The Market Blog

by Marshall Ward

Taste the difference of fresh-cut cheese at Kitchen Kuttings, located in the main market building of the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market.

Whether you’re looking for brie, gouda, Danish Havarti, or something you’ve never heard of, you’ll find something to perfectly suit your tastes.

“Working with cheese is a pleasure,” says Ruth, a friendly face at Kitchen Kuttings who has been working at the market for 30 years. “You get to find out what people like and what they don’t like, and we have a great variety of cheese from all over, local, imported, and Canadian cheeses.”

Headquartered in Elmira at their store and café, Kitchen Kuttings is a small, family-owned and operated business — and a purveyor of fine cheeses, jams, pickles, and their famous homemade summer sausage, cheese balls, and St-Albert fresh cheese curds.

“The cheese curds are very much a favourite at the market, they’re fresh, they’re squeaky, and they were just made the day before,” says Ruth, who is well-known among generations of market-goers for her hospitality and quick wit.

by Marshall Ward

Country Style Products has been a favourite destination for countless visitors to the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market for more than 40 years.

“We’ve been vendors here since 1977 when my mom started, we’re third-generation vendors,” says Rhonda Grubb, carefully filling a customer’s bag with their delicious focaccia bread, baby gherkins, square pumpkin tarts, bumbleberry jam, and flaky cherry strudel.  

“When we started at the farmers’ market there was actually a giant stockyards here, and there was just an outside row of vendors,” Rhonda recalls. “I would have been probably five or six years old — getting into the pickup truck with my mom in the morning, coming here and she’d set up, I’d go around and play.”

by Marshall Ward

Mexican street food is irresistible. 

Tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, tortas, churros — Mexican street cuisine is legendary. And you don’t necessarily need to find it on a Mexican street. You can find it in St. Jacobs. 

Over in the main market building, hungry customers wait in line as Borbolla serves up his famous burritos.

“We have chicken tinga, pulled pork, pulled beef, veggie, and our very popular eggs and chorizo for any time of day,” he says.

They are proud to make their own Mexican chorizo using only high-quality Ontario pork with no additives. 

Gerry says: “Believe me, it’s amazing the flavour, our Mexican street food. It’s beautiful being here at the market, the vendors are amazing, so friendly, the staff is beautiful, it’s a fun and safe place to come with your family, your kids, your friends, it’s a beautiful place. We’re here and we’re waiting for you to come visit us, La Abuela Mexican Street Food – the real taste from Mexico.”

by Marshall Ward

Located in Peddler’s Village, Grandpa’s Soft Pretzels are fresh, warm, and made right in front of market visitors.

“It’s a very nice dough, not too heavy, not too light,” says Joseph. “The recipe that we use is very basic. See, we don’t use additives, we don’t use preservatives, and that is why they don’t last long, we expect our customers to eat them within a suitable time.”

And people who grew up enjoying Grandpa’s Soft Pretzels are now bringing their own children for the quintessential market treat. 

“There was an instance where the little girl who used to buy our pretzels, actually worked for us for a few years,” says Joseph.

by Marshall Ward

Is there anything more satisfying than a fresh fruit smoothie for breakfast?

“We use locally sourced frozen yogurt, we use whole fruit, frozen fruit and we blend it in our old-school single-armed blender,” says Victoria Martz, owner of Yog ‘N Shake, located in the main building of the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market.  

“People really like the fact that it is real, not just puree poured out of a bottle, we make it right here right in front of you just the way you want it.”

Along with smoothies and low-fat frozen yogurt, Yog ‘N Shake serves up fresh salads and wraps with daily specials, preparing healthy food for customers while they wait.

“I always have a special ‘salad of the day’ every market day and we try to use all organic products, and products right here from our market,” says Martz.

“Today’s special is a peach and blueberry spinach salad, which makes for a great combination, and I make all my own dressings. For my blueberry dressing, I chop up the blueberries and put them in a blender with a little bit of shallots, salt and pepper, and olive oil and a little bit of vinegar from our beautiful vendor, Olive DiVine.”

Martz adds, “I’ve been at the market for almost 17 years and I really try to give my booth a homey feel while offering some really healthy options for our customers, many of which are other vendors.”

Martz’s pride in her bustling booth is evident as she greets customers with a warm, welcoming smile.

“We’re in a prime location in the centre of the main market building and we’ve had so many regular customers coming to us over the years,” she says. “Some of them were in diapers when they first tried our smoothies or frozen yogurt, and I’ve seen them grow up and it has been a wonderful experience. We absolutely love it here.”