In Claremont: Cucumbers, watermelon, jicama, mushrooms and eggplant

Quite a few farmers markets have opened in the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire over the last decade, but many of them have never really taken off, or feature mostly prepared foods and crafts. The medium-size Claremont market does emphasize produce and draws appreciative customers from around the region.

It has continued to flourish over the last two months while the area has been under quarantine to prevent the spread of two types of invasive fruit flies, forcing vendors to drape their wares with insect-proof netting.

From Aguanga, east of Temecula, Sage Mountain Farm brings several varieties of Armenian cucumbers, which are long, curved and fluted, resembling a tangle of snakes on the market table. In fact, they’re sometimes called snake melons, which fits, since they belong to Cucumis melo, the same species as melons, and a different one from other cucumbers (Cucumis sativus). Introduced from Armenia to Europe in the 15th century, they’re good eating, crisp and mild, with a delicate, distinctive aroma.

The Sage Mountain stand displays a wide array of organic specialty and heirloom varieties, including baby ancho chiles, round Thai eggplant, Ambition shallots, Crimson Sweet watermelons and wonderfully tender yellow-fleshed zucchini. (The selection recalls the former market favorite Cahuilla Mountain Farm, also of Aguanga, but there’s no connection, says co-owner Phil Noble.) The farm also sells at the Riverside Saturday and Temecula Saturday markets and offers a community-supported agriculture program, in which participants pay a fee to regularly pick up boxes of fruits and vegetables.

Jicama, a tuber native to Central America with juicy snow-white flesh, is imported in large quantities from Mexico, and can be grown in California, but is relatively rare at farmers markets. It is also cultivated in many areas of Asia, and Neej Z. Cha of Lindsay (N-T Farm) brings a Hmong type, which seems sweeter, crunchier and more aromatic than Mexican varieties.

Bih Shan of Loma Linda sells pristine wood ear, shiitake and oyster mushrooms, and tender organic butter lettuce. Angelo and Adelina Filandrianos of Hinkley have Aracuna green eggs, Bartlett pears and netted, pale-fleshed Persian melons.

Esther Weiser of Weiser Family Farms offers Rosa Bianca, Green Apple, Black Bell and Calliope eggplant from Lucerne Valley. “For a small market, this is a good one,” she says.

Claremont farmers market, 2nd Street between Indian Hill Boulevard and Yale Avenue, Sundays 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Tip of the week: The Newtown Pippin, which arose in the late 17th or early 18th century in what is now Queens, N.Y., is one of the few heirloom apples of that era still in commerce. Greenish-yellow and a bit lopsided, it has firm, crisp, juicy flesh; a highly aromatic flavor blending pine, citrus and walnut; an ideal balance of sweetness and acidity; and a complex, lingering aftertaste. In the 19th century, it was grown in the Hudson Valley and Virginia for export to England, but today it survives chiefly in the Watsonville area, where S. Martinelli & Co. buys most of the harvest to make juice and sparkling cider. Few Southern California farms grow Pippins, but Mike Cirone brings them from San Luis Obispo to the Santa Monica Wednesday and Saturday organic markets.