Asian Fruit And Trees - All The Way From Fulton

Fall has arrived, but you can hit up the Friday farmers market at the Howard County General Hospital through the end of the month.

The exotic draw is Asian fruit grown in Fulton, reports Kyle (who is kicking off an entire food blog full of material this month like his report about shopping for food at the home brewing store).  At the Friday afternoon market, Kyle has been buying fruit and even trees from Pong's Orchard, a family-run business that grows fruit and trees on 27 acres in Fulton.

Mr. Pong and family are selling Asian pears, Fuji apples, white peaches and fruit trees at the farmer's market on Friday afternoons in the HoCo hospital parking lot. They supposedly have other stuff too like goji berries, kumquats, persimmons etc. but I haven't seen them for sell yet.  Apparently, the orchard location in a neighborhood is not conducive to a roadside stand. So they sell at farmers markets, and they were at Highland Days.

So far I've tried all the stuff they have and been happy with the quality and value. I even bought a couple of trees, a Meyer lemon and variegated kumquat, that can live in my house during the winter. What I really want is a kefir lime. The leaves are an essential ingredient in southeast Asian food. I'm going to ask if he can find one.

The Pongs have owned an orchard in Fulton since 2001 when they moved their operation from Montgomery County, according to this Web page from the Howard County Economic Development Authority.  They grow plants -- including tree peonies -- on 27 acres.  I can't tell from the few articles whether they're

The farmers market at Howard County General Hospital is scheduled to run through October 29.  Market hours are 2 to 6 pm.