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Best Of The Season: Portland

produce for sale at farmers market

I recently moved to the Pacific Northwest's Willamette Valley after having spent many years living just outside Chicago. IÂ will be sharing my food explorations around Portland, Oregon in a series of blog posts.

Fall is in the air and in Portland there is no shortage for fresh, seasonal produce. I head out to Portland's farmers markets, canvas bags slung over my shoulder. Here's a list of the juicy fruits, crisp greens and flavorful vegetables in season right now. Stock up!

What's In Season Now?



The bushels at Groundwork Organics are bursting with fresh, vibrant produce. Look for vegetables like eggplant, okra, shallots, peppers of all sorts, potatoes, carrots, zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, and winter squashes. Everything is beautiful - and beautifully presented - at this vendor, but the fresh young ginger is by far the prettiest.

Guru Garlic grows over 30 varieties of softneck and hardneck garlic. Pick heads with the fattest, plumpest cloves.

Packer Orchards has juicy apples, peaches, cherries and pears at the market. Take your time sampling these beauties because there is a lot to taste when you include the jams, jellies and fruit butters available.

The Portland Mushroom Company sells organic oyster mushrooms as fresh as they can. Seasonal varieties to check out include lobster, chanterelles, porcini and maitake.

Spring Hill Organic Farm offers over 50 different types of vegetables. Beets, leeks, red onions, fresh crispy fennel, celeriac, carrots, jalapeno and bell peppers, tomatoes and potatoes.

Sun Gold Farm has all the winter squashes to welcome the festiveness of fall, but don't start carving just yet. These squash are great for eating. They come in names we know - sugar pie pumpkins, kabocha, acorn, butternut - as well as some more unusual varieties.

What's a fall season without cranberry? Starvation Alley Farm is an organic-certified farm and cranberry juice company serving up its raw cranberry juice free of added water, sugar or other fruit juices.

Westwind Gardens presents every pepper you have ever heard of or dared to taste, including the ghost chili. "Jamaican Hot Chocolate" habaneros, Hungarian Blacks, Thai Orange and Anaheims are just a handful of what is available.

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