Monterey Market
I'm going to Monterey Market first thing Monday morning to buy the best seasonal fruit for a fruit plate for 30. What should I get?
foodie
Mar 08, 2004 12:17AM
I'm going to Monterey Market first thing Monday morning to buy the best seasonal fruit for a fruit plate for 30. What should I get?
foodie
Mar 08, 2004 12:17AM
If it's not too late for you, I got kiwis 4 for $1.00 at the Berkeley Farmer's Market this past weekend. They're from a grower in Fairfield, so that means they're in season, and Monterey Market will probably have some. Strawberries looked good at Andronico's, but they were $5.00/package. Oranges of all types are in season. Maybe mandarin slices? Pineapple, definitely.
Good luck!
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I think they put the best, cheapest, freshest stuff outside to sell it fast.
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I was just there this weekend and bought a bunch of fruit. I bought kent mangoes, navel oranges, jonagold apples, green grapes, and strawberries. I've had some of the apples, strawberries, and grapes and they were all only so-so.
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Since the apples, strawberries, and grapes aren't really in season locally, guess that's to be expected.
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I had (relatively) great strawberries from whole foods two weeks ago. Where would these have come from?
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All the strawberries (and raspberries) I've seen lately at Berkeley Bowl and Andronico's say they're from Watsonville, but that seems odd to me, since berry season is summer. They must just be different varieties bred for year-round picking (which is scary, but convenient, too).
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I have been suspicious about the berries as well, and assume they are being hothoused, though they are actually only a little bit ahead of the local, in season farms. Swanton Berry Farms told me this weekend that the strawberries are coming out in "2 to 4 weeks".
Also, my Patricia Unterman book says that Chandler Strawberries from Santa Maria start in January.
Go figure, now I am all confused ...
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Winterish berries come from Mexico, Florida, South America and other southern hemisphere realms. The southern Calif berry season (San Diego, Riverside, Santa Maria, etc.) starts in January most years but doesn't hit peak of flavor until April or so or later. The northern Calif. season lags that by a few months.
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I am now even more confused because I went to the What's in Season website for KQED (a link another hound posted maybe 6 m
Link: http://www.kqed.org/topics/home/cooki...
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what happened to the rest of my post?
anyway, I was just saying that the KQED people say that strawberries are in season in March, not in April, and then are back in season in the summer.
also, I bought a basket of strawberries two weeks ago from a truck on the side of the road in sonoma. these strawberries (i assume they are local) were better than the ones I got at the monterey market this past weekend. still, the ones from whole foods were the best of the three.
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As has been implied but not actually stated, the difference in flavor might be related to different varieties rather than location/ripeness. Since strawberries pretty much look alike, you wouldn't know unless you bought them from a producer who was marketing them as a specific variety. Even a farmers' markets you usually have to ask to find out what variety they are.
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One of the folks at Monteray Market told me, years ago, that it takes about 10-14 days of warm weather to get really ripe strawberries. I assume that is starting with not-ripe strawberries, of the right kind to be trying to be ripe in the cool months. So . . . if this weather continues for another week, we may see tasty local strawberries, but otherwise we get the typical winter-weather stuff.
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I grew up in SoCal, and we used to start getting good berries from Oxnard in February.
None, however, were ever as good as the U-pick chandlers from Swanton. I may even go more than once this year.
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strawberries aren't actually a long-hot-climate fruit. they grow all the way up in coastal washington state. around here, they are grown coastally as well as in the valley. i used to cross the valley regularly, and would stop at the small fields/stands near escalon. they were run by hmong families, and were hand-picked daily, just before peak ripeness. one single basket of these succulent ruby gems could perfume my whole car. a mountainous 12-basket tray ran $12-14. dios mio!
but the season there is just march-april.
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have been good lately.
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