“We’re eating as our grandparents did…”
The Emporium’s spring crops are ebbing off. Asparagus, for example, is still available, but not for much
longer. But Tom Maurer must have sources for a full array of vegetables anyway, like the supermarkets do, right? No, and he won’t. The Emporium offers only what’s in season, fresh from the fields (with exceptions, maybe, for apples or potatoes that can handle proper storage).
“We’re eating as our grandparents did,” Tom says, “with food that’s either fresh or can be preserved for use later.” Tom’s been canning asparagus himself. And he’s got a new supplier, the Lititz Pickle Co. They’re a husband and wife partnership behind the Luke’s Cukes brand. Luke’s Cukes offers Spicy Green Vegetables, Bread and Butter Pickles, Garlic Dill Pickles, and sliced pickles called Kickles – “pickles with a kick,” Tom explains. All made from family recipes.
The Emporium has new red potatoes this week, dug from a hillside at the Glick farm in Manheim. There are also sugar and heirloom (yellow) peas, bibb lettuce and tomatoes, beets, green beans, cabbages, spring and sweet onions, zucchini, broccoli, sugar and shelled peas, crimini and portobello mushrooms, cauliflower, kale and herbs along with fresh bagels and baked goods, meats and dairy products.
Tom’s looking forward to the first of the summer harvests, “warm weather crops” like squashes, beans, raspberries and, in July, sweet corn. The Emporium’s offerings, he emphasizes, are for shoppers who appreciate the nutritional value of fresh, locally grown produce and like to cook it, or simply serve it when it doesn’t require cooking. Come in Friday or Saturday and see what the fields have provided!
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