Close to the Jade District, this area of Southeast Portland has far more choices for Asian groceries than Latin American ones. Even so, Esparza, who moved from the San Fernando Valley to Portland in 2008 after he and his wife fell in love with the city, saw a void in the local market. There were plenty of Mexican options, but there was little in the way of products from Central and South America.

Seeing that opportunity paid off. That’s why shoppers will find more than the usual supermarket suspects. El Campesino stocks sodas from Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, plus countless brands of Peruvian packaged goods like dulce de pechiche, jarred chochos, and aji amarillo paste, which draws shoppers from outside of the Portland area and even out of state.

When founder Allinee “Shiny” Flanary, a Black queer farmer, found it overwhelming to navigate the frequently racist systems, she realized how alien farmers markets can feel to outsiders. That’s why this year, the incubator market added its own Farmer Training Program which prioritizes applications from new and emerging farm, food, and wellness businesses.

Visitors to the market might not find all the 30+ vendors involved present every Monday, but they will find sellers like Lukas Angus, a Nez Perce tribal fisherman and farmer, representing 7 Waters Canoe Family with smoked chinook and coho salmon for sale.

Produce options are often available from farms like Xast Sqit (Good Rain Farm) run by a founder with Sinixt ancestry, and Lomita, operated by Gonzalo Garcia Reyes who has Zapoteco heritage. Both grow mixed vegetables and participate in local CSAs.

The wellness arena is covered by vendors like Mariquita Medicinals, an herbal remedy business owned by Flynne Olivarez, a queer Latinx herbal medicine and flower farmer, and Sinensis Tea, which offers teas and elixirs made by Annette Aispuro, a Mexican and Native American who wants to share her tea blends with a more diverse community.

Gabriel and Josue Azcorra, the two namesake brothers, honed their artisanal craft at notable Portland bakeries for more than a decade before becoming co-owners of Dos Hermanos in 2018. With a foundation in French baking techniques, they’ve mastered traditional epi baguettes, delicate croissants, and brioche tarts studded with fresh berries.

While Dos Hermanos is a great source for sturdy sesame sourdough loaves, they’ve also become known for delicious hybrid baked goods like habanero and black bean batards and Yucatecan hojaldras, flaky, sweet-and-savory squares of puff pastry stuffed with ham, jalapeño rings, and cheese. The golden delights get dusted with sugar before going in the oven, which results in a brown caramelized top. This popular item is a regional nod to Merida, Mexico, where the brothers grew up.

Their Mexican heritage is also apparent in the conchas they make in Instagrammable neon and tie-dyed hues, as well as soft telera rolls and seasonal specials like the rosca de reyes.

Owner Erick Caravantes comes from a long line of grocers; his family in Guatemala was also in the business. In Mayan, “kaah” can be roughly translated as “neighborhood,” which makes sense for a store that serves local needs. It also does double duty for Mercado customers in search of items not easily found elsewhere.

One of Kaah’s biggest draws is its large selection of freshly made salsas. The shop sells as many as ten varieties on any given day, which is why they’re often set out for sampling with tortilla chips. Popular varieties include the pineapple mango salsa spiked with habanero and the smoky roasted tomatillo morita salsa.

Shoppers can also find Guatemalan brands of spices and seasonings like Malher and fresh produce like tomatillos, purple potatoes, and chiles, including poblanos and habaneros. The meat counter offers chicharrones and chorizos made in-house and popular Mexican cuts of meat like arrachera.

The operation is run by Adriana Azcárate-Ferbel, her husband Pedro Ferbel-Azcarate, and business partner Wendy Downing. None are the three sisters in question; rather the name refers to maize, squash, and beans, three crops that were traditionally planted together as part of a rotation plan.

Corn tortillas are the company’s core offering, but they’re not just any tortilla. Most commercial corn tortillas are made with masa harina (a.k.a. Mexican Bisquick,) but here they source heritage corn grown in Mexico, which is steeped and cooked in an alkaline solution, i.e. nixtamalized, and ground on site. The process brings out the natural corn flavor and makes all the difference taste-wise.

Depending on availability, the tortillas are sold in versions made with yellow, white, or blue corn (and sometimes even green) at the PSU farmer’s market and local supermarkets, but the Lents-area production facility also sells bulk masa, hominy, whole corn, tamale husks, and packaged tortillas for pick up, if ordered online.