Get intimate with your produce!
Farmers’ Market Box of the Week 11/18/09
Nov 18th
Fresh From the Farm for only $20! Would you like to order one for next week* the first week of December? Our weekly orders are filling up fast… Get on the train!
Email Melissa@specialtyproduce.com
*edit- Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday we will NOT have Farmers’ Market Boxes next week! We will resume this program the first week of December (pick-up Dec 3-4) Thank you all for your support!
Cooks Confab – Street Food!
Nov 17th
Raise your hand if you’ve been to a Cooks Confab event! Hopefully your hand is up, but if not, we have the perfect one for you. Coming up Saturday, December 5, 2009, 9am-1pm at the Little Italy Mercato, the Confablieri present Street Food! They’re in the giving spirit & you are part beneficiary. Get out there, enjoy their culinary creations for only $15, all of which will go to ARTS: A Reason To Survive. Their past tickets have cost close to $100, and worth every penny so if you love great food, but can’t always splurge – this is the time to do it. It’s sure to be amazing- just check out the menu. One more plus, it’s right in the middle of a farmers’ market…see below for more details 
The Confablieri are coming out of the kitchen and onto the street—many with their families—to join the Little Italy Mercato for a holiday celebration of family and food with a focus on giving.
100% of proceeds will be donated to ARTS—A Reason To Survive. We also encourage you to bring along a new or gently-used musical instrument or unwrapped toy for the kids at ARTS (read more at www.areasontosurvive.org).
Cost: $15 in advance, $20 at the door
Little Italy Mercato is located on Date St. between Kettner & Union in downtown San Diego.
Tickets: 619.297.2787 x2002 Arathi
Minimum required donation, any additional donation welcome, all proceeds benefit ARTS!
Reservations strongly suggested, as event may sell out. (Sorry, no refunds, all donations are tax-deductible) — Cooks Confab
FARMERS MARKET REPORT: WEEK OF NOV. 15, 2009
Nov 15th
WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS…
Well, if you are a chef, you do many things: you zest them, you grill them, you make lemon pie, you preserve them….and thankfully for us, Garcia Organics has a beautiful new crop of meyer lemons. Last week was the first harvest and they are simply perfect, fragrant, sweet and juicy!
MARKET FORECAST:
RANCHO DEL SOL IS READY! FIRST UP: TANGELOS SO SWEET AND JUICY (YOU WILL WANT TO BE SOMEWHERE SAFE WHEN YOU BREAK INTO ONE…..
NEXT UP: 15 PRIZED TREES ON RANCHO DEL SOL’S ORCHARD GROW THIS SPECIAL CITRON – BUDDHA’S HAND!!! EXOTIC, YET LOCAL!! NOW AVAILABLE!
It’s San Diego Beer Week! Where is everyone eating…I mean drinking? #sdbw
Nov 9th
There are so many events happening… Click the link above to see a full calendar. Get out there and enjoy San Diego’s #1 Craft Beer Breweries & Chefs! More information on Chef Celebration of San Diego Craft Beer :
FARMERS MARKET REPORT: WEEK OF NOVEMBER 8, 2009
Nov 8th
McGrath Farm stand November 4, 2009
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MARKET FORECAST:
GARCIA ORGANICS – GUAVA FOR 5 MORE WEEKS, MEYER LEMONS ARE COMING IN AS WELL AS BEARS LIMES
YASUTOMI – MINERS LETTUCE IS BACK!!!
PUDWILL FARMS HAS PINEAPPLE GUAVA!!! AND BLUEBERRIE$ ARE BACK!
COLEMAN FARMS – TOKYO LONG JAPANESE ONIONS ARE GORGEOUS AND A GREAT WINTER FRESH ONION, BEAUTIFUL DRAGON FRUIT IN LIMITED SUPPLIES! PEACOCK KALE, PORTUGESE KALE AND SCOTS KALE, FRENCH SORREL, RED FRILL MUSTARD IN BUNCHES, SPIGARELLO AND THAI “DRAGON” CHILES
MCGRATH FARMS HAS THE BABY RED AND WHITE SCALLIONS BACK AND TONS OF KABOCHA SQUASH!! THEY ALSO HAVE BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND RAPINI!!
COASTAL ORGANICS HAS RED GEM LETTUCE BY THE BOX AND IT IS STUNNING, SUCCULENT AND CRUNCHY
JAIME FARMS HAS AN AMAZING REDBOR KALE – FRILLY, TENDER AND SWEET – THE PERFECT BRAISING GREEN WITHOUT THAT UNECESSARY BITTERNESS!! THEY ALSO HAVE THEIR BABY CARROTS BACK IN 4 COLORS AND THEY ARE CUTE!!!
BEYLIK HAS SOME LATE SEASON HEIRLOOM MELONS AS WELL AS JAPANESE TOMATOES AND PERSIAN CUCUMBERS
TUTTI FRUTTI HAS A NEW CROP OF BLOOMSDALE SPINACH.
J.J.’S LONE DAUGHTER RANCH IS BACK AT THE MARKET AND THEY ARE PACKING: MEXICOLA GRANDE AVOCADOES AND BEAUTIFUL PERFECTLY RIPE HACHIYA PERSIMMONS!!!
PENRYN ORCHARDS ALSO HAS HACHIYAS, FUYUS, MARUS AND LAST WEEK OF TSURU NOKOS – BUY THEM UP! THEY HAVE A GOOD SHELF LIFE AND ARE EXTREMELY VERSATILE!!
WEISER FARMS HAS BABY HEIRLOOM CARROTS IN THE 5 LB. BOX AND THEY HAVE A FINGERLING SIZED HEIRLOOM POTATO MIX NOW TOO!! THEY ALSO HAVE TEEN SIZED PARSNIPS WITHOUT TOPS.
I THINK IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT IS A LOT OF REALLY GOOD NEWS…
FEATURED FARM:
PENRYN ORCHARD
Penryn Orchard is a 100% sustainable boutique-sized 4 acre orchard that is growing amazing tree fruits: from rare heirloom Asian pears to eight different varieties of persimmons. Jeff Reiger purchased the orchard from a retired Japanese immigrant, George Oki who started the orchard in 1980. Jeff knew nothing about growing fruit when he started. George handed him a map of the orchard and said “Good Luck!” Today Jeff farms the land with the assistance of bees for pollination, bugs and guinea hens for a healthy ecosystem and sheep and cow fertilizer for composting. The result is a prolific orchard growing “uncommonly good fruit”
Hachiya -
Large, heart-shaped persimmon. Astringent type must be eaten when fully soft (feels like a water balloon when perfectly ripe). Incredibly sweet, rich, complex flavor. Rich, sweet flesh is reddish orange. This is the variety used for making hoshigaki
FARMERS MARKET REPORT: WEEK OF NOV. 1, 2009
Nov 1st
- © 2007 martini media
- © 2007 martini media
FOOD IN THE 21ST CENTURY: SUSTAINABILITY
It’s interesting to think that we talk about sustainability as if it were a new trend or seemingly more fashionable than ever. The Post-World War 20th Century turned agriculture into a scientific analysis and the Green Movement allowed food to sustain incredible population growth. That model was based on a surplus of global resources: land, water, fuel and environmental sustainability. Today, none of these resources come cheap nor can they sustain our planet’s increasing food demands and decreasing agricultural productivity. Sustainability has always been the model for survival. It is now that the sense of urgency can no longer be ignored. Agribusiness cannot be sustained economically. It is the economics that drives the future of agriculture. It gauges the viability, rationality and plausibility of agricultural productivity. What does it mean for us? Small sustainable farms growing regionally specific foods are at the core of present and future agricultural models. Each week we embrace the farm to market method we are putting money into a sustainable system. We are directly investing in food and farms because they matter. We are supporting our community, creating vital relationships and food sources of capital for small farmers and growers. Paul Newman said, “I just happen to think that in life we need to be a little like the farmer who puts back into the soil what he takes out.” That is basic math and economic sustainability. It isn’t fashionable or trendy. It is now and it is our future.
FEATURED FARM:
PENRYN ORCHARD
Penryn Orchard is a 100% sustainable boutique-sized 4 acre orchard that is growing amazing tree fruits: from rare heirloom Asian pears to eight different varieties of persimmons. Jeff Reiger purchased the orchard from a retired Japanese immigrant, George Oki who started the orchard in 1980. Jeff knew nothing about growing fruit when he started. George handed him a map of the orchard and said “Good Luck!” Today Jeff farms the land with the assistance of bees for pollination, bugs and guinea hens for a healthy ecosystem and sheep and cow fertilizer for composting. The result is a prolific orchard growing “uncommonly good fruit”
Farmers’ Market Box of the Week $20!!
Oct 28th
We’ve made shopping easy! Fresh & local – straight from the farmers today 10/28. Box of the Week available for only $20! See what’s in the box before you order. Help us support California farms & farmers!
What could you create?
*please email melissa@specialtyproduce.com by noon on Friday 10/30
Chef Celebration of San Diego Beers 11/15
Oct 26th
San Diego Beer Week is coming up soon! The San Diego Brewers Guild have teamed up with Chef Celebration to bring you the Chef Celebration of San Diego Beers! On November 15th from 1-4pm at Irwin Jacobs Hall on Qualcomm Campus, for only $65 you will receive a souvenir tasting glass to fill with beers paired with the cuisines of some of San Diego’s most talented Chefs!
Click image to enlarge
Chef Celebration Mission
Chef Celebration Foundation of San Diego is a nonprofit organization that strives to enhance the knowledge and potential of promising young chefs and lay a foundation of excellence for San Diego’s culinary future.
Every year during the month of October, Chef Celebration holds a series of dinners featuring teams of award-winning local chefs who donate their time and talents to raise funds for an annual scholarship program.
–Chef Celebration.org
FARMERS MARKET REPORT: WEEK OF OCT. 25, 2009
Oct 25th
Food Movement:
INTRODUCING!!!!
PENRYN ORCHARD
Penryn Orchard is a 100% sustainable boutique-sized 4 acre orchard that is growing amazing tree fruits: from rare heirloom Asian pears to eight different varieties of persimmons and the elusive and sensitive celestial figs, there is a plethora of unique and delicious fruit to “pick” from and their season(s) have just begun!!!
Tsuru-No-Ko (Stork Egg)
Chocolate Persimmons - A Japanese variety that is two and one-half by three and one-half inches, oblong, pointed with a bright red-orange colored skin, sometimes with black at its apex. The flesh is red and brown, sweet, spicy, rich and delicate when ripe.
Fuyu persimmons are non astringent, meaning that you can eat them when still firm. Very sweet with a smooth, silky texture
Pretty rounded shape with reddish orange skin and cinnamon colored flesh. Pollination-variant non astringent type. Eat when texture approximates a ripe plum. Lighter and crisper texture than the tsurunoko. Juicy, with a spicy flavor that hints of coffee and cinnamon. Rare.
Gosho (Giant Fuyu) -
Non astringent. Handsome fruit, with pretty rounded shape and very glossy reddish skin. Softer, juicier texture than Fuyu.
Hachiya -
Large, heart-shaped persimmon. Astringent type must be eaten when fully soft. Incredibly sweet, rich, complex flavor. Rich, sweet flesh is reddish orange, sometimes with “Goma” – dark streaks thought cross-pollination. This is the variety used for making hoshigaki
Fall’s Sweetest Treat
Oct 18th
Autumn is in full swing here in San Diego and along with it has brought a scrumptious spread of fall produce. Pumpkins, persimmons and my personal fall favorite, apples. Crisp Pink Lady, sweet Gala, tart Granny Smith, and fragrant Fuji, whatever flavor or texture you may be craving there is surely an apple that will fit your fancy. One of my personal favorites can be found right here in San Diego County.
Julian Empire Apple
Locally grown in Julian at Ravens Hill Orchard, the Julian Empire apple is one of the sweetest apples I have ever tasted! Perfectly sized for snacking on or baking up into a festive fall treat Empire apples are a scrumptious cross between a Red Delicious and a McIntosh. Ravens Hill Orchard was the original supplier of apples for the Julian Apple pie company and since 2005 has been run by the Brady Brothers.
Patrick Brady knows what it takes to produce mouth watering apples, living on the grounds year round he tends to the orchard and pays close attention to the weather patterns ensuring the trees are adequately watered, pruned and protected from frosty winters and hot summers.
During harvest season Ravens Hill opens to the public for U Pick where you can come down to the orchard and pick your own apples straight from the trees. Though the U Pick season is coming to a close at Raven Hill luckily you can still get some of Raven Hill’s sweet apples right here at Specialty Produce.
