Islip Farmers Market

The Islip Farmers Market is a little slice of food Heaven smack dab in the middle of south shore Long Island. Herbs, cheese, jam, dog biscuits and more!

For the past two years, I kept meaning to make my way down to the Islip Farmers Market. Yet, for some reason, I was never able to get there. So this summer, I vowed that I would clear my plate at least once and go check it out.

This open-air, seasonal market runs every Saturday, from May through November. The market is located in the Town Hall parking lot on Montauk Highway (Route 27) in Islip, NY. It opens at 8:00 am and closes by 1:00 pm. Although, if you want the best goods, it’s best to get there nice and early!

Last Saturday, we popped in there on the way to my Mom’s house and I cannot tell you how happy I am that we decided to pop in. Although this farmer’s market is a bit small, the vendors exhibiting are just lovely. I enjoyed my first visit so much, that I went back again the following Saturday morning to see what I missed the first time around.

In my humble opinion, one of the best stands at the market is Miss Amy’s Preserves. However, I am definitely biased because I love jam, and let me tell you, Miss Amy’s Preserves does not disappoint. Not only was her stand squeaky-clean, but her staff was incredibly sweet! After they finished chatting up our kids, they offered all of us tasting spoons to see what we’d like to try out.

Lucky for us, Miss Amy’s Miss Amy’s Eastern Sour Cherry Jam was available; it won me over with the first spoonful! The jam is chock full of plump tart cherries, but it’s surprisingly sweet too. I couldn’t wait to get home and slather it on some toast! We also left with a package of her chocolate chip cookies too – apparently, my husband had stuck them onto the counter!

The kids were getting a bit antsy, so we sadly realized that we’d have to wrap things up. But, we couldn’t leave without indulging in a little wine tasting. (What? Who says you can’t drink wine at 9 o’clock in the morning?) A nice young lad was running the tasting booth at Scarola Vineyards from Southold, NY.

We’re always loyal to fellow Long Islanders, and parts of my husband’s family lives in Southold, so we decided to give their Masseria Merlot a whirl. We’re actually not Merlot drinkers, we’re more Cab people, but this Merlot was not overly heavy, and won us over. We’ll definitely add them on our list of wineries to visit on our next trip out to the North Fork.

At this point, we were going to be late to my Mom’s house and our daughter was asking for a “baba”, so we had to leave. But, like I said earlier, I was so pleased with the vendors that I made a second trip with my sister and my niece, the following Saturday. This time I made sure that I could stay a bit longer.

Seeing that we were scraping the bottom of our jar of Eastern Sour Cherry Jam, we stopped at Miss Amy’s Preserves stand first. Again, we were greeted by a super-friendly staffer who made sure to tell my niece that she was gorgeous before tending to our needs. (I love that they greet the kiddies first!)

I was in the mood for something different, and really wanted to try their Strawberry Mango Jam, but they were all out. So, I opted for the crazily-hued Mango Tango Jam. Again, delish! And, as soon as I got home, Tyler and Abbey were eating it by the spoonful in the kitchen. I also wanted something for dinner, so I grabbed some of her Hot & Mean Jalapeno Peach Jam to try later in the week.

Hey everyone, it’s Daniele. I’m totally sneaking into Denine’s post right now to give you my own take on the Islip Farmer’s Market. Like she said, we were in the Miss Amy’s stand and I thought Ava was admiring the beautiful tags on the jams, but then I realized she had spotted the chocolate chip cookies. (They were SO good that they never made it past the parking lot.) She also helped me pick out a three-pack sampler, strawberry for Ava, raspberry for Daddy and blueberry for Tommy. None of those were for “Mommy” so I will just have to get my own next time. Little oinkers.

After we had our fill of jam, we moseyed on over to From Mine To Yours. I was intrigued by a hand written white board advertising that Saturday’s dishes. Seeing that I was on a Mango kick, I was drawn directly to her Pineapple Mango Sauce.

Again, tasting spoons were on hand, and Allison, the owner, happily provided us with some samples. The overall flavor was incredibly refreshing: a perfect balance of slightly tart pineapple blended with sweetly smooth mango. My husband loves anything pineapple, so I knew this would be a winner back at home.

I thought so highly of this Pineapple Mango Sauce, I seriously thought about eating the entire container right then and there. Seriously, just ask my sister. Daniele was mortified when I started pawning off spoons on to her and Ava. I’m excited to try it with some grilled chicken this evening, and I’m also thinking about drizzling it over some frozen vanilla ice cream for a tasty dessert – I’ll keep you posted!

Hey, it’s Daniele, again. Uh yeah, why on earth Denine thought that my daughter would try it is beyond me. Maybe if the Pineapple Mango Sauce looked and smelled like macaroni and cheese she would have considered it. Instead she looked at me like I was crazy and started shaking her head no. So, I gladly took the spoon and tried it. It was incredible. If I didn’t have a family who thought that they were all allergic to fruit and vegetables I definitely would have snatched it up.

After we left From Mine To Yours, I wanted to make sure we got to stop by the bakery stand, A Taste Of Home.  I missed out on the bread last week, and I wasn’t leaving without some this time around.
Aside from the heady smell of baked goods, you can see their lush baskets of bread the minute you walk in to the market. The Challah bread is enormous and simply rises out to greet you as you walk over to the stand.

I’m a sucker for all things sweet, so when I spied their cinnamon raisin bread, I was sold! I mean, how can you resist? Especially when it’s the really good kind where they dust the outside of the loaf with cinnamon sugar – oh, goody! Piggly-wiggly over here even noshed on some in the car on the way back home – whoopsie – it was supposed to be used in our French toast tomorrow!

I’m baaack…Just so you know, their twisted italian bread was so good that I nearly sent my husband packing because of it. As I came back into the kitchen that night to check on dinner my husband told me that there was something “wrong” with the bread. And did I “know” that I only bought half a loaf? I was pretty sure either he lost his mind or I did. So I went over to inspect the bag, only to find that he had eaten half the loaf while “testing” my sauce.

So after not being allowed to have any jam, cookies or italian bread, I locked myself in the closet and ate the entire loaf of cinnamon bread. I can’t wait until our next trip to the farmer’s market!

On our way out, we stopped in to look at the gorgeous flowers being offered by Colorful Gardens from Calverton, NY. I desperately wanted to buy several of their lush perennials, but by that time, it was getting very hot and humid and my niece needed a break. I spied several great deals, and will most certainly be back to pick up some of their gorgeous coreopsis (the colors were wild), and lavender (healthy, strong and fragrant) next week.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to visit with every stand yet – but, I plan to. There are some really great vendors at the Islip Farmers Market, some of which are:

• Horman’s Best Pickles – these guys always look like their having a good time, and their pickles look outrageous!
• Golden Earth Worm Organic Farm – lovely produce. Lovely, lovely produce. I really cannot stress that enough.
• Sunny Girl Organics – wonderful lotions, soaps, and more.
• Mecox Bay Dairy – cheese, need I say more?
• The Cupcake Corner – adorable cupcakes in every color imaginable.
• Little Lexie’s Barkery – Yummy dog treats.
• Wildcraft Farms – get your dinner here: assortment of beef, chicken and eggs.
• Terry’s Farm Stand – produce, herbs.

You can check back here from time to time because I know I will be making my way through each and every stand this season. Whenever I add new comments – I’ll make sure to bump this up the blog list so you can get the latest dirt on all of the goodies for sale at the Islip Farmers Market!

Happy eating,

Denine

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