Summer is here and our trees are in full swing. A walk through the orchard is a symphony of colors and smells. Thus far this season you’ve sampled a few varieties of our apricots and aprium as well as our peaches and nectarines. The last delica- cies to be savored each summer are our plums and pluots. This week offers the first taste of our 2015 plums, our Santa Rosas.
The Santa Rosa’s have a rich history. They were developed in 1906 by the great Luther Burbank, at his facility in Santa Rosa California; for which they are named. At the time, what are now familiar crops, like apricots and cherries had just been introduced in the US. Burbank drew upon the genetic diversity of these new spe- cies to develop new varieties that would thrive in the growing regions of Califor- nia, including the Santa Rosa Plum. For decades following, the Santa Rosa was the standard grown in CA.
The Santa Rosa is prized by growers not only for it’s suitability to CA climates but also for it’s flavor, texture, color and size. The plum’s flesh is honey sweet and perfectly balanced by the tartness of it’s skin. This blend of tart and sugary sweet make it a favorite of chefs. It’s color is a rich red with purple bloom and it’s flesh is tender and soft. As for size, it’s a pleasant in between – larger than the bite-sized varieties, but small enough to never overwhelm.
However, for all the richness the Santa Rosa has to offer, in recent years she’s fallen out of favor with most commercial growers. The ultimate reason for this has been the shift in the modern food supply chains. The Santa Rosas must be picked too ripe and are too delicate, to be a suitable candidate for national and interna- tional shipping. For farmers not lucky enough to have an onsite kitchen as we do, the Santa Rosa can present a hard choice. In order to maximize the flavor benefits I described, one must leave the fruit on the tree for long enough for it’s sugars to fully develop. To do so, farmers must risk losing up to 20% of the crop to over ripe- ness. For many, that can make or break the profitability of a harvest.
Here at Frog Hollow we’ve been growing the Santa Rosa for 25 years. Farmer Al loves them. He says that the Santa Rosa is the best plum out there for the time of year. They harvest very early in the summer, heralding the start of the plum season. And with our bustling kitchen we can make use of even the ripest fruit that might go to waste elsewhere.
We hope you enjoy this first taste of the plum season in this week’s box.