Bakersfield, Calif., Farmers Markets Offer Bounty of Edible Delights.

By Marylee Shrider, The Bakersfield Californian Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

May 28--In this day of low-carb diets, Bakersfield's farmers markets should come with a warning -- that locally produced, just-picked fruit is irresistible even for the most ardent Atkins disciple.

Fortunately for the low-carb crowd, local certified farmers markets have more to offer than fresh fruit. At markets throughout Kern County, growers offer a bounty of just-picked fruit and vegetables, flowers, home-baked pastries, honey and free-range eggs.

And now that the markets are operating on summer schedules, savvy shoppers can find fresh produce at a variety of locations.

Charles Drew, manager of Bakersfield's longest-running certified market, the Kern Farmers' Market Association, said the market's recent move from 30th and F streets, farther north on F, in front of the Montgomery World Plaza, has drawn large crowds of curious first-time shoppers.

"We've …