Sweetest Strawberries Ever

I don’t usually buy a lot of fruit. It’s not that I don’t like it, I think it’s wonderful. But it tends to be much more expensive than vegetables. And it’s also hard to get soft fruit home without smashing it.

But today, I couldn’t help myself.

Similar to last week, the cherries were just way too good to pass up.

Ranier Cherries

But I also realized that I hadn’t even tried any of the newer fruit in the market, like these amazing blueberries. I sampled a few, and knew some would be coming home with me.

Delicious Blueberries

Then there were the plums. I love plums, but like tomatoes they are one of those fruits that are so rarely good that you forget what real ones taste like. Until you try one.

Fruits

I thought it was a bit early in the season for plums to be good, but I was wrong. These were as sweet and luscious as I’d ever tasted, and of course I had to get some.

Virctoria Heirloom Rhubarb

Amazingly, I still had to restrict myself from buying strawberries, even more cherries, and also some peaches I found that were unseasonably delicious. But I did have to save some of my money to get vegetables.

Radishes

I’m mostly enjoying salads these days. I like them with French radishes, carrots, sugar peas, spring onions and usually some quinoa or lentils.

Beautiful Treviso

I’m not ready to buy them yet, but summer vegetables are becoming more common as well.

Early Summer Squash

The strangest thing I found at the market this week was fresh Japanese ume plums, which I’ve only ever seen pickled. I might pick some up next week so if any of you have a recipe I’d love to hear it.

Ume Plums

Today’s purchases (~$50):

• Cherries (Bella Viva Farms)
• Blueberries (Triple Delight)
• Flavorosa plums (Twin Girls Farm)
• Spring salad mix (Star Route Farms)
• French radishes (Heirloom Organic Gardens)
• Asparagus – last week! (Zuckerman’s Farm)
• New potatoes (Zuckerman’s Farm)
• Red Russian kale (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Green shallots (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Mediterranean cucumbers (Happy Quail Farms)
• Whole chicken (Marin Sun Farms)

Perfect Rainbow Chard

Everything was so beautiful at the farmers market this weekend, I’m going to let my images speak for themselves.

Spring Flowers

Spring Strawberries

Red Radishes

Pea Tendrils

Lovely Spring Onions

Organic Green Garlic

Heirloom Tomato

Fresh Sage

Lovely Carrots

Baby Fava Beans

Early Cherries

Bergamont & Chocolate Mint

Purple Flowers

Today’s purchases:

• Strawberries (Lucero Organic Farms)
• Baby artichokes (Iacopi Farm)
• Red Russian kale (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Fava beans (Catalan Family Farm)
• Carrots (Catalan Family Farm)
• Cilantro (Catalan Family Farm)
• Sugar snap peas (Chue’s Farm)
• Italian parsley (Chue’s Farm)
• Morel mushrooms (Far West Fungi)
• Salad greens (Star Route Farms)

Is your farmers market open yet?

Arugula Blossoms

Somewhere I heard a rumor that SF was supposed to have its first snow in 35 years this weekend. This struck me as odd for a few reasons. First, I’ve lived here 14 years and it has snowed at least twice. Second, though it is very cold, it’s amazingly beautiful outside.

Spring Leeks

Not surprisingly, instead of snow today it was one of the most beautiful farmers market days of the year. +1 global warming.

Spring Radishes

In fact, the sun was so bright I could barely capture any decent photos. The long shadows and high contrasts that come with sunshine are usually buffered by the sky in foggy SF. Not today!

Arugula

But the good news is that spring is everywhere. I think what I’m most excited about is all the delicate salad greens. As much as I enjoy the kale and cabbage we’ve had the past couple months, it hurts my soul to go too long without fresh spinach, arugula and treviso.

Treviso

If you aren’t familiar with treviso, it is a bitter green (sometimes purple) similar to radicchio. And today at Capay Organics it happened to look like a bunch of roses.

Artichokes

And speaking of vegetables that look like flowers, the artichokes are also looking fantastic. I didn’t get any this time, but will have my eyes out for them next week.

Kale and Chard

Of course I also stocked up on my obligatory kale and cabbages. They were just too beautiful to ignore, and I know this is the best time of year (especially for the cabbages).

Pretty Cabbages

The best part of all? Winter and spring vegetables are some of the most affordable of the year. Since a few people have asked about cost I’ve started keeping better track of the money I spend at the market. For the second time in a row, I came in under $20.

Today’s purchases:

• Lacinato kale (Capay Organics)
• Cabbage (Capay Organics)
• Treviso (Capay Organics)
• Arugula (Star Route Farms)
• Collards (Eatwell Farm)
• Baby broccoli (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Baby leeks (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Parlsey (Catalan Family Farm)
• Meyer lemons (Bernard Ranches)
• Navel oranges (Bernard Ranches)
• Limes (Bernard Ranches)

Market quote of the day: “Yep, every house needs limes. Especially on weekends.”

Tomatoes

I’m delighted to introduce you to Stephanie Stiavetti who agreed to step in and cover the Grand Lake farmers market in Oakland while I was away this week.

Stephanie Stiavetti is a Bay Area freelance food and nutrition writer. Besides writing for magazines and radio, she also blogs about living a healthy gourmet (and gluten-free!) lifestyle at Wasabimon.com. Her top priority in life is eating well in every sense of the word and making sure people know that eating healthy can be a delicious endeavor.

You can also follow her on Twitter under the name @sstiavetti.

Thanks so much Stephanie!

Farmers Market Update: Grand Lake Oakland

Hello everyone!

This is Stephanie from Wasabimon, and I’m excited to be guest posting today on Summer Tomato. Darya’s asked me to take care of the weekly Farmers Market Update while she’s in Vegas, and since I live in the East Bay, today you’ll be getting a tour of Oakland’s Grand Lake Farmers Market.

For those not in the know, Oakland has a thriving farmers market community. With over ten markets throughout the week, East Bay residents have a lot of opportunities to buy organic, locally grown produce. Here’s just a sampling of what you can find at the Grand Lake market, which happens every Saturday from 9am – 2pm year round.

I love the colors of the market this time of year. So many bright colors as summer comes to a close! First I picked up a few of my obligatory (though no less lovely) squash and peppers from Capay Farms:

Peppers

Squash

Right across the way was Rodriguez Farms, who have some of the best potatoes and strawberries around – and who doesn’t love the fact that we can get local strawberries this time of year? Yay California!

Strawberries

Potatoes

Next up were the gorgeous radishes and carrots at Ledesma Family Farms. There is always so much color in this booth and I need to wear sunglasses when I go inside:

Radishes

Carrots

After wandering around a little bit (and indulging in some kettle corn, my favorite treat), I hit the jackpot at Toscano and Sons. They have the sweetest cherry tomatoes ever! They make such a perfect addition to salads, and I can never resist them.

Cherry Tomatoes

Toscano also had baby shallots and young leeks, which are just about my favorite things ever. I’m such an allium nut – I don’t cook with them all the time, but I love how there are so many different levels of flavor within the onion family:

Leeks

Baby Shallots

Happy Boy Farms was full of lovely winter and summer squash, and as usual their herb table was full of the freshest, most fragrant greenery. Their heirloom tomatoes were off-the-charts colorful, though I had to resist the urge to buy any since I already have some at home. Happy Boy also has my favorite salad mix, with edible flowers mixed in with the rest of the greens. I mean, how could you resist this beautiful display?

Salad Greens

I also discovered something new at the farmers market this week. I’ve seen jujubes before but hadn’t ever stopped to inspect further. These little Chinese dates are really good and I highly recommend you grab a handful if you ever see them!

Jujubees

Then how could I not stop and smell the roses at Western Sun Floral?

Roses

And on the way out the door, I stopped by my favorite stand, Marshall’s Farm Honey. Since I avoid refined sweeteners, honey is a mainstay in my kitchen:

Honey

I had a fabulous time at the Grand Lake Farmers Market today, and I hope you enjoyed my little photo tour. Thanks, Darya, for letting me share!

<3
~Steph

What did you find at your farmers market this week?