fruit notes

If you’ve been eating fruit with us for a while now, you know how much I love cherimoya season. With this latest stretch of sunshine paired with cooler nights, the fruit has sized up beautifully and harvests are beginning to roll in. Every year, I marvel at their warty green exterior – part reptile, part sci-fi. When ripe, behind that eye-catching skin is a tropical, custardy flavor explosion of banana, pineapple, and papaya, with subtle notes of berries and pear. So good!

Cherimoya is native to the Andes in Ecuador and Peru, where it grows at higher elevations in cooler climates. Closer to home, the tropical oasis of Condor Ridge Ranch in Goleta provides the perfect environment for cherimoya to thrive, with leeward slopes protected from direct ocean elements. The farm’s unique microclimate is ideal for subtropical fruits, and the cooler winter months make it especially well-suited for cherimoya. In the Andes, a tiny beetle pollinates the tree’s flowers. Here in California, however, common pollinators like honeybees are too large to fit in the tight spaces between flower petals. Lacking that native beetle, California cherimoya flowers must be hand pollinated. This labor-intensive work ensures a proper fruit set on the trees.

On one of our visits to Condor Ridge, farmer Jay shared that cherimoyas bloom in July or August, but the window of opportunity is short. Cherimoyas are unusual in that their flowers exhibit protogyny. They begin the bloom with female parts, then transform to male parts just a few hours later. This means Jay and his crew must carefully time the bloom, collecting pollen from the male phase and later applying it to the receptive female stigma for successful pollination. To make things even trickier, this transformation fluctuates with temperature and humidity. Both the fruit – and the work it takes to grow it – are truly remarkable. With trees nearing 40 years old, the cherimoya grove at Condor Ridge continues to give us the most delicious fruit.

This week, we’re featuring the Booth variety of cherimoya in the fruitqueen boxes. Like many subtropical fruits, it’s best eaten when it’s slightly soft and the skin has begun to brown. Store on your counter until it reaches this stage. It may take 2-5 days. Once ripe, we recommend popping it in the fridge to chill for a bit, for a cold, custardy, ice-cream-like experience. Cut in half and scoop out the flesh, avoiding the large inedible seeds. Grown organically by Condor Ridge Ranch in Goleta.

California-grown Goldfinger bananas! How cool is that?! Coming in fresh from Jay’s subtropical fruit forest near Santa Barbara. The harvest is only big enough for a few bananas in this week's big fq boxes. Keep them somewhere warm to become full yellow and ripe. So sweet and delicious. Store at room temp. Grown organically by Condor Ridge Ranch in Goleta.

We love these Fremont mandarins for their rich, sweet flavor and juicy, juicy flesh. Fremont mandarins have a delicate peel that comes off like a zipper for easy peeling. It doesn’t conform to popular modern-day mandarin standards because of its seeds and fragile skin, but the flavor is pretty special. Store at room temp. Grown organically by Garcia Organic Farm in Fallbrook.

Early avocado varieties that are known as green-skin varieties have a short window of harvest. Last week, we featured Zutanos. This week, we’ve got the Bacon avocado, which also stays green when ripe. It’s slightly sweet and a bit nuttier than the Zutano. For judging ripeness, go by feel: it’ll get soft all around and because the skin is so thin, press gently with your whole palm to test. Store on the counter at room temp until ripe. Grown organically by Garcia Organic Farm in Fallbrook.

Ruthanne’s January harvest of Hayward kiwis is so sweet, delicious, and incredibly flavorful! Her crew pruned back the kiwi vines in a big way last year so the fruit is big!! They yin to that yang means the crop is smaller than in previous years. We’re enjoying kiwis alongside sweet citrus for the best winter pick-me-up. Kiwis can be eaten firm or let to soften slightly. Store on the counter. Grown organically by Shared Abundance Organic Farm in Auburn.

Cathy and Michael just started harvesting from their ten Rio Red grapefruit trees. We’re welcoming the bright and tart flavors of red grapefruit right now. With longer hang time on the trees, these will continue to sweeten up, too! Store at room temp. Grown organically by Spreadwing Farm in Rumsey.

The Kishu mandarins are candy-sweet and easy to peel this week! Garcia Organic Farm is one of the few farms that start and end their Kishu season earlier than the rest of the state because of their warmer growing climate. Other regions are a bit delayed this year, but we’re excited for more Kishus coming in from Ojai throughout February! Store at room temp. Grown organically by Garcia Organic Farm in Fallbrook.

Cara Cara oranges are super tasty right now. This window of a really balanced sweet-tart flavor is probably one of my favorites. Throughout the next couple of months, they’ll continue to sweeten up. Store on the counter. Grown organically by Murray Family Farms in Bakersfield.