Thanks for a great year!

Celebrating Halloween the POP! way – with produce!

POP!'s approach to Halloween should not scare anyone. Even though we call it the Shoeboxes of Doom, our goal is to demonstrate how versatile the many kinds of fruits and vegetables really are. They can even pretend to be something totally different!


This year we told a scary story of an unfortunate witch, above, whose body parts wind up in our scary shoeboxes. What fun the POPsters had, reaching into the boxes to feel ... bones? No, those were pieces of celery. Here's a list of what was what in the shoeboxes:

Hair – Tops from a bunch of carrots
Nose – A bumpy, curled gourd
Eyes – Two peeled cherry tomatoes
Teeth – Kernels of corn
Fingers – Roots of a parsnip
Brain – Par-boiled cauliflower
Bones – Celery stalks
​Heart – Peeled tomato
 
The children's reward for playing our game was, as always, a $3 voucher with which to shop the farmers stands at the Market. In other words, a win-win for everyone!


We started our game as we always do – having the kids taste something fruit or veggie from the Market. In keeping with the fall theme, we offered parsnips, a root vegetable that is a close cousin to a carrot. A particularly gnarlly parsnip showed off its versatility by co-starring as the witch's hand.

Here's the information on parsnips we shared: 
 

Thanks to everyone who visited POP! this year. We'll be back in 2022 with our five programs: one each in June, July, August, September and Halloween. See you then!

 

From A(corn) to Z(ucchini) and all things inbetween.

For our POP! Club on September 18, we discussed and tasted all things squash. The POPsters sampled roasted pepitas, which are the kernels inside a pumpkin seed; compared summer squash to winter squash; made zoodles from zucchini and spaghetti from spaghetti squash and searched the Market to find a unique-looking Honey Boat squash.

Here's a link to the recipes we featured. And here's the information we shared:

 

We tackle that age-old question: Fruit or vegetable?

An apple is a fruit; on that we all agree. So is a watermelon. But is a tomato? A cucumber? Even a green bean? Are they fruits or vegetables?

They are all fruits. And here's the reason why: All of them contain seeds, which makes them a fruit. 

That's what we shared with Popsters on August 21, and after some discussion and examples, they agreed. They then had to sort various produce into fruit or vegetable piles, and their success rate was very high. Good work, Popsters!

Here's some of the info we showed them.

For our first challenge, we went underground

POP! Club opened its third season on July 24 with a topic most kids and many adults don't know much about – root vegetables. So we talked about how they grow and why they're so nutritious.

We gave out tiny samples of three different root veggies – carrot, radish and potato (a purple one) – and we were totally not surprised that most ate the carrot and barely touched the other two. But at least some tried.

We shared lots of information on the different roots, including this fun fact: Turnips were growing when dinosaurs roamed the earth. 

Below you'll find more of what we shared with the children who visited our table. Also, click here for recipes with root veggies.

And mark your calendars: POP! will return August 21, Sept. 18 and Oct. 30.

Recipes from October 30: Spooky fun that's healthy

POP! recipes are developed by Market volunteer and POP! leader Julia Stevens, a registered dietitian and health coach. For more on Julia and what she does, check out her website at www.allfoodisgoodfood.com. 

Halloween is such a fun time to get creative in the kitchen. And no, it doesn’t all have to be sugar and candy! Here are some fun, healthier ways to incorporate Halloween into your party buffet!


 

Recipes from September 18: Squish, squash! 

Here at POP!, we're always ready to play with our food. And we sure had fun September 18, making zoodles (zucchini noodles) and spaghetti from spaghetti squash. We also learned about squash seeds and how yummy they can be. Here are the recipes we shared.

Recipes from August 21: When is a tomato a fruit, not a veggie? Every time!

For this POP! meeting, we went where no POPster has ever gone before – into a science called botany. We learned that produce that has seeds inside it is actually a fruit, not a vegetable. We'll never look at a tomato the same way again. But we'll still enjoy eating them!

 

Recipes from July 24: Root for the root veggies!

Root vegetables come in many different forms and offer many different benefits! From white potatoes to ruby red beets to bright orange carrots, they all have unique health benefits and uses. What’s the common thread? They all taste delicious! Cooking them together provides an array of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients as well as textures and crunch. When choosing your root veggies, make sure their colors are bright and they are firm to the touch and be sure to give them a good scrub before cooking – after all, they grow underground!