This market in the artsy Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego is regarded as one of the city's best.  Today, I counted 17 farm stands selling produce and another dozen or so selling cut flowers and nursery plants. Alongside the farmers market, there were a couple dozen other vendors selling crafts and prepared foods.

The large contingent of vendors of flowers and ornamental plants was no surprise. Though San Diego County is home to the nation's seventh largest city, it is also a major agricultural power -- and nursery plants and flowers are by far the major crop. More than 200 crops are commercially produced in the county, according to the county Department of Agriculture's 2004 crop report, with a total value of nearly $1.5 billion in that year (up more than $400 million from a decade earlier). Surprisingly, considering that southern California's population is booming, agriculture acreage in San Diego County has also soared in the past decade, from 173,123 acres in 1994 to 266,434 acres in 2004.

More about farming in San Diego County:
A Haven for Growers of Subtropical Fruit
Confessions of an Avocado Pusher

 
Out of season tomatoes look better than they taste, even here in the southwestern-most corner of the nation

(left to right) Sapotes, Lime (top), Tarocco Blood Oranges, Buddha's Hand Citron, 
Cherimoyas, Passion Fruit (top), Longans

Mark Twain supposedly once called the cherimoya "deliciousness itself." I've become an aficionado of these ultra-sweet custardy treats in my years of haunting Southern California farmers markets, where they're readily available (at least in the larger markets) from December through about June. The trees can't stand frost, which is why they're grown only in the most southern reaches of the United States. And the fragile fruits don't ship well, which is why they rarely make it very far beyond the regions where they're grown. Another trait that undoubtedly has prevented them from finding a wider audience is their extreme seediness. The large cherimoya I bought today contained 50 or 60 large, hard seeds, which means you'll be left with a mouthful after every bite of fruit. They're worth it, in my view, as Mark Twain would attest.  The Dr. White variety, the nobby-skinned one in the photos, is one of the earliest of the half dozen or so major commercial varieties.

Sapotes have similar, soft, custardy flesh with an exotic tropical flavor. A good sapote is just as delicious as a cherimoya,  in my opinion, and they have only two or three large seeds per piece of fruit. They're great in a salad mixed with citrus fruit, such as lime and/or blood orange. The acidity of the citrus moderates the intense tropical sweetness of the sapote. With a subtropical fruit salad in mind, I add limes and blood oranges to my shopping bag.  I buy a passion fruit and some longans just because they are a couple of other types of subtropical in the market today. I frankly don't understand the appeal of either. My other subtropical fruit purchase today is the Buddha's Hand citron, which I buy because it is so utterly weird looking. Citrons are composed almost entirely of peel and rind and they are used for zest and to make candied peel.  But if you intend to use a citron for that purpose, you'd be better off getting a more conventional round citron. The Buddha's Hand, on the other hand, can't be beat for a round citron if you're looking for a conversation piece. Price: $4/lb. for cherimoyas $3/basket of six sapotes $5/lb. for longans and citron

Dr. White Cherimoya (top), Unidentified Variety (bottom) Passion Fruit Cherimoya

Avocados

San Diego County is avocado country, so I can't leave this farmers market without some in my bag. These are quite a good deal.

Price: $5/nine medium avocados

Tokyo Turnips, Tomatoes, Summer Squash, Red Bell Pepper

San Diego is far enough south, with the sizzling desert farmlands of the Imperial Valley just over the mountains to the east, that I succumb to temptation to buy some out-of-season tomatoes, thinking these will be okay, despite the fact that it's mid-winter. Wrong. Winter tomatoes never cut it, in my opinion. I'll wait until June or July to try tomatoes again. The other summery crops weren't bad.

Price: $1/bunch for turnips
$3/lb. for tomatoes
$2/lb. for zucchini