By Clyde Noel

Some of the best ingredients for home-cooked meals can be found in farmers markets.

Wanda Whitaker left her hair salon Thursday and picked up tomatoes, asparagus and salmon from the Los Altos Farmers Market for her dinner. “I’m so glad it didn’t rain or we would have gone hungry,” she said.

The season and the locale determine what you find at the farmers market. When tomatoes are in season, half of the booths will have tomatoes. This time of year only a few farmers offer hothouse tomatoes and peppers. Even the cherries from Ripon don’t have the deep red color they’ll have in three weeks.

A look around showed that cherries were $4 a basket; Meyer lemons two for $1; medium white eggs, $1 a dozen, and extra large eggs, $1.50 a dozen. The most plentiful items were strawberries and cut flowers.

Russell and Pat Schonberg come every Thursday to do their shopping. A look in their basket revealed strawberries, melons and asparagus.

Although the primary mission at a farmers market is to gather fruit and vegetables for the weekend, a lot of shoppers go from booth to booth tasting samples of cookies and breads.

Natasha Becker of Sweet Temptations promoted cholesterol-free three-bran muffins with fruit topping. Her table was loaded with cut samples of cookies and breads.

“I believe that honesty, service and customer satisfaction can make or break a business,” she said. “I had a hard time thinking about working for someone else, so I approached Draeger’s. They liked the tea cakes, and I became a vendor for them.”

Linda Bellagio of Palo Alto had a bag full of cut flowers and vegetables.

“I’m treating myself tonight. After sampling a lot of veggies, I picked some fresh squash and peppers,” she said.

How did the first day go? Craig Kozy of De Martini Grocery was selling Haden mangoes at two for $3, golden pineapples for $10 and bananas at 99 cents a pound.

“I did real good for a first day,” he said.

Zuckerman’s farm from Stockton had its table empty in the first hour. Young asparagus was retailing for $2.50 a bunch, and if it was older, $3.00 a bunch.