Miss Jo's San Francisco

MOUNDS OF BASIL IN HUGE BOUQUETS for $1 could be found this weekend at San Francisco’s Alemany Market, as northern California farmers who till 50 acres or less unloaded their end-of-summer harvests.

It’d been awhile since Miss Jo and Jeff made it to the city’s largest farmers’ market, having settled into a routine of getting most of their freshly picked, regionally grown veggies and fruit from a weekly CSA organic farm box.

While their Wednesday box has been packing lots of grapes, they get eaten by noon. Craving more, and hearing there’s a bumper crop of grapes this season, the two Js headed Saturday morning to the market at the edge of Bernal Heights and alongside I-280 at the Alemany Blvd. exit in the city’s south. It was a great morning moving with the crowd from stall to stall on two long loading docks with awnings. Prices were the lowest Miss Jo had seen all summer, including at supermercados in the Mission. Chile peppers were under $1/lb. Eggplants 75 cents or 3 for $2. Grapes $2/lb. Red or yellow bell peppers $1. Yams $1.25 lb. The market was a colorful, fresh display of northern California grown produce, flowers, honey and eggs. For Bay Area foodies, Alemany is a locavore’s paradise, except for super purists who discount it for allowing produce from farms without official organic certification. The year-round produce bazaar was started during WWII as a sales outlet for small rural farmers’ crops, which it remains today. In addition to the cheapest prices in town, you can find hard-to-find produce, like this fall’s squash blossoms and fresh chestnuts.
There’s also the old lady who plays the saw to a crowd of kids and parents, a guy playing steel drums and an outdoor organic pizzeria with $10 pies and other/ food vendors getting their start in San Francisco’s vibrant restaurant scene. The market is also a source for SF chefs. The two Js bought a bunch of white grapes, a handful of long chilis and three heads of garlic, for $3.50, and headed for their car parked in the neighborhood, thankful they had come early and avoided the small, crowded parking lot. All Photos by Miss Jo