Take a scrumptious tour of farmers market

Max Jacobson

Wednesday, March 29, 2000 | 1:39 a.m.

What: The Las Vegas Farmer's Market.

When: 2 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays.

Where: 1600 N. Rampart Blvd. at Bruce Strent Park.

Information: Call 869-2877.

It's a sunny Wednesday in Summerlin, and smart local shoppers are taking self-guided tasting tours at the springtime Las Vegas Farmer's Market. It's an epicurean, inexpensive way to while away a bright afternoon. No wonder the smiles are contagious all around.

One of the best starting places is the stand operated by grower Tom Schulte, who has made the trip here from Visalia, in California's Central Valley. Schulte sells lush, sweet low-acid tangelos for 75 cents a pound, as well as beautiful beefsteak tomatoes that are actually grown for him in a local hot house, 99 cents a pound. If you haven't tasted tangelos, they are a treat. They are brightly colored, aromatic and richly flavored, with loose rinds.

Schulte also stocks exotically flavored roasted nuts from various Central Valley growers, one of the best being peach honey almonds -- sugar crusted nuts that are hard to stop eating. Naturally, you may taste anything Schulte sells. That is the way almost all of the 30-odd vendors here conduct their businesses, by the way.

Nearby Schulte you'll find Volker Ritzinger, the Austrian-born baking whiz from Volker's Bakery of Salt Lake City, Utah. Simply stated, these are the best commercially available breads you are likely to taste anywhere in these parts, and the variety is quite impressive.

All Volker's dozen-odd breads are made using a 48-year-old sourdough starter. Just a few of the top choices among these crusty loaves are a yeasty, pungent Greek olive, a dense Asiago cheese, an airy lemon sage and a terrific seeded nine-grain baguette. All the breads are either $3 or $4 a loaf. Volker, please open a bakery here, so we can eat your delicious breads year 'round.

If all the bread tasting has made you thirsty, head over to the vendor called Best Apples, from Nipomo, Calif. This is where you can buy the nicely perfumed and almost insipidly sweet Red Fuji apple for $1.25 a pound, or, better yet, a $3 quart of the delicious cider squeezed from this apple. These folks are quick to tell you that their apples contain no wax or pesticides.

All of these vendors come to the Thursday market in Henderson as well; (the market is virtually identical to the one in Summerlin, with only a couple of exceptions.) The Henderson market is held in downtown Henderson, at the Civic Center Plaza, and while there aren't picnic benches here as there are at Bruce Trent Park, there are plenty of benches for al fresco eating.

Over at the stand from the farm that calls itself Highland House there are boxes of brightly colored green beans, $2; giant red peppers for $1 apiece; and cudgel-sized, wonderfully moist cucumbers for 75 cents, each one at least 2 1/2 pounds.

Should you hanker for sweet fruits, China Ranch Date Farm is the ticket. This farm is near Tecopa, Calif., on the way to Death Valley and only 85 miles from here. China Ranch produces a wealth of date varieties. All of them are made available for tasting.

The most prized (and quickest to move) are the Abada dates: dark, rich dates with an almost creamy sweetness, and $3.50 gets you a pound. Honey dates are also excellent, lighter in color than the Abada, and not as intensely sweet or rich.

From the date stand, sample more desert fare, at Lindsay, the stand of California's olive grower extrordinaire, Susan Denni. Here you can buy Denni's golden colored, fruity olive oil, optimistically named Oil of Joy, at either $20 for a large bottle, or $5 for a picnic-sized bottle.

Five dollars also gets you a wonderful jar of Denni's terrific garlic stuffed olives, giant green olives stuffed with whole cloves of garlic. Needless to say, this is one of the more popular tasting venues at our farmers market.

As we count down the months the sugar in strawberries increases, ever so gradually toward summer. Right about now the Eady Family of Harvest Barn in Highland, Calif., is selling their huge, tart berries at the market, but they swear that by early April these berries will be full of concentrated sugar. You can buy a sleeve of them for $3, a half flat for $15.

Our farmers market is also a paradise for people who come purely to snack. Super Soynuts serve a menu of flavored, roasted soy beans, which are grown, harvested and dusted with salty flavored powders.

None of these beans have been genetically altered in any way. Just a few of the flavors of this high protein snack are onion and garlic, jerky, honey mustard, barbecue and jalapeno cheddar. For the truly health conscious, they are also available unsalted and unflavored.

There is also Krafty Korn, a slightly sweet, slightly salty popcorn that is kettle cooked as you watch. It's fun to watch the corn being stirred with an old-fashioned-looking wooden paddle, and when freshly popped, this is fairly addictive stuff. A small bag, which contains approximately six cups, is $2. A large bag, approximately 40 cups, is a steal at $6.

The longest lines at either farmers market, though, are at Walter's Louisiana Cajun Barbecue. Everyone loves barbecue, obviously, and these drum smoked, penetratingly woodsy meats can't be produced or chopped up fast enough to shorten these lines.

Well, why not? Bellard, a real Louisianan, uses hardwoods such as hickory and mesquite, a mild Cajun spice rub and a bunch of homemade side dishes to please his customers. Pork roast ($8) is the best bet, because it is tender when compared with the tough but flavorsome pork ribs ($8). There is a delicious smoked Lousiana hot link for only $2, huge turkey legs for $3 and a chicken dinner with two sides. The latter is a good value at $7, especially when one of the sides is the murky, moist Cajun (aka dirty) rice, which is shot through with chopped-up liver.

Bellard will also smoke anything you bring, within reason. Then you take your meat, some of his good potato salad or baked beans, and create your own picnic here at Bruce Trent Park (or in the Henderson Civic Plaza if it is Thursday.)

For dessert, try some of Gourmet Goodies and Gift's buttery homemade lemon or coconut pecan cookies, which Donna Pressel-Eaton makes with all natural ingredients.

On Thursdays only, in Henderson, you can assuage the kiddies with a confection called Sandy Candy: sweet tart sugar-based powders that are poured into little plastic tubes, creating a rainbow of colors. Blue-fruit punch, red, wild cherry and white-apple are just three flavors sure to bring out the inner child in you.

But your mother would rather you had an apple for dessert, that's for certain.