Sunday Market in October

Though it is still quite warm and humid around here for October, fresh fruits and vegetables at the market tell us that it’s Autumn now. *Click photos to enlarge. I'm happy to see wider variety of grapes sold at stores these days. In the past, we only had grapes with thick skins in Japan (or at least in Shikoku, I guess) and we never ate the skins. So I was shocked when I saw, for the first time, people eating grape skins in the U.S. Now we have grapes with thin skins here in Kochi, too, and my mom wouldn’t be frightened to see her daughter eating up grapes, leaving seeds and stems only. I always love to see the crafts at this stall. When I was a kid, one of my dreams was having my own chestnut tree so that I would be able to eat chestnuts anytime I want. Here they sell “red rice” and “black rice,” the kinds of rice widely grown in ancient times, but very rare now. Their nutritious values have been rediscovered recently and some people seem to love mixing them into regular rice. (But see the price…) Big Asian pears, ginger roots and early tangerines. Honeycombs& honey, and of course, sweet potatoes! Mushrooms and greens. I didn’t see many today, but pretty soon persimmons will be in season. Oh, there's no break for foodies, right? ;)