Farmers Markets

Santa Monica Farmer’s Market Report (delayed)

Usually it is my wife who gives the somewhat regular reports on what is in season at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. One of the many benefits of my being on family leave is that now I get to accompany her on the market trips.

It’s a turning point at the market, summer fruits are just starting to pop up. This week was the first week where we saw Cherries, bought them from two different stands. It’s obviously early in the short season, but the cherries are sweet and delicious, and a bit expensive. One farmer tolda us that they were there from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day, so get them while you can!

Stone fruits are just starting to arrive. One stand had Nectarines, with signs advertising that the fruit was picked the evening before the market (I think they even had the times that the fruit were picked, something like 6-7pm). I think that peaches and nectarines are some of my favorite bounty from the market, looking forward to the next couple of months.

There are still citrus, we made our weekly trip to Garcia Farms’ stand for tangerines and mandarins, although things seem to be winding down. Apples are gone, but strawberries are abundant.

Some other goodies we picked up were sugar snap peas, cauliflower, and some grapefruit juice. We actually had some produce left over from last week, so it was a smaller purchasing trip. Plus, we have to save up for the coming onslaught of summer fruits!

It’s a great opportunity to be able to hit up the Wednesday Market, but if you can’t make it midweek, don’t forget that there are three markets in Santa Monica over the weekend. Two on Saturday (one at the Promenade and one at Virginia Park on Pico) and one Sunday on Main Street.

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.

© 2008 la.foodblogging.