Celebrate Four Years of Fresh Food at Fraberts

Wow – hard to believe it was only four years ago when Chef Derek and I were eagerly anticipating the arrival of our first baby – and the beginning of our other dream – a local fresh food market.  In May of 2008 we opened the doors of Fraberts Fresh Food – and a few short weeks later Charlotte was born.
Charlotte skates, plays lacrosse, talks your ear off and starts school this fall.  Fraberts has doubled in size.  And along the way Charlotte’s little sister, Emily, was born and we moved from our farm outside of town into downtown Fergus.  It’s been a whirlwind four years and we have loved every moment of it.
Please celebrate with us on Saturday, May 26 and Sunday, May 27 as Fraberts Turns Four!  From 11am till 2pm we will be offering samples and will have a few suppliers and local farmers on hand to talk about their delicious products.
92.9 The Grand – our local radio station – will be here to help us celebrate from 10am till 2pm on Saturday!
A LOT has changed here at Fraberts – try our new pizzas, the talk of the town!  We now have a full service deli counter with sandwiches and salads to go, a local meat counter, and a much expanded selection of gourmet and gluten free foods.  Chef Derek’s ready-made meals help you feel good about dinner on the run.  And our produce selection remains a source of pride.  Lots of local produce starting up – delicious asparagus, rhubarb, spinach, fiddleheads, and our famous Floralane tomatoes.
Just in!  Ontario strawberries are here!  First batch sold out within hours on Friday – I will be getting more on Tuesday.  Stay tuned via Facebook and/or Twitter!

Holiday Weekend Hours

We are open all weekend to meet your holiday entertaining needs!  The meat counter is stocked with the best local meat in town for your BBQ and we have lots of great salads to make your weekend more delicious and relaxing.  Let Chef Derek help you get out of the kitchen to enjoy this fantastic weather!  We’re open from 10-5 both today (Sunday) and holiday Monday.

Local Food Dinner

The Wellington Centre for Sustainable Agriculture is presenting a fundraising dinner featuring Jeff Crump, Executive Chef of the Ancaster Old Mill.  It will be held at the Elora Legion Community Hall on Thursday, May 31.  Chef Crump will work with the chefs and students of The Food School at CWDHS to deliver a menu focussing on the spring season and highlighting many of our best local farmers.  Join us in supporting this terrific event!  Tickets are $50 and available at Fraberts.  Visit www.wellingtoncsa.com for more information.

Produce Storage Tip

A gas called ethylene is emitted by all fruits and vegetables and it speeds up the ripening process.  High emitters include apples, apricots, avocados, unripe bananas, cantaloupes, figs, nectarines, peaches, plums, and tomatoes.  The good news is, if you need to ripen a banana or avocado, simply wrap it up in newspaper with a high emitter (apples work well) to speed up ripening.  The bad news – fruits and veggies will deteriorate more quickly if stored with a high emitter.  Keep this in mind when deciding where to store high emitters in your fridge.

At Fraberts we cover our apples every night before pushing the bankettes into the cooler – this not only keeps our beautifully pyrimid-piled apples from falling off the bankette during the trip to the cooler, it keeps our produce in the cooler fresh!