fruit notes

After taking a few weeks off, we turned a corner with fall fruit coming to an end and citrus season officially ramping up! For some of us at fq HQ, citrus season is our favorite fruit season (Editor’s note: hey, that’s me!). In the last few weeks, many of our farmers experienced frosts that officially ended their fall seasons. For Free Spirit Farm in Winters, Toby got a hard frost just a few days ago. Lucky for us, it was the day after he harvested the last of his persimmons and pomegranates! 

But cold temps are welcome news for citrus. Right down the road in Winters, Terra Firma Farms’ Owari satsuma mandarins benefit from the cold temps. Their established trees, planted more than a decade ago, can withstand the cold and the fruit actually benefits from a light frost. It means sweeter mandarins! Terra Firma’s Owari satsumas are one of our favorites: high sugar, high acid, and complexly flavored. They are also early-season, so we typically get to ring in the start of citrus season with them. If we’re patient – or take a well-timed trip…– they might be the first mandarins we taste, starting the season on a high note. Satsumas are alternate bearing, which means one year the crop will be lighter and the next it’ll be heavier. Last year we had just had one week of Terra Firma’s satsumas. So sad! Luckily, this year we’ll get a couple weeks with them.

We’re also highlighting Okitsu Wase mandarins from The Alleged Farm in Rumsey. The Alleged Farm is a new farm started by seasoned farmer Jan Velilla. Jan brings decades of experience farming at Full Belly Farm, most recently as the farm’s harvest manager. (Consider the logistics of managing harvest at a 400-acre farm growing some 80-plus crops…if you can do that, what can't you do?!) We visited Jan in October, right as the mandarins were sizing up and barely showing any color. The orchard is young so the trees were just a little taller than us but already loaded with fruit. Like with any young orchard, it takes some amount of experimentation to find the right irrigation and nutrients for the trees to thrive in their environment. We’re always amazed by the experimentation and patience on the part of the farmers we work with, as they may not see results until the next season or sometimes even the season after that. Okitsu Wase is a popular satsuma variety from Japan, but it’s new to us. New farm, new fruit! We’re grateful to be getting Jan’s first substantial harvest of Okitsu Wase as she begins her own farming journey! 

Kishu mandarins are such a tiny fruit but they have hit the market in such a big way the last few years. Kishus have gained a cult-following, and the why is clear when you try one. They are sweet, tasty, and easy to peel with hardly any pith. Oh and they are ADORABLE, some as small as a quarter! Third-generation farmer Bryce Loewen of Blossom Bluff Orchards in Parlier is oftentimes one of the first growers to harvest Kishus. Coastal growers will harvest their Kishus in January, but the season is short and they’re in high demand so we can’t help but rush to the first harvest to get them while we can. Luckily, it’s just the beginning of Kishu mandarin season!

Jay from Condor Ridge Ranch knows his fruit and as soon as we got back, we were welcomed with “the Fuyus are sooooo sweet”. (Jay, you grow fuyus too???) Persimmons grown on the coast are often harvested much later into the season, slow-ripened and fully colored. These Fuyu persimmons are incredible. We’ve also never seen persimmons with orange-tinged calyxes too! Store on the counter. Grown organically by Condor Ridge Ranch in Goleta.

Things ripen on their own schedule down in Goleta, and the Tamarillos are one of those I can’t keep track of. There was a harvest in late spring, and another one in the fall, so it sounds like it may be on the same schedule as passion fruit? I’m learning with you as we go here! Tamarillos, also known as tree tomatoes, can be eaten raw or cooked. The skin and flesh near the skin tends to be bitter, so we like to cut them in half and scoop out the seeds and surrounding soft flesh to eat. They taste like guava and melon crossed with savory tomato notes. Their flavors are wildly complex! Tamarillos can also be roasted or simmered for salsa. Store on the counter. Grown organically by Condor Ridge Ranch in Goleta.

These are the last of Toby’s Sharp Velvet pomegranates. We missed them for most of November, so we wanted one last shot of these before saying goodbye to pomegranate season. The pom arils are plump, juicy, with tender seeds. Enjoy the last FQ pomegranates of the season! Store in the fridge or on the counter. Grown organically by Free Spirit Farm in Winters. 

The Mega is a relatively new variety of kiwifruit, found in Greece as a natural genetic mutation. I remember when Bryce of Blossom Bluff added a few acres of kiwi vines to their orchard in Parlier years ago, and we were anticipating the first harvest of them 3-4 years out. Well, here we are! This is the second year of Bryce’s kiwi harvest. Pretty cool! Store these on the counter until they achieve your desired ripeness. Grown organically by Blossom Bluff Orchards in Parlier.

Pink Lady apples are a lovable variety, one that sweet and tart apple eaters both enjoy. Though you can get decent ones at the store nearly all year round, Stan Devoto grows our favorite version of these that make us say “wow!” every year. Most bigger operations will harvest their Pink Lady crop earlier in the fall and hold them in cold storage for as long as possible. Stan waits until the very end of local apple season to harvest them alongside his super sweet Fujis. They were in short supply, so a few of you may have received one of Stan's Granny Smith apples as well. They make for an interesting contrast, both with the Pink Lady and the green apples you find a grocery store! Store them in the fridge. Grown organically by Devoto Orchards in Sebastopol.