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Market
Report
Goleta, Santa Barbara
County, Calif.
Sunday, September 17, 2006 |
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The Market:
Goleta Farmers Market
Camino Real Marketplace
corner of Storke and Hollister
Sundays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m
(805) 962-5354
Market-Goer: Mark
Thompson
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Normally, the sky is blue here in
Goleta, as it was on another of my visits
to this market. When the sky is as grey as it is in the photo above, it's
usually from a
marine layer of low-hanging fog from the Pacific Ocean just a
mile to the west. Today, the coloration has a considerably
less romantic source: a massive brush fire burning 20 or 30
miles in the mountains east of here, near Ojai. The day before my market visit, searing Santa Ana
winds had blown over the mountains from the desert to the
sea, whipping up the flames and pushing a vast pall of smoke
through the Ojai Valley onto the coastal plain, where it
muffled the sun from
Ventura to the north of Santa Barbara.
About 20 farms selling fruits and vegetables were
represented in the market today.
| At markets in the Santa Barbara area, you
can count on finding all of the standard seasonal items,
in multiple varieties. You can also count on finding
items you've never had before. . |
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In my case, today that
would be the pods of a leguminous tree, guajes.
Guajes
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What I Bought:
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Assorted Peppers
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Tomatoes The
pepper varieties include cayenne, on the far right,
and moving to the left, Peruvian purple, Serrano and a
Hungarian variety.
Price: $2-3/lb. for tomates
$3/lb. for peppers
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Thompson
(top) and Pinot Noir grapes The
Thompsons are tiny because the vines aren't girdled
and the bunches of grapes aren't doused with
gibberellic acid, two commonly used techniques to
make grapes bigger. Price:
$2/lb.
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Chinese and
Indian Eggplants
Price: $2/lb.
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Parsley,
Cilantro, Guajes (top photo); Bag of
spinach (right)
Guajes
grow on trees, and the seeds, which are
rather tender, supposedly taste like
garlic or onions.
Those tastes come
through faintly, almost to the point of
being undetectable, at least to my palate. Price:
$.50/bunch for herbs
$1/bunch of guajes
$2.50/bag of spinach
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Southeast
Asian squash (top), tomatillos and lemon
cucumber (middle row), zucchini (bottom)
Granny
Smith apple flanked by a Fuji-gala cross
(left) and Fuji (right)
Price: $2.50/lb.
Elsa
Craig onions (left) and purple pearls
Price: $2/lb.
Black Mission
Figs
Price: $3/basket
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