Cherry season is in full swing at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and, with new varieties popping up each week but only a handful of weeks left in their short season, now is the time to get your fill. There are over 15 varieties of cherries to try and buy from a dozen different farms. Many of these varieties, like Brooks, Lapin and Rainier, are already available at Paoletti Farm, K & J Orchards and Frog Hollow Farm.

One of my favorite times of the year at the market is when the first cherries of the season show up at the Hamada Farms’ stand, signaling the first stone fruit of the season. This week raspberries will be available at Yerena Farms, and some early varieties of peaches will be on hand from Kashiwase Farms, which returns to market this Saturday.

Chef Adam Dulye was excited to get his hands on fava beans from Star Route Farms at the market this week. Young favas, he told me, are one of the spring vegetables he looks forward to most each year. Since taking over the kitchen of Monk’s Kettle he has used the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market to inspire and guide his menus, which put a seasonal and local spin on classic gastropub fare. In addition to the favas, he also had spring onions, peas, mushrooms, strawberries, English peas and baby carrots on his shopping list this week.

Allison Mountford, executive chef and owner of Square Meals, and Sarah Henkin, her new operations director, were at the Thursday market recently to shop for ingredients for their weekly changing menu. Allison started Square Meals shortly after graduating from culinary school in 2006 and the business has since grown from a private chef service to a brick-and-mortar establishment in Polk Gulch, which opened last December.