Discover the top 5 seasonal farmers market produce picks and learn how to store, prep, and cook them. Includes expert tips and easy, delicious recipe ideas!
Top 5 Must-Buy Farmers Market Produce Picks (+ Tips, Storage, and Recipe Ideas)
Heading to the farmers market and not sure what to grab? With so many vibrant, seasonal fruits and vegetables on display, it can be hard to know where to start. In this guide, I’m sharing the top 5 produce picks that are worth every bite—whether for flavor, versatility, or nutrition. You’ll also get tips on how to choose, store, and prep each item, plus easy and delicious recipe ideas to make the most of your fresh finds. Whether you’re a farmers market regular or just getting started, this list will help you shop smarter and cook better with the best of the season.
The farmers market is my happy place! Whenever I visit my local farmers market in Ojai or when I travel, I’m delighted with the sights, sounds, smells, and aromas of gorgeous produce fresh from the farm. Since farmers harvest their crops mere hours before it’s transported to farmers markets, there is really no way you can get any closer to fresh produce unless you grow it yourself. You can see soil still clinging to the roots, leaves that are perky and shining, and the ripe, succulent status of fruits—in stark comparison to supermarkets that may stock produce that has traveled more than a week to get to the shelves. No wonder research shows that people who purchase produce at farmers market consume more fruits and vegetables during the week, it’s just so enticing, beautiful, and flavorful. Not to mention that farmers markets offer much greater biodiversity—you’ll spy a variety of unusual produce, such as kohlrabi, bok choy, and pomelo, as well as different varieties of familiar produce, such as purple tomatoes, white peaches, and crimson apples. So do fall in love with these regional food hubs that connect you directly with farmers in your community to gain multiple benefits in the kitchen, as well as for your health thanks, to the bounty of nutrients found in mature, local fruits and vegetables.
What Is a Farmers Market?
Farmers markets are public, regional, recurring hubs that connect farmers to the community by selling locally produced foods directly to consumers. Not only is your neighborhood farmer market one of the best places you can turn to for the freshest produce in the spring and summer (year-round in some locations), it’s also the perfect place to meet your local farmers and sample some of the season’s most mouth-watering plant foods. You can get to know which foods are in season, enjoy freshly harvested, nutritious, delicious foods, and try unusual foods you might not have ever tasted before—purple Brussels sprouts, shishito peppers, radish watermelons, lemon cucumbers anyone? You can also support your local food system and community, as well as reduce your environmental footprint as food doesn’t have to travel so far to get to your plate.
Get Ready to Shop at Your Farmers Market!
Ready to plunge into your farmers market? It’s easy! I love to search for a farmers market near me at the National Farmers Market Directory, where you’ll find a list of ones in various locations around the country. It’s a fun activity to visit farmers markets when you travel, so you can learn more about local, traditional foods.
Check out some of the best farmers markets in the country, including the Union Square farmers market, Nashville farmers market, Santa Monica farmers market, Boulder farmers market, Des Moines farmers market, Dallas farmers market, Los Angeles farmers market, and Ithaca farmers market.
Top 5 Farmers Market Produce Picks
While you can find dozens of produce picks at your local farmers markets, here are some standouts for taste, freshness, and nutrition.
1. Strawberries
There’s something irresistible about strawberries. Heart-shaped, jewel-like and packed with some serious plant-powered nutritional punch, it’s no wonder strawberries are one of America’s favorite fruits. One cup provides 100 percent of your daily dose of vitamin C and boasts high levels of potassium, folate, and fiber. Additionally, this seasonal selection is well documented in its ability to reduce inflammation and oxidation in the body. And you just can’t beat strawberries when they are picked in their ripe state—aromatic and naturally sweet—compared to hard, flavorless strawberries picked out of season. Go ahead! Add strawberries to your salads, cereals, and smoothies for added nutritional benefits and flavor. Better yet, enjoy this seasonal favorite on its own—pop them in your mouth straight out of the flat! Check out more of my favorite ways to use strawberries here.
Top Strawberry Recipes
2. Peaches
Whether grilled on the barbeque, sliced into cereals, topped on yogurt, or layered in cobbler, aren’t peaches just so…peachy? And if you’ve never eaten a fresh peach picked ripe from the tree, you don’t know what you’re missing. Store bought peaches often pale in comparison to farm-fresh varieties. This fuzzy-skinned, round, yellowish-orange fruit seems to personify summer with its sweet and refreshing flavor. Considered to be a stone fruit alongside cherries, plums, and apricots, peaches are slim on calories, yet packed with some serious nutritional punch. One large peach has only 68 calories, yet provides 10 percent of your daily needs of dietary fiber, 19 percent of the powerful antioxidant vitamin C, 11 percent of vitamin A, and 10 percent of potassium. Learn more about stone fruit here.
Top Peach Recipes
3. Carrots
Although it seems like Bugs Bunny was really onto something, a carrot is so much more than rabbit food. One medium carrot packs in two grams of fiber and your entire day’s worth of vitamin A – all for only 31 calories! This sweet-tasting, crunchy root vegetable is typically orange but comes in white, yellow, and purple shades, as well. Heirloom varieties may not be as available in your local supermarket, so turn to your farmers market for the unbeatable fresh flavor of heirloom carrots, in a variety of colors, textures and tastes. Serve carrots raw as an appetizer with hummus or avocado dip, or enjoy chopped or shredded into salads and slaws. Cooked carrots are equally delicious in soups and stews. Check out my favorite ways to use carrots here.
Top Carrot Recipes
4. Leafy Greens
Whether it’s dandelion greens, mustard greens, or tender lettuce leaves, the freshest most flavorful varieties of these plant powerhouses often come from the farmers market. You’ll find all sorts of unusual greens, which are remarkably tender and fresh because they were picked mere hours ago. My farmers market even tosses flower petals into their field lettuce mix–and for the same price as a bag of lettuce at the supermarket! I believe that leafy green vegetables deserve a special focus in the produce world for the volume of nutrients tucked into their low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, low-glycemic index package. Perhaps that’s why health organizations recommend incorporating at least three cups cooked (or six cups raw) greens in your diet every week! Find out more about the benefits of leafy greens here.
Top Leafy Greens Recipes
5. Tomatoes
Nothing beats fresh summer tomatoes, plucked straight from the farm. Sweet and juicy, heirloom varieties offer so much flavor and color, too! Tomatoes are particularly an important vegetable to enjoy during summertime; their important antioxidant lycopene – the plant compound that gives tomatoes their rich red hue – has been linked to protection of the skin from UV damage in several studies. And tomatoes are also rich in fiber, potassium, and vitamins A and C. Enjoy them in multiple ways—sliced into sandwiches, diced into soups, cooked into pasta sauce, and blended into a smoothie.
Top Tomato Recipes
Top 10 Plant 101 Guides
Learn more about how to make the most of seasonal produce in these guides.
