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THIS WEEK’S FRUIT:
Fuyu Persimmons
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
The Fuyu has a crisp texture with a rich honey sweet flavor. They have a beautiful orange to red hue when ripe, often with tiny brown speckles on the skin. They can be eaten out of hand with skin on or peeled.
Pomegranates
Abounding Harvest Mountain, Los Gatos, CA
Native to the regions of Persia and the Western Himalayan range, pomegranates have been cultivated for several millennia. When sliced open a beautiful array of jewel-like seeds are displayed. The aril is the colorful casing that surrounds the edible seeds and has a sweet tart flavor. Enjoy the arils alone or use them in salads, desserts, or beverages. To read more about the fine folks at Abounding Harvest Mountain see our previous blog post at http://bit.ly/2dPH3uI.
Fuji Apples
Cuyama, New Cuyama, CA
Fujis are a cross between Red Delicious and Ralls Janet, an heirloom apple dating back to Thomas Jefferson. They are one of the sweetest variety apples around making them a household favorite.
Valencia Oranges
Twin Girls Farm, Yettem, CA
Valencia Oranges are known for their very sweet tasting and brightly colored juice. They are one of the most popular varieties used for bottled juices because of this. Their sweet, bright flavor and minimal seed content and sweet flesh that makes them a perfect snack.
….all varieties are subject to change…
A NOTE FROM CHEF BECKY:
Dear CSA Members,
Every year for the last 10 years we have been making single crust pies during the holidays and every year I change the recipe. I have never really been happy with any pie dough recipe for very long. It is also difficult to convert a small batch “home” recipe into production for higher volumes. Even at home I found that there were wild inconsistencies in the dough I made from the same recipe each time I made it. I’ve never had a pie crust made by others that I was completely happy about either. There was always something missing that tormented me, in my crusts and others.
That is why even we’ve never made double crusted pies from our stone fruit. It seems like a no-brainer for a former pastry chef who lives on a peach farm to make pie, right? Wrong. I won’t go into the details of this conundrum; but will only say that it has caused me great anxiety and much embarrassment.
I know I am not alone in my pie anxiety; people all over the country go into panic mode every Thanksgiving. If you are one of those who suffer from this affliction, this season, I am happy to say, we have a solution to your problem and mine.
Two years ago, I settled on a recipe and I can tell you, it is the one. The dough rolls out beautifully, no cracking, shrinking and it is consistent every time. I have tweaked it to add a little leaf lard to replace part of the butter, because I like the lightness and flakiness that an all butter crust doesn’t quite have. (Leaf lard is rendered pork fat that comes from the soft fat around the kidneys and loin of the pig. It is not to be confused with caul fat which is the lacy fat that is used on forcemeats and sausages and has a far more “porky” flavor.) I have made this pie dough many times at home and I can say, it is completely consistent and reliable and more importantly, it is delicious.
This year, we will be offering you pre-made pie dough that you can roll out yourself for your holiday pies, along with detailed instructions, beautifully photographed by Anna, on how to roll and prepare the filling for an apple pie. For those of you who still don’t want to make your own pie, we are working on offering you pre-baked pies (pumpkin and hopefully, whiskey pecan) and frozen unbaked apple pies for this holiday season. Hopefully, we can relieve you of at least some of that holiday pressure and anxiety and more importantly add to its deliciousness.
Stay tuned…
Chef Becky
