fruit notes
Ice Cream Beans are here! Inside the (inedible) green pod is white flesh – like cotton candy that tastes like vanilla custard. The white fleshy “fruit” surrounds a big black bean that is edible when cooked but can otherwise be treated like a seed (read: don’t eat them raw!) Flouting its catchy common name, Farmer Jay Ruskey of Condor Ridge Ranch refers to it as “Inga”, short for its scientific name Inga edulis. Inga is commonly planted alongside coffee trees to provide shade, wind protection, and help fix nitrogen in the soil. It’s extremely fast-growing and even though it’s a legume like beans and favas, it grows like a tree! Jay and other small coffee farmers are growing Inga as part of a diversified planting approach to growing coffee in Southern California. Inga can be found growing in the wild and in agroforestry systems throughout Central and South America, but it isn’t exported due to its short shelf-life, perishability, and unfamiliarity in the market. Lucky us, there is some closer to home. Store in the fridge and it’ll be good for 5-7 days – just in time to get more! Grown organically by Condor Ridge Ranch in Goleta.
Santa Barbara-grown Cherimoya! The first variety that Condor Ridge Ranch harvests is the Dr. White cherimoya. It needs to sit on the counter for a few days, but when ripe, it will have a slight give, like a ripe avocado, and its green skin will start to show swipes of brown. The flesh will transform into something custardy with tropical notes of banana, guava, piloncillo, and pineapple. (You’ll want to avoid the large black seeds sprinkled throughout.) This piece of fruit is just incredible! Cherimoya fruit is native to the valleys of the Andes in Ecuador and Peru. Closer to home, the subtropical oasis of Condor Ridge Ranch in Goleta is the perfect environment for cherimoya to thrive. The steep leeward slopes of the farm protect the fruit from the direct ocean elements, but its location on the coast means mild temperatures. The farm has a perfect climate for subtropical fruits and these cooler winter months benefit the cherimoya trees with a bit of chill. In the Andes, a tiny native beetle pollinates cherimoya flowers. Pollinators like the honey bee are too large to fit between the cherimoya’s chubby petals and the Andean beetle does not exist in California. This means our friends at Condor Ridge hand-pollinate each flower with a little paintbrush! Store on your counter for a few days until ripe. Once it’s ready, we recommend popping it in the fridge to chill for a bit for a cold, custardy ice cream experience! Grown organically by Condor Ridge Ranch in Goleta.
If you ask me what my favorite fruit of the winter season is, more often than not I’d say Page mandarins – and John grows the best version of these. After a month-long sprint for the Lagier crew, this is the last week of harvest for the season. The Page is a cross between a clementine and a Minneola tangelo, which – no offense to either – doesn’t really explain its knock-your-socks-off flavor! It’s difficult to peel and the segments cling tightly together. Yet the flavor and texture are 100% worth the hassle. This late in the season, the sugars are so high, the juiciness is off the charts, and the flavor makes you wish SunnyD tasted this good. We recommend quartering the mandarins and peeling from there or eating them like mini-orange slices. Store on the counter. Grown organically by Lagier Ranches in Escalon.
John has just a few Cara Cara orange trees and we’re so lucky when he sends us what he can. This year, his Cara Caras have tasted better than any other year I’ve eaten them. Being in Escalon, John’s Cara Caras start up a bit later than the ones grown in more southern parts of the San Joaquin Valley. They start off with high acid but balance out over a few weeks of harvests and have settled into the perfect sweet-tart balance. One thing I love about John’s Cara Caras is that fruit holds onto a lot of that acid and doesn’t just become all sugars. Store on the counter. Grown organically by Lagier Ranches in Escalon.
We’re entering into some really tasty mid-season mandarin varieties and Gold Nuggets are one of my faves! They are juicy, flavorful, and so sweet. This is the first harvest of the season for Cathy and Michael at Spreadwing Farm and I’m honestly surprised by how little acid there is! Though they are sweet sweet, they are also incredibly flavorful too! Gold Nuggets are recognizable by their pebbly, bumpy skin, though early fruit is a mixed bag with some that are still smooth-skinned. Cathy and Michael care for the fruit orchard at Spreadwing Farm, growing a diverse variety of fruit in small quantities. This means that everything they grow and harvest for us is done with the utmost care and intention – they never miss. We’re excited for citrus season with them! Store on the counter. Grown organically by Spreadwing Farm in Rumsey.
When Ruthanne purchased the land that became Shared Abundance Organic Farm, in 1997, there was a deserted kiwi orchard desperately in need of some TLC. She gave it that and then some, restoring the deserted orchard and replanting it to be a place full of diversity and abundance. This season, we’ve gained a new appreciation for kiwis. (Don’t call it an obsession!) Ruthanne grows multiple varieties but this week, we’re eating these sweet Hayward kiwis. She measures the sugars and waits to harvest until they are nearly double the standard of big, commercial growers – in fact, she’s harvesting months after the commercial growers are done for the season. They are perfect to eat now or you can let them soften slightly on the counter. Grown organically by Shared Abundance Organic Farm in Auburn.
There are a few varieties of blood oranges that are commonly grown throughout California: Moro, Tarocco, and Sanguinelli. We’re making our way through them all! Last week, we had Taroccos. This week, we’re loving the Sanguinelli blood oranges from Murray Family Farms grown in Bakersfield. Sanguinelli blood oranges were first discovered in Spain in 1929 (another bud sport!) They have a distinctive egg shape and tasting notes of tart strawberries – I love the sweet-tart balance! Because of this warming growing region, especially these last few weeks, the flesh has streaks of orange and red throughout. With some cooler nights, the flesh will deepen into a darker red. Store on the counter. Grown organically by Murray Family Farms in Bakersfield.
