mango matcha lemonade (and why you should support your local farmers market)

Yes, this is totally about the mango matcha lemonade recipe that I’m giving you below in the newsletter but as I was at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market this week buying these exact mangos, I was saying to myself, how much I love the market and I wish there wasn’t such a “luxe” stigma around it.

It reminded me of Trinity Mouzon Wofford’s post on rebranding the Farmers Market from “luxe” to “local economy” because she hit it right on the nose. Growing up in Washington, D.C. before we moved to Maryland, my Dad would take us to Eastern Market farmers market almost every weekend, especially during the summer. I loved every second of it, which I think why I love it so much now. My dad would walk through the market with some cash and grab local fruit like peaches & watermelon when they were in season, then we would head inside and grab thick cut bacon from the butcher and the best grape juice ever (IYKYK).

I never thought it was luxe because it was a norm for us growing up. You see, my dad who is from New York (Brooklyn to be exact) his parents were from South Carolina and he always said to us, “this is how Mama and Daddy ate — from the farm.” My dad would walk all up and down that market, dapping the farmers up with the biggest grin on his face, all while carrying a heavy ass watermelon on his shoulder and me in toe, sampling all the fruits.

I think now with the social media of it all, farmers markets have been branded to this thing of privilege when it shouldn’t be.

Every person has the right to eat good and whole — period.

These farmers work really hard to give us good & accessible produce. I love talking with all the farmers as I’m shopping and love seeing their hands that are often still filled with dirt from grabbing vegetables from the farm and taking them to the market for us to buy. I support my women farmers who practice regenerative farming and give you the best meat & chicken, my fave Hispanic farmers at Hollywood Farmers Market, who have the absolute best berries and spinach and my Persian papi who literally has thee best lemons and avocados!

I can walk into the farmers market with $60 and have a TON of produce for almost two weeks. The produce lasts longer because of how good it is and often times that sad bag of lettuce from the grocery store goes bad in a couple of days while I’ll have lettuce that lasts me 2-3 weeks — I promise you. Now, I will say meat is a different story! I choose to buy organic and more than not, regenerative farming so it is more expensive but worth it.

I say all this because I want you to grab that branded canvas bag that’s in the back of your closest from that random event you went to a couple of years ago lol and head to the market and support your local farmers — and eat really f*cking good! Eliminating the middle man of that big ole grocery for some of your weekly grabs will make you feel better, encourage you to eat in season and you may never eat a store bought peach ever again, because I actually can’t anymore lol.

So, with all that here is my mango matcha lemonade recipe lol…

This is not really a recipe exact because I’m not an expert matcha maker but I loved it so hope you guys do too!

Ingredients

• 1 ripe Valencia mango, cut into cubes and muddled

• 1 teaspoon ceremonial grade matcha + 2 tablespoons hot water

• 1/3 cup lemonade of your choice!

• ice

• optional garnish: lemon wedges

Tools

• matcha whisk + warm water in a bowl to dip the whisk in

• small spider strainer + matcha bowl or any wide bowl to whisk the matcha

• mason jar

• muddler

Directions

1. Place your matcha whisk in warm water so it loosens up the bristles so it will make a smoother matcha base. Set it aside

2. In a mason jar, add the cubed mango and muddle until the mangos are mashed and juicy!

3. Next prep your matcha by adding the matcha into a strainer and taking a teaspoon to run it thru into the bowl as this ensures there’s no clumps.

4. Take your whisk and vigorously whisk the matcha in a figure eight until it is nice and frothy and as a little foam top!

5. Add ice to the mason jar on top of the muddled mangos then add lemonade (the amount is to your liking) then top with matcha and garnish with a lemon wedge!