December 29, 2007

Buy local

Walking through the Farmers Market, I'm caught by a Melange of scents from a stall. Drawn closer, I realize it's a spice vendor. Fresh anise, cinnamon, ginger, paprika, and many I don't know. Housed in large bags, it reminds me of Granada Spain, yet not. Here, I'm surrounded by men and women hawking fresh produce you can only imagine the taste.

Mangos picked yesterday and brought to market early this morning before the sun rose. A tiny morsel yields more juice than any mango I've had at home. The color of the flesh a dark yellow verging on orange/gold. Cut fresh straight to your hand, the juice drips down your hand as you try to keep it from slipping from your fingers.

Fresh garlic bulbs stacked in rows beg to be snatched up for set of meals. Four or five kinds of bananas fresh from the tree. Bright yellow and harvested at the peak of freshness and ripeness. Each bite full of rich flavor. Lichia, papaya, guava, pineapple, plums, nectarines, limons, are just a few of the fruits you can buy and sample. We won't even delve into the vegetables and greens.

8 Comments:

At 3:14 PM, Blogger Buffalo said...

Sounds neat. I didn't realize there was more than one kind of banana.

 
At 5:47 PM, Blogger bikeandbeer said...

isn't it great to go to the market there? my favorite banana is ouro, the really tiny one. have you tried it? and, have you tried jaca? people either love it or hate it, veeeery strong aroma... too bad we never got together. happy new year!

 
At 9:58 AM, Blogger Schuyler said...

Would those garlic bulbs be heads of garlic, or cloves of garlic? ;-) Sorry Munkey, couldn't resist...

For those wondering what I'm talking about, Munkey had me over for a really good lasagna dinner one night a few years ago. (has it really been that long?) He was getting the ingredients together and held up an entire head of garlic. "Hey, is this a 'clove' of garlic?" "uhhh no. that's an entire head. These little compartments are cloves." "oh, good. The recipe calls for 7 or 8 cloves and I thought that was a lot." Now Munkey and I both really like garlic (he ended up putting like 12 cloves in the pan) but 8 heads of garlic in a lasagna would have killed us. Or those in the vicinity of our breath afterwards... The man knows how to make a mean lasagna. And by 'mean', I mean AWESOME!!

 
At 4:28 PM, Blogger Vesper said...

Happy New Year, Munkey!

 
At 10:52 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jesus, where do you live, South America? Our farmer's markets out here have Corn and Pumpkins, maybe some locally grown honey, which, by the way, is 1,000 times better than any store-bought crap.

 
At 11:23 AM, Blogger celtgirl said...

Your vacation notes make me yearn for the day I'll be able to travel in a similar fashion.
Thank you for bringing snippets of the world to those of us less fortunate.

 
At 1:52 PM, Blogger JLee said...

Man, I can almost smell that picture! I love fresh spices and herbs. I bought some fresh dill and added it to some ranch dressing. It's to die for!

 
At 6:05 AM, Blogger Mouthy Girl said...

NOT delve? Dammit, man, DELVE, DELVE!

Can you tell I'm horrified by the winter offerings of tomatoes, berries, and EVERY other fruit and veggie I come across these days? *sigh*

I am SO living vicariously through you in this post.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home