fruit notes

This time of year is kind of amazing. As temperatures begin to drop and shadows lengthen, we’re feeling the season’s change more deeply. Fruit is becoming more limited as seasons wind down, so it feels appropriate to reflect on the comings and goings. This week’s fq boxes are the ultimate fruit samplers with a little bit of everything and more than ever, it feels like an accurate snapshot of where we are in the season. 

Local Asian pears are wrapped up with the last Shinko pears from Bella Ridge Farm. Blackberries and raspberries from Yerena Farms are becoming limited, the plants producing fewer (but still tasty!) berries as temperatures cool. At Condor Ridge, Jay found a stash of avocados on a tree hidden behind loads of tamarillo (actually! lol) so this week we got the final final Hass avos – they don’t get creamier than this! Stan’s apple varieties come and go so fast this time of year, here and gone within a week, even days. We’re already onto the heirloom Rome Beauty apples. After wrapping up the early season brown-flesh persimmon varieties (coffeecake, chocolate, etc) we finally have Fuyu persimmons being steadily harvested. It’s now PEAK pomegranate season, especially red varieties like the Parfianka poms from Cathy and Michael at Spreadwing. And finally, white-fleshed Dragon Fruit or pitaya is in steady bloom down at Condor Ridge in Goleta for the ultimate (sub)tropical treat. 

We hoped for Swanton strawberries this week but the cold weather slowed down the plants significantly, so Jim called it for the season. Cane berries from Yerena are the last to hang on before the first hard frost calls it for the year. Local Asian pears have wrapped up and local European pear varieties are not far behind, with just maybe one or two varieties left. It’s time to savor all the heirloom apple varieties from Stan, lest you have any regrets come December.

Last weekend we were in the Capay Valley, visiting friends and growers. We were harvest-partying and working a bit, too, nailing down sourcing for some special holiday offerings. 

We made time to check in on the citrus crop. Most everything is still green, but here and there you would spy a Satsuma beginning to turn color. Citrus won’t begin in earnest until December, but the flashes of orange hinted at our delicious future. As we enter the leanest month of the fruit-year, it was a welcome sight.

Happy autumn fruit lovers, we have one more week before we go on a little break!