Hot Sauce

If I were only going to talk about one thing today it would have to be the peppers. What a season we are having! There are so many varieties I’m having trouble deciding what to buy each week.

Saturday I learned that ancho chilies–which I have only had dried–are actually just mature poblano peppers. Poblanos are the big dark green peppers (left in the photo below) that come stuffed with cheese and breaded in egg batter when you order chile relleno. (A good chile relleno might be my favorite Mexican food ever, but only from here. Half my family is Mexican, so I’m a little picky.)

This is the first time I’ve seen red Japanese Shishito peppers as well. They are usually green.

Red Japanese Shishito Peppers

Ancho Chilies

Anyway, I didn’t know you could ever find fresh anchos. For some reason I thought ancho defined some specific preparation of chili like chipotle, which is a smoked jalepeno. But it seems they are a type of pepper unto themselves, but also a version of a pepper I was familiar with. Confusing, I know.

Since poblanos are often spicy I expected the anchos to be even more so (peppers get hotter with age), but they were actually really sweet with only a hint of spice. I had them in eggs. It was amazing.

I also found a new variety of eggplant today, the como eggplant. These eggplants are small and dark, almost black, and very firm. This is because they have very little water and thus do not require the pre-salt that most eggplants need. They are supposed to be very sweet, creamy and not at all bitter. I couldn’t help but buy a few from Allstar Organics.

…Not sure what to make of this other eggplant I found….

Nixon Eggplant or Tricky Dick?

Como Eggplants

But despite the prevalence of all this beautiful summer produce, the signs of imminent winter are not subtle.

I saw the first early citrus this week, including Meyer lemons (not quite ripe) and sweet limes. If you’ve never had a sweet lime, imagine if you tasted a lime that wasn’t sour at all. Then imagine it tasting a little bit like fake lime flavor. It’s weird. You probably wouldn’t want to eat it like you would any other sweet citrus fruit, but it is fabulous in cocktails. They are certainly worth playing around with.

First Sweet Limes

First Meyer Lemons

But let’s not jump too fast from summer to winter. Autumn is providing us with spectacular heirloom apples, pears, pomegranates and grapes. And today I found quince!

Quince is a very old fruit that is like a mix between an apple and a pear, except you can’t eat it raw. But bake it in the oven or into some dessert and quince takes on a sublime flavor and creamy consistency almost like jelly. I’m not much of a pastry chef, but I like to cut a quince in half and bake it for dessert now and then.

Quince

Swaar Dutch Apples

I’m also delighted to announce that the first chocolate persimmons of the year have appeared! They are at Hamada Farms, so go get some while you can. I didn’t buy any today because there was a huge black spider on them (not pictured…she was hiding) and I’m a wimp, but I totally would have. Totally.

Spinach

First Chocolate Persimmons

Also notable is that Green Gulch Farm called it quits for the season today, they will return next spring. I bought some spinach to remember them by.

Despite the rain, the dry-farmed early girl tomatoes from Dirty Girl Produce were…wait for it…even better than usual this week. I realize this makes no sense, but I swear.

I was happy to find that I could still get Soul Food eggs from Prather Ranch. I wasn’t sure they would be available after the devastating fire a few weeks ago. Happy to see they are still truckin’ along

And last but not least, I couldn’t say no to these beets from Capay Organics. Beets are always a great deal because you get 2 dishes out of a bunch: the roots and the greens.

The broccoli is looking pretty darn good these days too.

Organic Broccoli

Beautiful Beets

Today’s Purchases:

• Ancho chilies (Happy Quail Farms)
• Soul Food eggs (Soul Food/Prather Ranch)
• Cippolini onions (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Early girl tomatoes (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Beets (Capay Organics)
• Como eggplants (Allstar Organics)
• Delicata squash (Eatwell Farm)
• Spinach (Green Gulch Farm)
• Swaar apples (The Apple Farm)
• Northern Spy apples (The Apple Farm)
• Ethiopian Sidamo coffee (Blue Bottle Coffee)

What are you eating?

Tags: ancho, apples, beets, broccoli, chipotle, chocolate persimmon, eggplant, Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, Meyer lemons, peppers, quince, San Francisco, spinach, sweet limes

Impressive Melons

If you follow me on Twitter (@summertomato) or Facebook you already know I’ve been down in Orange County the past few days and hit up the Irvine farmers market on Saturday. I’m always impressed by what I find in the OC, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for melons like these!

Huge Watermelons

I also found some pretty spectacularly-sized daikon, or Japanese radish. Seriously, what do you guys put in your water?

Giant Diakon

I thought of about a hundred hilarious things to write under these photos, but I’d love to hear your suggestions. So let the games begin!

In the comments tell us your best caption idea for any of the 3 photos above. The funniest caption writer will be proudly dubbed the Summer Tomato commentor of the week. (note: innuendos welcome, but kindly refrain from NSFW language).

Asian Pears

Emerald Beaut Pluots

Since I am heading back to SF on Sunday, I didn’t buy much this trip. However I did grab a few of these emerald beaut pluots and Asian pears to share with friends and family.

I learned that the emerald beaut season is ending here in the OC, which is interesting since I mentioned last week it is just beginning in SF. In my experience, emerald beauts are the last available pluots at the end of the summer.

Jujubes (Chinese dates) are plentiful now here in Irvine. It is also a great time to get peppers, eggplant and assorted Asian greens and vegetables.

Jalepenos

Jujubes

Yuchoy

Chinese Eggplant & Melon

Chinese Long Beans

Don’t forget to tell us what you found at the farmers market this week!

Please visit Food Renegade for more great Fight Back Friday articles about local and sustainable food.

Tags: Asian pears, Chinese long beans, daikon, eggplant, Irvine, jujubes, melons, peppers, pluots, yuchoy

Orange-Red Apricots

I was completely out of control at the farmers market this weekend. It’s embarrassing really. I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to NOT buying stone fruit and berries. None.

Consequently I spent way more money than I normally do at the market. But after thinking about this for a few hours I realized I would be crazy to have done otherwise.

Boysenberries

Pluots

There is no other time of year when you can get perfect, meaty, sweet and tangy cherries in 3 or 4 different varietals. Apricots come in all shape, sizes and colors, and a mushy one cannot be found among them. Plums and pluots are like the hand-picked candy of God herself. There are only a few weeks left in blueberry season, but boysenberries and blackberries demand your undivided attention. Strawberries are as sweet as they will ever be.

Strawberries

Rainier Cherries

What else was I supposed to do?

But at $5-8 dollars a pound it put a serious dent in my wallet. The thing is though, these are real treats. I cannot buy them the rest of the year even if I wanted to. The cheaper ones at Safeway are not even worth discussing.

I easily spent $30 on fruit today, which I never do. Luckily the luscious kale I bought was only $1.75 and is 2-3 large servings. The baby savoy cabbages came in at under $2 as well.

The summer squash I bought last week from Lucero farms were ridiculously sweet and delcious, especially the yellow ones. They are even good raw! I bought a bunch more this week, as well as a few of the self-proclaimed “world’s best cucumber.”

Baby Eggplants

Purple Onions & Cucumbers

A few eggplants are starting to show up too.

For those of you who are as excited about summer tomatoes as I am, Oliveto restaurant (Oakland) has started Tomato Watch 2009. Tomato Watch is an online video journal documenting the tomato crops of some of the best tomato farms in the Bay Area. Don’t miss the action!

For the first time I bought soy milk from Hodo Soy, the maker of my favorite tofu. I’m lactose intolerant and therefore prefer soy milk in my breakfast cereal and coffee (unsweetened, full-fat soy milk, of course). Traditionally I have bought Silk brand unsweetened soy milk, but I recently learned that since Silk was bought by Dean Foods they have switched from U.S. grown organic beans to conventional soy beans largely imported from China. I think it’s safe to assume everything from China is filled with lead and cyanide (kinda kidding, but kinda not), so I no longer buy Silk. I’ve been experimenting with Wildwood, but I thought I would try something new this week. I’m interested to see what Hodo can do.

There are so many amazing varietals of stone fruits at the market right now I can’t even pretend to keep up with them all.

Do you have any favorites? Please tell me about them in the comments!

Today’s purchases:

• Bing cherries (Paoletti Farms)
• Orange-Red apricots (Frog Hollow Farm)
• Gold dust peaches (Frog Hollow Farm)
• Boysenberries (Lagier Ranch)
• Blueberries (Triple Delight Blueberries)
• Baby savoy cabbages (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Spring onions (Dirty Girl Produce)
• Salad mix (Star Route Farms)
• French breakfast radishes (Star Route Farms)
• Arugula (Star Route Farms)
• Baby eggplants (Hamada Farms)
• Summer squash (Lucero Organic Farms)
• Cucumbers (Lucero Organic Farms)
• Basil (Chue’s Farm)
• Garlic (Chue’s Farm)
• Kale (Green Gulch Farm)

Tags: apricots, boysenberries, cherries, cucumber, eggplant, Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, Hodo Soy, San Francisco, soy milk, stone fruit, strawberries, Tomato Watch 2009