Fresh this week
It’s the first week of Swanton Berry Farm’s Chandler strawberries!! This feels incredibly momentous – we’ve made it to another strawberry season! Jim Cochran has been growing strawberries organically for nearly 40 years and he grows our FAVORITE version: the sweet, tender, juicy, Chandler strawberry. We’ll give a proper introduction to Jim & company next week, but for now: to many more Swanton berries! Store in the fridge. Grown organically by Swanton Berry Farm in Davenport.
The Ojai Valley is the best Pixie-growing region in California and Jim Churchill grows some of the most delicious fruit we’ve ever had. Churchill’s Pixie mandarins are here! By waiting until late April to harvest, the mandarins have had time to really develop their sugars and full flavor. Store on the counter. Grown organically by Churchill Orchard in Ojai.
Nagami kumquats are one of the most widely-grown varieties. Their sturdiness has something to do with it, considering they’re still hanging on the trees late into spring! The skin is a deep, bright orange, matching the flavor. If you’ve never had a kumquat, the skin is sweet and the flesh is super tart and juicy. The narrow window where the seasons of kumquats and strawberries overlap is springtime magic. Store on the counter. Grown organically by Beck Grove in Fallbrook.
Jill Kayne is the third-generation farmer at Four Sisters Farm. Her four acres of kiwi vines are planted just a few miles inland from the coast. There they get gentler fall nights so the flavor really has time to develop. Her Hayward kiwis are harvested months after most growers harvest their kiwi crop, with sugar and flavors fully developed and texture at its prime. It’s special to support a small kiwi grower like Jill, where it feels less common in the kiwi industry these days. Store on the counter. Grown sustainably by Four Sisters Farm in Aromas.
Minneola tangelos are a cross between a grapefruit and a tangerine. Just like with a late-season grapefruit, we can’t pass them up this time of year. The skin on the tangelos shows the history of the season it’s endured: orange-yellow sunstreaks, the occasional mark of a bird’s peck, and the wrinkles of a fruit approaching its sugar-peak. Minneolas have been hanging on the trees all winter long and now into spring, they reward the wait. Store on the counter. Grown organically by Beck Grove in Fallbrook.
Encore appearances
Coastal Moon's Snowchaser blueberries are the first to come on and are an easy highlight of early spring. They have what we like to call an intensity of flavor – they taste like a blueberry, but more so. They taste like what a blueberry SHOULD taste like! Yields have suffered a bit this year, making the fruit a bit more limited, but the flavor is there. And we do our due diligence! (Farmer Garrett is always so gracious about our impromptu u-pick visits :) Store in the fridge. Grown organically by Coastal Moon in Freedom.
As citrus season wraps up for the rest of California, Terra Firma Farm just begins to harvest their Ruby Red grapefruit. It’s our favorite. It’s deliciously sweet-tart, super juicy, and full of flavor flavor flavor! Store on the counter. Grown organically by Terra Firma Farm in Winters.
