Grown organically on a family farm in California’s San Fernando Valley, OSAKA PURPLE MUSTARD GREENS are as flavorful as they are colorful. The top side of each heavily-textured leaf is a lovely purple-red color, but the flavor packs the biggest punch. Perfect for salads, OSAKA PURPLE MUSTARD is great when paired with milder lettuces and…
You’ re probably very familiar with baby red oak, but here is the same lettuce all grown up (12-16 inches across). RED OAK LETTUCE has the beautiful oak-shaped leaf and the rich dark red color of the more familiar baby heads. An heirloom, oak leaf lettuce has been a popular variety from at least the…
The specific heirloom variety that our farmer is growing is Parella Rossa (also known as Rougette Montpellier). It’s a lovely French butterhead we’ve discovered with perfect rosett shaped heads that are loosely formed with dark ruby accents at the leaf tips. Red Perella has the soft, tender, butter-textured leaves with sweet, succulent flavor typical of…
Batavian lettuces are heirloom varieties that were developed in France. Today, they are also grown outdoors in Italy and Western Switzerland, in greenhouses in Holland and Germany, and by our own favorite grower in Ventura County. The Batavian variety pictured here is SIERRA. An heirloom Batavian with thick-fleshed, slightly curly leaves with a crisp and…
Melon mavens assert that tourists in France have been known to pull to the side of the road, drawn to a halt by the incredible scent of a Charentais Melon field. We have not witnessed this phenomenon first hand, but can believe it to be true. Charentais melons (also known as Cavaillon melons) are a…
The Galia Melon bears the name of the family in Israel attributed with its creation, and is a relative of the Ogen melon, another Israeli cultivar. Small and round, with cantaloupe-esque netting over yellow rind, Galias have pale green, almost white, sweet, juicy flesh and can be powerfully aromatic. Galias have been gaining in popularity,…
As the wood upon which Shiitake Mushrooms is grown gets older, the mushrooms it produces become smaller and smaller. The result? Adorable little Baby Shiitake Mushrooms, grown in California. Each Shiitake has a cap that’ s no bigger than one-inch in diameter…the applications for a diminutive, tasty mushroom like this are myriad and fabulous!
Black Trumpet Mushrooms (Craterellus cornucopiodes) are a member of the chanterelle family, one of the most beloved wild mushroom groups. Black Trumpets are a favorite for cooking. They are great in soups, stews and casseroles, with a buttery woodsy flavor. Good partners for mushrooms include butter, sour cream, cream, olive oil, dark sesame oil, garlic,…
Also known as the Pied Blue, the Blue Foot is cultivated in France. The blue stem is topped off with a wavy whitish cap slightly tinted blue throughout. About two inches in diameter, its firm flesh is supported by a lavender-blue stem that thickens toward the base. Though mild in flavor when compared with its…
Shimeji is a widely used word for several types of delicious mushrooms grown and consumed in Japan. The true shemeji, which the Jananese refer to as hon-shimeji, is really Lyophyllum shimeji, which ironically is not a cultivated type. The cultivated species, shown here, is known as BROWN CLAMSHELL or BUNA-SHIMEJI (or bun-shimeji). BROWN CLAMSHELL is…
Cauliflower Mushrooms are considered a wood mushroom, and can grow to fifty pounds or more apiece. They are considered one of the gems of the mushroom family with a texture similar to jelly fungi but not quite as firm. They need to be cooked for at least an hour in chicken broth to become tender…
Gold Chanterelles are among the most favored of all the forest mushrooms. Distinguished from Hedge Hog Mushrooms by their prominent gills under every cap, Gold Chanterelles grow on the forest floor. Very visible in the forest especially after a heavy rain this wild mushroom is typified by a very fragrant, woodsy apricot aroma. It is…
These mushrooms do not have gills, but they do have teeth or at least small, tooth-like projections on the under-side of their caps. Also known as Sweet Tooth mushrooms, they can be found in the wilds along the Pacific Coast in winter some growing on trees as shelves, others on the ground in colors so…
These mushrooms do not have gills, but they do have teeth or at least small, tooth-like projections on the under-side of their caps. Also known as Sweet Tooth mushrooms, they can be found in the wilds along the Pacific Coast in winter some growing on trees as shelves, others on the ground in colors so…
Pleurotus eryngii is the latin name for KING OYSTER MUSHROOMS, a large cultivated wood mushroom. Wood mushrooms fall into two broad groups: fleshy mushrooms that have a characteristic stalk and cap and look like any other mushroom and polypores, which have amorphous shapes that do not resemble the general idea of mushrooms at all. The…
Also known as hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, MAITAKE MUSHROOMS have a mild flavor, and go well with smoked meats such as sausage and with cream sauces for pasta. Maitakes are considered a wood mushroom. Easy to identify and certainly easy to spot at the base of dying oaks and other hardwoods, it is a polypore (fungi that…
With a delicious earthy taste, the Matsutake and its relatives are among the most sought after and prized mushrooms in the world. In the Orient, the Matsutake or pine mushroom symbolizes strength and vigor and is used in many ceremonial gatherings. It is a large, thick-fleshed, white mushroom whose cap is two to nine inches…
These cultivated little mushrooms combine the best of both worlds: The enoki’s lovely, elegant shape, and the color and flavor of the richer mushroom varieties. PERSIMMON ENOKI MUSHROOMS are grown in Japan and shipped to the United States where appreciative chefs from coast to coast await their arrival. Their golden brown caps rest atop tan…
POM POM (Pom pom blanc) MUSHROOMS are wood mushrooms, cultivated members of the Hericium group. Pom pom’s wild relatives are known as tooth fungi, lion’s mane, monkey’s head, bear’s head, old man’s beard, Satyr’s beard, and yamabushi-take. Wild Hericium inhabit branch scars of living hardwoods or fallen logs, mostly oak 8ing from late fall to…
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