Photo courtesy of Westchester Produce
Looking to freshen up your fruits and veggies without leaving the house? Westchester Produce is the answer to your “what should I cook tonight?” woes.
Westchester Produce’s delivery boxes — as Forrest Gump might say — are like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get. Featuring 12-16 assorted fresh fruits and vegetables every week, this home delivery box ($50) is filled with seasonal items you can’t find in the supermarket. Think: pink pineapples, Lucy apples, and even plumogranates. (Yes, you read that right: a plum and pomegranate hybrid.)
View this post on Instagram
Each box is a mix of staples — lettuce, tomatoes, bananas — and whatever’s freshest that day at Hunts Point Market, where owner and Mamaroneck resident Mike Zalon shops each morning. He doesn’t like to repeat produce, so he makes sure that every week includes different items than the week before.
View this post on Instagram
“Customers say their kids race to the door and open up the box like it’s Christmas morning,” says Zalon of the surprise that arrives on doorsteps across Westchester and parts of southern Connecticut. And the varied contents keep customers learning about the possibilities available to them aside from the usual suspects at the grocery store.
At the start of the pandemic (and equipped with a background in retail and wholesale), Zalon saw a need for fresh produce in Westchester since many people were leery about leaving their homes and it had been weeks since they’d enjoyed fresh vegetables.
View this post on Instagram
With the help of his wife, Juliana, and his in-laws, Zalon is able to pick, pack, and have locally sourced, just-harvested produce out for delivery within hours to ensure maximum freshness. The Westchester Produce team is “a family thing, from our family to yours.” The family’s biggest job: a holiday food drive with Montefiore Hospital in which 10,000 pounds of food were distributed to thousands of families throughout NYC.
Every box is inspected by Zalon to ensure items are blemish-free; even though the produce may still taste delicious, he wants every delivery to be perfect. He even goes over budget for special items, “because if I see something I’d like to share with customers, I want to put it in the box to please them.”
Westchester Produce
Mamaroneck
