Once, Figs were just a fruit you remembered from your childhood but California’ s commercial Fig production has put Figs within reach of chefs across the county. But this commercially grown fruit does not taste like the Figs we remember pulling from the tree in our Grandmother’ s backyard. If you are looking for that…
Feijoa sellowiana, Feijoas, are the edible fruit of a small evergreen tree with gray-green leaves, native of South America where it is found at high altitudes in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, S. Brazil, and W. Paraguay. The fruits granular whitish flesh surrounding a pulp containing many tiny seeds has a flavor somewhere between pineapple and…
No Description
Baby Red Mustard is a favorite spring mix component because of its color, slightly bitter flavor and texture that holds up well to dressing. Often a component in Asian mix, baby red mustard can be tossed into a stir fry and quickly wilted.
Substantially more peppery than its commercially grown cousin, Wild Baby Arugula (Wild Rocket, Wild Rucola) is a very assertive green with quite a kick. Its leaves are quite small, but don’ t be fooled by their size. Their bright, mustardy, peppery flavor will add a zesty note to salads, soups, sauces (such as pestos and…
Black Seeded Simpson is one of the most popular heirloom lettuces. Developed in the United States around 1850, Black Seeded Simpson is a looseleaf lettuce with light green, crinkly leaves. This lettuce tastes crisp and juicy, and is never bitter.
No Description
Also known as lamb’s lettuce, feldsalat or corn salad, mache is deliciously mild, and has possibly the softest texture of any salad green. This tasty plant grows wild in Europe, where it is considered a pest in corn and wheat fields, but here in the United States it is often grown and shipped still living…
One of our favorite cookbooks, not just for the inspirational recipes but also for sheer reading pleasure, is Judy Rodgers’ The Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Chef Rodgers introduces a Minutina Salad recipe with: “I fell for minutina the first time I mistook it for lawn clippings–this at Eastertime in a three-stall market in Impruneta, not far…
When everybody and their brother serves spring mix, it’s time to look for something that sets you apart from the pack. HEIRLOOM LETTUCES will do just that. One of our favorite family farmers has turned growing HEIRLOOM LETTUCES into an art form. The Coleman family is currently harvesting several varieties, including Black Seeded Simpson, Grenoblase,…
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…
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!
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…
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…
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…
Eat more Morels! Although they are not mushrooms in the strict scientific sense (mushrooms are generally from a class of fungi known as Basidiomycetes, and morels and truffles are Ascomycetes) MORELS are a fungi considered to be mushrooms and have always been highly prized, especially in ancient times by Egyptian pharaohs who believed mushrooms were…