The Recession Kitchen: Shop like an Aztec: The Berwyn Fruit Market

While reading a story in my local paper Thursday about the uproar caused by Bill Ayers appearance at our local high school, I noticed an advertisement for a grocery that I'd been been promising myself I'd visit. The ad, offering 8 lbs of Wisconsin russets for $1.49, cinched things. After all, I eat a fair share of potatoes and I when possible I love to be a localvore.
So this morning, immediately after taking in the season debut of Word World, the little guy and I hopped into the car and headed for The Berwyn Fruit Market.
The market is the type of place that may very well be unique to Chicago, or more specifically, the western suburbs of Chicago. Just west of Chicago is a place where decades-old restaurants that serve primarily breaded pork tenderloin and spoonfuls of sweet-and-sour-cabbage now compete with taquerias that offer tongue burritos and avocado tostadas. Berwyn, the village, is largely populated by an occasionally uneasy mix of Eastern European and Mexican families who not only keep these restaurants going, but that ensure that the Berwyn Fruit market offers fresh epazote and beets as big as your head.
The aisles are narrow, narrowly wider than a shopping cart in many spaces, and hanging over with dried spices and bags of grains, nuts and spices many of which I would have no idea how to use (but may just be able to brew with). On this Friday morning the clientele was evenly split between young Mexican families and elderly Poles and Czechs, none of whom had any real intention of learning the English phrase "excuse me." That said, there was no sense of belligerence in the air either. It was more a hard and firm conviction of the utilitarian purpose of grocery shopping, and an utter confusion as to why the white guy with the toddler was staring at the pepitas.
Which brings me to the reason why I may add the Berwyn Fruit Market to my regular food gathering stops. You see, I wrote a story last October about how pumpkins are for so much more than just pie. For the piece I interviewed the chef and owner of my very favorite Mexican restaurant. In our conversation Chef Paco explained to me a food enjoyed by the Aztecs, a food based on hulled pumpkin seeds or pepitas, and native peppers. He explained to me pipian mole.
And there, in the crowed aisles of the Berwyn Fruit Market, I found the primary ingredients of the ancient mole. I threw 'em in my basket, and they cost about $5.
This is why it often worth the trip to markets that specialize in ethnic cuisine. They offer foods you'll never find at a mainstream grocer and often a price that makes experimentation necessary. Oh, I got the potatoes, too. And 25 limes for $1.99. So, who knows, maybe there'll be a margarita to go with the mole!