Stand By Your Stand Tomato Mountain

Bored of aimless browsing at Madison's popular farmers markets? In Stand By Your Stand, Decider heads out to find their best and strangest offerings and tips on how to use them.

The source: Brooklyn, Wis.
Wares: As the farm’s name suggests, tomatoes in a variety of forms—pasta sauce, soup, salsa, puree, and the game-day favorite of many a Badger fan: Bloody Mary mix. Tomato preserves, as well as a more traditional jam flavors such as strawberry and raspberry, are also available.
Best deal: Bloody Mary mix for $5 a pint.
Weirdest item: Sun Gold tomato preserves. An excess of the plump yellow orbs led producers Christa Barknecht and Chris Covelli to experiment one year. The result? A sweet tomato preserve made even sweeter with an extra dose of sugar.
Serving suggestion: While the five varieties of salsa (chipotle, roasted tomato, tomatillo, fire roasted, and habanero) are the stand’s most popular item, Barknecht loves the Sun Gold preserves with crêpes or served atop toasted bread with cheese.
Find it at: Dane County Winter Farmers’ Market, Saturdays, 7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., at Monona Terrace through Dec. 20. The winter market operates out of the Madison Senior Center from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. each Saturday from Jan. 3 through mid-April.