Affairs will collect food scraps for Schmelly’s Dirt Farm to transform into soil-enriching compost! Examples of acceptable scraps include: fruit and veggie peels and trimmings, coffee grounds, nut shells, egg shells, and grains.

There are many benefits to composting. Food waste that goes to landfills produces the powerful greenhouse gas methane (because smothered by other trash, the process becomes anaerobic in the absence of oxygen). When it’s composted, not only do we avoid those gasses and unnecessary landfill contributions, but we also end up with a finished product that can be returned to the ground from whence it came, providing soil nutrition and aeration for the next crop. So whether you’re new to composting or have been looking for a convenient way to get into it (or back into it), bring your food scraps down to the farmers market while you pick up your weekly groceries whose trimmings will become next week’s compost.

Vendor of the Week:

Leo’s Bread

Kate Heller first learned the art of baking in a small town in Maine, and began by baking breads and pizzas for fun at home. She opened a bakery in Lompoc, California before moving to New Orleans in 2014. She brought her love of baking here, and we are so happy she did! Once slinging the flakiest croissants out of her trunk at the Mid-City market, Kate is trailblazer. You can now find her or her helper Nelly at the Tuesday market Uptown and the Saturday market Downtown with focaccia, bagels, donuts, fresh-baked whole loaves and limited king cakes.

Tuesday’s Green Plate Special:

Thali Llama

Thali Llama is heating things up as the Green Plate Special to kick off the new year! Thali Llama focuses on different regional cuisines of India, where Tyler and Merritt explore dishes they learned throughout their travels. Stop by every Tuesday through the end of January for some heartwarming dishes including mango curry, stuffed Naan, butter chicken, and more!

Recipe of the Week:

Authentic Chicken and Andouille Gumbo

Ready to Mardi Gras Mambo, y’all? The temps are dropping and ya mom’n’em are coming over before the parade starts so you better get your big pot out. This is the closest gumbo recipe I could find to my Paran’s who, without a doubt, makes the best gumbo I have ever consumed. Sorry - can’t give you his because it’s kept in the family. Everyone has their personal fave, but I prefer the smoky dark flavors prominent in a River Parishes or an Acadiana style gumbo. Follow this Catholic Foodie recipe to the T or give it your own twist, as long as you make your own roux. I guarantee it will not serve you wrong. - Cristina Berthelot, Market Manager

What’s your favorite dish to make after visiting the Crescent City Farmers Market? Share your recipes with us on Instagram or Facebook or even Twitter and it might be featured in our weekly newsletter!