Farmer's Market vs. Store

[Guest guest]

To all who shop at farmer's markets:

I'm curious. Do you find that the fruit you get at the farmer's markets are

riper (thus a higher brix) than the fruit you get at the store? Also,

generally, is the price cheaper at a farmer's market?

Ron

RawSeattle , Helen <helensy@c...> wrote:

>

> It's Elstar, not Estar. I rush to the booth today but there wasn't any

> more. I found good Anjou pears at the Cliffside booth though. The sample

> brixed 19. I bought more Spitzenburg from the Grouse farm. The batch

> today look better. I haven't tasted them yet.

>

> Helen

[Guest guest]

Right now there is mostly apples and pears in terms of sweet fruits at

the farmer's markets. In general, I have found riper fruits at the

Farmers' Markets, cheaper cases at Central Market, except perhaps for

seconds. Same for greens: fresher at the local markets, cheaper cases

at Central. Recently I have been buying the three pound bags of organic

spring mix for $8-9.

 

Jeff

 

> Do you find that the fruit you get at the farmer's markets are

> riper (thus a higher brix) than the fruit you get at the store? Also,

> generally, is the price cheaper at a farmer's market?

[Guest guest]

Of course, the food is riper and fresher in the farmers' market though

not necessarily cheaper. There are also more varieties in the farmers'

market. I bought Fuji at 98cents/lb in Central Market but I still go to

farmers' market to buy Spitzenburg and Elstar. I have seen Spitzenburg

in Whole Food selling for $3/lb. That's more than what I paid at the

farmers market. Another good thing about apples from farmers' market is

that they are not waxed.

 

The Anjou pear from Cliffside farm was so hi-brix because they are

completely tree-ripe. They just won't pick the fruit until they are ripe.

 

I have been enjoying the fuzzless little kiwis from the U district

farmers' market. The guy says they are uncertified organic.

 

Helen

[Guest guest]

Hi

 

Excuse my ignorance

but

would someone tell me what is BRIX please ?

 

Toni

Australia

 

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[Guest guest]

oh so pardom my ignorance on this too; does brix mean " ripe straight from the

source "

or something like that?

 

Helen <helensy wrote:

The Anjou pear from Cliffside farm was so hi-brix because they are

completely tree-ripe. They just won't pick the fruit until they are ripe.

[Guest guest]

It's intended to be a metric of the level of sugars in the fruit's

juice, which some folks use as a measure of the quality/desirability

of that fruit. It's typically measured with a simple refractometer,

but brix refractometers are meant to measure the percentage of sugar

in a pure sucrose solution, where the index of refraction can be

reasonably correlated to the concentration. I'm skeptical that the

results that people get squeezing fruit into them are accurate, both

because of the other dissolved/suspended materials and because of

calibration.

 

> oh so pardom my ignorance on this too; does brix mean " ripe

> straight from the source "

> or something like that?

>

> Helen <helensy wrote:

> The Anjou pear from Cliffside farm was so hi-brix because they are

> completely tree-ripe. They just won't pick the fruit until they are

> ripe.