Musing through the market yesterday (the Hollywood Farmers’ Market that is), I looked over at a friend and commented how deep we were into winter. Laughing out loud and pointing to my sandals and short sleeved shirt, I quickly let him know that I wasn’t commenting on the weather, but rather remarking on the winter-y, January produce speckling the market on a bright, sunny Sunday.
Wintertime fruit is means citrus and the fruit abounds in places like Imperial Valley, Cochella Valley, Inland Empire and San Joaquin Valley. What an opportunity to gorge on tangerines, navel oranges, blood oranges (new for January!), lemons, grapefruit and tangelos. Different varieties and hybrids are coming in nearly every week, adding sweetness and spunk to an otherwise hearty plethora of root crops like carrots, beets, potatoes, onions, and turnips. This is the time of year when nature provides us with bold, shocking sweetness and stick-to your bones, belly-filling veggies. (Who said winter-time eating was boring?!)
If you still need convincing on why to eat with the seasons and shop local consider this:
1. Freshness - Locally grown fruits and vegetables are usually harvested a day or two before the end up in your hand and on your plate. Produce from across the country can’t be that fresh.
2. Taste - Produce picked and eaten at the height of freshness has more flavor. Taste the difference.
3. Nutrition - Fresh, fully ripe produce contains more nutrients than food that is past its peak of freshness or was harvested before it ripened fully.
4. Variety - Farmers selling locally are not limited to the few varieties that are bred for long distance shipping, high yields, and shelf life. Often they raise, sell, and preserve seed/crop diversity and produce unusual varieties you’ll never find on supermarket shelves.
5. Environment - The environmental impacts of growing and shipping produce, sometimes halfway around the world, are enormous. Check out how conventional, large-scale agriculture contributes to global warming and other environmental crisis.
6. Local Health - Buying seasonal produce from your farmers’ market or from neighborhood farms supports your local economy, increasing the local quality of life for everyone. It also preserves California farmland from urban sprawl and development.
7. It’s fun! Bump up against your neighbors and meet and mingle with others in your city around the concept of good food.
Oh, and if citrus isn’t your thing, we’re counting down to California strawberry season! Just in time for Valentines Day, better sharpen your chocolate dipping skills!
Say it!