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THIS WEEK’S FRUIT
Cal Red Peach
The beloved Cal Red is in a class by itself and is the “Oh my God” peach! A relatively new variety and a California native, the Cal Red was bred by
University of California botanist Claron O. Hesse in the mid 1960s. Aptly named for the Golden State, the Cal Red is a beautiful golden peach marked with a gentle, sun-kissed blush.
O’Henry Peach
Farmer Al’s favorite peach to grill, the O’Henry has the flavor, size, and crim- son blush that makes for a truly memorable peach. It’s elegantly pointed shape slices to an attractive heart shape for striking presentation. Our O’Henry harvest overlaps briefly with our harvest of the Cal Red leading to a matchup of two of our biggest varieties. At participating farmers markets, our Battle of the Peaches taste-offs between these two varieties grows more and more popular each year.
Flavor King Pluots
The best pluot variety we grow! A dark-skinned pluot with red flesh, it has an intense rich flavor combined with sweet, spicy tones that are reminiscent of the Santa Rosa. A nice acid bite and firm texture that softens beautifully as the fruit continues to ripen, the Flavor King is amazing out of hand and equally good for baking.
Flavor Heart Pluot
The Flavor Heart gets its name from its distinctively tapered shape. Its meaty, pale yellow flesh is very low in acid and the sweetness and color contrasts strikingly with its dark purple almost black skin.
Summer Fire Nectarine
The Summer Fire has a firm meaty flesh that isn’t as juicy as some of our other varieties but is packed with a red wine intensity that makes it a memorable and desirable nectarine. Often with a deeper reddish hue than the Fantasia, the Summer Fire is a variety that’s worth the extra effort it takes to slice and pit a clingstone: its warm yellow flesh is streaked beautifully with red near the pit.
Flame Seedless Grapes
Firm, large, and sweet the Flame Seedless are one of the most popular varieties in North America. Enjoy these out of hand or try them in green salads, chicken salads, or fruit salads.
Lamb Hass Avocado
Abounding Harvest Mountain Farm, Los Gatos, CA
A richly flavored variety of Hass that ripens in the late summer sun. Pebbly green skin with a creamy smooth texture and a nutty flavor. Skin will darken slightly when ripe.
A NOTE FROM FARMER AL
Dear CSA Members,
This last week raced by in a blur. We did get all the picking done that I spoke about in my last note. Our picking crew lead by Antonio, was amazing, working 10 hour days and moving from this orchard to that in rapid response to each change of orders from me “el patron”.
As I approach them out in the orchard I can hear them from a distance…laughing, singing, telling stories and kidding each other.
The only crop we fell behind on was, as usual, the pears. We did lose some fuit on the ground because the Warrens give us zero tolerance; the moment the fruit matures on the tree, it drops, especially if the wind picks up a bit higher than the normal 5-7 mph we get here every afternoon. I groan inwardly when I see those big, beautiful perfect pears lying on the ground. But, nonetheless, this year’s crop is, while not a record, still about 15-20% bigger than last year! This should keep us in pears right up into the holidays.
The big news this last week were the Cal Reds. Our biggest crop ever, even though we had pulled out 2 acres of older trees last fall. This large crop is due to the high production that came off the trees planted, just three years ago in 2012. It was fallow for 8 years when the previous owners ripped out the apple orchard to build a house. When we first planted those trees, they got off to a very slow start; the trees seemed stunted in their first months. It wasn’t until we started to add our compost, humic acid and other amendments that they started to take off. Within a year they were lush and vigorous and had the appearance of trees in their third or fourth leaf, not their first! This is just another testament to the necessity our compost program; not only does it address the nutritional needs of the trees to combat disease, but it also increases fertility. And that ultimately iwhat it’s all about.
Cheers!
