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This Week’s Fruit

Bing Cherries
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
Farmer Al likes to say, “Bing is King!” Not only is the Bing our most popular variety, they’re the most popular and commonly grown cherry in California today. For good reason, as they are the sweetest, juiciest variety with a delightfully crisp firmness to their deep red flesh.
WE CAN REUSE THE CLAMSHELLS – please send them back with your boxes!

Robada Apricots
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
A large and robust apricot, the Robada has a particularly vibrant blush that makes the fruit seem to glow on the branch, almost like tiny Japanese lanterns lit from within.

Albion Strawberries
Yerena Farm, Watsonville, CA
The Albion is a newer variety strawberry developed at UC Davis. It is ever bearing and usually produces fruit June – October in the Bay Area. The sweet flavor and firm flesh makes the Albion an excellent dessert or preserving berry. Strawberry jam or pie anyone?

A Note from Chef Becky

Dear CSA Members,
By far, my favorite jam to make and to eat is apricot. I love eating it because of its slightly tart bright flavor and beautiful color and I love to make it because it’s easy. Apricots don’t need to be peeled and the pit sits loosely inside it, never needing to get pulled away from the flesh. Usually, they only need to be halved (for chunkier jam) or at the most quartered if they are really large. Just rinse them, cut them open and you’re in business. Another beautiful thing about apricots is they have a good amount of natural pectin in them and will make a nice thick jam with the right amount of sugar and when cooked to the proper consistency.

Whenever I am asked which apricot is the best for canning I usually say it’s the Golden sweets or the Blenheim but varietal traits can vary from year to year due to slightly different growing conditions, mostly due to weather when the fruit is developing. We use most of our varieties in our apricot conserve often mixing the varieties according to their various attributes to try to get the desired consistency and flavor profile, knowing that each batch will be distinct. One may have great flavor but be a little too soft (i.e. Blenheim, Honey rich) while another may be more tart and firm, (Kettleman, Robada). The Goldensweet to me is the one apricot that embodies both characteristics. It has the intense apricot flavor but has a sturdy texture. I love Blenheims. But they get too soft, too quickly. Tasting the apricots and trial and error are the only way to combine varieties effectually..

For years, Al tried to get me to freeze the fruit before making jam. The kitchen could not make jam fast enough to keep up with the onslaught of fruit. I wouldn’t do it, and without ever trying it, I dismissed it sure that the quality of the jam would suffer. I finally had to try it, if nothing else to show Al how wrong he was. We tasted a jar of jam made with fresh fruit and another made with frozen fruit of the same variety and I couldn’t tell the difference. (Triumphantly, Al claimed it was better than the fresh fruit jam, but I wouldn’t go that far.) Across the board, with every fruit, I could not tell the difference. It is a lot faster to freeze the fruit then it is to try to make jam with it. Now, we are able to keep virtually every piece of fruit worthy of being made into jam instead of watching it become overripe and have to throw it away because we just couldn’t get to it fast enough. It also means that we can make apricot jam all year long, meaning that the jam is fresher. What sounds better to you; a jar of jam made from fresh fruit 9 months ago or a jar of jam made from frozen fruit a week ago? Freezing also enables you to use combinations of fruits that don’t ripen at the same time. So don’t be afraid to freeze.

There is a grave misconception that over ripe fruit should be used for jam. Over ripe fruit has less pectin in it and less acid and it will give you an overly sweet and runny jam. You don’t need to use cosmetically perfect fruit but it should be at the juncture of sweetness and acidity. Overripe fruit tastes one-dimensional and uninteresting and so, will be your jam.
A mail order customer called last week wanting to know if the kernel of the Robada pit was bitter or sweet. She has been eating apricot kernels all her life and she is a big believer in the health benefits of apricot kernels. When I was first making jam I used to always put a few kernels from the inside of the apricot pit in the jar which infuses a wonderful almond flavor until the FDA promptly told me I couldn’t do that any longer. I was aware that the kernels contain a cyanide compound amygdalin, and is highly toxic in large doses. Even though I was only putting 2-3 kernels in each 12 oz jar, it didn’t surprise me when they told me I couldn’t use them. When I was at the restaurant my favorite ice cream was Noyou, made from cracking open the pits of apricots and steeping them in milk and cream. It has the most delightful, delicate almond flavor. Sometimes, the base would come out a little bitter and we would add more cream or milk before making the rest of the base. I was never sure why it was more bitter sometimes than at other times. I knew that the bitterness meant that there was too much amygdalin (the more amygdalin present the more bitter the kernel) but I didn’t know that the amount varied so much between varieties until Elizabeth made me aware. The concentration of cyanide in a given pit will vary, depending on the cultivar, the soil it was grown in, the climate and the individual apricot’s degree of ripeness. She eats several a day which I can’t recommend. There have been many claims about the health benefits, for example, laetrile as a cancer treatment. If you nibble on it and it seems too bitter, toasting the kernels for about 5 minutes will reduce the amount of amygdalin. Be careful, especially with kids around but a few kernels in your apricot jam will make your mixed varietal apricot jam all the more lovely.