Buying food - yes, food - on eBay

I've recently discovered that quite a few eBay sellers offer produce, honey, nuts, and maple syrup from their own backyards (or nearby yards).

I'm seeing black walnuts, pecans, shagbark hickory nuts, fuyu persimmons, pineapple guavas, and homemade preserves on the site. Even when you factor in shipping, the prices seem reasonable. For example, a gallon of syrup goes for $46, including shipping (grade B, which has a deeper flavor than grade A).

I'm also intrigued by the huckleberry truffles I see from Montana.

I just bought some maple syrup that's cooked down over a wood fire. If anyone's interested, I'll let you know how it tastes.

fleurdesel, I'm eagerly waiting to vicariously food-shop the web through you. I've been kind of looking at this stuff (caviar at Amazon is pretty cheap) but haven't been brave enough to take the plunge...

So, definitely, report back!

We had tons of shagbark hickory trees in my hood when I was growing up. Man, those nuts are hard to crack open. The amount of work needed to get a small quantity of nut meats would not be worth the trouble to me. They have a pleasant sweet taste, not unlike pecans.

I can recomment from extensive personal experience a source of absolutely top-quality nuts and dried fruits- at

www.houstonpecan.com

My son lived near there for ten years, and we got to know the owner. We have also ordered for Christmas supplies for our local Rotary Club. Everything we have ever gotten is absolutely first-rate.

Just as a matter of interest, the owner is a Jewish refugee who arrived here after WW II. He made it here because... he was on Schindler's List. Just a little brush with history.

Those are some good deals, Mike. I'm wondering why Turkish apricots are 1/3 cost of California apricots? I guess I've always bought the Turkish variety because I don't recall seeing anything else. Is there a big difference between them (besides the price), or what?

I thought it was illegal/against their rules to sell foodstuffs on eBay.

Cogito-
Cal apricots are about that much more expensive than Turkish at Trader
Joe's, too. They seem to me far more tasty than the Turkish. I have no idea about relative nutritional values. Maybe it's just the unionized farm workers here.