Pumpernickel

Pumpernickel bread in America means something different to everyone. To me, it was my childhood bane-the bagel that was DEFINITELY NOT CHOCOLATE. To someone with more sophisticated taste, it is a dark dark rye bread with a slightly sweet taste. But to many Americans, it is the dark bread in a plastic bag with food coloring, and extra goodies like coffee, cocoa powder and molasses for palatability.

Originally from Germany, traditional pumpernickel is a 100% rye bread, and is baked for up to 24 hours in a steam oven at a very low temperature. This long bake gives the bread its characteristic coloring. The low gluten content of rye is responsible for the bread's density. The digestibility of the bread is questionable, hence the name, which translates to "devil's farts."

Bread SRSLY pumpernickel uses no rye, but does use a traditional long fermentation process. The dough is flavored with caraway and coriander seeds, and colored with freshly milled teff, an Ethiopian grain. The flavor is what I recall from my first bite into a pumpernickel bagel as a kid. While I couldn't stand the stuff, it became one of my favorites when I was a teenager. Expect a slightly drier loaf, with a tangy flavor and a strong fragrance of old world bread.

Citrus

To me, nothing feels like home more than a bowl filled with fruit. Back in New York, our fruit bowl contained whatever we craved - apples, mango, kiwifruit, plums - whenever we craved it. But living so close to so many fruit growers has taught me about the many wonders of eating locally, and in season.

Peel a satsuma straight from the farmer's market and you'll find it both sweeter and more tart than any from the grocery store. The meyer lemons are fragrant even from a distance, and the many types of oranges available at the stands are all heavy with juice. 

Try them all. Cara cara oranges from Lone Oak Ranch, page mandarins from Tory Farms, temple oranges from Flying Disc Ranch, oro blanco from Ferry Farms, satsumas from Everything Under the Sun, buddha's hand and etrog from Hamada Farms...

Simple Marmalade

Citrus and its peel are both full of natural pectin, the ingredient that causes jams to gel. Boil your lemons, limes and oranges with your sweetener of choice in a bit of water, and keep cooking and tasting for a few hours. 

Process in jars, or refrigerate containers of it. Once the jam has cooled, it should have gelled nicely. (If not, try again with less water, or continue to cook it. Gel or no, it will be delicious!)

Try it with a bowl of plain yogurt, or spread on sourdough toast. Meyer lemon marmalade is my favorite sandwich spread, and pairs well with savory fillings.

Candied Citrus Peel

Cut the peel of several pieces of citrus. Boil in water for a few minutes and drain. This will help alleviate the bitterness of the pith. Repeat as necessary. In the final boil, add your sweetener of choice to taste. A little salt might help bring out the sweetness without adding more sugar. 

Continue to boil in the sweet water until all the water has evaporated. You should be left with a translucent pile of candied peel, slightly sticky to the touch. Let it dry and store it in an airtight container. 

Candied citrus peel is delicious cut up in cookies, as a topping for a cake, cooked down with a savory entree as a sweet garnish, or straight from the jar.

Thanksgiving Stuffing!

If you're anything like me, you know that a good stuffing, like a good potato latke, is made of whatever you can round up. Bread crusts, dried fruit, kale from the garden, leftover soup, all of it will make your stuffing a memorable addition to your Thanksgiving table. 

This recipe was made using a loaf of this week's pumpernickel sourdough bread, toasted until it was almost completely dried out, about 20 minutes in the oven.

Please substitute liberally. This is a vegan recipe, but works great if you are stuffing a bird, or if you have some homemade stock on hand.

Serves 4-6

Preheat the oven to 375.

Saute in a hot skillet for 10 minutes or until parsnips are cooked through:

3-4T olive oil (coconut oil and butter will both work here)

2 large carrots, diced

1 large or 2 small parsnips, diced

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 T chopped fresh ginger

3-4 cloves minced garlic

1 1/2 t salt (add immediately)

pinch (not even an eighth of a teaspoon) celery seed

6 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/4 t dried thyme

Add 1 granny smith apple, diced, and cook for a minute more.

Remove from heat and add: 

1-1 1/2 c red wine or homemade stock

3 c gluten-free stuffing croutons

1/2 c chopped dried figs or other fruit

2-3 T sunflower seeds (or chestnuts if you can eat them!)

pepper to taste

salt to taste

Stir and let sit until the bread has softened.

Cover and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes. Remove the cover, stir, and bake 10 minutes more.

Spotlight on the pantry

This is my pantry. I've been stocking it for years now, with spices coming and going as I learn new things and forget old ones. When I moved away from home to start school, it was a shock to be pantryless, and ever since, I've strived to keep my shelves fully loaded! With a full arsenal of ingredients, you can make anything taste delicious. Here's a list of my pantry staples.

Flours and baking aids

The big 3! I use these flours in almost everything.

-sorghum flour

-millet flour

-arrowroot starch

Extras:

brown rice flour, sweet rice flour (makes the best tortillas for burritos!), corn masa (tacos and tamales), baking powder, xanthan and guar gums, kosher salt

Oils and Sweet things (pick your favorites)

coconut sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave, coconut oil, olive oil, non-GMO canola oil

Spices

for baking:

cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, cayenne pepper, cardamom

for cooking:

turmeric, fenugreek, paprika, sumac, whole coriander, cumin, mexican oregano, chipotle pepper

Seeds and Miscellany

black sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, buckwheat groats, gluten-free oats, quinoa flakes, cacao nibs, whole millet

Spotlight on shishito peppers

Sweet shishito peppers are here! Find them from Happy Boy Farms 

for a few short weeks. Shishito peppers are often sold green, alongside 

padrons in the summer. Both padrons and shishitos, when green, can be 

sauteed in olive oil with a touch of salt for a snack or appetizer. 

Once matured, both peppers will turn red, but beware of the padrons! 

They pick up a good amount of heat as they grow. While the red shishitos 

look almost identical, they are sugary like a young bell pepper. Try them raw 

in salads, sauteed like their green counterparts, or whole as a snack.

You can find Happy Boy Farms at the following markets:

Castro (Wednesday)
Mission Community Market (Thursday)
North Berkeley (Thursday)
College of San Mateo (Saturday)

Temescal (Sunday)

Ft. Mason (Sunday)
Jack London Square (Sunday)

Spotlight on Apple Picking

Many of you are from or have been to the East coast, and have experienced the wonderful New England autumn. The leaves are bright red and orange as you head north out of the city, and the air smells dry and cool and sweet.

Every year, my family picked apples for a day, and had apples through the winter. We kept bushels of them (literally) in our unheated back porch room, where they stayed crisp and fresh. We'd make pies, butters and applesauce, apple cakes and apple tarts, raw apples on toast and dried apples in oatmeal.

While I haven't had a chance to pick apples out here, I have been kept well-stocked by Devoto Gardens and Rainbow Orchards at the farmers market. Head to Devoto ($3/lb.) if you're jonesing for a tart, obscenely crunchy apple, the kind that was picked a few hours before market. Head to Rainbow for your baking apples ($1-2/lb), and gallons of fresh, unpasteurized cider ($10/gal). 

And if you're headed north, look for a hand-painted, side-of-the-road sign: fresh apples, or u-pick here. Stop. You won't regret it.

Try some apple cider muffins (the donut alternative) this week, featuring Rainbow Orchards cider. Order yours here.

Spotlight on early girl tomatoes

A happy, warm October 1st to you all! I hope you got to spend some time outdoors yesterday, now that it is finally summer. 

To me, nothing tastes more like summer than dry-farmed early girl tomatoes. Dry farming is a tried and true technique, used often for growing olives and grapes. Once a plant is established but before it starts to fruit, the farmer will cut off all irrigation (including sheltering it from the rains). The lack of water stresses the plant, and causes it to focus on bearing fruit. 

The resulting fruit is smaller and more concentrated than normal. In the case of tomatoes, this means a tiny, crunchy, and incredibly sweet treat. Dry farmed early girls are great raw as a snack, served slice with sea salt, made into a gazpacho, or roasted. We tried them on a pizza! (recipe below) You can also try them in this week's herbed tomato sourdough.

You can find organic dry-farmed early girls at most markets and some grocery stores from the following farms: Happy Boy Farm, Blue House Farm, Tomatero Farm, Fifth Crow Farm.

This recipe is what we used during our demo at the Eat Real Festival's community bread oven. Please substitute liberally, and feel free to send questions, or photos of your successes!

Early Girl Pizza

The dough:

1 c sorghum flour
3/4 c millet flour
1/2 c arrowroot starch
1/4 c white rice flour
2 t xanthan gum
1 1/2 t salt
3/4 t active dry yeast
water

Mix all dry ingredients except yeast. Add yeast to a cup of water in a separate bowl, and wait until it is dissolved. Add that mixture to the dry, and mix. The dough should resemble a very wet but still "kneadable" bread dough. Add more water if needed. Once the dough is mixed, let it rise for as long as you can stand. (this means at least 30 minutes, but up to 4 hours. If you make it more than 4 hours in advance, store it in the fridge).

The toppings:

6-8 dry farmed early girl tomatoes, sliced
fresh mozzarella or ricotta, if desired
fresh garlic, minced
salt
olive oil
herbs if desired

Preheat your oven to 500 if it goes that high. Spread some cornmeal or other coarse flour on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Scrape out your dough onto the sheet and spread it to your desired size. You may need to wet your hands and the dough to avoid sticking. Rub some olive oil over the dough and bake for 5-10 minutes.

Pull out the dough, which should feel bread-like now, and top with olive oil, garlic, salt, tomatoes, and cheese and herbs if using. Pop it back in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned (easier to see if using cheese). Enjoy hot, preferably outdoors with friends.

If you have any questions about the recipe, or would like to share photos of your pizzas, send them my way! You can reach me at sadie at breadsrsly dot com.

Spotlight on Pluots

The weather in San Francisco has been getting me down this past month, but I'm so pleased and excited to be getting some sun! Our undernourished plants are starting to put out new leaves, there's fresh pavement and bike lanes all over the city, and pluots, the perfect bike-sized snack, are at the market!

Pluots, you say? Not plumcots, not apriums, but pluots, a plum crossed with an apricot, and then crossed again as a second generation. Pluots are brightly colored, crunchy and sweet. 

While there are many varieties, I can never remember if my favorite is the flavor delight, flavor fall, flavor finale, flavor grenade, flavor heart, flavor jewel, flavor king, flavor prince, flavor penguin (!), flavor queen, flavor rich, flavor royal, or flavor supreme. So I usually just get one of each!

You can find many of these varieties of pluots from Twin Girls Farm or K & J Orchards, at the Ferry Building Tuesday and Saturday, and at the Mission Mercado Thursday, or from Kashiwase Farms at Ft. Mason or Inner Sunset Sundays, 4th and Market Tuesdays, and the Upper Haight Wednesdays.

Spotlight on Collard Greens

This week we picked up some fresh young collard greens from Serendipity 

Farms at the Castro Farmers Market (Weds, 4-8pm). Serendipity, located 

near the coast in Carmel Valley, has a reputation for bringing the sweetest 

greens to market. The collards are no exception, with a sugary stem and a 

good strong bite to the leaves. 

Collards are at the top of the charts for nutrient density (using the ANDI system), 

which measures the nutrients delivered per calorie. They are a sturdy and versatile 

green, good in combination with grains, beans, meats, and even fruits. 

For the sweet tooth:

1 onion, sliced into thin rings

1 bunch collard greens, washed and cut

1 apple, thinly sliced

1-2 cups cooked pinto beans

2 T raisins

2 T olive oil

salt

In a hot skillet, add olive oil and onions. Cook on medium heat until caramelized, 

about 10 minutes.

Add apple slices until lightly browned.

Add collard greens, stirring quickly so the leaves are coated with oil. Add more 

oil if necessary. Salt while cooking.

Add pinto beans, until they are heated through.

Stir in raisins, if desired, and serve.

For a savory dish:

1 bunch collard greens

1-2 T olive oil

1/2 - 1 t gluten-free tamari or balsamic vinegar

3-4 strips bacon, if desired

For a simpler savory dish, saute collards in olive oil with some tamari or vinegar. 

Cook on high until leaves turn bright green but are still crunchy. Serve with crisp 

bacon if desired. Brown rice is a perfect accompaniment.

You can find collard greens from the following farms:

Serendipity Farms - Castro, Ft. Mason, Sunset, Divisadero, Temescal

Tomatero Farms - Upper Haight, Mission Community Market

Blue House Farm - Upper Haight, Mission Community Market

Fifth Crow Farm - Sunset, Castro

Spotlight on Figs

Hello hello!

It's great to be back home in chilly, crisp San Francisco. The past week has 

been a great adventure, involving trains, bikes, highways, strip malls, family, 

and dolphins. Here's a little taste:

This week, we'll be making an old favorite, fig rosemary bread. The bread uses 

house-dried mission figs from Arata Farms, and fresh organic rosemary from 

Serendipity Farms. Order yours here today! (Photo by Vanessa Christie)

Figs, as it turns out, are a "false fruit," a sort of inside-out edible flower with 

seeds in the interior. As you may imagine, the pollination of an inside-out flower 

can be difficult. There are a few varieties of fig that do not require pollination to 

grow, and those are what you'll be seeing in the markets (black mission, turkey, 

etc.). 

I use figs as an appetizer or refreshing snack:

1. Serve sliced in half with a soft but tart cheese (try the sheep feta from 

Swallow Valley Farm, available at the Upper Haight, Sunset, and 

Divisadero Markets). 

2. Drizzle with some local honey (CityBees at the Castro and Sunset Markets).

Or, 

1. Cut in half, drizzle with honey and fresh thyme leaves (Happy Boy Farms, 

Castro, Noe Valley, Ft. Mason, Mission Community Market, or North Berkeley 

Market)

2. Bake at 350 until warm and soft, about 15 minutes.

Pick up a basket of figs today! You can find figs from Arata Farms at the Castro 

Market, Wednesdays from 4-8. Many vendors have figs for sale at the Saturday 

Ferry Plaza Market, and Capay Valley Farms has a gorgeous crop of candystripe 

fig (green striped exterior with a watermelon pink interior) at the Sunset Market.

Enjoy!

Spotlight on Devoto Gardens

This week we stopped at the Inner Sunset farmers market to talk to Jolie 

of Devoto Gardens in Sebastopol. The farm, started by Jolie's parents Susan 

and Stan, is home to 55 varieties of heirloom apples, with funny names like 

Hubbardston Nonesuch, Ashmead's Kernel, and the humble Best Ever. 

In addition to being an apple expert, world traveler, and Gravenstein apple 

ambassador, Jolie and her fiance, Hunter, started their own business this summer,

and it's great for all us gluten-free folks! Welcome Applesauced, your source for 

local heirloom single origin hard cider. After planting 500 cider trees in 27 varieties, 

Jolie and Hunter will be starting their first batch of cider on Wednesday! 

Taking a break to get married in September, they'll be bringing their cider to 

farmers markets as soon as it's ready to drink (October). Look for it at the Inner 

Sunset market (Sundays 9-1), Ferry Plaza Market (Tuesdays 10-2, Saturdays 8-2), 

or take a trip up to the farm to see the operation first hand.

And in case there wasn't enough to do, Devoto Gardens has a small army of
beautiful organic flowers growing. Jolie and her mom, Susan, are the Devoto
florists, and bring their flowers to weddings, parties and farmers markets
throughout the Bay Area. Check out their mission to know your farmer, know
your flowers here.

You can find Devoto Gardens apples in this week's Apple Cinnamon Bread, and

Pink Pearl Rose Muffins. Order yours here or find us Thursday at the Mission 

Community Market.

Spotlight on beets

Hello all! 

We're switching things up with the spotlight this week, in order to feature one 

of our favorite vegetables: beets! We stocked up on red and golden beets at 

the Castro Farmers Market, destined for the Golden Beet and Savory 

Sourdough, the Beet Green and Chive Cornbread, and a bright red batch of 

Red Velvet Muffins. Order yours here.

While snapping some photos of the beets at Blue House Farm's stand, we met 

a fellow beet enthusiast, Gregory, who was kind enough to share his mother's 

recipe for Cold Beet Borscht. If you've never tried borscht, you're in for a tasty 

surprise. Served cold in the summer, this soup is refreshing, light and absolutely 

beautiful. Try it with plain yogurt or slices of avocado, garnish with dill, and eat 

outside in the sun.

You'll be able to find Gregory's recipe in this cookbook, coming soon!

Cold Borscht

            All family recipes are inexact and morph with the generations, so in 

veganizing my Lithuanian mother’s cold borscht—transmitted to me on a note 

card, perhaps the first time it had ever been written down—I am making it my 

own before I hand it on to my descendants. It’s a pretty simple recipe that, 

with its striking fuschia color and refreshing seasonal flavors, always gets 

stunning results at a summer luncheon. It loses nothing in veganizing.

4 beets

8 radishes

half an English cucumber

four scallions

a clove of garlic

hemp milk

salt and pepper

cider vinegar

fresh dill

new potatoes

Cook three or four beets in their jackets, cool them, peel them, 

and grate them. 

            Trim and dice a bunch of radishes and half a peeled and seeded 

            English cucumber. Add these to the beets.

            Thinly slice three or four scallions and add those too, along with a 

            small clove of crushed garlic.

            Add a liter of unsweetened milk substitute (I prefer hemp milk, but 

            almond or soy works fine) and a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. 

            Stir gently and add salt and pepper (and more vinegar) to taste.

            Put the soup in the fridge for a few hours to ripen the flavor and color.

            When it’s time to eat, stir the soup again and ladle it into bowls. Top 

            each bowl with warm boiled new potatoes and a generous sprinkling of 

            chopped fresh dill. 

(And if you must, in the traditional recipe just substitute buttermilk for the liquid 

and top with sliced boiled eggs along with the potatoes and dill.)

Spotlight on Happy Boy and Yerena Farms

These past two weeks we've been spending some extra time talking to people 

from Happy Boy and Yerena Farms at our new digs, the Mission Community 

Market. 

Happy Boy has long been one of my favorites from my days working in Fort 

Mason. Their produce is not only delicious, but beautiful, owing in no small 

part to the amazing market staff. Taking up a quadruple booth, Happy Boy 

Farms is one of the first to the market, setting up 2 hours early to make sure 

their display is top notch. Signs, made by designer and marketeer Tent Gillette, 

depict smiling tomatoes and dancing summer squash, complete with recipes. 

Check out their booth Wednesdays at Market x 16th (4-8p), Thursdays at 

Crocker Galleria (10-2), 21st x Bartlett (4-8p) and North Berkeley, 

Saturdays in Noe Valley and Grand Lake, and Sundays at Ft. Mason and 

Temescal. For a complete list of markets, visit their website.

Yerena Farms is becoming a new favorite. On 22 acres in Royal Oaks,
CA, Yerena Farms grows certified organic strawberries, raspberries,
blackberries, tayberries, yacon, cactus pears and summer squash. We
picked up a flat of raspberries and blackberries for this week's muffins,
and can't wait to bake them! The berries are exquisitely sweet, keep well
refrigerated, make an excellent jam, and turn muffins into muffin pies.

The folks at the Yerena market stands also work at the farm, so be ready
with a joke or something to lighten their afternoon! Find Yerena Tuesdays
and Saturdays at the Ferry Building, Wednesdays and Sundays at Civic
Center, and Thursdays at the Mission Community Market.

Here's a recipe for my favorite cold-weather summer snack:

Padron Pepper Poppers

1 basket padron or shishito peppers from Happy Boy Farms
1-2 T olive oil from O'Live Healthy
pinch of salt

In a hot skillet, add a generous amount of olive oil, and toss in rinsed peppers.
Sprinkle with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes. Serve hot.

Spotlight on Twin Girls Farm

Hello friends!

This coming week is going to be a bit of a doozy, with deliveries Tuesday, a
sandwich market Wednesday (11:30-2), AND the Mission Community 
Market on Thursday. To keep my sanity, I'll be taking my bicycle up North
for the weekend, enjoying some sunshine, rivers, and pedaling.

But before I do, I'd love to introduce Twin Girls Farm, growers of the sweetest
darn white nectarines I've ever had. 

Twin Girls Farm began with a 6.5 acre plot in Fresno county, and has since
grown to a whopping 518 acres of organic farmland! Growing everything from
jujubes to donut nectarines, Twin Girls attends markets year round.
The farm is named after farmers Ignacio and Casamira's twin daughters.

You can find Twin Girl Farms at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Tuesdays and
Saturdays, the Mission Community Market on Thursday evenings, the Alemany
Farmers Market on Saturdays, and 24 other weekly markets throughout the Bay
Area. Holy stone fruits!

Insider tip: Twin Girls sells 5 pound bags of blemished fruits for $5. Look for a
sign! The fruits are easily cleaned up, and make the most delicious cobblers,
jams and cakes.

Come visit us and Twin Girls this Thursday at the Mission Community Market!
Meet Lucy, our wonderful new marketeer, and pick up your own bag of
nectarines from the farmer himself.

Spotlight on Fifth Crow Farm

Hello hello!

It's been a bit of a grey weekend, but a bike ride to the farmers market seemed
to do the trick for me! And I'm excited to announce that this Thursday July 19th,
Bread SRSLY will be at its first market! We've been accepted to the Mission 
Community Market, every Thursday from 4-8pm. Please come say hello! (22nd
x Bartlett)

This week I visited Fifth Crow Farm from nearby Pescadero. Fifth Crow has
about 15 acres, growing beautiful organic flowers, vegetables and strawberries. 
The booth always looks inviting, but the produce tops even the presentation in 
flavor. The gem-like baby heads of lettuce and perfect cabbages are worth every
cent and then some. 


This week we'll be baking red beet and rosemary sourdough, and lemon strawberry 
muffins using Fifth Crow produce. Get yours here!

This is Susie, who worked on the farm last year after 7 years in New York City.

Susie's favorite part about Fifth Crow was working with the chickens. In addition 

to a full harvest of vegetables, strawberries, dried heirloom beans and heirloom 

corn, Fifth Crow has 2 flocks of 300 chickens, and sells its eggs for much of the 

year. (These eggs are wildly popular, so get to the stand early!) 

You can find Fifth Crow Farm at the Castro (W 4-8p), Inner Sunset (Sun 9-1p),
and San Mateo Market (Sat 9-1p), or go to one of their open houses in
Pescadero, a mere 45 miles from San Francisco.

Spotlight on Dogwood Organic Farm

Hello and happy 5-day work week! I'm feeling rested up post-4th, ready 

for a big week of biking.

This week I talked with Ned from Dogwood Organic Farm in Pescadero, 

CA. Ned, former co-owner of Blue House Organic Farm (see post from 

3 weeks back), now runs Dogwood with his wife, Rachel. 

photo ctsy Dogwood Farm

I first met Ned 2 years ago at the Upper Haight Farmers Market, and have 

been looking for him for a while. It was a treat to stumble upon him and his 

produce this week at the Yerba Buena Farmers Market while out on deliveries. 

I got to ask a few questions before making off with Ned's entire harvest of fresh 

sage, and here's what I found out:

"We're actually farming the same land as Blue House, and because of that, I 

really know what grows best in this site. We've really focused on the crops that

do best here: greens, lettuce, herbs, berries, flowers, etc. You can never really 

know too much about a place.

Being with the person I love and creating a life and business together is so fun 

and rewarding. We're very compatible and yet have our own focused areas. I 

mainly appreciate the continual connection around the things we love: food, 

nature, good work, family, humor."

Ned's favorite season (and one of mine) is late summer/early fall, when dry-

farmed early girls come on and the days are warm with no fog. We'll be back to 

Dogwood then to scoop up those sugary tomatoes to dry for winter breads!

You can find Dogwood Organic Farm at the Yerba Buena Market at 4th and

Market from 1-6 on Tuesdays, or in Hayward on Saturdays.

CUESA Tour of Bella Viva and CandyCot

All of my posts these days seem to start with, "What a week!" But this may have been the biggest week yet! Last night we put on a show at the SF Food Lab Grand Opening party, where I shook hands with Mayor Ed Lee and gave away tons of grilled cheese toasts. Wednesday we served up 3 types of sandwiches at the Williams Sonoma Farmers Market, along with our new pies, and Tuesday was a mondo day of bike deliveries Downtown. 

But last Friday was the wonderful calm before the storm, and I got to join CUESA for a field trip in the Central Valley. 50 of us piled in to a bus to Denair where we stopped at Bella Viva Orchards, a 49 acre orchard and fruit-drying operation. We took a walk among the peach trees (Pick whatever you can hold in 2 hands) and ended up here, at the cherry-drying station, the reason I came on the trip.

3 weeks ago we baked up some cherry compote muffins using cherries from Arata Farms. It took so long to pit and dehydrate the flat of cherries, that I was determined to see the process from someone who got it right. Bella Viva has it down pat, from this field of sun-dried Bing cherries to their walk-in dehydrators for unsulphured fruit, to their equipment for stemming, sorting, pitting and placing the fresh cherries. Bella Viva dehydrates some huge number of cherries (think thousands of tons) each year. Owner Victor Martino says, "You've had our fruit, and you didn't know it was ours" in trail mixes sold throughout the US. 

Next up we visited the home of the CandyCot, Candycots came about from plant geneticist John Driver's experiments breeding the sweetest apricots he could find, grafting them onto fruit wood, and testing testing testing. His young trees are in their second or third year, and are just beginning to bear enough to sell. Driver grows his trees on V-trellises, saying the fruit is sweetest when all of the wood gets adequate sunlight.

We walked through the rows of Anya and Yuliya candycots, Driver's 2 creations 15 years in the making, picking and eating more that was comfortable. I've never tasted anything like these fruits, which were dry and sweet and crunchy. Driver says the sugar content is so high (more than twice a standard California apricot), that the fruits start to dehydrate on the tree.

Candycots hit the Ferry Plaza farmers market this past weekend, and I encourage you all to pick some up. They'll be worth every penny.

But back to real life, and a calendar as packed as Bella Viva's cherry trays, I got to work searching the farmers market for this week's bread menu. Happy Boy Farms seemed the obvious choice, with a fragrant display of impulse-buy herbs and the first of the year's tomatoes!

photo ctsy Happy Boy Farms

Happy Boy Farms in Freedom, CA, has a knack for being one of the most attractive market stands. Arriving upwards of 2 hours before the start of the market, Happy Boy's jolly marketeers make quick work of their 4 10x10 tents, and create a maze of tables full of photogenic vegetables. Find them at the Castro market, 4-8 on Wednesday, Temescal and Ft. Mason 9:30-1:30 on Sunday, Grand Lake and College of San Mateo on Saturday, and the Mission Community Market 4-8 on Thursday.

Stay tuned for more updates!
Sadie

Spotlight on Blue House Organic Farm

Hello friends!

This week we visited Minnie and Jen from Blue House Farm, a certified organic, 

30 acre plot plus a small orchard in Pescadero, CA. One of 9 farmhands, Minnie 

does some of every task, from loading up, driving and marketeering to seeding, 

weeding, and harvesting. At 5pm, she was still looking cheery and happy to be 

on her feet!

We first tasted Blue House's produce on the farm, shopping for the Race to the 
Mammoth feast on the neighboring land. After walking all the way out to the 
strawberry field with Blue House's dog Lucky, we found Katie, just home from 
a Saturday morning market. We snatched up 17 bunches of dinosaur kale, 12 
heads of butter lettuce, 5 bunches of turnips and 13 pounds of snap peas for the 
hungry cyclists.

       

You can find Blue House Farm all over the city, on Thursday at the Mission
Community Market (4-8p), Wednesday at the College of San Mateo Market
(9-1p) and the Upper Haight Market (3-7p), and Saturday at the Alemany Market
(dawn-dusk). You can also taste their produce at BiRite Market and at Mission Pie.

This week we'll be using Blue House red beets and Albion strawberries for our
breads. (Our collard cornbread will feature collards from Little City Gardens in
San Francisco). Get yours delivered this Tuesday by ordering here!

Stay tuned for our next farm, and visit us this Saturday at the Urban Farmgirls 
3rd Anniversary Party! We'll be slinging loaves, muffins and pies alongside
Serendipity Farms from 2-7pm.

Spotlight on Arata Farms

Greetings all! 

It's been a helluva week for us. I've pedaled a slow and steady 70.4 miles in the 

last 3 days after Sunday's 45 mile jaunt, and I'm feeling it! But tired or not, I got 

over to the Mission Community Market, and it was worth it.

This week we had the pleasure of talking to Dave at Arata Farms. Farmer Mike 

Arata and his jolly marketeer Dave come from Brentwood every Wednesday 

and Thursday, toting their apricots, cherries, nectarines, white peaches, plums, 

zucchini, red onions, and the largest red beets I've ever seen. 

I got to sample Arata's cherries a few weeks ago, when I took home a whole flat!
(I also learned the woes of cherry pitting.) Dave agrees that cherry season is his
favorite, but says that Mike's wife's holiday pies compete with eating the fruit for
the best part of marketeering.

Arata never slows down. As soon as stone fruits start to dry up, they harvest a 
huge crop of black mission figs (Last year we dried a case of them to make our 
fig rosemary bread!). After figs come persimmons, one of my favorite fruits, and 
tasty ugly quince. Arata closes out the year with a beautiful selection of Mike's 
wife's pies, in time for the holidays.

You can find Arata at the Castro Market on Wednesdays from 4-8 pm, or the
Mission Community Market on Thursdays from 4-8 pm. If you're sick of the city,
head over the 60-or-so miles to Brentwood to see Arata's market stall and their
Brentwood Farmers Market booth, or pick 'em yourself at their U-Pick.

Our menu this week includes Arata Farm Red Onion Sourdough, Dried Arata Apricot
Fennel Bread, and Lemony muffins with Arata Farm Cherry Compote. Get some this
Tuesday or Wednesday by ordering here.

Stay tuned for our next farm!
Sadie

Spotlight on Serendipity Farms, and a Fond Farewell

Hello friends!

This week is the first of a series of farm spotlights that will run all summer. 

We'll be speaking with some of the farmers who sell at the local markets, 

featuring their produce in our breads, and documenting it all here on our 

blog. First up is good friend Jamie and the wonderful organic produce of 

her own Serendipity Farms. See the menu here!

You can find Serendipity on Wednesday evenings at Market and Noe St. 

from 4-8pm, or on Sunday mornings at either Divisadero and Grove (10-2), 

Ft. Mason Center (9:30-1:30), or 9th and Irving (9-1).

Jamie Collins of Serendipity Farms has been farming organic row crops at 

the mouth of Carmel Valley for over 10 years and sells via Community 

Supported Agriculture program, U-Picks and farmers markets. She is 

passionate about farm politics, to say the least, and makes trips to 

Washington DC to speak on behalf of small scale, sustainable family 

farmers. She loves to write about food and farm issues and works adamantly 

to educate the community about the importance of supporting local farmers 

and food artisans.

Jamie's love for farm and food shines through in her incredible produce. Her
English peas can be eaten raw or cooked, and the pods make a light and flavorful
summer pea stock. Jamie grows three types of organic strawberries, Albions,
Seascapes, and Chandlers (my favorite). Chandlers are the high-maintenance
cousins of easy-to-transport Albions, but are worth the effort. They are sweet like
no berry I've ever tasted, and won't last a day before getting completely gobbled up.

But what Serendipity Farms is known for is its signature wall of greens. Jamie's
greens, harvested just before market, are tender and sweet, full of Iron and B
Vitamins, brightly colored (and of course, immensely stackable). These greens
challenge the veggie-dabbler by lasting for weeks in the fridge without wilting,
keeping customers well-fed and excited to cook.

This week's menu features Serendipity Farms' rainbow chard, curly kale, dino kale,
and cylindra beets. Get yours here!

And lest we move on too quickly, we'd like to thank Vanessa for all she's done
for Bread Srsly in the last few months. She will be greatly missed, but is moving
on to some exciting projects. We're hoping she comes back to get her bread fix,
but know she will be biking and baking wherever she ends up. Safe travels, Vanessa!