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THIS WEEK’S FRUIT:
Autumn Flame Peach
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
The Autumn Flame brings the peach harvest to a close with a truly nostalgic peach sweetness. The Autumn Flame is naturally more firm, but softens beautifully if aged properly on the kitchen counter. It becomes almost as meltingly soft as the Gold Dust peach if left to enjoy until the skin begins to wrinkle slightly.
Emerald Beaut Plum
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
A freestone plum, the Emerald Beaut is a delicate green that turns golden with a hint of a blush. It has a firmer texture than the Santa Rosa with a crisp almost crunchy mouthfeel. One of our most hardy fruit, the Emerald Beaut just gets sweeter and sweeter without losing texture as it ages.
Hosui Asian Pear
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
Hosuis have a rougher, thicker skin than the other Asian pear varieties we grow. They have a flesh that while still crunchy has a more melting mouthful, making the texture combination when eaten out of hand spectacular. Very sweet with a mild pear taste, their round shape and beautiful golden hue make them ideal for presentation with a distinctively Autumnal feel.
Warren Pear
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
Featured in Martha Stewart Living and Oprah’s Favorite Things List, this is Frog Hollow Farm’s signature pear and for good reason. The Warren pear has a classic European texture – very soft and juicy – with a silky sweetness that avoids the typical grittiness found in most varieties.
Red Seedless Grapes
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
With a firm texture outside and a juicy springing bite, these sweetly flavored grapes are a delight.
….all varieties are subject to change…
A NOTE FROM FARMER AL:
Now that it’s September, picking is winding down and pruning is ramping up. First, the apricots need to be pruned so the cuts can seal up before the rains come, otherwise Eutypa can take hold and the limbs could die back.
With stone fruit dwindling, I’m realizing that we need more acres of fall fruit; more persimmons, pomegranates, apples, pears, late harvest plums, figs maybe even some nuts. We live in a veritable “Garden of Eden” here in east Contra Costa and we can grow almost anything one could imagine, wheat for example.
During the late 1800’s from 1860-1906, wheat dominated agricultural production across the state of California, and Contra Costa was the epicenter of wheat. Wheat dominated the Brentwood landscape, spreading out as far as the eye could see in every direction. Wheat is why we have Port Costa and the Port of Stockton. Many of the railroads of the Central Valley were built to get the wheat to shipping ports. So now, 150 years later, I’m very excited by the possibility of returning to this historically important crop.
Back in the “good ol days” people knew what was in their bread because they grew it themselves. Today the true story about bread is shocking, and disturbing. Science has done an amazing job of making our most important staple into a product which is unhealthy for consumers but very profitable for the whole wheat industry as a whole from grower to baker.
There is much to learn and much written about wheat, so in the coming weeks we’ll be busy researching the history, science, and production of wheat.
We hope to get our first wheat crop planted this fall and hopefully by late Spring we’ll be baking bread and pastries with our very own wheat.
We’ll keep you posted!
Farmer Al
