Farmers Market Report: Irvine Ranch

From Orange County Correspondent, Lisa Isselnane (my fabulous mom)

The Irvine Ranch Farmers Market is held every Tuesday at 9am-1pm (rain or shine). 

It is located at the Historic Park at Irvine Ranch. This is an Orange County Farm Bureau Certified Farmers Market. 

The O.C. Farm Bureau is a non-profit organization supported by 4,000 local contributing members. Every farmer who sells is inspected by the O.C. Agricultural Commissioner so that you have an assurance that the food sold at the market is in fact locally grown.

You can definitely find locally grown produce at the Farmers Market in Irvine. In addition to fresh fruit and vegetables you will also find salsa, chips, bread, cake, tamales and nuts. My favorite specialties included the Organic Honey, Organic Eggs, and Heirloom Beefsteak Tomatoes. There were oranges, pumpkins, cucumbers and lots of chard and kale. 

You can make this one stop at the Irvine Farmer's Market and buy everything you need there to make an excellent organic breakfast, lunch or dinner at home. Sampling is encouraged and the prices were reasonable.

The ambiance is unique and reminiscent of the old Orange County before all of the orange trees were chopped down. I remember driving through orchard after orchard of orange trees. The orange blossom smell filled the air and I loved rolling my car windows down in order to breathe in as much of that sweet citrus perfume as possible. Unfortunately, those days are now just a memory. However, there is a mini collection of orange and lime trees at the entrance to the site with some enormous eucalyptus and avocado trees growing behind the Library.