Fruit and News: Week of July 8


Suncrest Peaches A Slow Food Ark heritage variety, the Suncrest has all the old-fashioned taste of days gone by. Its a truly memorable peach whose firm but juicy flesh provides a real eat-over-the-sink experience. Gently tapered, the Suncrest has hardly any blush to speak of on its rich yellow skin. A more fragile variety, the Suncrest bruises easily when picked, but as many of our farmers market customers know, a picking bruise means the fruit is extra delicious. Goldensweet Apricots The Golden Sweet is a smaller apricot that makes up for whatever it lacks in size with its rich flavor. Though we may bake pastries featuring other varieties, the Golden Sweet is our variety of choice for our best-selling apricot conserve. Another California born and bred variety, it has a brilliant golden orange skin with a soft blush. Santa Rosa Plums Famed California horticulturist Luther Burbank bred this plum in his Santa Rosa plant research center. Red-skinned with a purple bloom, its amber flesh gets flushed with red. It’s plump perfection with tender flesh that’s extremely sweet and juicy. A bit of tartness in the skin balances out the sweetness. Ruby Diamond Nectarines The Ruby Diamond is our best early-season nectarine in Farmer Al’s opinion. It’s a brilliantly crimson freestone with a very good eating quality. Juicy and firm it has the perfect blend of tangy and sweet that nectarine fans love.

A Note From Farmer Al

Dear CSA Members, Fruit Drying has arrived! The hot days in Brentwood are perfect and our over-ripe fruit is at its sweetest, all making for the best dried fruit on the planet! (At least that’s what many of our farmers’ market customers tell us.) No sulphur is used, allowing the true fruit flavor to come forward with no after taste. Every year we increase our production by 20-50%, hoping we will have enough to last the whole year. So far, we’ve fallen short by months, due to the ever increasing demand. Our dried fruit business provides a good example of how we weave sustainability into everything we do here at Frog Hollow Farm. Cutting the fruit requires a fairly large crew of people to do the cutting. These people are mostly members of our farm worker community. They tend to be older folks, and some are disabled…but they can do the work sitting down, in the shade at their own pace. And they’re bringing in that extra income to help support their families. At the fulfillment of the fruit-drying season, the work continues for our Fall and Winter crews who must sort, weigh and package it. Then of course, it requires people to actually transport the product, and finally, sell it. By creating year-round work, we keep a stable, reliable, well-trained crew of people and have not been subject to worker shortages which are currently devastating many farms across the country. Organically yours, Signature of Farmer Al

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