I felt like a kid waking up on Christmas morning today. Just a short stroll from my house – a new farmer’s market was starting up. Year-round no less.
It started at 9 am so I was up bright and early – helped by Mochi the dog who decided that 6:30 am was a good time to bust into the bedroom. P and I were joined by my brother, his girl friend, sister-in-law and 2 year old neice. As we headed out, our neighbor commented that it looked like we were going to a parade 🙂 So we headed off in a very festive mood. I was anxious to get there before it got too crowded – little S with her 2 year long legs kept up with my quick pace. Soon we heard music and spied the tops of the vendor tents.
I didn’t really know what to expect – I figured a small contingent of farmers and a few food vendors. I was pleasantly surprise when we turned the corner – the whole DMV parking lot was lined on both sides with vendors – many of my favorites and some I wasn’t familiar with. This was way above my expectations! Every vendor had beautiful wares and most were organic – samples were very generous 🙂
Since our garden was busting with veggies we planned a fruit trip. The only place you can buy decent ripe fruit is at a farmer’s market (or direct from the farm). Not only does ripe fruit not travel well enough to survive the typical 2 week grocery store distribution trip I heard that there are regulations in California prohibiting the sale of fruit to wholesalers above a certain sugar level. Not sure of the exact regulation but I do trust the source of this information. So there you have it – unless you have access to fruit trees or a farm – luscious ripe fruit can only be found at a farmer’s market.
Anyway – anything you could need for a week of yummy eats was there – fruit, veggies, mushrooms, avocadoes, organic free range eggs, hand made tofu, fish, oysters, breads from a number of vendors, olive oils and vinegars.
We only had about 30-40 minutes to enjoy the market and with family and friends around we ended up socializing more. Honestly I was a bit overwhelmed and look forward to next week when I plan to set aside a bit more time to browse and enjoy a nice breakfast/brunch from one of the food vendors – Thai, Crepes, Mexican, Indian, Oysters or Scones from Bakesale Betty? not sure but will have to have some goat’s milk ice cream for dessert.
If you live in the Rockridge or Temescal area or are in the hood – stop by this fabulous new market.
Sundays from 9 am – 1 pm
5300 Claremont Avenue
Oakland
2 Responses
Not only should the fruit be unripe, but I recently found out that commercially shipped fruit is shipped and stored near 32F!!
I don’t know if Tip Top is a vendor at temescal, but i had an amazing Santa Rosa plum from them today at the Berkeley market!
Hi Shuna,
Yes! and usually shipped via ‘controlled atmosphere’ meaning without oxygen to prevent ripening. Mostly with nitrogen. Sometimes produce is held this way for many months. ick!
Thanks for the Tip Top tip. I’ll keep my eyes peeled. We are lucky enough to have a neighbor with a Santa Rosa plum tree. I would climb on the garage roof almost risking life and limb to grab those juicy purple prizes. All done for this year. We’re now eyeballing the fig trees…