hilary malveaux

we have been going to the farmers market at Fulton & San Joaquin lately. the results have been hit and miss.

last Thursday we were delighted to get 3 large avocados for a dollar and 2 nice eggplant for a dollar. we used one of the avocados for our sandwiches that day but had to discard a quarter of it because the flesh was black. does everyone do that? i don’t know if you’re supposed to eat the avocado flesh that’s black but i wasn’t taking any chances. the next day, i cut open the second avocado and ALL of the flesh was black. same thing with the third one. then on Saturday, i noticed that the eggplant had gone bad. the skin had brown nickel-sized indentations in several places and mold was growing on the bottom of one of them. i was so disappointed. the next day, the tomatoes we had purchased had the same brown indentations on them, and mold on the bottom of several. 2 weeks ago, we purchased a bunch of asparagus with poor results as well.

when i buy produce at Save Mart, this doesn’t happen. i buy produce and it stays intact until i use it that week. if i was using my produce over a week after purchase, i could understand it going bad. but within three days? unacceptable.

here’s another thing i find curious about the farmers market: the eggplant and avocados i bought had stickers on them just like the produce i find in the supermarket. what does that mean??

from now on, we are going to be more choosy about the vendors we buy from at the farmers market.