Juicy couture direct from the farm

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Purple artichokes: Because of its consistently cool growing area, Green Farms, just outside of Lompoc, manages to have artichokes and asparagus year-round. But they’re still best in the spring. Almost all of the artichokes grown in America come from the small area around Castroville, just north of Monterey. And almost all of them are of the giant Green Globe variety. But Green Farms grows six or seven kinds of artichokes, and these purple-tinged ones are particularly good. Remember that the stems, though they need to be peeled deeply, have the same flavor as the heart.

$3.50 each, Green Farms

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Gaviota strawberries: Most strawberries are grown to be shipped hundreds or even thousands of miles. They’re durable, but is that what you really want in a delicate fruit? At farmers markets, you can find berries that are grown nearby and therefore can have some of the qualities that have been compromised by the big commercial growers. If you want to remember what a great old-fashioned strawberry tastes like, there is no better choice than the Gaviotas from Harry’s Berries. The Iwamoto-Gean family, which grows them just outside of Oxnard, has been the benchmark farmers market strawberry grower for decades. These are expensive, but you can’t argue with their track record.

$13 per three-pack, Harry’s Berries

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Peaking

Cara Cara oranges: You can teach an old orange new tricks. Navel oranges have been grown in California since the 1870s, but in the 1970s, a chance mutation yielded the Cara Cara (it was found on a Venezuelan orange plantation called Hacienda Cara Cara). It’s basically a navel orange with a difference -- its flesh is tinged pinkish with lycopene, the same pigment that colors Ruby Red grapefruit. Unlike the anthocyanin that colors blood oranges, lycopene is flavorless so the difference is mainly cosmetic, but the Cara Cara is still a wonderfully sweet orange for eating out of hand.

$2.50 per pound, JJ’s Lone Daughter Ranch

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russ.parsons@latimes.com