Produce of the Year 2025
"Before naming the 2025 produce of the year, I want to give a shout-out to all of the vendors at Oxford Farmers Market, and a reminder that it is held every Saturday throughout the year."
For the first column of 2026, it’s time to announce Oxford’s local produce of the year for 2025. What locally grown produce made an especially big impact during this past year at Oxford Farmers Market and MOON Co-op Grocery?
This is the tenth year that I’ve selected Oxford’s produce of the year. Previous winners include Johnson Family Farm haskaps in 2016, pawpaws in 2017, local mushrooms in 2018, lettuce from Harv Roehling’s Locust Run Farm and Kristi Hutchinson’s 5 Oaks Organics in 2019, shallots from Craig and Sharon Harkrider’s Stoney Hedgerow in 2020, ginger from Jennifer Bayne’s 7 Wonders Farm in 2021, Bonnie Gean’s microgreens in 2022, Charles Geraci’s raspberries in 2023 and Stoney Hedgerow’s winter squash in 2024.
My three finalists this year are broccoli, turmeric and turnips. Broccoli and turnips are recognized this year because they have been especially handsome and bountiful this year at Oxford’s Farmers Market. Turmeric root appeared at Oxford’s Farmers Market for the first time this year.
Broccoli was offered this past summer table at Oxford’s Farmers Market by Scott Downing’s Downing Fruit Farm, as well as 7 Wonders Farm. In addition to the familiar green variety, a purple variety was also spotted some weeks.
Purple broccoli gets its color from anthocyanins, which make the variety even more nutritious than green broccoli, which is a nutritional powerhouse in its own right. It is best eaten raw or else cooked very gently, in order to preserve its nutritional value. When cooked, purple broccoli turns green.
Fresh turmeric roots appeared at 7 Wonder’s Farm this autumn for the first time. I wrote in November that the roots of turmeric and ginger were very similar in appearance: rough, earth-colored knobs topped with thin stalks. The inside of the turmeric is bright orange and has an earthy flavor. I chopped the root into small pieces and added them to a frying pan of mixed vegetables or meats.
Turnips have been highly visible at Oxford’s Farmers Market for the past three months, also at 7 Wonders Farm. They were originally displayed with large, wild, bushy, bright-green leaves but now only the white orbs are available without the leaves and stalks. White turnips arrived first, but now the top portion of the orb is purple. The internet tells me that the purple top is the portion that emerges from the ground. The so-called “Purple Top Turnip” is spicier than the all-white variety.
Before naming the 2025 produce of the year, I want to give a shout-out to all of the vendors at Oxford Farmers Market, and a reminder that it is held every Saturday throughout the year. Our Farmers Market is one of the few in the Midwest that operates year-round outdoors, including straight through winter weather. On harsher Saturdays this winter, a huge tent is erected to house the dedicated vendors.
I’ve tried to solicit comments from the vendors about why they stand outside in the cold and dark every Saturday morning in the winter. Responses include: “Where else would I be on a Saturday morning?” “It’s a social event for us.” “It’s cool being here.” So, Oxford folks, please stop by the Farmers Market to support our intrepid local growers who are providing us with locally grown food, even in the winter.
Time to name the 2025 Produce of the Year. I select broccoli. Having a choice of two colors from two vendors was especially meaningful for me. Unlike turmeric and turnips, I never got around to writing about broccoli in 2025.
James Rubenstein is president of the Board of Directors for the Oxford Free Press and professor emeritus of geography at Miami University.
