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Cooking with Judy: Making use of the fresh produce at Fullerton’s downtown market

July 6, 2023

It’s more than a market – it’s a happening!

The Downtown Fullerton Market will continue weekly from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays at the Downtown Plaza, 125 E. Wilshire Ave., until Aug. 31.

Visit for the live entertainment as well as family and children’s activities. Bands change weekly and begin at 6:30 p.m. at the beer-wine garden hosted by the adjoining Fullerton Museum Center, which remains open for the evening.

Mediterranean is my favorite cuisine, so my first stop during a recent visit was Baba Foods, which boasts an amazing variety of pita chips, including cinnamon-sugar, lemon pepper, garlic and herbs de Provence, za’atar and sea salt. It sells falafel, hummus in a dizzying array of flavors, including classic, roasted garlic and roasted sweet bell pepper, as well as handmade baklava.

At Elisa Marie Baking a sign boasts “third-place brownies” – at the OC Fair, I learn. The previous year her cherry-lavender jam took first place, Elisa tells me.

“I’ve been baking since I was 3,” she said. “There are pictures of me baking biscuits with my mom.”

Elisa worked as a corporate pastry chef in Chicago. “When the pandemic hit, I couldn’t get work, so my husband encouraged me to start baking for myself. Now we’re in five retail locations, including the Anaheim Marriott and The Butchery, besides the markets.”

Galaxy Toffee next door sells cookies, but the toffee must be popular because it was sold out by the time I arrived at 5:30.

I can’t help noticing a crystals and chakra balancing booth next to one for the Fullerton Library. This is quite the eclectic market!

The busiest stand was Sunny Cal Farms from Fresno with a wide variety of stone fruits, including white and yellow peaches and at least five varieties of plums and pluots (plum-apricot hybrids), my favorite being Red Beauty.

This low-fat breakfast pancake makes use of zucchini and blueberries. (Courtesy of Judy Bart Kancigor)

Their most popular summer fruit, they said, is their cherrums, a cherry-plum combination that tastes sweet with a tang of plum. The tangelos, a pomelo-tangerine cross, are equally delicious.

I grabbed a basket of large, perfect black mission figs, the best I’ve ever had. Prominently displayed are useful instructions for ripening fruit.

“1. Remove fruit from reusable or plastic bags. 2. Place your unwashed fruit on a cutting board, platter, or flat surface slightly spaced apart. 3. Check fruit 2x daily in the morning and evening. 4. When ripe, place fruit in the fridge to prevent from going bad or bruising. Once ripe, flavor will hold in the fridge until enjoyed.”

I stopped at Berumen Farms for zucchini and its many-colored heirloom tomatoes whose weird, other-worldly shapes belie their luscious texture and taste.

For most of my purchases this day, my recipe is simple: 1. Eat 2. Enjoy. Or if you want to get complicated: 1. Ripen, 2. Slice. 3. Eat. 4. Enjoy.

As for the zucchini, there’s zucchini bread and zucchini cake – why not zucchini pancakes? Zucchini’s flavor is mild, adding texture and moistness without the funk of, say, broccoli or Brussels sprouts, yielding a generous, satisfying portion.

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

LOW-FAT HEALTHY ZUCCHINI BREAKFAST PANCAKE

Shred zucchini with a food processor and spread it out on a tea towel 12 hours to dry. Then place it in a sealable bowl, cover with paper towel, seal and refrigerate upside down.

Change the paper towel daily and it will keep a week.

Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients:

1 large egg plus 1 white
1/4 cup plain yogurt (not Greek)
3 tablespoons gluten-free pancake mix (I use Arrowhead Mills, available at Sprouts)
1 tablespoon ground flax or chia seeds or combination
Pinch fine kosher or sea salt
Sweetener of your choice, to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup shredded zucchini
1/4 cup blueberries
Vegetable spray
Low calorie or pure maple syrup

Method:

1. Beat egg plus white and yogurt with a fork in a bowl. Add pancake mix, ground seeds, salt, sweetener, cinnamon and vanilla and beat until no lumps remain. Mix in zucchini and blueberries.

2. Heat medium frying pan over medium heat. Spray with vegetable spray. When beginning to brown, add pancake mixture and spread. Cook until brown on one side, then flip pancake and cook the other side.

3. Remove pancake to a plate, pour on syrup and serve.

Orange County Register

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Cooking with Judy: Making use of the fresh produce at Fullerton’s downtown market

LOW-FAT HEALTHY ZUCCHINI BREAKFAST PANCAKE

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