Community Corner

Hoboken Farms About Eating Love

They're most known for their mozzarella cheese.

Editor's Note: This is the latest article in a series of features on the farmers and vendors who work at the Millburn Farmers Market each week.

Brad Finkel wants people to "eat love."

That's the message he and his workers bring to 30 farmers markets in New York and New Jersey at the Hoboken Farms stand.

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"We want people to feel from the beginning of this experience that it should be all about love," he said of buying from the market and turning the food into dinner. "A day like today at the market is better than I can imagine."

Being around since 1992, he used to have a wholesale operation, but no longer. Hoboken Farms sells exclusively at farmers markets.

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"We're the precursors to the slow food movement," Finkel said. "It's places like this that you can bump into your neighbors and tell stories. You're creating traditions and memories."

Hoboken Farms sells a line of artisan breads, marinara sauce (although they're sold out now) and gourmet entrees that are all crafted by New Jersey outlets, many from Hoboken.

But it's the mozzarella for which they're most known.

The cheese is made every day, and they sell 2,000 pounds of it every week. The mozzarella is made with a curd in 180-degree water and stirred, twisted and salted.

"It takes 12 minutes to make and two seconds to mess it up," Finkel said.

The sales of mozzarella started at an Englewood farmers market, and it sold out in 20 minutes the first week. It sold out nearly every week, he said.

"There's a connection to tomatoes at farm markets," he said, saying they're the two main ingredients in the infamous summer salad.

Having family and friends who were all "food people," Finkel next brought the bread to the markets because it went well with the cheese. Then it expanded to the crab cakes, which is another top seller, and other local foods.

 But Finkel said he and other sellers at farmers markets are in more than just the food business. They're in the entertainment business.

Coming to a farmers market is a form of entertainment, he said, where people can rub shoulders with other people while everyone is sustaining themselves.

"There's something spiritual about it," he said.

The Millburn Farmers Market is held each Tuesday through Oct. 27 at 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the municipal parking lot at the corner of Main and Essex streets.


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