Newport Avenue Market Produce Department

I love the changing of the seasons because it means I can bring my customers new kinds of produce. I carry not only high-quality produce, like our organic greens, but unusual or hard-to-get fruit and vegetables. And I get produce on a daily basis, six days a week, so it’s always fresh.

I found Mutsu apples at a small orchard in northeastern Washington, a great-tasting apple that’s like a cross between a Granny Smith and a Pippin. You don’t often see it available. One of my customers was so happy I carried them that they brought me a Mutsu apple pie!

We carry Northwest Seckel and Forelle pears when they’re in season and Buck oranges tree-ripened on a family ranch in California. That's what makes citrus so special. Then there's white and purple asparagus. Everybody knows about green asparagus, but white and purple? It looks cool. Get all three and mix ’em up.

Cooking with fresh herbs adds more flavor than dried herbs, and we carry garden-fresh bunches of herbs, like rosemary, cilantro, sorrel, Italian parsley. These aren’t little sprigs of herbs in a plastic box. They’re full, intensely flavored, big bunches of herbs straight out of the garden.

And I like to educate people about food they may not be familiar with and suggest ways to prepare it. I like to show my customers new tools, too, like the Oxo Mango Slicer. This thing makes slicing mangoes so easy anyone can do it.

If there’s a fruit or vegetable you want and can’t find anywhere else, come see me. I’ll do my best to get it for you. And you don’t even have to bring me a pie!