Clement St Winter Farmers Market Picker for Lunar New Year

Clement Street Farmers' Market closes a block of the Inner Richmond to traffic and fills it with farm stands, right in the middle of a street already lined with Chinese bakeries, produce shops and noodle houses. In winter, that makes it a natural first stop for families preparing the two big festive meals of the season, the winter solstice dinner in December and the Lunar New Year feast that follows. This winter farmers market picker walks through how to shop it for a crowded table.

The Inner Richmond has been one of San Francisco's great food neighbourhoods for generations, home first to Russian and Irish families and later to a large Chinese community, with Burmese, Korean and Vietnamese cooks adding to the mix. Clement Street is its spine. When the market sets up, growers' tables mingle with the regular shop fronts, and shoppers move easily between a farm stall, a dim sum bakery and a dried-goods shop in a single loop.

That matters for a festive meal, because no market alone can supply everything. The stalls give you the freshest greens, roots and fruit, often from Asian-American farms in the Central Valley who grow exactly what a holiday table needs. The shops supply dried mushrooms, scallops, glutinous rice flour and sauces. Planning the visit as one trip through both saves you a second journey in the busiest weeks of the year.

The winter solstice, or Dongzhi, is a family festival for many households, celebrated with a warm dinner and bowls of tangyuan, sweet glutinous rice balls in syrup. From the market, buy fresh ginger for the syrup, a few sweet potatoes or taro if you like them in the soup, and seasonal greens such as choy sum or pea shoots to stir-fry. Many families also serve a slow-cooked soup with daikon and carrots.

Keep the solstice shop modest. It is usually a weeknight meal, and the main work is rolling the rice balls, which children love to help with. Buy the glutinous rice flour and sesame paste from a shop on the street, and use the market for everything that has to be fresh. If you are hosting older relatives, ask them which greens they grew up eating and look for those on the farm tables.

Lunar New Year shopping has its own vocabulary. Mandarins and oranges with stems and leaves still attached are bought to display and give away, because their names and golden colour suggest luck and wealth. Look for fruit with fresh green leaves and no soft spots, and buy more than you think, since visitors will take a few home. Pomelos, large and fragrant, are another favourite for the altar and the table.

Long greens such as gai choy, mustard greens, are served for long life and should be bought whole, not chopped. Lettuce is popular because its Cantonese name sounds like growing wealth. For a vegetarian dish such as Buddha's delight, pick up fresh mushrooms, carrots and snow peas at the market, and dried lily buds and bean curd sticks from a shop. Ask growers which greens they expect to have on the weekend before the festival.

The weekend before Lunar New Year is the busiest of the year on Clement Street, with families stocking up from every direction. Go early, take a wheeled cart and split the list between two people, one at the farm stalls and one in the shops. Agree a meeting point at a corner so nobody is lost in the crowd. Buy the fruit for display last, so the leaves stay fresh.

If the crowds are too much, do most of the shopping the week before and come back only for greens and fresh fruit. Roots, citrus without leaves and dried goods all keep perfectly well. Skip the queues for pre-made festive cakes on the busiest day if you can order through a bakery ahead of time, and spend that hour enjoying the street decorations rather than standing in line.

Big festive meals are easier when the greens are prepped in advance. Wash and dry them the day before, wrap them in towels and keep them in the fridge, so the stir-frying on the day takes minutes. Make soups and braises a day ahead too, since their flavour improves overnight. Keep the fruit in a cool spot away from the kitchen heat.

Plan dishes that suit several generations. Grandparents may prefer softer vegetables and gentle broths, while younger cousins want something crisp and bright. A large platter of mustard greens with garlic, a steamed fish, a braise of mushrooms and a bowl of rice balls covers most tastes. Leave room on the table for the mandarins, which will disappear quickly once dinner is over.

Once the shopping is done, the neighbourhood rewards a short wander. Along Clement Street, look into the old bakeries, the kitchen supply shops piled with steamers and woks, and the large independent shop of new and used reading that has anchored the street for decades. Each one is a small lesson in how the neighbourhood cooks and lives. To the north, Mountain Lake Park offers a small lake, a playground and a calm path along the edge of the Presidio.

To the south, Golden Gate Park is only a few blocks away, and in winter its paths are quiet and green. If you want something warmer, stop at a dim sum shop for a box of buns to eat on the walk home. The golden domes of the Russian Orthodox cathedral on Geary Boulevard are worth a look on the way, a reminder of the neighbourhood's older layers.

Festive cooking rarely fits into one trip, so it helps to plan where everything will come from. The Karpo APP can help you find farmers' markets, Asian grocers and bakeries near your home, so you can split the shopping across a few convenient stops. Save the stalls on Clement Street that had the freshest greens and the shops with the dried goods you need.

You can also use Karpo to plan a relaxed day around the market, with a dim sum lunch and a walk in Mountain Lake Park or Golden Gate Park, and to find a quiet restaurant when the family wants a night off cooking after the festival. However you celebrate, choosing the produce together on Clement Street makes the season feel like a shared project.