Apples and Oranges

Every year I go to Miami for few days in December and return to find that my favorite farmer’s markets have all but vanished.  Like Brigadoon in Brooklyn, the courthouse square is almost barren and there’s no trace of the small but convenient, last-chance Sunday market at Carrol Gardens.  Of course Union Square and Grand Army Plaza are still active, but it’s not the same.  For the next few months my only choices are apples or really cold apples from the few hold out vendors left at Boro Hall.  It’s one more reason to burrow away till Spring.

I was thrilled when I read on mango & lime that there would be a new farmer’s market operating every Sunday at Miami’s Pinecrest Gardens beginning in December.  I go there for early morning runs whenever I’m home.  Taking a trail that leads me along Old Cutler Road through Coconut Grove to the marina, the scent of limes along the trail is overwhelming.  This year, knowing that I had a bustling market waiting for me at the finish, wasn’t my only reason for heading out there but it definitely made me run a little faster.  Staying local for a Latin food site has always been a challenge.  While I rely on the greenmarkets for most of my produce, coconuts, carambola, and sapote are just not indigenous to upstate New York.  Traditional is rarely seasonal when you’re tropical.  Watching snow pile up outside my window, I feel wistful for the key limes, mangoes and purple sugar cane stalks that were just a quick run away only a few weeks ago.  Here are a few pictures of what local looks like in Miami: