Produce for an Underserved Area

Sponsors of new farmers markets tend to look for profitable locations with reasonably affluent demographics. A few ventures open each year that embrace one of the original goals of farmers markets programs--to provide nutritious, affordable produce to underserved low-income areas. Most, though, find it tough going and either close or barely get by.

Last month, the organization that operates the flourishing Hollywood farmers market, Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles, started a new venue in a Sears parking lot in the Santa Monica-Western area of Hollywood. Funded by a state grant, the market has begun on a small scale to make it worthwhile for vendors to participate. The organizers are passing out coupons in the community and offering free bread and tortillas to customers.

On a recent Wednesday, Scattaglia Farms of Littlerock, in the high desert, brought rock-hard Arkansas Black apples, a Southern variety that originated in 1870, with dramatic black skin and dense, sweet yellow flesh. Vicki Bernard of Riverside and Valley Center had very sweet, juicy Valencia oranges, Bearss limes (turning from green to yellow, when they’re most flavorful) and Blush and Star Ruby grapefruit.

From Santa Maria, Jose Chavez brought purple and green cabbage, fat, sweet carrots, romaine and iceberg lettuce, celery, broccoli, cauliflower and Camarosa strawberries. The Tamai stand of Oxnard offered beets, spinach, cilantro, parsley, green beans and pink, low-acid Japanese tomatoes. Audelo’s Farm of Vista (owned by a daughter of the Zamora family, farmers market veterans) had pomegranates; ripe, fragrant guavas; green and yellow zucchini; chayotes; cucumbers; and brown eggs.

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Hollywood (Sears) farmers market, Virginia Avenue between Saint Andrews and Wilton places, Wednesdays, 2 to 6 p.m.