The Hollywood farmers market has the liveliest street scene of any of the farmers markets in Los Angeles. There are usually half a dozen musicians warbling for spare change tucked amidst the vegetable displays in the farmers market that occupies two long blocks of Ivar Street. For two blocks on Selma, the cross street, there are a couple dozen craft vendors and six or eight vendors of prepared foods, from omelettes to tamales to kebabs. The market even has a resident communist, who sells newspapers at the intersection of the two streets, next to the table staffed by the Los Angeles County Cooperative Extension, where you can often pick up some interesting recipes. 

Craft vendors fill two blocks intersecting farmers market

(left to right) Page Tangors, Owari Satsuma Mandarins,
Seedless Kishu Mandarins and Fremont Tangerines

The Owari and Kishu varieties are from Churchill Orchard in the Ojai Valley north of Los Angeles. The wee little Kishus (just several times bigger around than that nickel in their midst in the photo above) are available only in January, according to the Churchill Web site, Tangerineman.com, which goes on to say they have "fabulous flavor" and "there isn't a better tangerine." Well, maybe they'll be better next week. (Tangerines do  get sweeter as the season progresses). But these weren't the best tangerines I've ever tasted. In fact, I rated them fourth among the four varieties I bought today. The other three were excellent. I was surprisingly impressed with the Pages and Fremonts, which I've tended not to buy in recent years. 

That's primarily because I've had school-aged daughters, and they've always favored the seedless, zipper-skinned sastumas for their school lunches over varieties that don't have a peel that sloughs off in one piece and, heaven forbid, might even have a seed or two. Now that my daughters are older, I'm liberated from the need to cater to their somewhat picky school-lunch needs. I still buy plenty of satsumas, whose combination of taste and convenience is hard to beat. But these days, I'm branching out and enjoying the different tastes (and, incidentally, greater storability) of other varieties.  The Page, by the way, is a tangor, which is a cross between a tangerine and an orange. Hence, it's quite hard to peel and has an orangey flavor. The bright orange Fremonts are a bit easier to peel than the Pages but have a few more seeds. They've got a classic tangerine taste described by some as Lifesaver-like.

(top to bottom) Page,  Fremont, Satsuma

What's the difference between a mandarin and satsuma, you ask? Tangerineman.com has this to say: " 'Mandarin' and 'tangerine' are two words for the same thing, technically Citrus reticulata Blanco. They're called mandarins because they were thought to be native to China; they're called tangerines because they were thought to have come from Tangiers. They are in fact native to southeast Asia someplace, and they did in fact come to this country from North Africa, so both origin myths are correct."

Price: $2/lb. for Kishus and Pages
$1.50/lb. for Owari Satsumas
$1.30/lb. for Fremonts

Pippin Apples, Cherimoya, Lady Williams Apples

This is my first cherimoya of the season, and it proved to be perfect.  I had never heard of the Lady Williams apple until I found these today. A Google search turned up this variety's story. It originated on Boronia Farm in Donnybook, Australia, with a tree that sprouted in the 1930s beside the Williams family home. The much more common (in California farmers markets) Pink Lady is a cross between a Lady Williams and a Golden Delicious.

Price: $3/lb. for cherimoya
$1/lb. for Lady Williams apples

(left to right) Asian Pears, Meyer Lemons, Limes

Price: $2/lb. for Asian pears
$1/lb. for Meyer lemons
$1/six for limes

(left to right) Cheddar Cauliflower, Romanesca Broccoli, Purple Cauliflower

That's the nickel again, to give you an idea of how tiny these cauliflowers were. There were much bigger ones for sale, but I had room in my bag for just a sample, so I picked three of the smallest..

Price: $3.50/lb.

(left to right) Gai Lon, Bok Choy, Dill

Gai lon, also known as Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale, is one of my favorite stir-fry greens.

Price: $1/bunch

Spinach, Broccoli, Arugula, Italian Flat-Leaf Parsley

Price: $1/lb. for broccoli
$.50/bunch for parsley

Giant Beet, Red Onions

Price: $.50/lb. for giant beet

Stinging Nettles

This plant must be handled with care because it is covered with tiny spines that can seriously irritate the skin. But it reportedly has a myriad of medicinal virtues when it is dried and steeped in hot water to make tea. Seasonal Chef's San Francisco Bay Area contributor, Victoria Slind-Flor, who hails from Seattle, reminded me that nettle soup shows up in lots of fairy tales. "We have so many stinging nettles in the Pacific Northwest that it's one of those things that Girl Scouts learn to make," she says. "It's actually pretty good."

Price: $2/bunch