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Get Your ‘Local’ Foodie On at Wychwood Barns
By Kate More
Grocery shopping has never made me hungrier. For Toronto foodies, walking into the Artscape Wychwood Barns Farmers Market, is like being a kid in a candy store. Local farmers, bakers and producers of cheese, honey and jams sell fresh treats every Saturday. It’s a one-stop-shop for all your cravings.
Walking up to the big beautiful barns with my camera, I was instantly approached by market regulars and swooped up for a Wychwood trivia-filled tour. For the people who spend their Saturdays shopping here, it isn’t an errand – it’s an event and the whole family’s coming.
“This is Ted from Thorpe’s Organic Produce, he is the king farmer of the market,” said Jack, pointing out a fellow regular of the Barns. “He’s barefoot here in the summertime, and he sells the best produce.”
Ted races and hops around his three overflowing tables of fresh cabbage, scallions, and tomatoes, while carrying on a debate with regulars over last week’s carrot crop.
It also seems that at Wychwood Barns, foodie culture starts young. I am schooled by eight-year-old Joe, who tells me about the best cooking methods to make meals from goods bought at the Barns. My jaw drops as I listen to the youngster tell me about last week’s dinner using a “naturally sourced pistachio-crusted Georgian Bay white fish.”
Just outside Wychwood’s wooden doors sits Paul the famous baker from St. John’s Bakery. He chortles as I pout looking over his eight big empty baskets. No bun for me. Then my new friend Paul gives me the hush sign and hands me a massive loaf of bread from under the table. It feels soft and crunchy in my hands. I immediately start planning sandwiches.
Walking into the barns it is hard not be struck by the industrial enormity of the place, not to mention the smell. Most farmers markets I frequent are outside, but at Wychwood, all the goodness is sold under one yummy roof. The market is set up in no particular order with honey sold next to fresh pasta, sold between prosciuttos, next to fish sandwiches, next to cheese. Some of the purveyors supply in no particular category as well – selling large spreads of pies, carrots, jam, cured meats and potatoes on the same table. It seems the thing to do at Wychwood is to find your favourite stand and let that family hook you up with whatever you are craving.
One such family could easily be the clan from High Mark Farm in Cookstown. I meet Marcus and Damian, brothers and partners at the farm, their table is laid out with soups, cheese, heaps of fresh produce and a wide range of meats – pork, wild boar, chicken, sheep and rabbit. The bro’s tell me about High Mark’s organic farming methods, where they spray garlic centrate and liquefied copper on vegetables instead of pesticides - a self-taught trick that keeps the produce more safe and natural. Standing at their table I am also given soup samples and lessons about their family’s Italian and Greek background. After I pry myself away, I found they had snuck some fresh mint-seasoned Halumi cheese in my bag, along with their Mother’s recipe for frying it with homemade ouzo pasta.
My tummy rumbles as I head over to the honeyed aromas at Karen’s Kitchen - a table that appears to have almost sold out in the first couple hours. Karen, is a woman in demand and bakes about 350 gluten and sugar-free loaves, muffins, tarts, bars and buns per week. All the treats are made with “her own special flour blend of arrow root, millet, rice, bean flour and quinoa, and are sweetened without sugar.”
“I’ve just got a good oven,” shrugs Karen, “and my husband does the shopping.”
I try her carrot, pineapple and coconut muffin topped with caramelized cinnamon honey - a surprisingly sweet and fluffy breakfast confection. She sends me home with a maple, strawberry rubarb loaf, wrapped in a pink wrapper; it keeps my big pocket warm and smells just like Fall – with a little hint of holidays.
After shaking off my pastry coma (and many muffin crumbs), I visit the Toorshi Foods pickle table. I go for the spiciest pickled pepper on the table and then go straight for my water. Although it’s only their second year at the Barns, the Toorshi family have been pickling vegetables for over 50 years. Today the clan keeps busy pickling up 200 jars per day.
I spend another hour or so, meandering about the market, introducing my palette to more delicious treats and chatting with the vendors. Leaving, I promise that yes, I’ll be back next week.
And I go home full and happy.
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