Back-2-Back: FTI Producers Market and Salcedo Market

Finally, after months of being in our wish list, we braved the early morning traffic and headed to FTI Producers Market.

Upon turning right up to the market, several young parking aides were waving at us to park at their respective parking slots. At 6 am, there were still a lot of parking slots to choose from.

As we entered this meter-wide fenced entrance/exit gate, we were greeted by the diversity of fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, poultry, garden and food stalls. FTI Producers Market looked more like a mini Farmers Market in Cubao.

We looked around and ended up buying fruits from Davao, fresh “Dinaing na Bangus” (P100/pc), rice cake from Cainta (P215/small box) and vegetables from three different stalls. One stall had everything you need to cook Ilocano vegetable dishes like pinakbet and dinengdeng. They had bulaklak ng kalabasa, talbos ng sitaw, native tomatoes, three kinds of eggplants and more lowland vegetables. Their vegetables looked freshly harvested. The other stall nearby had highland produce such as blueberries (P90/100 grams), strawberries (P350/kilo), cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, polonchay and watercress. The third stall had fresher native tomatoes so we bought ours from them. They also had medium-sized seedless oranges which they claimed were US oranges but when we checked the box, they were from China. We asked them about the box but they insisted that the oranges were imported from US. We didn’t argue with them anymore because they gave it to us at P50 for three pieces!

We missed the cheap native chicken which Mr. Morales was selling for only about P180/kilo. He said that it is always sold out before 7 am. Next time, we will go straight to that stall and buy our chicken first.

We moved forward and were able to buy native eggs for only P80 per dozen. Another stall near the entrance/exit was selling strawberries at 3 packs for P100 but we did not buy because our hands were full with heavy bags already. Time was running out so we headed back to the car after buying a piece of melon for P30.

We loaded the car with our good buys and headed to Salcedo Market. It was 8 am and it took us 15-20 minutes to get to Salcedo Park in Makati and another 30 minutes to get parking. We settled for a slot at the corner of Makati Sports Club, a good 5 minute walk away from the market. When we got inside Barangay Bel-Air’s Salcedo Saturday Market, it was buzzing with dance music and happy people. We can say that this particular Saturday market was packed with people.

We got a grocery cart and headed to Chlorophyll Manila‘s stall and we were happy to see Arthur Tanco, Jr. who was more than happy to explain to a new customer about one of their products, Kefirlicious. We noticed that Arthur had a new cart filled with different kinds of nuts. His umbrella food cart has grown 3-5x bigger since we last visited him. We got a bottle of Kefirlicious and Almond Milk and bid him goodbye.

Another happy face we visited was Marissa Marfil of Green Palette. We got a new gallon of SanZyme, pet soap and Linen Spray. All her products are natural, if not organic.

We met Leo, a concessionaire selling free-range chicken (P200-250 per kilo, depending on size) and chicken innards and fresh egg yolks. According to one of my shopping buddies for the day, Chef Fernan of Food Creatives, those innards with eggs would be best cooked like adobo. He bought the last bag and promised me that he will cook the same dish for Pinoy Organics soon.

We met a new friend, Ibhram, a charming Indian guy who was selling fresh yogurt made from goat’s milk. According to him, he gets his goat’s milk from his friend who owns a farm in Cavite. He also sells healthy cooked food.

We tasted the vanilla, saffron and cacao. All three flavors were good. We thanked him for his 10-minute informative talk and promised him we’ll visit again soon.

We heard that Sagada oranges in this market abound so we looked around and found huge ones at P150 per kilo. The last time we were in Baguio, it was being sold at P100 per kilo in the city market. For the size, sweetness and freshness of the four huge oranges we picked, we can say their price were fair. Please be careful of one fruit seller who sells oranges from China but claims they’re from Sagada. Buy from the seller located at the back entrance of the market, near Chlorophyll Manila’s cart. That’s where we buy our Sagada oranges all the time.

We checked out other fruit stalls and were surprised to find a similar pack of strawberries P75 per pack.

We checked out other stalls and were getting hungrier by the minute.

There were just so much food stalls to try out! Our group decided to get a dish from different concessionaires and ate picnic-style under the tented area with plastic chairs and tables provided by the organizers.

It was a tiring yet productive Saturday morning. On our way back home, we all had smiles on our faces and three car trunks filled with goodies enough to last us a week.

We bought all four oranges in during our back-to-back market adventure. Can you guess which of these oranges is the real Sagada orange?