Market Watch: Let the salad spinning begin

May 25, 2011

Lovers of greens have an ally in farmer Mike Noreen. The owner of Burning River Farm grows an impressive array of vegetables at his Frederic, Wis., acreage, but what makes a visit to his stand at the Mill City Farmers market on Saturday morning a necessity is the ever-changing selection of fresh, vibrant salad greens.

Last Saturday’s yield from this wet and generally uncooperative growing season featured what was probably some of the region’s first baby arugula, each ¼-pound bag a genuine thing of beauty with delicate, pale green stems and leaves. A quick chew revealed a subtle peppery bite that merely hinted at full-grown arugula’s fiery, sharply intense flavor. “It’s early, and it’s young, so it’s not so spicy,” explained farmer Adrienne Logsdon.