fruit notes
Growing up, we’d always have cut fruit after dinner. Apples were always in the mix. They were always sweet apples – never tart – and always peeled. One thing I took away from eating apples as a kid was to admire those with a sugar core, which is where parts of the flesh around the core are slightly translucent. My grandma and mom would say that the good apples have this! A sugar core forms when there’s an overaccumulation of sorbitol in the fruit, essentially a sugary, syrupy richness, and in our household, it was something to be prized. Stan Devoto harvested his final round of Fuji apples after letting them hang on the trees all the way into December. The result: apples that are ripe, crisp, juicy, and so sweet. We’ve already found a number of sugar cores in this batch. Hopefully you do too. Store in the fridge. Grown organically by Devoto Orchards in Sebastopol.
Murray Family Farms is always the first with Cara Cara oranges and we can never wait to get our hands on the first oranges of the season. The Murray family’s orchard is near Bakersfield, an area that tends to produce the earliest California oranges. Over the next few months, with cooler overnight temps, the fruit will continue to sweeten up. Through the course of citrus season, we’ll focus on Northern California Navel oranges but the Cara Caras will mostly be coming from the Central Valley and Southern California. Store on the counter. Grown organically by Murray Family Farm in Bakersfield.
These are Ruthanne’s last Fuyu persimmons of the year so it really is the end of fall fruit! Many late-season Fuyus develop tougher, leathery skin from hanging on the trees for so long, weathering all kinds of elements. But these have thin skin and are SO sweet! Store on the counter. They’ll get soft much quicker so late into the season. Grown organically by Shared Abundance Farm in Auburn.
It may be just a couple weeks early for Oro Blanco grapefruits but we tasted some and loved the flavor right now. It’s a classic white grapefruit with floral sweetness and a mellow bitterness balancing the acidity. This one is showing its bitterness a little more which we’re appreciating. These Oro Blancos are grown by Garcia Organic Farm in Fallbrook, a region where citrus doesn’t follow the rules. They have an extra long citrus season that starts early and ends late, and we’re excited to taste their citrus throughout the next few months! Store on the counter. Grown organically by Garcia Organic Farm in Fallbrook.
Ruthanne grows just a few trees of Algerian clementines and she and her crew at Shared Abundance Organic Farm thoughtfully harvest only what’s really ripe over the course of a few weeks. It results in a smaller harvest each time, and requires more passes through the orchard, but the flavor shows. Algerian clementines are special in that they are all sweet with almost no acid to be found. The flesh is juicy and the skin is easy to peel. They are mostly seedless but you may run into a seed here or there. They are the quintessential clementine for me – maybe the quintessential clementine, period. The word I most associate with its flavor is “classic”, and that might have something to do with its history. The variety has its roots in the garden of an orphanage in Algeria, where it was discovered growing as a spontaneous mutation in 1902. In fact, the word clementine comes from the monk-gardener who first noted this variety, Father Marie-Clement Rodier. Store on the counter. Grown organically by Shared Abundance Organic Farm in Auburn.
Kiwis are one of those crops that are hard to find grown on a small-scale. Even moreso, to find a small kiwi farm that is female-owned! Last year, we met Ruthanne and have been lucky to share her kiwis with the fan club. She pushes sugar development, waiting until December to make multiple harvests of kiwis throughout the season. Most commercial growers harvest their entire crop in the fall, usually around September and October. Ruthanne’s Hayward kiwis are a lot bigger in size this year. The crew did some heavy pruning of the vines earlier this year which means bigger kiwifruit, but it also means less of it. Savor them while the crop lasts! Store on the counter until it yields to gentle pressure. Grown organically by Shared Abundance Organic Farm in Auburn.
Graciela and Enrique Bautista raised their family across the street from a date ranch on the Northern shore of the Salton Sea in the small desert town of Mecca, not far from our friends at Wong Farms. They both worked at the date ranch and when the original owners retired, they purchased the farm. They grow seven varieties of organic dates (their instagram handle is @7_hotdates 🙂) and their children manage most of the operation now. Growing anything in the desert is challenging but if you’ve driven through the Coachella Valley, date palms are no joke. The palms are extremely tall so they require ladders to pick and prune, the palm fronds are extremely spiny and brittle, and some of the spines have compounds that irritate the skin. Most of us are familiar with Medjool dates but this week we’re featuring their Halawy dates with some Honey dates mixed in there, too. Both varieties are a little smaller in size but this season, I’ve been reaching for these varieties over the others. They are small, chewy, buttery, rich and caramel-like! The perfect sweet treat. Store in the fridge in an air-tight container. Grown organically by Bautista Family Organic Date Ranch in Mecca.
Inga edulis, aka the Ice Cream Bean, is often planted alongside coffee trees to provide shade, wind protection, and soil enrichment. It’s extremely fast-growing and even though it’s a legume, it grows in the habit of a tree! The real treat is the sweet, custardy white pulp lining each pod. Inside sits a big black “bean” — also edible when cooked, though we typically discard it. To eat: use a paring knife to slice just a bit off one end, peeling back the leathery skin like you’re opening a bean pod (you are). Pop a segment of the creamy flesh in your mouth and spit out the seed. For maximum ice-cream-like texture, enjoy cold! Store in the fridge. Grown organically by Condor Ridge Ranch in Goleta.
