The Poughkeepsie Main Street Farmer”™s Market started its seventh season June 4 and in addition to speeches by dignitaries, remarkably robust fresh early season produce, live music and crafts, this year”™s inaugural food fest featured a table offering stevia, the quick-growing and delicious sugar substitute that advocates say is actually good for you.
“It”™s a little like a family reunion,” said Sarah Pappas, assistant director of the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, which sponsors the farm market. She said the market, which runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays till October in the middle of the Queen City, allows friends and neighbors to meet in a relaxing setting, while procuring healthy delicacies and prime produce. The not-for profit group  (farmproject.org) seeks a sustainable food system for the mid-Hudson Valley and provided epic-sized early season greens and produce at one of the 10 stalls at the market, grown on the group”™s farm in the town of Poughkeepsie.
Fresh food in a city setting and the diverse mix of people a farmer”™s market can bring to Main Street was evident in the shoppers moving from stall to stall, and the list of dignitaries attending the opening day. Mayor John Tkayzik, state Senator Steve Saland, his opponent in the upcoming election Didi Barrett. Ward 7 Councilwoman Gwen Johnson and Chamber of Commerce president Charlie North were all on hand for the annual ribbon cutting at noon of a sunny day, sweetened by the music of Samuel Claiborne and the Clear Light Ensemble.
But a new addition this year offers sweet promise to those looking for a tasty and healthy sugar substitute. Joseph Baldwin set up his Earth To Table display, featuring products made with stevia, a plant native to South America that is 300 times sweeter than sugar, molecule for molecule, and does not cause the health effects suffered by those using processed sugar common to American diets. Â He also provided seedling for the grow-your-own types. (HV Biz June 8, 2009, cover story.)
Baldwin, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1974 spent three decades as a chef and restaurateur before founding Earth To Table to provide healthful foods and teach others to grow their own. Working as a grower with three farms in two counties, he provides stevia plants for homeowners and back yard gardeners, as well as other herbs and edible flowers.
“He gave me a cup of wonderful dandelion soup,” said Sharon Branch, visiting the farmer”™s market during her lunch hour from work at Hudson River Housing, Inc.
But Stevia is clearly his favorite product. Â “You can use it in everything you use sugar,” Baldwin said, showing baked goods and offering a cup of stevia sweetened coffee. “But use just a pinch.”
