5 Red Flags That Your Farmers Market Produce Isn’t All That Fresh — Or Even Local

Avoid resellers, dodgy vendors and too-perfect produce with these tips. -

Farmers markets are a mecca for fresh summer produce, overflowing with juicy peaches, fragrant herbs and quirky varietals like fairytale eggplant and sugar cube melon that tempt me to blow my entire grocery budget. But as dreamy as it all looks, not everything piled high in a market bin is always as fresh, local or thoughtfully grown as it seems.

HuffPost spoke with farmers, market vendors and local food experts about the red flags they look for when shopping at markets themselves. From suspiciously spotless strawberries to vague vendor answers and out-of-season finds, here’s how to spot what’s truly farm-fresh — and what’s better left behind.

Red Flag #1: Items That Are Suspiciously Out Of Season

We’ve gotten used to the convenience of year-round produce — bananas at breakfast, cherry tomatoes in February — thanks to global supply chains and long-distance imports. But at a farmers market, local produce has a much narrower window.

“Strawberries in December or tomatoes in February? That’s a red flag if you are visiting a producer-only market,” said Kim Hutchinson, executive director of the Virginia Farmers Market Association. “It’s likely a sign that the vendor is not growing a product themselves, and not being transparent about it.”That said, seasonality isn’t always so black-and-white. “Climate change and new growing practices have altered things at farmers markets,” said Catt Fields White, a farmers market manager and farmers market advocate. “Spotting ripe tomatoes or berries ‘too early’ might once have been a red flag. Now it may just mean that the farmer has invested in tunnels that warm the soil and the seedlings — or that local weather has gotten warmer.” So it’s best to always ask.