Get intimate with your produce!
Farmers Market Report
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!
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
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
FARMERS MARKET REPORT: WEEK OF OCT. 18TH, 2009
Oct 18th
FOOD DEMOCRACY~
“Food democracy has become the rallying cry of an emerging grassroots movement. Eating local is part of it. At the most basic level, though, food democracy requires a transformation of the food industry, so that workers and consumers can exercise control over what they produce and eat. As the Small Planet Institute defines it, Food democracy means the right of all to an essential of life–safe, nutritious food. It also suggests fair access to land to grow food and a fair return for those who labor to produce it. Food democracy concerns itself with the future as well: It implies economic rules that encourage communities to safeguard the soil, water, and wildlife on which all our lives and futures depend.”
-Editorial Excerpt from the September 21, 2009 issue of THE NATION
Food democracy is also reliant upon the economic and environmental sustainability of food production. Small farming is actually more efficient than monocultural farming, yet it has its economic disadvantages. The reality though, as credible studies have proven, an acre of diversified, regional-specific farming for any vegetable is just as productive as an intensive monoculture. The best-flavored food comes from dynamic and diversified farmland that has made the most sustainable use of the soil. We are blessed to be doing business with such farmers that practice sustainable methods and grow more than one crop. Supporting these farms gives them the economic viability they need to compete with industrialized farms. Valuing food based on cost and convenience is not a sustainable model. Food production and morality are vastly becoming a part of the conversation about how our nation’s democracy functions. Thanks to chefs, farmers, growers and the people eating their food.
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FARMERS MARKET REPORT: WEEK OF OCTOBER 11, 2009
Oct 11th
HARVEST~
DEFINITION: v. The taking in of one’s crops. n. the season when ripened crops are gathered.
Autumn is the quintessential season that we pair the word harvest with. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. The trees are turning. The air is cooling and the fields are the color of a season – a melody of coppers, siennas, cornflowers and pale gold. Now is the time to turn on the oven and finally start to think: roast, braise…slow food cooking at its finest time to shine with the most brilliant farmers market ingredients now available. Here are the season’s early highlights, beginning with a seductive persimmon whose season will only last so long….
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FARMERS MARKET REPORT: WEEK OF OCTOBER 4, 2009
Oct 4th
PERSIMMONS, PUMPKINS AND POMEGRANATES, OH MY!!!!!!
My iced coffees and short sleeved-T’s have given way to hot cocoa and cozy sweaters all in the course of 72 hours. Fall is sweeping in and the quintessential harvest has been bestowed upon us. Behold the beautiful chocolate persimmon, rich, luscious and spicy, characteristics perfect for an autumn menu. Pumpkins rule the landscape, with an array of colors, sizes, flavors, shapes and names – baby bears, tigers, sugar pies and even cinderella, and the pomegranates are the gateway to a long season of holidays and festivities. These fruits stand out at the market and the table, their colors, textures and flavors so memorable and engaging, it is time to start indulging and honoring these autumn treasures now!!! What makes them even more valuable is that these fruits have all been grown and harvested sustainably, organically, biodynamically and in sync with Mother nature.
Chocolate Persimmons – Penryn Orchards
Baby Bear Pumpkins – Rutiz Farms
Pomegranates – Rancho Del Sol
FARMERS MARKET REPORT: WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 27, 2009
Sep 27th
autumnal equinox~
The beginning of fall has arrived and the summer is officially behind us. Pumpkins are shaping up and stone fruits are shipping out. Heirloom apples are filling baskets at the market, as are pears and soon, persimmons and winter squashes. The chile peppers are at their peak with several varieties tempting our palates eyes and mouths. Here are the chile newcomers to the market (each from heirlooms seeds) representing regions and quintessential to traditional and modern cuisines from around the world…
Fushimi Pepper – Windrose Farms: sweet chili pepper from Japan widely used in Asian cooking at its green stage, especially in tempura. Full flavored, measures 6″ long, with thin deep green walls that will eventually turn glossy red.
Negro Pasilla Chile Peppers – Windrose Farms: an elongated, tubular chile, measuring 6 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Dark purple when ripe, the Pasilla’s crinkly body curves into an arc. This thin fleshed chile has a berry flavor with herbaceous tones. Great dried and ground up for powder seeds and all too!!
Sigaretta Dolce Pepper – Windrose Farms: known as an Italian fryer, the Sigeretta Dolce is a slim, crinkly and long “cigar” type pepper that is sweet and savory vs. hot. It has a lime green colored skin that turns red when it fully ripens.
Shishito Pepper – Coleman Family Farms: an old Japanese variety, the shishito is a wrinkly thin skinned savory and mild flavored peppers that is about three inches long. This peppers should be harvested when its skin color is bright lime green. It is 100% edible, including the seeds.
Padron Chile Pepper – Coleman Family Farms: Petit Padron chile peppers are slightly crinkled and grooved, have a semi-matte finished deep green skin and generally measures about two inches long. When small and immature, this chile pepper offers a crisp and mildly sweet pepper flavor. The larger the Padron chile pepper, the spicier the flavor, which incidentally makes it much less enjoyable to eat. Its formal name is “Pimiento de Padrón”.
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FARMERS MARKET REPORT: WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 20, 2009
Sep 20th
THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER~
A field trip to Fallbrook Mushroom Farm on Monday was an educated journey into a virtual Chinese forest where mushrooms were dominating the landscape. Long and narrow, screened barns are home to thousands upon thousands of oyster “spawns” and shitake logs. The mushrooms are cultivated on agro-waste (which is essentially recycled agricultural food sources) in spawns filled with rice, grains, cotton, straw, wheat, millet and maize that serve as the mushrooms’ food and protein source. The spawned bags (see picture above) are stored in low-lit raised shelving as they begin colonizing. They are watered from a sprinkling system above daily to retain the appropriate levels of moisture for the mushrooms to grow prolifically. Harvests occur approximately every 60 days and are picked before the mushrooms begin to spore. The most effective way to harvest the mushrooms is to remove the entire colony from the spawn’s stem so that a new crop can grow all at once. One spawn bag can cultivate about 3-5 harvests.
