Produce

Certified organic Nopales

The tangy bites of nopales herald warmer weather.

Nopales are vegetables from the prickly pear plant. In the store, the spines have been removed.

They’re generally sold fresh from Mexico to the Southwest U.S.

And in San Francisco!

We like to use these to prepare nopalitos: surprisingly delicious strips of tangy, slightly moist bites that pair well with goat cheese and beans.

Click here for our nopalitos & homemade refried bean recipe!

Certified Organic Rhubarb

We’re talking of almost nothing else but this: Rhubarb.

(Okay, we admit it – we have stone fruit, too, which is pretty darn delicious…)

But we’re head over heels with this rhubarb…

It says: We’ve reached the end of spring! Summer is nearly upon us! Pair me with strawberries!

And wouldn’t you know, we have a fairly easy Rhubarb Strawberry Puddin’ Cake recipe for you!

Certified Organic California Asparagus, by the pound

At last.  For all of you who have slogged through asparagus-less fall and winter months, we’re here to tell you that it’s asparagus season, once again, and we have California-grown asparagus.

The great news is that asparagus has dropped in price/lb, since it is from California (and not from Mexico).

We like our asparagus al dente. Cook it for less time than you think, to avoid mushy asparagus!

Puntarelle (“Little Tips”)

Puntarelle? It’s a Roman chicory, a bitter cleansing green, with a season from November to February – in Italy.

But here in California, we can afford longer growing seasons.

How do you prepare this unwieldy-looking plant?

This is how the Romans do it: Strip the leaves, slice the stalks, soak in ice cold water for a couple of hours, serve with an anchovy-garlic-olive oil dressing.

The cold bath removes some of the bitterness, and the anchovy-garlic complements the bitterness of the chicory, making it taste almost sweet.

We like to eat our puntarelle raw, too! And we boil down the center, so it’s a sweet, mashy pulp.

Certified organic tangerines, many varietals

Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darrr-ling Clementine…

You know there are tangerines at every corner store this time of year. You can buy mesh bags of copious quantities of tangerines at some of the larger grocery outlets.

But do you know that our tangerines are for real?

They’re certified organic, every single one of those delicious bursts of vitamin C.

And they’re from California!

We’re also pretty sure these are some of the tangerines that Elmer Elevator ate.

Certified organic turmeric

Turmeric has arrived.

We know you’ve waited for this 2012 harvest!

Those orange, knobby tubes – cousins of ginger – await in a basket, near lemongrass and mushrooms.

Need we tell you any more information?

Other than we’re open 9am-9pm…

Brown turkey & Kadota figs in a Weck jar.

Certified organic figs

The autumnal delicacy, fig.

With their smooth exteriors and sweet, crunchy interiors and high in calcium, figs are really unmatched.

Choose figs that are medium-soft.

Smell your figs – you want to breathe in a sweet, deep fragrance.

Figs bruise and perish easily.  Plan to eat your figs within a day of buying them. Wash them gently in a bowl of water.

Now stop reading this post & eat your figs, by golly!

Certified organic pomegranate

Autumn. Pomegranates. Here is worker Kendon’s very involved juice recipe (you may need to print this):

Take a pomegranate.

Cut it.

Squeeze it.

Drink.

And don’t forget to eat the luscious seeds, symbols of life itself.

Sugar pie pumpkins, varying sizes

Just in case you forgot about pumpkins arriving in autumn…

we’re here to tell you that, well, we have California sugar pie pumpkins!

And they are sweet & delicious…