Market Minute: How to Pick a Really Good Cantaloupe

This week the Aberfoyle Farmers’ Market celebrate the sweet, aromatic juicy melon!

There’s few fruits I love more than a cantaloupe in season. I recently learned from a local farmer

that the best way to pick a cantaloupe is by smell. It should have a sweet scent and feel heavy for

its size. The rind should also resemble raised netting, and have a stem end that yields slightly

when pressed. I know this to be true because I have stood in the midst of a mound of cantaloupes

and have inhaled the heady perfume of their sweetness without even picking them up. And the

taste – beyond delicious.

This is the last Saturday for Timbits Soccer and the sweet and succulent cantaloupe will hail the

end of a great season as the soccer snack. Come to the Vandenbroeks Farm’s wagon wearing

your soccer jersey for your treat.

The recipe of the week is Refreshing Plum Ginger Granita and if you mention or show the recipe

to the folks at Warner Orchards they will give you $1.00 off your purchase of plums! What a deal! Click here for the recipe.

Burrs & the Bees have summer honey in for the first time this year. There is nothing like local

honey created from the hive of a beekeeper who is passionate about his profession. I love talking

to Terry Burr about the bees. I highly recommend taking the time to stop and smell the honey

with him, and if you are lucky you will get a great story as well.

A new busker will be joining the market this week. Bands Fur Animals play music to raise

Have some knives or tools that are on the bad side of dull? Sharp My Knife will be back this

week, so make it a one stop shop for sharpening while you enjoy the market.

Crafters Just Wool will be back with their incredible needle felted toys and gifts. Other crafters

this week include Kristal Creations who has new items on display and JWare Pottery.

Serenity Soap and Bath will also be at the market – I absolutely love their naturally handcrafted

soaps. Here’s a tip: the soaps make a beautiful hostess gift when you are invited to a backyard

barbeque this summer. And Blooms & Flora will have an array of beautiful flowers – treat

yourself or someone you love to the endlessness of summer colour.

Summer is still here! Come and celebrate it at the Aberfoyle Farmers’ Market open every

Saturday until the end of October from 8am to 1pm at the Optimist Recreation Centre on Brock

Road in Aberfoyle.