Entries Tagged 'produce' ↓

via Grub Street in New York Magazine

It’s Japan’s most expensive strawberry, and it’s currently in short supply, hence a $45 price tag for a box of seven to twelve.

via NPR

One day I was in the kitchen rubbing salt onto some slices of fresh eggplant and tossing them in a colander. My husband paused to watch.”Putting lipstick on a pig, huh?” he said.

High Ground Organics: Farm Events

Redman House Farm Stand Open May through November, Wed-Sun 10am to 6pm. High Ground Organics’ farmstand is just off Hwy 1 at 129 in Watsonville. Take the Riverside Drive exit from Hwy 1. Go west off the exit, pass the Chevron station, and turn into the farmstand parking area.Strawberry U-picks July and August Saturdays, 10 AM to 1 PM, Check in at the farmstand first.

I think this rather an important topic to think about considering the high price both ecologically and health-wise we pay for our homogeneous diets.

Andy Griffin, found on Edible San Francisco

Times have changed. Americas political culture has embraced multiculturalism, yet goat meat has yet to break into the mainstream. Why? Partly because of language. We eat beef, not cow. We eat pork, not pig. Wed eat horsemeat if it was called pumpkin pie. Having a name for a meat thats different from the name of the animal it came from gives squeamish consumers a chance to forget that theyre eating a creature. Some producers call goat meat cabrito others call it capretto, and still others call it chevon. I asked Mark Pastore, the owner of Incanto Restaurant in Noe Valley, about the challenges of writing a menu that features goat meat. Incanto is an Italian restaurant that puts a sophisticated spin on a rustic, seasonal cuisine. Pastore means shepherd in Italian, so Mark is almost fated to serve goat. He had a smile on his face when he answered. “You want to sell me tender, young, locally grown goats? How do you think its going to look if I have Ôneighborhood kid on the menu?”

From SFGate

Associated with the southern Italian island of Capri, a famed vacation spot for the moneyed set, insalata caprese requires five ingredients, and five only: tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, olive oil and salt. Full stop. Vinegar, especially balsamic vinegar, doesn’t belong.

“You could put me on record as saying that (vinegar) is the most nontraditional thing, and I see it all the time and I cringe,” says Nate Appleman, chef of A16 in San Francisco.

Andy’s Orchard fresh & dried fruit store

The family orchard is located on a very special site in the Santa Clara Valley where terroir, the French word referring to the combined influence of the local terrain and climate, greatly affects the quality of the fruit. We feel it is one of the most favored spots in all of California to grow superior fruit. Unlike California’s hot interior farmlands, the Santa Clara Valley’s warm summer days and cooler nights allow the fruit to remain on the tree a bit longer thus favoring the development of riper fruit—bursting with flavor and character.

A steak carried home from Iowa SHOULD be eaten immediately; but sometimes life intervenes:

I hope I wasn’t patronizing on the phone about defrosting, but I am so proud that my system works as well as it does.

1.  Defrost slowly, in the fridge, with the plastic freezer bag opened (to allow some evaporation) but the meat still in it.  (This step is just because this is how I’ve done it.  It may be that going directly to step 2 and thawing that way makes more sense.)

2.  After a day or so, remove from bag and place on rack, like a cookie cooling rack or maybe a roasting rack adjusted flat, over a plate.  Return to fridge for two to three or more days.  Turn the meat in the fridge from time to time, because although it is on a rack it still will be moister on the underside than on the top.

3.  Look at it from time to time and when it is looking a bit dried out on the surface, cook it.  If its looks scare you, smell it; it will smell like beef, not spoiled at all.

4.  The purpose of this is to reduce the watery nature of thawed meat.  You are drying it.

Love,

Dad

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/dining/28truf.html?_r=1&ref=dining&oref=slogin

 ”The truffles from Chuckey are not the first American-grown Périgord truffles. They are, however, the first American grown black truffles to excite some of the country’s top chefs, like Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, John Fleer and Jonathan Waxman.”

Provence truffles

A group of bérets carries on heated discussions around mysterious pouches. As you approach the terrace, the air becomes more fragrant.

Why Roots Matter More

For food evangelists — consumers who might shop at a co-op or who can explain terms like eco-gastronomy, food miles and the food shed — a local label is sometimes more important than an organic one. That group, which market researchers say make up about 10 to 15 percent of food shoppers, are most likely to spend time in the store pondering whether an organic pepper from Chile is better than one grown in a nonorganic field less than 250 miles away.