Best of Toronto
The Best Fruit & Vegetable Stores in Toronto
The best fruit and vegetable stores in Toronto provide motivation to walk the extra few blocks in the frigid cold or blistering heat. Indeed, even when I think my laziness knows no bounds, the thought of swallowing down limp kale or tasteless strawberries--the kind you often get at big supermarket chains--will push me to seek quality over convenience, even if it means going a little further. And I'm always glad I do.
The best fruit and vegetable stores offer up freshness and taste above all else, while some toss in low prices and others opt for variety and unusual selection. All of them, though, render buying fruits and veggies from chain supermarkets an ultimate last resort.
Here is the list of the best fruit and vegetable stores in Toronto, as voted by readers of this site.
Bloor Fruit Market photo by Roberta Baker, Oxford Fruit photo by Tyson Williams, both in the blogTO Flickr pool
Carload
Carload has two locations in Toronto - both offering fresh produce at reasonable prices. First in Bloor West Village, Carload opened its second location on Queen and Windermere to what I assume must have been squeals of delight of Beaches residents. Its fruits and vegetables often look impressively pristine and are always fresh and delicious. Anyone else counting down the days until cherries are in season? More »
Maple Produce
Maple Produce on Roncesvalles is always bustling with regulars, visitors, and restaurateurs looking for fresh herbs, and quality fruits and vegetables. It is by no means large, but it's run pretty efficiently and you can leave with a full bag of goodies without hurting your pocket too badly. More »
Valley Farm (Danforth)
The place to go for some of the best fruits and veggies in the area. And that's saying something, especially since it's right beside Fruitland Market and across the street from Fruit King. Valley Farm on Danforth and Logan is lauded for its consistent quality, freshness, and of course, good prices. More »
Harbourfront Organic Foods
On the lower level of the St. Lawrence Market, Harbourfront Organic Foods has a great selection of organic (and non-organic) fruits and vegetables, as well as nuts and organic dried fruits. Their prices are pretty reasonable, plus you can get freshly made fruit salad, which, I at least, am always craving when shopping for produce. More »
Oxford Fruit
In the heart of Kensington Market, Oxford Fruit is always overflowing with lots of fresh produce, usually geared toward what's in season. If not perusing the outdoor fruits and veggies at the corner of Nassau and Augusta, shoppers venture inside to pick grapes and plants from the ceiling, along with other leafy greens. More »
Bloor Fruit Market
Bloor Fruit Market in Koreatown on Bloor at Manning offers a good selection of fruits and vegetables, many of which are locally grown, at fantastic prices. It's an area favourite for ripe berries, juicy tomatoes, and bundles of fresh herbs. The green awning alone is usually enough to spark salivation. More »
Harvest Wagon
While you probably won't be able to use your couch change to buy produce here, Harvest Wagon in Rosedale (and Harvest Wagon Too at Eglinton and Avenue Road) is the place to find top quality and hard-to-find fruits and veggies. Here you can pick up produce such as mini veggies, edible flowers, rare mushrooms and truffles. But, of course, you won't want to disrupt the immaculate displays. More »
Fiesta Farms
On Christie between Bloor and Dupont, Fiesta Farms sells lots of organic, local produce, conveniently alongside organic, local meats and other foods. But its fruit and veggie spread is quite impressive and offers lots of selection at reasonable prices. Plus, it's independent and family-owned. Sold. More »
Karma Co-Op
This non for profit food store in the Annex has many fruits and vegetables that are not only organic and locally grown, but often listed alongside the name of the farm where they were produced. Karma usually sticks to what's in season, and lists how many locally grown items are currently in store. It has all the staples with little unnecessary packaging. More »
Discussion
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"All of them, though, render buying fruits and veggies from chain supermarkets an ultimate last resort."
I believe all or most of these places buy their product from the Food Terminal or from a distributor who buys from the food terminal, which is the same for grocery stores. So I don't see why any of these stores would have better quality.
For myself, I've generally found Valley Farm to have lower quality than Fruit King, and both are not as good as the Foodland up the street. But I may just have had a bad experience. I'd be interested in other Danforth-ian's opinions on that.
Either way, I hope this list encourages people to shop more at local produce stores.
Definitely one of my favourite Roncey places, glad to see they made the top 10! Actually, I love all the fruit places on Roncesvalles. I think "Roncesvalles" should just be on the list since there are probably about 6 fruit stands in 8 blocks...
The Food Terminal was built when the GTA's population was much smaller (there was no concept of the "GTA" then) and it doesn't have the capacity to distribute all the fruit & veggies etc that are required now.
That said, I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes, since so much of our produce comes from the same places, i.e. California and Mexico.
And a shop that really cares can spend the time to source beautifully ripe, unusual, and local (in summer) produce that would make your mouth water. So just because they all buy at the Food Terminal doesn't mean that they all end up with the same stuff.
You have to pick and choose, because they always stock a full assortment, and the imported organic stuff costs a lot, but if you ask for seasonal local ingredients, they're happy to point out what they've got, and that will often include amazing ingredients that can't be bought anywhere else except at farmer's markets. They have amazing Ontario apples year-round.
Crownie Farms service is located at 41,oshola streety,Ifako-Ijaiye,Lagos State,Nigeria,23401 is an upscale full production farm,which offers wide range of cultivation of vegetables which includes Corchorous Olitorious,Okro,bitter leaves,chilly,Baselia Alba,melon,Garri,Groundnut oil,Palm oil and Yam in a well preserved form.Our target market s are West Africans mostly Nigerians residing in the USA,Canada,and UK willing to consume /eat their local meals/dishes.The farm is a Sole Proprietorship owned by the Promoter himself.
PRICE LIST: PRODUCT PRICE
* Corchorous Olitorios (EWEDU) US$23 per kg
*Okro US$22 per kg
*Bitter leaves US$25 per kg
*Chilly pepper US$30 per kg
*Baselia Alba (UGWU) US$25 per kg
*Melon US$30 per kg
*Garri US$8 per kg
*Groundnut oil US$7 per litre
*Palm oil US$4.5 per litre
*Yam US$6 per tuber.
You can make your order anytime of the year and our distribution strategy is:Producer-Retailer-Customer and this can be through Home/Office Delivery or coming around for your products or through Logistics(Airlines),depending on your choice of interest.
We shall be looking forward reading and hearing from you soon based on your order.
Yours faithfully,
Adegbemi Gabriel.O.
+2348057601847.