Summer in Los Angeles makes me think of thing:  fruit.  More specifically, colorful berries and plump ripe yellow peaches.  It is easy to take fruit for granted here.  Southern California is home to a consistent supply of fresh produce.  

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Jashmine Corpuz.  Let's just say lives fruit.  She realizes the intangible beauty of a perfect peach, or fig, or plum, or berry. Actually, it is her job.  She's the passionate pastry chef of the notable Drago Centro restaurant in downtown, a restaurant that specializes in progressive regional Italian food.

“I just get really excited, knowing that [the fruit] has perfect flavor allows me to just showcase it however I want, " Corpuz says.   "I don’t have to do anything to it, try to cover it up or anything, just create other things in the dish that go with it.”

So I tagged along with her to the Santa Monica Farmers Market last Wednesday.  It was her day off and she likes to spend time shopping for fruit to use in her own pastry creations.    This is her Wednesday routine: sniffing melons or taste-testing different varieties of strawberries for her recipes.  And it is a lot of walking. This market is more than three blocks long, filled with side-to-side booths that sell everything from artisan baked German Pretzels to sustainable seafood.  

It really is an amazing experience to join her in her fruit forays:  you inhale the wafting aromas of sea breeze and ripe fruit.  Plus, you get to  see the city’s top chef’s and purveyors pick out the produce that they will use in their restaurants.

“They just the have the best fruit, " Corpuz explains.  "It is  where all the specialty and best fruit is, you can go to any other farmers market but their not going to have any Persian Mulberries or Golden Raspberries.”

Jashmine Corpuz was kind enough to share a recipe for a highly pleasurable summer pie that she prepared for me using ultra tart and transient Ollalieberries, a seasonal berry that is a cross of raspberries, blackberries and boysenberries. Fresh ones were used here but you can use whatever berry you can get really, fresh or frozen.  

The L.A. Downtown News reports that the popular Pershing Square Farmers' Market has reduced the number of vendors allowed and will be closed for the next five weeks to make room for holiday-themed events.

Youth Radio's Ana Beatriz interviewed some of the remaining vendors there about whether the changes have affected their profits.

With additional reporting by Ana Beatriz and Adania Navarro.