If you’ve ever explored the aisles of an Asian supermarket, you might wonder how you can always find a steady flow of big, juicy fruits and pounds of fresh green vegetables for affordable prices. Here in this unassuming warehouse in the Lower East Side, you can discover the magic behind it all…

Bitter melon (green) in the front and some sort of rotund brown gourd in the back

A box of fresh produce

A creaky elevator delivers a mountain of crates from the refrigerated storage on the second floor. Looming above the work area is a Buddhist shrine, with offerings of oranges and a small bottle of Johnny Walker. No wonder this place is blessed with such flawless leafy greens!

The orange-johnny walker equipped shrine hanging above the crates of vegetables

The elevator.. (that’s a dinosaur toy stapled to the wall, not a rat)

Besides the fruits and vegetables that are flown in from Central and South America, much of the produce offered in the warmer months is grown on their very own farm in southern New Jersey. SSL Produce, Inc distributes to Asian supermarkets and groceries in Manhattan as well as some in Flushing, Queens.

Sun Lam, the founder and owner of SSL, gave me a quick tour of the facilities, starting at one of two walk-in refrigerators. As we passed by the long corridor of one refrigerator, he pointed to each cluster of boxes and told me what fruits and vegetables were inside. Like a proud father introducing his children, he opened the crates to let me examine the fresh mangos, bitter melons, baby bok choi.

The entrance to the refrigerator (the view from inside the refrigerator)

Cilantro

Da dou miu (Big Pea Shoot)

Thai eggplant

Baby bok choy

Curious of what was in a huge cardboard box near the entrance of the refrigerator, I asked Sun. He lifted up the flaps to unveil…a big mound of cream colored mush. “Tofu!” he exclaimed. Straight from a nearby factory, this box of tofu byproduct, normally thrown away, is saved to be used later as fertilizer on the farm. Yes, another secret is revealed.

Soy pulp, a by-product from the tofu factory, stored to be used as fertilizer at SSL’s farm in New Jersey

At the end of our tour, Sun tells me in Chinese, “The best time of year on the farm is in the summer in July, when all the vegetable and fruits are ready to be harvested” and extends an invitation to visit the farm, which I of course happily accept.  As we exchange farewells, he gives us a plastic bag of vegetables. “Some vegetables for dinner” he says, with a big toothy grin.

Bitter melon, Chinese eggplant, winter melon, and greens from SSL Produce, Inc.

Stay tuned for a recipe for Chinese eggplant!