Edible Paradise celebrates the year-round abundance of the highest quality, freshest food grown on the Central Coast by our family farmers at the Monterey Bay Certified Farmers Markets. If you enjoy preparing and eating locally grown food, this blog is for you!
🇺🇸 Yes—we’re OPEN on Saturday, July 4! 🎉
Start your Independence Day the freshest way possible at the Aptos Farmers Market at Cabrillo College! Join us during our regular market hours, 8:00 AM–12:00 PM, for everything you love about Saturday mornings at the market.
Stock up on farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, artisan breads, pies and pastries, locally raised meats and seafood, fresh flowers, handcrafted foods, and all the ingredients you need for your Fourth of July celebration.
Come early for the best selection, enjoy the beautiful morning, and support the local growers and makers who help make our community thrive.
#aptosfarmersmarket #montereybay #supportlocalfarmers #fourthofjuly #californiagrown
Have you ever cooked with green eggplant?
One of our favorite things about visiting KT Farms is discovering something new every week. Alongside their beautiful purple eggplants, you’ll often find the less common green eggplant—a favorite in many Asian cuisines.
Green eggplants have a milder, slightly sweeter flavor than their purple cousins, with a creamy texture and very little bitterness. They’re delicious grilled, roasted, stir-fried, added to curries, or simply sautéed with garlic and a splash of soy sauce. Their tender flesh also makes them wonderful in dishes where you want the eggplant to become silky and rich.
Whether you’re recreating a favorite family recipe or looking to try something different, KT Farms’ colorful display is full of inspiration.
Stop by and see what catches your eye—you might just discover your new favorite vegetable! 🌱🍆
#greeneggplant #asianvegetables #montereyfarmersmarket #eggplant #asiancuisine
This morning you’ll find beautiful fresh cranberry beans (in the foreground, with Romano beans behind them) at Borba Family Farms’ booth.
Fresh cranberry beans are a seasonal treat. Unlike green beans, they’re grown for the plump beans inside the pods, so you’ll want to shell them before cooking. The beans have a creamy texture and a mild, nutty flavor that’s delicious in soups, stews, pasta dishes, grain bowls, or simply simmered until tender with olive oil, garlic, and fresh herbs. (The pretty cranberry-colored speckles fade as they cook!)
Romano beans, with their broad, flat pods, are wonderful steamed, sautéed, grilled, or slowly braised.
If you’ve never tried fresh shelling beans, this is the perfect opportunity to bring home something a little different from the market!
The Monterey Farmers Market is open until noon—come see us! 🧑🏽🌾
#montereyfarmersmarket #eatseasonal #supportlocalfarmers #californiagrown #borbafamilyfa
Good morning from the Monterey Farmers Market!
Look what just arrived! 🌽 The first harvest of sweet corn is now at Pinnacle, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for weekend barbecues, picnics, and family dinners.
Fresh-picked and full of summer flavor, there’s nothing quite like corn that’s gone from the field to the market. Enjoy it grilled in the husk, slathered with butter, tossed into fresh salads, or simply steamed and served alongside your favorite summer meal.
Stop by early while this first harvest lasts—and don’t forget to explore everything else our local farmers have brought in fresh this morning.
See you at the market!
#montereyfarmersmarket #montereybay #philfosterranch #californiagrown #sweetcorn
🥕🍓🐝 Calling all young food explorers! 🐝🍓🥕
Join us at the Monterey Farmers Market on Friday, June 26, for a morning of discovery, tasting, and hands-on fun as the Kids Eat Right team from Montage Health returns after an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response earlier this season!
Kids and families will enjoy:
🌽 A guided farmers market adventure
🍑 Seasonal fruit and vegetable tastings
👩🌾 Meet-the-farmer experiences
🔍 A fun scavenger hunt throughout the market
🥗 Nutrition activities and take-home resources
🍎 Dried fruit samples from the farmers market
✨ Plus, the first 50 children or families who participate will receive $5 in Farmers Market Bucks to spend at the market (while supplies last)!
Kids Eat Right helps children build healthy habits through fun, interactive experiences that make nutrition easy to understand and exciting to explore. Come learn where your food comes from, taste something new, and discover the colorful world of fresh local foods!
📍 Monterey Farmers Market
📅 Friday, June 26
⏰ During market hours
Bring your curiosity, your appetite, and the whole family!
#montereyfarmersmarket #kidseatright #healthykids #eatlocal #familyfun
Meet the faces behind the market! From left to right: Judy Nagamine and her dad, Henry; Catherine Barr, our beloved leader; and sisters June and Kay Gatanaga. For many of us, these familiar faces are part of what makes the market feel like family—a community built on friendships, shared traditions, and years of growing together. ❤️
One of the best days ever—celebrating with friends and our farmers market family! 💙🫐
One of the greatest gifts of a farmers market is the relationships that grow over time. Year after year, season after season, vendors become friends, and friends become family.
We’ve watched young farmers build businesses, raise families, celebrate weddings, and welcome grandchildren. Those shared moments create bonds that go far beyond buying and selling food.
That is especially true for Triple Delight Blueberries. Over the years, we’ve had the joy of watching their three beautiful daughters grow up, get married, and start families of their own. Yesterday, at our 50th Anniversary Celebration, the Triple Delight family—including the grandkids—was there celebrating with us!
Thank you, Triple Delight Blueberries, for being such a special part of our farmers market family and for sharing this beautiful video with us. Here’s to the memories we’ve made together and the many more still to come. 💙🫐
#aptosfarmersmarket #tripledelightblueberries #farmersmarketfamily
Breathe in the calming scent of lavender. 💜
The Ranch Monterey is featuring their Lavender Mist, handcrafted from fragrant Royal Velvet lavender grown on their farm. A few spritzes can instantly freshen a room, add a soothing scent to linens, or bring a little touch of relaxation to your daily routine.
Ways to enjoy Lavender Mist:
✨ Mist lightly on sheets and pillowcases before bedtime.
✨ Freshen towels, closets, and laundry.
✨ Add a calming fragrance to bedrooms, living spaces, or your home office.
✨ Spritz onto dried lavender bundles or wreaths to revive their scent.
Simple, natural, and wonderfully aromatic, it’s an easy way to bring the beauty of lavender into your home.
Visit The Ranch Monterey at the Monterey Farmers Market at the Del Monte Shopping Center to explore their lavender products and experience the soothing fragrance of Royal Velvet lavender for yourself.
#lavenderlove #farmersmarketfinds #locallygrown #lavendermist #shoplocal
Fresh herbs are one of the easiest ways to bring more flavor to your kitchen—and now is a great time to plant them!
Pacific Rare Nursery has a beautiful selection of herb starts, including several varieties of basil, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, and more. Whether you’re planting a garden bed, filling containers on the patio, or tucking a few herbs among your vegetables, you’ll enjoy months of fresh harvests just steps from your kitchen.
A few quick tips for success:
☀️ Most culinary herbs love plenty of sunshine.
💧 Water regularly until established, then adjust based on the herb’s needs.
🌱 Harvest often to encourage healthy growth and keep plants productive.
🪴 Short on space? Most herbs thrive in containers.
There’s nothing quite like stepping outside and snipping fresh herbs for dinner. Visit Pacific Rare Nursery at the farmers market today.
#herbgarden #growyourownfood #freshherbs #farmersmarketfinds #gardeninspiration
Add a splash of color to your porch, patio, or garden with beautiful hanging begonias!
With their vibrant blooms and cascading habit, begonias are a favorite for brightening shady spaces throughout the summer. They thrive in morning sun or filtered light, prefer consistently moist (but not soggy) soil, and benefit from regular feeding to keep the flowers coming.
A little care goes a long way—and these stunning red blooms will reward you with months of color.
Find gorgeous hanging baskets and flowering plants at Cavanaugh Color today at the Monterey Farmers Market.
#begonias #floweringplants #gardeninspiration #farmersmarketflowers #supportlocalgrowers
Sweet, crisp, and bursting with flavor, organic Princess green grapes have arrived at the farmers market!
Grown by Schletewitz Family Farms, these beautiful grapes are everything summer fruit should be—juicy, refreshing, and naturally sweet. Pack them in lunchboxes, add them to a cheese board, toss them into salads, or simply enjoy them by the handful.
Find Schletewitz Family Farms at the Monterey Farmers Market today and taste the difference fresh-picked, locally grown grapes make.
The market is open until noon!
#farmersmarketfinds #organicgrapes #montereyfarmersmarket #eatlocal #supportlocalfarmers
