I was in luck: I got the last of the raspberries at the PPK Acres stand at the St. Paul Farmers Market. Dian Piekarski said it has been a good year for the delicate, juicy berries at her family's Inver Grove Heights farm. The two pints I bought ($5 per pint) were going straight home into a tart -- OK, a few were probably going to disappear on the drive home unless I kept them safely out of reach in the trunk of my car -- and I asked Piekarski how she likes to eat them. "Other than putting them in pancakes?" she asked. She thought for a moment before replying with "raspberry tomatillo salsa" and then began to recite the ingredients: red onion, cilantro, tomatillos, lime juice and raspberries. Sounds great to me. "Oh, and there's a secret ingredient," she said with a laugh. "It's so secret that I can't remember it."

RICK NELSON

RICK NELSON • Star Tribune PPK Acres sells at the St. Paul Farmers Market, 1079 Summit Av. (St. Thomas More Catholic Church), St. Paul, stpaulfarmersmarket.com, Fridays 1:15 to 5 p.m. For a list of more than 50 metro-area farmers markets, go to startribune.com/taste.