Market Watch: The latest farmers market news by David Karp
3:33 PM CDT, May 18, 2012
Market Watch: New cherry varieties worth a pit stop
— Early cherries are reason enough to head to the farmers market, but be careful. Erratic winter chill, freezes during bloom, hail and late rains have made for a short crop of early cherries from the southern San Joaquin Valley. But there's still plenty of great fruit available at farmers markets for those who take care to select fresh, ripe cherries of the best varieties. In the last decade, the task has become trickier, but potentially more rewarding, with the arrival of new and unfamiliar varieties.
May 11, 2012
Market Watch: Above the ocean in Malibu, a rare orchard of loquats
High on a steep, terraced mountainside in Malibu, with a spectacular view of the Pacific, perches the largest and probably the only commercial planting of loquats in the United States. A pome fruit related to apples and pears, the loquat is one of the great pleasures of spring in Southern California. It has firm but juicy flesh with the texture of cantaloupe and a sweet-tart flavor evoking cherry. The irony is that it is so well-adapted and common as a backyard tree that there's little local demand for the fruit.
May 4, 2012
Market Watch: Mystique of the Temecula Sweet
The intense sweetness, distinctive knobbly appearance and mysterious provenance of the Temecula Sweet mandarin have endowed the fruit with a mystique. Farmers market citrus vendors from De Luz, just a few miles from where the fruit is grown, say customers often ask for the variety and wonder what it is, but there's only one source, and that's a most secretive and gorgeous citrus farm, just west over the mountain from the suburban sprawl of Temecula. In a pristine valley of chaparral and oaks along the Santa Margarita River, the last free-flowing waterway in Southern California, across from a nature reserve where mountain lions prowl, is a 24-acre grove of Temecula Sweet.
2:55 PM CDT, April 27, 2012
Market Watch: In Mar Vista, an aquaponics farm just down the street
Many growers proudly advertise their local origins, but when David Rosenstein of Evo Farm sells his produce on Sunday for the first time at the Mar Vista farmers market, he says he will be talking "not about food miles, but food feet."
12:27 PM CDT, April 20, 2012
County Line Harvest's fruitful foray into Coachella farming
THERMAL, Calif. — One of the most highly regarded farms in Northern California, Petaluma-based County Line Harvest started growing organic vegetables in the Coachella desert to extend its production in the winter and spring. For owner David Retsky, who grew up in Beverly Hills, selling to Southern California was the logical next step, and almost like coming home.
April 13, 2012
Market Watch: A backyard dream mushrooms in Hacienda Heights
Of the many Southern Californians starting urban farms these days, few have stories more colorful than Brett and Tanya Wyatt of B&T Farm. Brett, 53, was an observant Jew studying geography at UC Davis, then a Buddhist monk in Myanmar, where he managed to flee just before the regime raided his monastery. He then earned a doctorate analyzing organic farming concepts in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he met Tanya, 44, who supervised a farm group and grew mushrooms. A year ago he returned to California to teach computer skills at a public high school in Watts, and they promptly decided to establish an urban farm.
April 6, 2012
Hollywood farmers market CEO is fired
After Pompea Smith, who has led the Hollywood farmers market since she founded it 21 years ago, was fired Tuesday night, many questions remained as to just what had happened, and why. Official details were scant, but it is clear that the story involved financial issues, office politics and conflicting visions for the organization.
March 23, 2012
Market Watch: Return of the Chandler strawberries
"Oh, strawberries don't taste as they used to," wrote John Steinbeck in "East of Eden." Never mind that the chapter was set a century ago; many foodies believe that industrial varieties and practices have degraded the flavor of modern strawberries. This spring we have an opportunity to test that hypothesis, as Harry's Berries has resumed growing the Chandler variety, a longtime favorite at farmers markets for its tender, juicy flesh and classic strawberry flavor.
March 8, 2012
Market Watch: Mud Creek Ranch's cornucopia of produce
Located in a narrow canyon four miles north of Santa Paula, Mud Creek Ranch combines a historic family homestead, a commercial organic citrus and avocado orchard and a mystery zone where the usual rules of farming do not apply. It is a one-family experiment station where Steven and Robin Smith grow all manner of fruits, from apples to wampees, in some 400 varieties, very likely the most of any vendor at farmers markets.
5:04 PM CST, March 2, 2012
Market Watch: An urban farmer's passion blooms again
When Tara Kolla of Silver Lake Farms returned to the Hollywood farmers market last Sunday for the first time in three years, her flower stand was a riot of color, with sweet peas, ranunculus and snapdragons, and her customers were rapturous, but her eyes were rimmed with tears.
February 17, 2012
Market Watch: Some farmers pulling up stakes
As certified farmers markets have proliferated in recent years, it may appear as if everyone and his uncle is getting into the game. Some vendors indeed are flourishing, but others have been stretched thin by the expansion and resulting dilution of farmers markets. Selling at farmers markets has always involved manifold risks, inefficiencies and frustrations, but in the last year, likely because of the weak economy, quite a few longtime or prominent vendors have withdrawn from the markets or are considering doing so. Each has his own reasons, but together they tell a story: Surviving at farmers markets is increasingly tough for many growers.
February 10, 2012
Market Watch: Prized Dekopons arriving
The Dekopon, a Japanese hybrid of mandarin and orange reputed to be the most delicious citrus in the world, created a sensation last year when California-grown fruit showed up at local groceries under the marketing name Sumo, after a dozen years of secrecy and intrigue. The new crop has started arriving at stores and will be available at the Santa Monica farmers market starting next Wednesday from the Dekopon kingpin himself, Mike George of Lindsay, who grows 16 acres of the variety and organized the group that secured the rights to it.
February 3, 2012
Market Watch: Hothouse tomatoes from Ridgecrest, flavor included
The desolate, scrubby plain around Ridgecrest, where the Sierra Nevada meets the Great Basin and the Mojave desert, might seem an incongruous source for tomatoes, especially in the middle of winter. Nevertheless, Scott and Gale Shacklett, who go by the name of TomatoMan, manage to produce superior, flavorful tomatoes in more than half an acre of greenhouses here, where sonic booms from the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station shatter the silence.
January 27, 2012
Market Watch: On the cusp of grapefruit season
Midwinter is prime citrus season for both the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California districts, with an abundance of excellent mandarins, oranges, tangelos and lemons. The one laggard is conventional grapefruit, which, as grown in these two areas will be too sour for most palates for a couple of months or more. By compensation, we have three fine locally adapted grapefruit-like hybrids, Oroblanco, Melogold and Cocktail "grapefruit," which are at their peak right now.
12:47 PM CST, January 20, 2012
Market Watch: Mushroom vender's crop fits in a trailer
Although most of the larger farmers markets in Southern California have at least one vendor of cultivated mushrooms, the great majority of these buy from large commercial producers and so must sell in the non-certified section or under a second certificate arrangement. There's not necessarily anything wrong with that, but it takes just a glance at the pristine and tender shiitake and oyster mushrooms that Fred Ellrott grows and picks himself, to see that there is a real advantage to the consumer in buying mushrooms direct from the producer.
1:36 PM CST, January 13, 2012
Market Watch: Goatherd's life a rugged climb
— One of very few goat dairies in Southern California, and one of the newest and best cheese vendors at local certified farmers markets, is Drake Family Farms, which started selling an excellent fresh, mild chevre cheese a little over a year ago. It remains to be seen, however, whether its high quality and local production will allow it to overcome the brutal economics of artisanal, farmstead cheesemaking in a world of cheap commodity cheese.
January 6, 2012
Market Watch: Citrus shoppers need to be alert to cold damage
While Southern Californians have enjoyed balmy weather over the last week, some citrus growers in the San Joaquin Valley are still coping with the aftermath of harrowing cold last month, the longest stretch of subfreezing temperatures on record in the area. In general, the state's commercial citrus industry appears to have escaped without disastrous losses, and this season is shaping up as a good one, but some of the small growers who sell at farmers markets lost significant portions of their crops, and it behooves shoppers to be alert for damaged fruit over the coming weeks.
January 3, 2012
Jerry Dimitman dies at 91; professor grew prized Asian fruit
Jerry Dimitman, a retired professor of plant pathology at Cal Poly Pomona who regularly caused an uproar when he showed up to sell his exotic fruit at the Alhambra farmers market, died Dec. 14 of a stroke at his home overlooking the San Gabriel Valley. He was 91.
December 23, 2011
Market Watch: The cold beauty of colored kale
Colored kale plants with red or purple centers and greenish outer leaves have long been popular as ornamental plants, for home gardens and street landscaping. Although edible, they were really more beautiful than delicious; but several newer varieties that have become available at farmers markets in recent years offer exceptionally sweet flavor and tender texture in addition to striking appearance. They're at their best in midwinter and add festive color to holiday tables.
December 16, 2011
Market Watch: Olive oil, from the hills of Topanga
In the last two decades, there's been a tremendous surge in production of artisanal olive oil in California as consumers have developed an appreciation for the freshness, high quality and distinctive flavors that good locally produced oil can provide. This boom has carried over into farmers markets, where there has been a rush of new vendors, although many of them are not certified producers who are required to grow what they sell. Of the olive growers who are, one of the most intriguingly local is Joyce Lukon of Robinson Road Olive Ranch, who harvested her small crop last Sunday from a hillside next to her home in Topanga.
2:09 PM CST, December 9, 2011
Market Watch: Mangoes grown locally, really
A few California farmers have long pushed the envelope by trying to grow crops like pineapples or lychees that are really a bit too tropical for local conditions but still tantalizing in their possibilities. A case in point is the mango, which just barely gets enough heat in the scorching Coachella desert to merit being grown commercially; all the more amazing that Markov Farms of Valley Center, located in a coastal climate zone even less well adapted to the fruit, is finally starting to market its crop at farmers markets, albeit with a catch.
December 2, 2011
Market Watch: Boom times for limes
The last decade or so has seen a remarkable boom in the quantity and variety of limes and lime-like fruits available in the United States. California has become the leading domestic producer, albeit by default, and late autumn is prime season for limes, especially at farmers markets, where the ripeness, freshness and diversity of limes is unbeatable. But the interplay of variety, growing areas and seasons can be confusing, and the nomenclature, as well as the very concept of what is a "lime," is unclear.
4:49 PM CST, November 25, 2011
Market Watch: The magnificent Warren pear
With the partial exception of Bartletts, great locally grown pears are scarce at farmers markets in Southern California, where warm winters and disease render cultivation problematic. This makes it all the more special that Al Courchesne of Frog Hollow Farm, a rock star organic fruit grower from Brentwood, Calif., an hour east of San Francisco, will make a cameo appearance the next two Wednesdays at the Santa Monica farmers market to sell his legendary Warren pears.
November 18, 2011
Market Watch: Cuyama, the perfect hideaway for Pink Lady apples
The Cuyama Valley is just 30 miles northeast of Santa Barbara and two hours from downtown Los Angeles, but it's a world of its own, rimmed by stark, rugged mountains, sparsely populated and little known. At the extreme southern end of the valley, the location where Cuyama Orchards grows apples is particularly remote, surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest, with only bobcats and bears as neighbors; it has no telephone lines or cellphone reception, and when it rains hard, the adjacent Cuyama River floods the only incoming road for a week or more.
12:56 PM CST, November 11, 2011
Market Watch: A new fish vendor at the farmers market
— Southern California lies along an ocean that once abounded in seafood and still produces a catch of considerable quantity and diversity. Why is it, then, that so little of the fish at farmers markets is sold directly by those who catch it?
November 4, 2011
Market Watch: Elevating the cactus pear
The cactus pear is the Rodney Dangerfield of the fruit world, beloved by immigrants from parts of Latin America and the Mediterranean basin but largely ignored by most consumers in the United States. That may be changing, however, as the leading domestic cactus pear producer, Salinas-based D'Arrigo Bros., has introduced four new, greatly improved varieties — orange, red, purple and green — that are firmer, sweeter and juicier than the traditional variety it has marketed for the last 80 years. They're starting to be sold at Gelson's today and are well worth searching out.
October 28, 2011
Market Watch: The best in dried fruit
Dried fruit is both easier and trickier to enjoy than fresh fruit. Easier, because dried fruit is less perishable than fresh and is thus more readily shipped and stored. Trickier, because in addition to the factors that determine fresh fruit quality — variety, growing area, growing practices and ripeness — dried fruit quality depends on processing and storage. These sound simple but in fact involve artisanal practices that are not easy for producers to master and are largely inscrutable to consumers.
October 14, 2011
Market Watch: A better prune, but will anyone care?
If you came up with a better prune, would the world beat a path to your door? That's what Jim Doyle, a now-retired UC Davis fruit breeder, was hoping in 1992 when he crossed Improved French, the standard variety for prunes, with Tulare Giant, a large-fruited fresh-market European plum. He was searching for a variety that ripened earlier than Improved French, to allow producers to harvest and dry their crops more efficiently; he succeeded in this, but by chance the new variety, named Muir Beauty, was irresistibly delicious.
October 7, 2011
Market Watch: Farm brings every muscat imaginable
One of the rarest but greatest pleasures of farmers markets is encountering passionate collectors who sell a wide range of rare fruit varieties normally grown only at specialty sites such as germplasm repositories and agricultural experiment stations. There's no better example than Patrice Dreckmann of Rainbow Heights Farm & Nursery, who grows 50 varieties of muscat grapes and 43 varieties of figs just south of Temecula.
September 30, 2011
Market Watch: In Ojai, hot chiles and a warm story
Most native-born French recoil from chiles as if from snakes, but in the Basque country of the Pyrenees foothills, five miles from the Spanish border, the citizens of Espelette adore a unique local pod called the Espelette, conical, 3 to 4 inches long and medium hot, with thin flesh and many seeds. After harvest in late summer and fall, the vermilion pods are strung in ristra-like cordes, dried in the sun, roasted in bread ovens and ground into richly perfumed red-orange powder, with hints of hay, ripe tomatoes and toast.
September 23, 2011
Market Watch: Exotic melons a sweet success in high desert
Thirteen years ago, when Ruben Mkrtchyan told his wife and four children that they were going to move from Glendale to a high desert valley in the middle of nowhere to grow the world's tastiest melons, they thought he had lost his mind.
September 16, 2011
Market Watch: A new tack in farmers market regulation
A plan earlier this year to ensure the integrity of farmers markets went nowhere, but now the California Department of Food and Agriculture is forming an advisory group to consider a variety of topics related to the direct marketing of fruits and vegetables — not only farmers markets but also farm stands and community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs.
September 9, 2011
Farmers market manager also its char man
When the breeze blows in the right direction, a spicy vegetal aroma tells visitors to the Santa Monica Virginia Park farmers market that Ted Galván, the manager, is roasting chile peppers. Each Saturday in September, he takes pasilla, Anaheim and jalapeño peppers grown by Tutti Frutti Farms in Lompoc, chars them in a tumbler rotating over propane flames and sells them to the public.
September 2, 2011
Market Watch: African Scarlet eggplant
Long before the Wilshire Center farmers market officially opens at 11 a.m. on Fridays, customers throng the Kensee Farms stand to buy a very fresh and diverse array of Asian vegetables and greens. Chongshoua C. Lee, a Hmong grower who farms in Selma and Clovis with his wife, Vang Kensee, offers pristine okra, purple Chinese eggplant, long beans, yard-long snake gourds, both smooth and spiky bitter melons, round Indian and Thai eggplants in many hues, malabar spinach and ferociously hot Thai bird chiles.
August 26, 2011
Market Watch: Crane melon a true 'heirloom'
The word "heirloom" is commonly applied to the produce sold at farmers markets, but the concepts behind it frequently are misunderstood or stretched, both by growers and the public. Originally the word was a legal term referring to goods that descended to an heir along with real property; by extension, it came to refer to something of special value handed down from one generation to another.
August 25, 2011
Market Watch: Indian Blood Freestone peaches are diamonds in the fuzz
The most distinctive and enigmatic stone fruit in markets currently is the Indian Blood Freestone peach. The first thing you'll note is its intense rose-like aroma, which can fill a room with peachy perfume. The fruits look like nothing else, with thick white fuzz over mottled red and creamy white skin, which can give them an odd gray-green cast; the flesh is snowy white with blotches of red — occasionally it can be spectacularly, fully red, almost like a beet.
August 12, 2011
Market Watch: The short, sweet life of Valencia Pride mangoes
Deborah Wong Chamberlain's luscious Valencia Pride mangoes are among a very few elite fruits, such as Blenheim apricots, Snow Queen nectarines and Persian mulberries, whose seasonal appearance at farmers markets occasions the most intense anticipation and excitement.
August 5, 2011
Market Watch: Exotic, sweet and rare summer fruits
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proclaimed Aug. 7 to 13 to be National Farmers Market Week. In Southern California, unlike most of the rest of the country, we enjoy exciting offerings of local produce year-round. But even here, high summer gives us the greatest abundance and diversity.
July 15, 2011
Market Watch: A bumper crop of new markets in the L.A. area
These days, everyone and his uncle wants a farmers market in his neighborhood or shopping center. Dozens of new farmers markets open each year in the Los Angeles area, varying greatly in their operators, intentions and locales. Some are basically swap meets, dominated by prepared foods and crafts, and many languish and disappear after a year or two. Several more noteworthy markets, which have opened or will open soon in Thousand Oaks, Hollywood and Torrance, provide an object lesson in the complex motivations, economics and logistics that underlie the farmers market world.
July 8, 2011
Market Watch: In hot pursuit of blueberries, figs and Persian mulberries
Last Wednesday at the Santa Monica market, rivulets of sweat coursed down the brow of Ron Cornelsen, a stone fruit grower from Reedley, and it was only 9 a.m. The previous day it had been 107 degrees in his orchard, and the monsoonal humidity made things so miserable that he had to pay his workers a 30% premium to harvest under such brutal conditions, he said. Even worse, after an unusual late downpour last week, much of his crop dropped from the trees and developed brown rot when it warmed up. When the heat takes such a toll on both humans and produce, it's time to appreciate those growers, like Cornelsen, who get up at 3 a.m. and drive in from the Fresno area to sell personally at farmers markets.
July 1, 2011
Market Watch: Country Fresh Herbs sprouts up
A relative newcomer to farmers markets, Country Fresh Herbs offers a gorgeous display of heirloom tomatoes, salad greens, specialty peppers, lemon cucumbers and Romanesco zucchini. But even more intriguing is the story of the family that brings this produce to market.
June 24, 2011
Market Watch: Nectarines and plums are ripe and ready
For two months it seemed like summer would never come for our nectarines and plums, which were delayed and somewhat less flavorful than usual. This week, the big heat finally arrived in the San Joaquin Valley, bringing an abundance of choice varieties to peak ripeness all at once. For the next two months, that area will pump out great varieties every week, if you know what to look for.
June 17, 2011
Market Watch: The renaissance of the Italian lemon
Lemons are most in demand in summer, for making lemonade, serving with cocktails and squeezing on fish. There's a little bit of a disconnect with production, which is concentrated, from different growing areas, in the fall to spring months; but there's still plenty of supply throughout the summer from coastal districts. Most commercial production is of the standard Eureka and Lisbon varieties, but in the last decade a few farmers market and specialty growers have planted Italian varieties, famed for their romantic history and intensely aromatic rinds.
June 10, 2011
Market Watch: The sweet smell of Mara des Bois strawberries
Walking through the Santa Monica farmers market early one recent morning, I noticed Sherry Yard, executive pastry chef of Spago, carrying a flat of strawberries that looked oddly different than any I had seen there before. Even from 10 feet away, they seemed smaller and rounder than conventional strawberries, with prominent seeds and an unusual carmine-orange color. As I wondered what they might be, suddenly the breeze shifted my way, wafting an intense aroma of wild strawberries, and I knew.
June 9, 2011
Keeping Mar Vista farmers market honest
Early on a recent morning, Diana Rodgers, manager of the Mar Vista farmers market, drove north for two days of farm visits in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, including to three berry growers in Nipomo. When she arrived, the farms offered gorgeous vistas of rolling dunes and sun glinting off the Pacific, with cool breezes, delicious raspberries and mind-bogglingly aromatic Mara des Bois strawberries.
June 3, 2011
Market Watch: Time for a summer fruit explosion
The first month of the summer fruit season is like a roller coaster: a frustratingly slow buildup, with many mediocre early varieties, gives way suddenly to a whoosh of fantastic flavors. The fruit calendar has been about a week later than usual because of cool spring weather, but finally markets are abounding, if one knows where to look, with classic Bing cherries, flavorful Robada apricots, aromatic Flavorella plumcots and complex Boysenberries. So much fruit, so little stomach!
May 27, 2011
Market Watch: Enforcement fee plan appears to hit roadblock
A plan to provide additional resources to state and county authorities for farmers market enforcement, proposed in the aftermath of a cheating scandal last autumn, has not been incorporated into a general farmers market bill currently before the California state Senate, and it seems unlikely to be adopted this year. Southern California managers and farmers market leaders are rushing to submit comments in favor of the plan before a Senate vote scheduled to take place in the next week.
May 20, 2011
Market Watch: Hemet's wealth of summer grapefruit
At the farthest fringe of the Inland Empire, southeast of the hardscrabble town of Hemet, lies the world center of summer grapefruit, one of the least known and most fascinating of California's agricultural niches. The major commercial grapefruit districts, Florida, Texas and California's Coachella low desert, harvest from November to April, but Hemet's peculiar high desert microclimate — hot enough in the day to color and sweeten the fruit but cool enough at night to delay maturity — provides a rare source of high-quality grapefruit in late spring and summer.
May 13, 2011
Market Watch: A fresh new player in Old Towne Orange
A long-planned new farmers market modeled on the Santa Monica market drew large, enthusiastic crowds to its opening last Sunday in Old Towne Orange. There are more than 30 certified farmers markets in Orange County, but none offers the combination of diversity, integrity and chef appeal for which Santa Monica is famous. Translating ambitious plans and good intentions into a county-wide farmers market powerhouse will require long-term organic growth, but the new venue is off to a promising start.
May 7, 2011
Market Watch: Small green plums are Armenian treat
Plums usually don't start until the end of May, but a few growers, mostly of Armenian origin, have started bringing green plums, which are unripe fruits the size of cherries. These are hard and sour, and would not appeal to most Americans, but they're much appreciated in the Mideast as the first fruits of spring and are eaten fresh, sometimes with a pinch of salt.
April 29, 2011
Market Watch: An in-between time for fruit
Late April and early May is a challenging, in-between time for fruit lovers. The citrus harvest is winding down, and prime stone fruit is still several weeks off. At no season is it more important for mindful shoppers to discern mediocre from worthwhile offerings and perhaps even venture afield from farmers markets to obtain certain specialty items.
April 22, 2011
Market Watch: New Sherman Oaks (Galleria) and Temple City venues
Spring always brings a new crop of farmers markets, as operators time openings to capitalize on the seasonal abundance and diversity of produce. Two new venues, in Sherman Oaks and Temple City, offer good selections of vendors under capable managers. They're not as large as longer-established markets, of course, but should flourish and grow if supported by their communities.
April 15, 2011
Market Watch: Green almonds from Fat Uncle Farms
Green almonds, which look like small, immature, teardrop-shaped peaches, have started showing up at farmers markets, attracting attention from adventurous chefs. A traditional snack in the Mediterranean and Middle East, they're a foretaste of the main almond harvest to come. But they also have a particular allure from their velvety appearance and ultra-seasonal availability.
April 8, 2011
Market Watch: Persian cucumbers tastefully taking over
Ten years ago, Elizabeth Schneider, the doyenne of produce writers, called for "a cucumber revolution" in her definitive book, "Vegetables From Amaranth to Zucchini". Denouncing the standard American slicing varieties, she implored, "Refuse to buy pumped-up, tasteless, seedy blimps with greasy, thick, nasty skin masquerading as cucumbers!"
April 1, 2011
Market Watch: Pixie mandarins from Ojai are a farmers market favorite
Small and unprepossessing they may be, but Pixie mandarins are a farmers market favorite for their seedlessness, rich flavor — combining the best of mandarin and orange — and late season. In the last decade, Pixies grown in this picturesque valley in northwestern Ventura County have achieved cult status in Southern California because they're local, distinctive and delicious. Still, much about this charismatic mandarin remains little known, particularly its serendipitous path to renown.
12:16 PM CDT, March 25, 2011
Market Watch: Moro blood oranges at the legal limit of ripe in Ventura County
Moro blood oranges grown in Southern California are almost different fruits from those grown in the San Joaquin Valley, the state's leading citrus district. They're smaller in size, lighter in color and a month or more later in ripening. By April, San Joaquin Valley Moros often develop musty off-flavors, but when grown in Southern California the variety can remain in good condition well into the spring and arguably develops its sweetest, richest flavor here.
March 18, 2011
Market Watch: Shear Rock Farm began with 600 homeless tomato plants
What would you do if you had 600 tomato plants and no place to grow them? Sabrina Bohn, who faced that dilemma last May, hit the road and found a home in Santa Paula for her farm, which now raises a wide range of specialty vegetables. She and her partners have made such impressive progress that her Shear Rock Farm is one of the most promising newcomers to farmers markets recently, for the freshness, variety and presentation of its produce.
12:47 PM CST, March 11, 2011
Market Watch: Farmers market committee OKs plan to fight vendor cheating
It is not very often that meetings of the Certified Farmers Market Advisory Committee are the stuff of high drama. But such was the case Thursday at a meeting in Sacramento at which the committee voted to recommend a substantial increase in fees paid by market vendors, in order to fund a more effective market enforcement program.
9:49 AM CST, March 4, 2011
Market Watch: What else do those produce boxes hold?
For several decades, certified farmers markets have been the primary business model to satisfy the growing demand for fresh, locally grown produce, but in the last several years, an alternative model, community-supported agriculture (CSA), has spread rapidly in Southern California. The consequences for consumers, growers and farmers markets seem mostly positive so far, but the potential for controversy is also starting to emerge.
February 25, 2011
Market Watch: A fresher approach in Studio City
Farmers markets, like battleships, take a long time to change direction. Such has been the case with the Studio City venue, which since its founding in 1998 has always been a "family-friendly" event, with a pony ride, petting zoo and lots of prepared foods and crafts. While striving to maintain this social element, Carole Gallegos, who took over as manager six years ago, has gradually cut back on the crafts and upgraded the lineup of produce vendors by adding small, quality and organic farms. As a result, the market is now one of the two or three best in the San Fernando Valley.
February 11, 2011
Market Watch: Romanesco cauliflower's spectacular looks
Of all the produce available at farmers markets, far and away the most spectacular is the Romanesco cauliflower. Typically smaller than a standard cauliflower, vivid chartreuse and conical in shape, it displays an ornate fractal pattern in which each floret presents the same appearance as the whole head, in miniature. The result is that the eye zooms in on one turret, then another, and gets mesmerized by the swirling, logarithmic spiral of its self-repeating design.
February 4, 2011
Market Watch: Santa Monica's ban on plastic bags — what it means
The Santa Monica City Council approved an ordinance Jan. 25 prohibiting the distribution of single-use plastic carryout bags for most purposes. This will significantly affect the city's four certified farmers markets when it takes effect Sept. 1, but vendors and customers are just beginning to understand the ramifications.
Market Watch: The wild and elusive Dancy
While mandarin cultivation in California has quadrupled over the last decade to about 40,000 acres, the classic Dancy variety has fallen by the wayside, becoming rare to find even at farmers markets. That's a shame, because it's a charismatic, flavor-packed fruit, typical of what mandarins used to be like before they were hybridized with oranges and grapefruit for the sake of larger size and better handling.
January 21, 2011
Market Watch: Selecting the best grapefruit
Grapefruit may be the most misunderstood of California's fruits. Excellent locally grown examples are available year-round at farmers markets, but it's also easy to fall for fruit — often similar-looking and grown just a few miles away — that may be ludicrously sour or overmature. Choosing quality fruits depends on understanding the calendar of varieties and growing areas, which may seem inscrutable to the uninitiated but is easy to learn.
January 7, 2011
Market Watch: Super-hot Bhut Jolokia chiles
For certain people, finding and triumphing over the world's hottest chile is one of those captivating, extreme pursuits like climbing Mt. Everest or running an ultramarathon in Death Valley in July. Even for nonparticipants, the spectacle of the quest is amusing. Until recently, the hottest chile available at local farmers markets had been the relatively common habanero, so it was a bit surprising to see the fabled Bhut Jolokia, a heat championship contender, displayed quite casually at the Santa Monica farmers market the last two few weeks.
December 31, 2010
Market Watch: Winter shopping strategies at farmers markets
Frequent heavy rains and holiday closures on weekends have made recent weeks challenging for farmers market growers and shoppers. California's dominance in fruit and vegetable production stems largely from the rarity of rain during the peak summer season for many crops, allowing them to mature and be harvested with relatively few problems from spoilage. That advantage was turned on its head recently, as crops were damaged and farmers couldn't harvest them or drive to market.
December 24, 2010
Market Watch: How to buy avocados at their best
Choosing the right avocado for the season can be surprisingly tricky, even or especially at farmers markets. Good choices are available all year, but a knowledgeable buyer needs to juggle four factors: variety, season, growing area and fruit size. Every month or two the scenario changes, requiring buyers to stay nimble.
10:10 AM CST, December 17, 2010
Market Watch: The best mandarins are usually from farmers markets
Mandarins at their best are arguably the finest-flavored of all citrus, and clementines are potentially among the best of mandarins. California farmers have planted them on tens of thousands of acres over the last decade, and they are readily available in supermarkets, but there are several reasons, regarding variety, growing area, ripeness and post-harvest, for searching them out at farmers markets.
December 10, 2010
Market Watch: The art of hoshigaki-making
The traditional Japanese art of making the dried persimmons called hoshigaki is a mind-bogglingly labor-intensive artisanal process. The fruits of the acorn-shaped Hachiya variety are harvested firm, peeled by hand, strung up to dry for a month or so and manually massaged to break up their fibers and keep their flesh soft. If all goes well (and there's a lot that can go wrong), the surface of the finished product is covered with a fine white powdered sugar naturally exuded by the fruit. The flesh within has a tender but chewy texture and a sweet, spicy flavor, like raisins and gingerbread.
December 3, 2010
Market Watch: Jay Ruskey perks interest with California-grown coffee
When customers stop by Jay Ruskey's stand at the Santa Barbara farmers market these days, they may or may not be impressed by the likes of the dragon fruit or finger limes he grows, but virtually everyone stops and gawks at the jars of fresh-roasted coffee, flanked by a potted tree.
November 26, 2010
Market Watch: Red Brussels sprouts
Purple variants of common vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and potatoes have been increasingly popular at farmers markets in recent years, but none is as intriguing as the red Brussels sprouts just now showing up at the Santa Monica farmers market. Beautiful, tasty and different, they seem sure to make a splash.
November 19, 2010
Market Watch: At the revived Newport Beach market, persimmons and satsuma mandarins
Orange County offers both opportunity and pitfalls for farmers market shoppers.
November 12, 2010
Market Watch: Australian finger limes make a splash in Santa Monica
One of the rarest and most sought-after fruits, the Australian finger lime, has started showing up in significant quantities at the Santa Monica farmers market, creating a minor sensation. The fruit's appearance is enough to excite wonder: from the outside it looks like a little gherkin, but when sliced in half, the round, pearlescent juice vesicles ooze out of the fruit, like citrus caviar. The clean, fresh, tart lime-lemon taste is enticing enough, but the texture, crunchy and juicy, like citrus Pop Rocks, is even more prepossessing.
8:23 PM CST, November 10, 2010
Market Watch: Farmers market cheating alleged
The largest operator of Southern California farmers markets has protected a vendor who buys produce wholesale and misrepresents it as his own, alleged one of the company's managers, who made the claim at a listening session held by the California Department of Food and Agriculture last week in Santa Monica. The operator has denied the allegation, but the repercussions seem likely to reverberate in the farmers market world.
October 29, 2010
Market Watch: Autumn Lady peaches arriving from the high desert
Among the Halloween treats available at farmers market this weekend, alongside pumpkins, apples, and persimmons, there's one, Autumn Lady peaches from Tenerelli Orchards, that might seem incongruous. Could these fruits really be fresh, or any good?
2:07 PM CDT, October 21, 2010
Market Watch: Problems with farmers markets — and how to fix them
With concerns about cheating at farmers markets on the rise, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has scheduled four listening sessions around the state, including in Santa Monica on Monday, Nov. 1, to ask for public comment about its Certified Farmers Market Program, and especially to address concern about its integrity.
October 15, 2010
Market Watch: Controversial picks at Santa Monica's Main Street farmers market
The Santa Monica Main Street farmers market is something of an anomaly. Farmers make up the overwhelming majority of the stands at the other three markets run by the city of Santa Monica, but the Sunday Main Street market is evenly divided between farmers on its northern side and prepared-foods and crafts vendors on the southern end. That's partly because it was established in 1995 in partnership with the local business improvement district, with the goal not only of bringing fresh produce to the community, but also of boosting foot traffic and serving as an outlet for local businesses.
October 8, 2010
Market Watch: A rare shot at delicate Comice pears
While the weather has careened in the last week from broiling to chilly and sodden and back to warm, and summer produce, such as peaches, peppers and eggplants, continue to be offered at farmers markets, a change is in the air, independent of the temperature: We're seeing more and more typically autumnal crops like pears, apples, squash, chestnuts, pumpkins, pomegranates and even the first few persimmons.
October 1, 2010
Market Watch: A bumper crop of matsutakes
Aromatic matsutakes, a seasonal delicacy prized by the Japanese, rank among the elite of true wild mushrooms — along with porcini, morels and chanterelles — but are generally less available and less well known at farmers markets. Part of the reason is that although appreciation of matsutakes is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture, production of these mushrooms, which must be foraged from the wild, has plummeted over the last century in that nation, which now imports most of its supplies from other lands such as China, Korea and the United States, pushing up prices. But there's a bumper West Coast crop this year, and last week David West, mushroom purveyor extraordinaire, started receiving shipments from the mountains near the California- Oregon border.
September 24, 2010
Market Watch: New Angel Red pomegranate debuts in Southern California
Is the world ready for a major new pomegranate variety? We'll soon see whether Angel Red, touted as having softer seeds than conventional varieties, fulfills the great hopes of its discoverer and the many farmers who have rushed to plant it, as it starts showing up in Southern California this week.
September 17, 2010
Market Watch: Glorious apples born of an imperfect California summer
Many are the virtues claimed for Southern California's climate, but a similarity to England's rarely ranks among them. Early Wednesday morning at the Santa Monica farmers market, however, the chill and dense fog were indeed London-like and emblematic of the mild temperatures this summer that have made for a banner year for Michael Cirone's apples, grown in See Canyon, near San Luis Obispo.
September 10, 2010
Market Watch: Atwater Village market's local tomato grower, Cameron Slocum
Cameron Slocum pulls up to the Atwater Village farmers market in the Tomatomobile, a 1980s Volvo station wagon with crude icons of tomatoes, blue on the right side, pink on the left, scrawled everywhere including the windows, along with a plug for "The Eastside Tomato King.com." He whips out a high-design Italian chair and a few handfuls of carrots, radishes and beets, which he displays on a table covered with trippy spirals. "Dad approaches everything like a visual arts project," says his daughter and assistant, Lina, 19. "Last year when he sold at farmers markets it was more a performance piece than anything else."
August 27, 2010
Market Watch: Fresh dates — Barhi, Medjool and more
Dates can keep in refrigeration for years and are available year-round, but the freshly harvested fruits, which started showing up last week, are far superior in texture and flavor, and are one of the great seasonal treats available at Southern California farmers markets.
August 20, 2010
Market Watch: Prime time for Asian pears
Asian pears, like many fruits, are available year-round from storage and imports. But they are really at their best during the heat of late summer and early fall, when their delicate flavor is freshest and a juicy, crunchy fruit straight from the refrigerator is most refreshing. Even though they're often marketed as "apple pears" — which seems plausible, since they're generally round and are eaten firm and crunchy like apples — Asian pears are not hybrids at all, but belong to pear species that are native to Asia, most often Pyrus pyrifolia, and distinct from the European pear, P. communis.
August 13, 2010
Market Watch: Coachella desert's Valencia Pride and Keitt mangoes have arrived
Customers have been wondering for weeks when they'd show up, and now Wong Farms' desert mangoes, among the most exotic and eagerly sought fruits grown in California, are back at the Wednesday Santa Monica farmers market. Juicy, sweet and aromatic, they're expensive and tricky to obtain, but worth it for diehard mango lovers.
August 6, 2010
Market Watch: The short, happy life of Adriatic figs
This seems to be a banner season for figs, which are practically made for farmers markets, since they are only at their best when fully ripe, at which point they are too perishable to ship commercially. The Adriatic variety, with thin green skin and strawberry flesh that's so sweet it's almost like jam at peak ripeness, is one of the most luscious of figs but rarely encountered fresh, even at farmers markets, because of this fragility; most go to make dried figs and fig paste.
July 30, 2010
Market Watch: Fresh goji berries make their debut
Goji berries, the much-hyped "superfruit" native to China, touted for their medicinal properties and surprisingly delicious too, are now available for the first time as fresh fruit at local farmers markets.
July 23, 2010
Market Watch: Heirloom tomatoes, Pluots, Japanese bell peppers in Torrance
The Torrance farmers market is one of the three largest and best in the Southland, along with Santa Monica and Hollywood, and one of the very few that qualifies as a destination. Bustling and well-run, it always has a lot to offer, but particularly so now, in peak season for so many fruits and vegetables.
July 16, 2010
Market Watch: Flavorful grapes are coming to farmers markets
Table grapes are readily available year-round at supermarkets, and if you're just looking for a juicy, healthy snack, you can do perfectly well there. But if you're looking for grapes with flavor, the best source is farmers markets, where the season for table grapes from the earliest part of the main growing area, the southern San Joaquin Valley, has just started, and vendors increasingly are offering specialty varieties to appeal to diverse tastes.
July 9, 2010
Market Watch: Controversy in South Pasadena
As farmers markets and their sales have burgeoned in Southern California, the rights to sell at them — at least at the more successful venues — have become increasingly valuable, and in several cases, matters of contention. Witness the recent squabbles at the South Pasadena market, where slots for vendors, fees, integrity and management are at stake. It's a story of more than local interest, because the same issues, typically below the radar of the general public, frequently come into play at other markets.
July 2, 2010
Market Watch: At Hawthorne Del Aire, Santa Rosa plums, 'mango nectarines,' watermelon, mint, basil
The Hawthorne Del Aire farmers market, which celebrates its first anniversary this Saturday, is modest in size, with a dozen certified vendors, but its organizers are earnest about serving their community. It's sponsored by the Del Aire Neighborhood Assn., and managed by Susan Hillyer, who worked as a marketing director at Safeway and Bristol Farms before shifting careers. She volunteered at the Torrance market for Mary Lou Weiss, a veteran manager who acted as a mentor. So far she's put together a good local venue, a little sleepy, with only a few dubious vendors.
June 25, 2010
Market Watch: Prime time for Blenheim apricots, Snow Queen white nectarines and Persian mulberries
For stone fruit growers and buyers, the cool, moist spring yielded mixed results: disastrous losses for many cherry farmers whose crops split in the rain; a banner year for apricots, which have thrived in the milder weather; and a delayed harvest, with so-so quality, for many early peach and nectarine varieties. This coming week, however, a veritable fruit storm will hit the Southland, with some of the year's most eagerly awaited, high-flavored fruits, including Blenheim apricots, Snow Queen white nectarines and Persian mulberries.
June 11, 2010
Market Watch: Spring porcini now in season
Spring porcini, among the most prized and delicious of wild mushrooms, have started their brief season at a few local farmers markets. Most people think of porcini and kindred fungi, known as boletes, as being specialties of autumn, and so they are in Europe and the Eastern United States, but here in the Western states we have our own species, the "spring king," as it is sometimes called, with the same excellent flavor — earthy, nutty and meaty — and its own season, habitat and commerce.
9:30 AM CDT, June 4, 2010
Market Watch: New farmers market in Topanga Canyon
There are pocket parks, even pocket battleships, so why not pocket farmers markets? Such is the model -- small markets targeted for a particular niche -- developed by Howell Tumlin, executive director of the Southland Farmers' Market Assn., which at its peak linked many major local markets. For the last year Tumlin has been working as a consultant and developer of new markets, mostly for Kaiser Permanente hospitals.
May 28, 2010
Market Watch: How to buy the best cherries
Growing cherries is always a roll of the dice for farmers, because if rain falls when the fruits are ripe on the tree, a large portion of them can split and be ruined. You'd think that by late May the main danger would have passed, but J.P. Barbagelata, who is hoping to bring Bings to the Santa Monica market next Wednesday, had the agonizing experience of driving off last Tuesday just as the rain was starting to fall on his farm in Linden, near Stockton. As he drove he heard that a quarter-inch had fallen, and that more was expected.
May 21, 2010
Market Watch: Deliciously strange Pakistan mulberries
Almost everyone who sees a Pakistan mulberry for the first time exclaims, "Oh, my gosh, what is that?" It certainly is bizarre looking, a long, thin, purplish, snakelike fruit, anywhere from 1 to 5 inches long, with 3 inches being typical. Although not yet exactly common at farmers markets, they're not nearly as rare as they used to be even a few years ago.
May 14, 2010
Market Watch: Newly reopened Malibu farmers market celebrating its10th anniversary
Next week will mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Malibu farmers market, an institution that has aroused considerable controversy.
May 7, 2010
Market Watch: Capay Organic expands into Southern California
Were it not for the palm trees, it would have been easy to imagine that the Capay Organic farm stand, which started selling last Sunday at the Beverly Hills farmers market, was actually on its home ground at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza or Davis, Calif., markets. Long a familiar presence in Northern California, Capay Organic is now expanding to the Southland, bringing attractive, artfully displayed produce, but also questions about the direction in which farmers markets are headed.
April 30, 2010
Market Watch: Cherries, ripe for the picking
"Cherries!?" Almost everyone who passed the Murray Family Farms stand at the Santa Monica farmers market on Wednesday blurted out this word in varied tones of delight, surprise, and skepticism. Delight at the sight of the first stone fruit of the season; surprise, because cherries usually have not shown up at the market until a bit later, in early May; and skepticism that such early fruit could taste good.
April 29, 2010
Farmers markets: Getting the goods
Farmers markets are hot. More people than ever want to eat local produce and shop at them, and chefs glorify their growers. Nowhere are farmers markets more popular than in Southern California, where great produce is available all year. The number of certified markets in the region roughly doubled over the last decade, to more than 200, and they're all over — at hospitals, malls, gated communities and rock festivals.
April 23, 2010
Market Watch: Local growers at Uptown Whittier market
The Uptown Whittier farmers market has 15 certified produce vendors, so it's not huge, but it does offer a good selection of local growers, a convenient location and a manager, Kae Thomas, with 26 years of experience. The Friday market, which was established around 1988, moved several blocks last May to its current site in a parking lot at the corner of Philadelphia and Bright. Space is a bit tighter than at the previous venue, but most customers and vendors prefer the new spot because it's more level, there's more foot traffic, and it "feels more like a farmers market," as one shopper remarked.
April 16, 2010
Market Watch: A world of extraordinary flavors in specialty and exotic strawberries
The mild climate along California's coast enables its strawberry growers to dominate commercial production of this fruit; last year they accounted for some 88% of the nation's crop. For strawberry lovers, that's both a blessing, of abundance and reasonable prices, and a curse, because local growers are focused almost exclusively on varieties suited to industrial production. Compared with other states where local sales predominate, California strawberry breeders prioritize firmness and long shelf life, often at the expense of flavor.
April 10, 2010
Market Watch: When and how to buy strawberries
Strawberries available practically year-round are emblematic of Southern California farmers markets, but figuring out which ones to buy, when and from whom is tricky, and the subject of frequent discussion, even controversy, among market aficionados.
11:43 AM CDT, April 2, 2010
Market Watch: New Wellington Square farmers market opens in Mid-City
Spring is prime season not only for asparagus, favas and strawberries, but for new farmers markets, which often open at this time in the hope of gaining traction before the peak of sales in summer. One of the first of this year's new crop is the Wellington Square farmers market, located in the parking lot of its sponsor, the Smyrna Seventh-Day Adventist church, in the Mid-City district. Although there are other markets not too far away, including two, FAME and Adams and Vermont, that also are sponsored by churches, Lora Davis, a resident of the Wellington Square neighborhood, longed for a more local market, and decided to open one herself.
11:44 AM CDT, March 26, 2010
Market Watch: Corona del Mar farmers market is small but mighty
The 14-year-old Corona del Mar farmers market is modest in size, with 24 vendors, including 10 produce and five flower or nursery stands. That's down a bit from a decade ago, and vendors say that sales are off because of the tough economy, but the market still has enough good produce to make it a worthwhile stop for local residents.
3:57 PM CDT, March 18, 2010
Market Watch: When citrus is past its prime
What's new and good?" is the natural question to ask at a farmers market. But in choosing citrus, particularly at this time of year, one must also be aware of the equally important flip side: "What's past its prime?" The symptoms of overmaturity are crucial but not always obvious.
March 12, 2010
Market watch: Hard times for California asparagus
The long ranks of asparagus bunches standing at attention at the Zuckerman stalls at local farmers markets look much the same as in previous years, and the green, herbaceous spears are just as tender and delicious. But according to Roscoe Zuckerman, who grows in Holt, just west of Stockton, it may be getting close to the last stand for the San Joaquin Delta asparagus crop, a California tradition emblematic of springtime for more than a century.
March 5, 2010
Market Watch: Mar Vista farmers market
When neighborhood business owners and residents started the Mar Vista farmers market in 2006, they were not just looking for a local source for fresh fruit and vegetables; in a car-centered city where shopping experiences are typically impersonal, they wanted the market to serve as a community square for residents to meet and socialize. By this standard, certainly, the event has been a great success, having expanded from a small, sleepy "starter market" to a lively venue with some 58 stands.
Market Watch: At Ventura Downtown farmers market, Minneola tangelos and cauliflower
The Ventura Downtown farmers market, the oldest and largest farmers market in Ventura County, has remained remarkably stable over the last decade, with a good mix of local growers, including many small and backyard farmers. It benefits from its location in a growing area rich in vegetable, berry and citrus farms, and from the experience and integrity of its longtime manager, Karen Wetzel Schott, who does a good job keeping out peddlers masquerading as farmers. The ambience is especially relaxed and family-friendly.
February 18, 2010
MARKET WATCH
Fennel showing up at farmers markets
Fennel, the most fragrant of vegetables, is now at its peak of abundance and quality. Of the half-dozen stands at the Hollywood farmers market that sell it, Finley Organic Farms, which grows the Zefa Fino variety in Santa Ynez, has the sweetest and most tender and aromatic bulbs, ideal for eating raw in salads. Finley also sells at the Culver City, Beverly Hills and Saturday Santa Monica markets. But it's hard to go wrong: The Xiong farm of Clovis has pristine specimens, and Underwood Family Farms of Somis has large, plump bulbs.
February 12, 2010
MARKET WATCH
Alhambra farmers market: pummelos for Chinese New Year
The scores of customers who join the long line at the Alhambra farmers market on Sunday mornings to buy Jerry Dimitman's Wong pummelos all know the drill: Get there early, and be prepared to wait as each shopper scrutinizes the giant pear-shaped citrus fruits, holding them in the hand, one by one, to judge their weight, looking for heavy, shapely specimens. Plenty of pummelos are grown in California, but most are the flat, pink-fleshed Chandler variety. And especially as Chinese New Year approaches -- it will be Sunday, Feb. 14, this year, the Year of the Tiger -- many Chinese Americans seek out the necked, yellow-fleshed fruits they remember from their homeland. Asians give them as offerings at temple altars, where their gold color symbolizes prosperity; they also peel and eat them, carefully removing the tough, bitter membrane from each section.
February 5, 2010
It's not all organic, but integrity and quality are in abundance
The Santa Monica Saturday Organic farmers market was originally conceived in 1991 as an all-organic venue, but when this proved impractical, nonorganic vendors were admitted. Nevertheless, it does offer a high percentage of organic vendors, currently about 20 of 46, and more important, it's one of the best markets in the Southland, in good part because Mort Bernstein, the manager since soon after its founding, is a stickler for integrity and quality.
January 29, 2010
MARKET WATCH
Silver Lake farmers market: root vegetables, greens, herbs
Launched in 2001 by the Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance, a nonprofit organization that benefits local youths, the Silver Lake farmers market successfully serves its community. Prepared foods and crafts stands -- such as gourmet coffee, books, LPs, sunglasses and clothes -- outnumber the produce vendors, giving the venue somewhat of a flea market ambience, but that seems to suit the area, with its mix of hipster and working-class residents.
January 13, 2010
MARKET WATCH
The Seedless Kishu, a small but mighty mandarin
Adorable and irresistible, the Seedless Kishu is one of the most delicious of mandarins, smaller than a golf ball but easy to peel, tender, juicy, fragrant and sweet. Until recently it was very difficult to find, even at farmers markets, but at least a dozen growers now have producing trees of these small wonders, and the fruits are becoming more readily available.
January 1, 2010
MARKET WATCH
Rancho La Viña's La Nogalera walnut oil
Walnuts are available year-round, but the most traditional season for their consumption is late fall and winter, particularly around Christmas and New Year's. We're lucky that Rancho La Viña, a remnant of the walnut groves that once covered Southern California, sells high-quality nuts and oil at local farmers markets.
December 30, 2009
MARKET WATCH
At the Los Feliz farmers market: Asian vegetables, strawberries, mushrooms
The number of farmers markets in Los Angeles County has more than doubled over the last decade, from 53 to 129, and many of the venues are new, small and operated by neophytes. Such is the case with the Los Feliz farmers market, which was started five months ago by Helen Lee, a filmmaker who grew up in the area and got into the world of markets when she operated a crepe stand. She has started three markets since April; this one, sponsored by a nonprofit organization called Eco-Op, began near the well-known Dresden restaurant, but a month ago moved two blocks north to its current, more visible location in a post office parking lot. In this modest space Lee has managed to fit 25 stands, of which seven are certified produce vendors and 18 offer prepared foods and miscellaneous merchandise. The neighborhood invites strolling, but free local parking is scarce.
December 23, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Finger lime: the caviar of citrus
This year, for the first time, you don't have to be a scientist or an Australian to taste citrus caviar from legendary finger limes, as the initial, very small harvest from commercial plantings in California has started to show up at local markets and restaurants.
December 16, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Santa Clarita farmers market: almonds, Princess raisins, citrus and cabbage
The Santa Clarita farmers market offers experienced management, a good mix of quality local growers, and plenty of parking. It took some time after its establishment in 1993 to catch on, but the numbers of shoppers and vendors have steadily increased, and it's really flourishing now.
December 9, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Hollywood farmers market: Bacon avocados, cherry tomatoes
The Hollywood farmers market has a distinctively urban, almost carnival-like atmosphere, blending serious foodies, working-class shoppers, musicians, petition gatherers and a scattering of freaks. It's the second-largest market in Southern California, behind Santa Monica Wednesday, and features an abundance of excellent and unique farms, but also some that sell commercial-grade produce. The geographical organization is well-conceived, with the certified farmers on Ivar Avenue and a lively stretch of prepared foods and crafts on the cross street, Selma Avenue.
November 25, 2009
MARKET WATCH
At the Santa Monica Pico farmers market: kiwis, dates, Fuyu persimmons
The Santa Monica Pico farmers market on Saturdays has a lower profile than the big Wednesday venue on Arizona, but it's an excellent market in its own right. It's in an attractive location, the recently renovated Virginia Park, and it's substantial in size, with 35 produce vendors, and seven prepared food stalls. Most important, Ted Galvan, who has managed the market since its establishment in 1992, vets the farmers to make sure they actually grow what they sell. Many managers don't bother or don't have the time to conduct farm inspections, but Galvan -- whose family used to own a local chain of Mexican restaurants named Hacienda Galvan -- has visited virtually all of his growers.
November 25, 2009
MARKET WATCH
At the Burbank market: Salad greens, Brussels sprouts, apples, grapes, persimmons and pepinos
The Burbank farmers market, now held in the parking lot next to City Hall, has occupied several locations since its founding in 1983 but has always maintained high standards. It continues to feature many more produce vendors than prepared foods and crafts, 25 of 33 stands. Much of the credit belongs to the longtime manager, Carolyn Hill, who retired in July 2008 but trained her successor, Sarah Dornbos, to continue the market's style. The event provides more than $50,000 yearly to its sponsor, the Providence St. Joseph Medical Foundation, to subsidize medical expenses for needy patients.
November 18, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Laguna Beach: Purple Queen beans, Pink Lady apples, satsuma mandarins
The Laguna Beach farmers market, held in a city parking lot below a huge bluff, has remained a stable, successful venue for the past decade. It features about 20 produce vendors, including three Orange County vegetable growers, Smith Farms and two branches of the Berumen family.
November 6, 2009
MARKET WATCH
This week: Mexican limes, Arkansas Black apples, Autumn Lady peaches
California's season for limes is much earlier than for most other citrus. Some limes show up at farmers markets through the winter, and a very few year-round, but September to December is the time of plenty for locally grown fruit.
November 4, 2009
MARKET WATCH
At Playa Vista: Fuji apples, Fuyu-type persimmons, minutina mini-greens
Playa Vista is not far from several established farmers markets, but a nearby market is a coveted amenity, and residents of this new neighborhood were delighted when their own venue opened in June. Since it's hard to see from nearby main streets, it draws mostly local customers, and perhaps as a result, vendors say that business has been just so-so. The market is modest in size, with 28 stands, half produce, half prepared foods, but the manager, Mark Anderson -- a co-owner of Lark Farms, which grows vegetables in Fillmore -- has assembled a well-chosen roster of respected farms.
October 28, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Introducing . . . Buddha's Hand
Shoppers usually stop in their tracks, jaws hanging down, the first time they see a Buddha's Hand citron, which looks like a cross between a lemon and a squid. Its ancestor, the ordinary citron, is one of the three original species of citrus and looks like a large, lumpy lemon; in the Buddha's Hand, the fruit splits at the end opposite the stem into segments that look somewhat like human fingers - whence the fruit's other name, fingered citron. This prodigy is a genetic mutation that arose many centuries ago somewhere in the citron's homeland, southwestern China and northeastern India. (Occasionally similar-looking fruits will develop on a normal lemon tree, but these are caused by mite damage to the buds.)
October 16, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Sweet and spicy: Chocolate persimmon and GoldRush apples
The so-called Tsurunoko or Chocolate persimmon is a most mysterious, elusive and alluring fruit. Technically speaking, it belongs to the obscure class of "pollination-variant, nonastringent" persimmons, in which small quantities of alcohol exuded from the seeds cause the tannins in the flesh to clump together, turning the pulp brown, softening the astringency and developing a rich, distinctive flavor.
October 9, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Ashmead's Kernel apples are deliciously ugly
Small, russet brown, and dotted with pockmarks, the Ashmead's Kernel apples grown organically by Windrose Farm in Paso Robles definitely won't win any beauty prizes. They do, however, have the most intense, complex flavor of any fruit in the world, strong and sharply sweet, with an aroma that reminds Britons of the traditional candies called pear drops -- derived, say chemists, from the amyl acetate ester.
October 2, 2009
MARKET WATCH
In Claremont: Cucumbers, watermelon, jicama, mushrooms and eggplant
Quite a few farmers markets have opened in the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire over the last decade, but many of them have never really taken off, or feature mostly prepared foods and crafts. The medium-size Claremont market does emphasize produce and draws appreciative customers from around the region.
September 25, 2009
MARKET WATCH
This week: Fresh bamboo shoots, habanero peppers, lychees, peaches, apples
Fresh, domestically grown bamboo shoots are hard to find in California, but Yao Cheng Farm grows an acre of them near Camarillo and sells at the Monterey Park, Alhambra, Irvine and Thousand Oaks farmers markets.
September 23, 2009
Health authorities act to contain bacterial threat to citrus trees
A month after the discovery of Asian citrus psyllids in Santa Ana and Echo Park, state and county plant health authorities are scrambling to implement new regulations for citrus growers who sell at farmers markets in affected areas.
September 23, 2009
MARKET WATCH
New Moorpark farmers market: top muscat grapes, quality olive oil
By most counts, the new farmers market in Moorpark is pretty nondescript. Brand new (it only opened in June), it is modest in size, with about a dozen certified producers, and has been relatively quiet so far. But against all odds, this one small market features two vendors that sell one of the scarcest and greatest grape varieties you'll ever taste.
September 16, 2009
FOOD
Farmers markets fear Los Angeles' fees
Farmers market managers in Los Angeles are in a tizzy over a proposed city ordinance that would charge more than 20 markets tens of thousands of dollars to recoup the city's costs of enabling their events, which could force them to close or move if new ways to cover the costs can't be found.
September 16, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Long Beach Southeast farmers market: mushrooms, wild bitter melon, grapes and pears
Favored by a pleasant location at the Alamitos Bay Marina and by its proximity to several affluent areas, the Long Beach Southeast farmers market has grown steadily since its founding in 1997. It's now the largest farmers market in the Long Beach area, and one of the best mid-size markets in Southern California.
September 4, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Pitahaya, or dragon fruit, finds a place at SoCal farmers markets
It's happening at farmers markets all over Los Angeles. A shopper stops short, agape, at a table of fruits that look like artichokes from Mars, and asks the vendor, "What on Earth are they?"
September 2, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Encino farmers market: grapes, plums, avocados, nopales, green beans and celery
The Encino farmers market remains the largest and best in the San Fernando Valley, with about 30 produce vendors. This count has held steady over the last decade, but the number of prepared foods and nonagricultural stands, selling everything from hot dogs to pet nail clippers, has almost tripled during that time, from 13 to 37. That trend is common these days, as the sponsors of farmers markets -- whether cities, charities or entrepreneurs -- find that craft and food stalls generate higher fees than farmers. In Encino's case it's for a good cause, to benefit the One Generation Daycare center for children and frail seniors.
August 26, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Penryn Orchard Specialties continues a tradition of 'mountain-grown' fruits
Jeff Rieger's commute each week to the Santa Monica farmers market from his farm in Placer County-- 924 miles round trip -- is probably the longest regularly undertaken by any vendor at a Southern California certified market. He is driven by a passion to grow and market rare and high-quality fruits, all the more remarkable since he got into farming almost by accident.
August 12, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Ripe time for mangoes from Wong Farms
Among the most eagerly awaited treats sold at farmers markets are the luscious mangoes grown by Wong Farms in Mecca, just north of the Salton Sea. When Deborah Wong Chamberlain started selling her crop last Wednesday at the Santa Monica farmers market, most of her truckload was already spoken for by customers who started calling her weeks ago, even though her mangoes are far more expensive, at $3.49 a pound, than the imported ones sold at supermarkets. Hers, however, are of matchless flavor and texture.
MARKET WATCH
Market Watch: Tomato growing with passion
"Windshield doctor and heirloom tomato grower." It sounds like one of those joke advertisements, but Darrell Elser juggles these two vocations with aplomb.
July 29, 2009
MARKET WATCH
At Santa Monica farmers market, peppers, flageolets, peaches and berries
At the Santa Monica Wednesday farmers market, growers, shoppers and chefs are always searching for new and extraordinary items.
July 22, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Beverly Hills farmers market: lima beans, pluots, lemon cucumbers
The Beverly Hills farmers market, which will celebrate its 15th anniversary Aug. 2, is one of the best mid-size markets in Southern California and is carefully supervised by its manager, Greta Dunlap.
July 15, 2009
MARKET WATCH
In Venice, salad greens, Asian vegetables, stone fruit and muskmelons
The Venice farmers market is modest in size but rich in high-quality stands with colorful characters behind them.
July 8, 2009
MARKET WATCH
In Ventura County, stone fruit, flame grapes, bicolor corn and black raspberries
Under the experienced direction of manager Karen Wetzel Schott, the Thousand Oaks farmers market is one of the two largest and best in Ventura County, along with Ventura Saturday. Vendors and customers are pleased that the market recently returned to its spacious original location in a shopping center parking lot, after two years of exile on a cramped rooftop.
July 1, 2009
MARKET WATCH
A fruitful time at the Irvine farmers market
The Irvine farmers market, the largest in Orange County, offers a wide selection and moderate prices. There are quite a few craft stalls, but produce is clearly the focus.
June 24, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Circle C Ranch's immigrant beginnings
Many shoppers at the Hollywood and Santa Monica farmers markets well remember Circle C Ranch for the outlandishly long lines that formed to buy its Persian mulberries. Others fondly recall the connoisseur-quality fruit -- jammy Adriatic figs, super-sweet Seckel pears and Indian blood peaches -- that conjured a virtual cult around the farm and its eccentric co-owner, Kim Blain, who died in 2003. Few people, however, have any idea of the family drama, worthy of Chekhov and Flannery O'Connor, behind the stand, which will resume selling at the Hollywood Farmers Market this Sunday.
June 17, 2009
MARKET WATCH
Torrance market featuring delicious pluots
It's about 10 days late, due to persistent mild weather, but peak season for stone fruit finally has arrived, with so many great choices that it's easy to go wild, especially at a large, vibrant market such as Torrance.
June 10, 2009
MARKET WATCH
The time is ripe for figs, apricots and peaches at Pasadena Victory Park
The Pasadena Victory Park farmers market, founded 25 years ago, continues to be large, well-run and focused on produce.
June 3, 2009
MARKET WATCH
This week at Riverside farmers market
The Riverside farmers market, one of the best in its region, emphasizes genuine small and local growers. For instance, Angelo and Adelina Filandrianos, a charming couple from Hinkley, near Barstow, have plump, sweet and flavorful Bing cherries, now in peak season.
May 27, 2009
MARKET WATCH
This week at Westwood Farmers' Market: Valencia oranges, Robada apricots, Flavorella plumcots
At its former location on Weyburn Avenue, the Westwood Farmers’ Market was big and lively. Forced to close in 2006, it reopened three months later at the Veterans Garden, north of Constitution Avenue, west of Sepulveda Boulevard. While this venue is beautiful and peaceful, with picnic tables under a large fig tree and even a nearby parrot sanctuary, it is isolated from Westwood Village pedestrians, so shoppers and vendors are few compared with the old market in its prime.
Copyright © 2012, The Los Angeles Times
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