Gallery: Market Tours: Rossman Farms, a Wonderland of Cheap, Tasty Produce

Rossman Farms

The enormous store occupies the first floor of a warehouse on Third Avenue under the BQE overpass.

Bargains

All of Rossman's prices are very low, but the outside of the store is where the bargain-basement specials of the week are displayed.

Greens

Just one of the packed veggie aisles in the store.

Pepper Aisle

A super colorful display of peppers of all kinds.

Roots

Bins and bins of onions and potatoes...

Purple Potatoes

...such as this lovely purple variety.

Tropical Island

Not Jamaica, but some of the produce you can find there: jicama, ginger, plantains, bananas, and peppers.

Cheese Island

Rossman's continually updates its product line to reflect the needs of its customer base. The store added this cheese section, which offers a huge selection of both domestic and imported cheeses, a few months ago.

Organic Island

Another update Rossman's has made: an ever-expanding line of organic produce.

Housemade Salads

Rossman's produces a line of 40 housemade salads in its on-site kitchen. The salads, which include superb hummus, guacamole, roasted eggplant, and tahini cauliflower, are made fresh daily. For most varieties, a pint will run you $3.98.

Persimmons

Owner Mike Rossman is of Israeli descent, and several of the store's products reflect that heritage, such as these persimmons, which are commonly eaten in the Middle East.

Personal Watermelon

When you just don't want to share.

Mama Mia! Tomatoes!

Another way Rossman's keeps costs down? They produce their own line of fruits and vegetables on farms in Mexico and the Dominican Republic and package them under their Mama Mia label. Here, a variety of their tomatoes.

Persian Cucumbers

Persian cucumbers are slender, crisp, and sweet, considered by many to be the tastiest variety of the fruit.

Cranberry Beans

Pretty speckled-pink beans.

Chiles

Rossman's carries a variety of hot peppers, such as these birds-eye chiles and habeneros.

Cardoons

Ever seen a cardoon before? I hadn't before visiting Rossman's. They look like celery but are relatives of the artichoke, and are typically eaten braised. Another fun cardoon fact: they contain enzymes which can be used to make vegetarian rennet, used in the cheese-making.

Tangerines

Beautiful fresh citrus.

Pomegranates

A fall favorite and another fruit beloved in the Mediterranean.

Walk-In Fridge

One of the keys to Rossman's rock-bottom prices is its ability to store everything it sells on site. This entire room is a walk-in refrigerator used for storing vegetables.

This is, Too

And here, in another refrigerated room, many bushels of onions.

Outside Bargains

Rossman's displays its bargains of the week in giant bins outside the store. Here, a post-Thanksgiving price slash on butternut squash.