When you hit up the produce aisle in the supermarket, you pretty much know what you're going to find: carrots, cauliflower, kale, apples. But head to the farmers' market and you can find some unexpected joy hidden beyond berries and beets: Wild produce picks that can look totally weird, but pack a major flavor and nutrient punch. Here are 10 zany fruits and veggies that are totally worth trying:
1. Green Zebra Tomatoes
These green-stripped fruits resemble tiny watermelons and taste more like a tomatillo than a traditional tomato, with a sweet-tangy flavor and firm flesh. This makes the green zebra a unique and flavorful addition to salads, or you can try chopping it up with jalapeños and lime juice for a fresh take on salsa. Or stack slices with fresh mozzarella and basil for a caprese salad. They're also great grilled: Just coat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper before grilling, and then serve with balsamic.
MORE: 6 Recipes With Fresh, Local Tomatoes
2. Kohlrabi
Underneath kohlrabi's gnarly skin is a great taste—think cabbage meets broccoli—and a nutritional profile to match: Just ½ cup is a measly 19 calories, yet delivers 2.5 grams of filling fiber and 50% of your daily dose of vitamin C. Peel the tough outermost skin and eat raw in salads, grate into a slaw, or cut up into a crudité. To cook with it, use in place of potatoes in latkes, roast and puree into a soup, or cut into thick sticks and bake as home fries.
3. Pomelo
The size alone of this fruit might make you wonder if it's some GMO freak. But no, this less-bitter cousin of the grapefruit is simply the largest variety of citrus you can buy. Like a grapefruit, it's loaded with vitamin C, but pomelos are sweeter with a thicker rind and more membrane. Use them in place of citrus in everything from lemon bars to salad dressings to cocktails, or toss the segments into salads or salsas.
MORE: 8 Foods You Should Always Buy At The Farmers' Market
4. Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes)
These knobby tubers aren't artichokes at all, but the roots of a sunflower. They deliver a sweet, nutty flavor and crisp texture that turns creamy when cooked. Not only are they an excellent vegetarian source of iron, they're one of the best sources of inulin, a fiber that fills you up and feeds friendly bacteria in the gut. Roast, boil, or mash like potatoes; eat thinly sliced raw sunchokes in salads; slice paper-thin and bake into chips; blend roasted sunchokes with chickpeas into homemade hummus; or add to stir-fries.
5. Romanesco Broccoli
This gorgeous cruciferous veggie, with its weird and wonderful pointy pyramids and brazenly bright green color, almost looks too good to eat. But don't let that stop you. It's a tasty cross between cauliflower and broccoli that packs cancer-fighting sulfur compounds, along with calcium for healthy bones. Roast, stir-fry, steam, or use it in dishes that call for cauliflower or broccoli. But to really show off its avant-garde appearance, use it as the centerpiece in salads, as a rice bowl topper, or in a crudité platter.
6. Jicama
It looks like the ugly cousin of a turnip, but underneath the thick brown skin is a crunchy sweet white flesh that tastes like a cross between a potato and water chestnut. Not only does jicama pack a hefty dose of vitamin C and potassium, it's 90% water, making it an ideal post-workout snack. Munch on raw jicama sticks topped with lime juice and chili powder, use it as a hummus dipper, pair with apple for a refreshing slaw, or toss into a spinach avocado salad—just be sure to peel away the waxy brown skin first. It also works in hot dishes like stir-fries or anywhere you'd use water chestnuts.
MORE: 4 Farmers' Market Etiquette Rules You're Probably Breaking
7. Fennel
Sure, you've heard of fennel, but could you ID it in a veggie lineup? It's the white bulbous one with the protruding celery-like stalks and dill-like fronds that delivers a subtly sweet licorice-like flavor, along with a dose of vitamin C and fiber. Its flavor is strongest raw—it adds a crunchy sweetness when tossed into salads or slaws—while cooking mellows it slightly. Use it like onions in soup or pair it with chicken sausage and red peppers for a fantastic pizza topper. Bonus: the stocks can be used to make chicken or vegetable stock, and the fronds can function as herbs.
MORE: 8 Clean Recipes Fresh From The Farmers' Market
8. Cherimoya
Once you get past the tongue-twister name and the leathery, armor-like skin, there's a lot to love about this heart-shaped fruit. Inside is a sweet, creamy white flesh that tastes like banana meets papaya meets flan—no wonder it's called the ice cream fruit. But luckily, it's way healthier: just one fruit delivers 4 g of protein and 7 g of fiber. Cherimoya's custard-like consistency lends itself to smoothies, sorbets, desserts, and homemade ice cream. To cut, slice it down the middle and scoop out the flesh, discarding any black seeds as you go (they're poisonous).
9. Chioggia beets
They look like regular beets on the outside, but cut them open and you're in for a red-and white striped surprise. Sweeter than traditional beets, these candy-striped beauties are a good source of folate, manganese, and potassium. Bonus: they don't stain everything in sight! You can prepare them like any other beet (steamed, sautéed, roasted in a foil packet, even pickled), but raw is the best way to show off the trippy tie-dye striations—slice them paper-thin and top an arugula spinach salad or slice into a "beet" Carpaccio. Baked chioggia chips are also a hit. (Check out these 5 simple ways to make your own veggie chips.)
10. Celeriac (Celery Root)
Celeriac is the perfect don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover veg. Underneath the alien-like exterior is a down-to-earth root with a delicate nutty taste and potato-like texture that's loaded with bone-building vitamin K. Slice thinly and dress with lemon vinaigrette, roast it like potatoes or parsnips, turn it into celery root mash, or use it in place of celery in soups and stews. It also works great layered with potatoes for celery root gratin.
