Farmers Market Update: Best Cherries Ever

by Darya Rose | May 29, 2011

Mountain of Cherries

I’ve been doing this farmers market thing for awhile now, and I have to say that cherries are without a doubt some of the most difficult fruit to photograph. They’re so bright red that it washes out nearly every detail on the fruit, and drowns every other color in the frame.

Consequently I rarely feature my cherry images, and today would have been no different if I didn’t think leaving them out would be a crime. Because anyone who went to the San Francisco farmers market this weekend knows that the cherries were the star of the show.

Tasty Strawberries

And that’s no small feat this time of year. Today I tasted a strawberry so good I thought it had been injected with sugar, because it reminded me more of the sweetened agua fresca drinks from the taquerias in the Mission district than it did any natural fruit.

But still the cherries were better. Not only that, they’re better than they were last year and possibly the year before that. Honestly it was difficult to not buy some from every farm I stopped at, and I do regret not coming home with more. Don’t miss the cherries this year folks.

Brooks Cherries

Of course there were other notable spring treats as well. Rhubarb is here, and before the season ends I’m determined to try to figure out how to use it. Most of the recipes I’ve seen for it are sweet, which I’m not so excited about. If you know of any good savory recipe, please let me know.

Rhubarb

Generally all the spring vegetables are still amazing. I’m especially loving the sweet spring onions, though I’m normally not a huge onion person. This year I’m adding green onions to everything from eggs to salad. The leeks are excellent too.

Spring Vegetables

Oddly even summer produce is starting to appear. I was stunned today to see watermelon and peppers this early in the season. The vendor told me it was from their farm in Southern California, which makes a bit more sense.

First Watermelons

But as much as I love summer, I’m not ready to skip ahead just yet. I still haven’t tried any of these beautiful blueberries on my morning muesli.

Blueberries

Nor have I found anything to do with green almonds yet this season.

Green Almonds

And the last of the citrus fruits shouldn’t be ignored either. This late in the season tangelos, navel oranges and kumquats are the best. Though we had some spectacular blood orange juice this weekend as well.

Kumquats

It’s truly an amazing time of year for the farmers market. Don’t miss it.

Big Tomatoes

Today’s purchases:

Mindblowing strawberries (Dirty Girl Produce)
Red Russian kale (Dirty Girl Produce)
Heirloom black cherries (K & J Orchards)
Baby carrots (Knoll Farms)
Salad greens (Knoll Farms)
More carrots (Star Route Farms)
Cilantro (Star Route Farms)
French breakfast radishes (Heirloom Organic Gardens)
Red onion (Balakian Farms)

Tags: blueberries, cherries, Farmers Market, Farmers Market Update, green almonds, kumquats, leeks, muesli, rhubarb, Spring, strawberries, tomatoes, watermelon

Farmers Market Update: First Cherries!

by Darya Rose | May 9, 2010

First Cherries

There were cherries today! The first stone fruit of the season finally arrived, and they were surprisingly delicious. I had trouble focusing on much else.

Luckily despite my excitement I still had enough wits about me to grab some heirloom tomatoes, basil and fresh mozzarella. The mission: caprese salad. The verdict: awesome. Yep, the heirloom tomatoes are finally tasty.

Sugar Snap Peas

Basil

Peas and fava beans are huge at the farmers market right now: sugar snap peas as well as snow peas and English shelling peas.

The asparagus season is peaking right now, so be sure you get your fill in the coming weeks.

Asparagus

I also found a rare delicacy today, green almonds. Though they were more developed and less sweet than I remember them from last year, it was still exciting to see them and I’ll definitely be trying them again this season.