WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, OHIO — I am not tiring of tomatoes. I love this fruit, and like most fruit (the exception being apples which I find myself searching out all year round), I try to grow my own or only buy them in season and locally. I grow a lot of tomatoes and a good, garden grown tomato tastes like summer. I do preserve some as sauce or dried or as prepared chutney. But I also eat them almost daily sliced or “popped” (the cherry variety, served with basil leaves and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, chopped into salads, and sauteed with any number of other garden vegetables including okra, corn, zucchini.

If you have an abundance of tomatoes and want to try something different and delicious, check out Cara Mangini’s recipe for “Tomato-Balsamic Ketchup.” This recipe makes just a half cup, so if you make it once and fall in love, you’ll need to get a “passle” of tomatoes and make a bunch!

Heat one TBL olive oil over medium heat. Add one minced garlic clove and cook until fragrant (30 seconds to one minute). Add one-fourth teaspoon sea salt, two cups chopped tomato or halved cherry tomatoes, one-fourth teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, and two teaspoon brown sugar. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens. Stir in one-and-a-half teaspoon balsamic vinegar and simmer another two minutes. Transfer to food processor and puree until smooth. Ms. Mangini says this will keep three days in the refrigerator, which implies that larger batches would need to be frozen or canned. She recommends heating before serving, but I do not find that necessary.

Children shopping at the Fayette County Farmers Market this Saturday can stop by the Kids’ Activity Table at the Information Booth to make a fun popsicle-stick photo frame with Mrs. Debra. There will be plenty of stickers and color markers.

The Market is open Saturday morning from 8:30 to noon. It is located in the municipal parking lot on the corner of South Main and East East streets. SNAP EBT food benefit cards and credit/debit cards are accepted. Those using the SNAP EBT card for food purchases receive matching dollar “Produce Perks” tokens ($1 for $1) good only for fruits, vegetables, and food producing plants. So,”buy one, get one” for up to $25 every market day. Five dollar coupons will be available again for Fayette County Farm Bureau members at each Saturday market; these can be spent at both the Wednesday and Saturday markets.

The following list contains the names and products of the vendors that expect to set up this Saturday. Other vendors may participate as well.

Engeti (Alana Walters & Janet Bick): dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, cakes, brownies, pies, cookies, and other baked goods.

Greens & Greenery (Katrina Bush): Local, unpasteurized honey. Baklava (with farm honey), mini-pecan pies, garlic/rosemary focaccia bread and sourdough crackers. Garlic chive plants as well as dried herbs (parsley and sage). Tomato “jam.”

Jim’s Premium Ground Beef (Jim Hobbs): Premium ground beef in assorted packages (patties, bulk tubes).

Julie G’s Cookies (Julie Greenslade): Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, ginger, sugar, pineapple, macadamia nut, peanut butter, peanut butter jumbos, peanut butter fudge, lemon bars, double chocolate fudge cookies, Cracker Jack cookies and maple glazed apple crisp cookies.

PPCF/ The Jam Man (David Persinger): Jams/Jellies/Fruit Butters: New- quince butter, plum butter, pear butter, peach habanero & no added sugar triple berry. Elderberry jelly back in stock. Texas chocolate sheet cakes with or without pecans. Produce: habanero peppers, greasy beans (Shucky beans, a Kentucky heirloom). Jasper Twp raw honey.

PPCF/The Pie Lady and S. Plymouth Raw Honey (Julie & Dennis Mosny): Local raw honey, cut honey comb and beeswax. Baked goods include assorted fruit pies, cinni minis, Buns bars, cinnamon rolls, pecan sticky buns, banana cake with old fashioned burnt butter icing and oatmeal raisin cookies.

Propagation Sensations (Jaclyn & Mike Gilbert): Variety of house plants & macrame plant holders.

Red Maple Goats and Soaps (Cindy Grover): Goat milk soaps as well as soothing bath soaks, foot cream, lotions, and 100% handmade goat milk products.

Slate Hill Farm & Orchard (Greg Hood and family): Gala apples.

Sunburst Wormstead (Sarah & Daniel Jewell): Vermibrew (worm tea) and worm casting tea bags; fertilizer made from worm castings and full of beneficial microbes for your indoor & outdoor plants.

Teter Farm (Owen and Kate Teter): Fresh and dried flowers. Tomatoes.

The Casual Gourmet (Jason Gilmore): Assorted baked goods.

Wood Designs by DW (Debbie Welch): One of a kind handcrafted wood items— signs, tables, gnomes, as well as bird feeders (freestanding and hanging) and hanging bird houses. Wooden solar mushrooms and sunflowers. Crocheted items including a variety of stuffed animals, kitchen towels, pot scrubs, pot holders, baby booties, and afghans. Will take custom and special orders.

Your Other Mother’s Kitchen (Don & Sara Creamer): Bread and other baked goods. Sewing crafts.

Bridge View Gardens (Hunter & Lorelle Rohrer): Mums and potted sunflowers. Fresh produce including tomatoes, zucchini, yellow summer squash, green beans, colored bell peppers, hot peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash (acorn, butternut). Watermelon and cantaloupe.

Cozy Baby Blessings (Nancy Cutter): Baby essentials including hand crocheted blankets and hats, flannel burp cloths, muslin swaddle blankets, beaded and macrame pacifier clips, crinkle squares and other baby teethers. Also crocheted kitchen dish cloths, pot scrubbers, essential oil car diffusers and hand poured wax melts in over 50 scents.

DSC Produce Farm (Darren Cox): 9 flavors of salsa (bacon to pineapple), 4 flavors of salad dressings and 3 flavors of BBQ sauce. Pumpkin butter and NEW cinnamon pear jam.

Katrina Bush is a vendor at the Fayette County Farmers Market.