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This week’s fruit:
Minneloa Tangelos
Twin Girls, Dinuba, Ca
The Tangelo is a cross between a mandarin and grapefruit. Its skin is easy to peel and its flesh is a deep orange, tender and juicy with a rich and sweet flavor.
Sanguinelli Blood Oranges
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
Sanguinelli flesh is sweet and ranges in color from orange with dark red streaking to a dark red maroon.
Meyer Lemons
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
Thought to be a cross between a regular (Eureka or Lisbon) lemon and a Mandarin orange. They have a smooth deep yellow peel that is highly aromatic and great to use as zest in recipes and a sweeter less acidic flesh than standard lemons.
Navel Oranges
Olsen Organics, Lindsay, CA
California Navel Oranges are considered to be the best Navels for eating out of hand. They have a thick skin that is easy to peel, are seedless and have a meaty and sweet flesh that makes them a perfect snack.
Fuji Apples
Cuyama Farm, 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.
Hayward Kiwi
Chiechi Farm, Live Oak, CA
Originally known as the Chinese gooseberry due to its Chinese origins. Hawyward Wright, a New Zealand nurseryman propagated his plants by grafting, and they eventually became the preferred cultivar of growers due to their sweet flavor.
Star Ruby Grapefruit
Rainbow Valley Orchards, Temecula, Ca
The Grapefruit is said to be a cross between the Jamaican sweet orange and the Indonesian pomelo, first documented in 1750. Under its thick, red-blushed skin you’ll find an aromatic, ruby red, juicy flesh with a perfect sweet tart flavor.
….all varieties are subject to change……
A Note from Chef Becky
Dear CSA Members,
This unseasonable warm weather is a little bit of a guilty pleasure. On one hand, it’s beautiful, warm and clear and just a joy to be outside. Another advantage is, the ground is dry and it’s giving us a good window of time for planting the 55 acres of mulberry, mandarin, peach and plum trees. But, however enjoyable the weather is now, we know that there really hasn’t been enough chill hours to have a decent cherry crop. We’ve only racked up about 560 so far and we really should have about 800.
Even though the night and early morning temperatures have been in the low 40’s, the daytime temps of 70-75 degrees are off-setting the chill. Rain is also a factor; we didn’t get as much as we would have liked, but there could be more rain to come that would wreak havoc on the apricot crop which is just at pink bud phase now and will be in full bloom in another week. We will just have to wait and see…
Meanwhile, the kitchen has been making lots of Bergamot and Seville orange marmalade this week. True marmalade aficionados will love this marmalade. It is not as sweet as the navel orange or blood orange strawberry. The peel of both oranges cooks beautifully becoming translucent in clear orange juice. The bergamot has a slightly perfumy finish, (like Earl Grey tea) and the Seville is a tad sweeter, but both have leave a wonderful citrus finish. Thursday chef Mario, prepared a blind butter of three local butters on Acme pan di Mie and the marmalades. It was divine and all agreed that the Strauss European style salted butter was the best!
Not to be missed this Valentine’s Day are our chocolate Olive Oil truffles. We have 3 flavors, orange (made with a touch of navel orange marmalade), cayenne (made with or dried cayenne peppers grown here on the farm) and just plain chocolate. They are amazing. Get them now and ship them to loved ones while we still can; we stop shipping these in the summer months, as
they cannot withstand the heat.
I hope to see you all at the Spring Stroll (aka Blossom Walk) Sunday, March 4 th . If the weather stays as it is, it will be spectacularly beautiful. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Cheers!
Chef Becky
