Superfruits Shammy

It is October and it is National Superfruits Month—and it is all marketing gimmicks!  You'll probably here some radio ads this upcoming month to purchase superfruits. Superfruits was a term coined in 2004 to describe fruits with exceptional nutrient properties and was created to market these fruits.  More specifically, they are very high in the antioxidants anthocyanin and procyanidin.  They help to regulate free radicals in our blood stream that can potentially damage healthy cells.

I always love to try new things, especially exotic foodstuffs.  Goji berries from the Himalayas, acai from the rainforests, and pomegranates are just to name a few.  It can be quite expensive to add them to our daily diets.  With more and more pomegranates being farmed in California, the price has dramatically decreased over the past decade, which is good for the consumer.

To me, it is always about being an educated consumer and understanding what a superfruit really is.  Most of us have already been consuming superfruits our entire lives!  Cranberries are readily available in the fall and its juice is available year round.  Blueberries can be procured at almost any local market in the summer months.  I always prefer to eat what is grown near me and not from the other side of the equator.  Blueberries and cranberries are my preferred superfruits that are cost effective and pragmatic to procure and they do not need any marketing gimmick.  I always prefer to minimize my carbon footprint. 

Monterey Market in Berkeley

To this gastronome, Monterey Market in Berkeley is the ultimate local independent market.  I wish there was a market like this in the Midwest.   Run by a Japanese-American family, the variety, freshness, and quality are unsurpassed. Granted, California does have quite a good climate for growing things—it's alive.  If one happens to be in Berkeley, one should definately check out Monterey Market.

On a trip to Berkeley last year, I spent hours observing the assortment of local bounty—in January. The day before, I had been at Big Sur and some of the local foragers were talking about how big the chanterelles were this season.  I was dumbfounded and giddy that they actually had fresh yuzu citrus.  The following pictures are some things that were in season at the time...

Wild Mushrooms

Citrus