This post may contain affiliate links and I may earn compensation when you click on the links at no additional cost to you.
Hey Friends,
Let me tell you about our trip to the Dekalb Farmer’s Market. This is my new favorite place. If you live in Atlanta and have never visited – shame, shame, shame on you! If you are new to Atlanta, do yourself a favor and put this place on your list of places to go. This market is the bomb. I know there are other markets in town, but this one right here – Baby! It has absolutely everything and anything culinary related that you could imagine.
I’ve been here a few times and one of my family’s favorite thing to do is to buy something we’ve never tried before. We decided to stick with fruit cause 1) it’s cheap, 2) we love fruit and 3) there’s plenty to choose from.
On our first visit, we played it safe and purchased the Star fruit. Since this was our first time purchasing the fruit, it was difficult to tell which were ripe…Mr. Google couldn’t even tell us, so we just made sure it wasn’t too hard or too squishy. One of the things I like to do when tasting something for the first time is to tell myself and whoever is with me, “Oh! This is going to be delicious!” Nowadays, my family just rolled their eyes when I say it because Mom has fooled them too many times with that trick. Shucks, Mom is still fooling herself with that trick!
When Mishon sliced it up, it looked so pretty and I had visions of placing it along the sides of a fruit tray during the holidays. We each took a piece, did cheers and proceeded to take a bite of our respective slices. Maybe it wasn’t ripe yet, but friends, it tasted like water flavored jell-o. A big fat slice of Blah! That will be a no on the Haywood scale of delicious fruit.
On the next excursion, we chose the Mexican pear, or sometimes called “Prickly pear”. Now, thanks to wise Mr. Google, we chose one that was properly ripened. Once we got home and washed it, we proceeded to the tasting area (aka dining table). After the first slice, I made my
declaration,“Oh! This is going to be delicious!” On slice two, we both were intrigued by the color; however, the middle slice and reveal made me think about the plants you see on the Sci-Fi channel that comes alive when you least expect it (cue scary music). We forged on and removed the peel, sliced it down the middle for deeper exploration. This is where it got interesting. When opened, we discovered the deepest fuchsia colored fruit imaginable, peppered with small black seeds. Wow! This prickly pear was so pretty, I just knew it would be sweet. We both took a slice, did cheers and tasted in unison.
“Foul, Foul, Foul!” on Mother Nature. I know this isn’t biblically correct, but this ‘pear’ tasted like God gave his sister, Mother Nature, the recipe to make one fruit, but left out the main ingredients. Ya’ll know people like that. Mother Nature made the Prickly Pear as beautiful as she could, but didn’t realize that beauty was only part of the design.
Friends, the fruit tasted just ok; sort of like an out of season watermelon – watery, with a promise of good expectations.
On the next trip to the Farmer’s Market, I went solo and picked up a purple passion fruit and some sugar cane. I chose the purple passion fruit because who couldn’t use some passion in their life, right? The sugar cane was selected for sentimental reasons that I’ll talk about later.
So, all the passion fruit looked and felt the same and since I’d left Mr. Google in the car to charge his batteries, I closed my eyes and picked one. It didn’t look all that special on the outside, but we’re wise enough to know that outside coverings don’t mean much; it’s what’s on the inside that counts.
I’ve got to be more careful with my selection! The inside looked too horrible to even taste.What happened? Well with some research, I learned that my selected purple passion fruit has sat too long.
My other purchase that day was a stalk of sugarcane. When we were growing up in Florida, my Dad would sometimes bring home sugarcane. As kids, we didn’t know where or how it was grown and honestly didn’t care.
What delighted us was the sweet, running down your chin goodness that came from chewing the hard straw-like fibers. So, this wasn’t a first for me, it was more like a nostalgic sojourn. Mishon said she’d tasted sugarcane with her grandparents, but since I wasn’t with them when this occurred, I wanted to witness her reaction. The outer covering was peeled away with my sharpest machete like knife and I quartered the fruit as I remember my dad had done. We each took a piece, did cheers and bit into it.
FRUIT NIRVANA! The sweet, running down your chin goodness was a blast from the past and automatically I was 10 years old again. The taste, however, wasn’t appealing to the teen seated next to me. She said it was sweet, but too much work, for too little gain. Pish Posh! I think it was Betty Wright who said, “Anything worth having at all, is worth working for and waiting for!” Honey! I’m willing to work and wait for the sugarcane.
The Dekalb Farmer’s Market is a ‘must do’ (at least once), if you move to the Atlanta area. Here are a few tips for an enjoyable time:
- Go early or on a weekday. It crowds up fast.
- Have an established budget before you go through the door. You’ll want to purchase every little thing.
- Skip the grocery list; have a grocery theme (Italian, Mexican, African). You’ll waste too much time overthinking an ingredient, when there are other options to choose from.
- Grab a cart at the door – even if you think you won’t need it. Believe me – you’ll want it.
- Look around each section first before your final selection. Remember the budget.
- Checkout is a little different. It sort of reminds me of the Daytona 500. Find the shortest line, wait patiently and you’ll be in your car in no time.
Friends, I know you’re all busy during this time of the year, but if you’re cooking anything for the holidays, this is a place to visit for something really special.
Cheers!
