What’s awesome right now?

Butter-yellow crème fraîche from Kriemhild Dairy Farm’s grass-fed cows.

Super-fragrant finger limes from Rising C Ranch.  Bittersweet mixed heirloom chicories from County Line Harvest.  Dizzyingly beautiful romanesco cauliflower from Pedersen Farms.  Smoked white oak honey from Bee Local Apiary.

Make It Earthy

Purple haze, yellow sun and chantey carrots from Crown O’ Maine Organics.  Local macomber turnips, plus purple top, rutabaga.  German butterball potatoes, b size, great for crushing–deep, deep gold color, puts yukons to shame.  Russian banana fingerlings and bintje potatoes from Maine. Bintje = classic Belgian potato for their slightly famous frites.  Red, gold and chioggia beets available by the pound, or baby versions by the bunch.

pickle it

Make it pop with heirloom radishes varieties: bright purple bora kings, green daikon, watermelon radishes, black radishes, easter egg radishes, and french breakfast radishes.  Shave/pickle/matchstick/kimchi/butter-braise.

eat your greens

Native green & purple brussels sprouts for shaving, charring, roasting.  County line mixed chicories: little heads, cool varieties, in need of sweet, salty and sharp things. Different individual varieties of chicories to serve raw, charred or braised, like endive and red endive, radicchio and treviso, and escarole.  Pedersen farms romanesco cauliflower: never looked nicer than it does right now.

Citrus city

Now in: Kishu mandarins, Cara Cara pink navel oranges, & Buddha’s hands.  Still happening: finger limes, fresh yuzu (though not for much longer–get after it now) and Satsuma tangerines. Stay tuned for a full citrus update coming this week.  You’ve asked about bloods: risky to put on the menu before the 15th.  Imported scarce, and California not yet ripe.

so long

86: Cox’s Orange Pippin’ apples, matsutake mushrooms, lobster mushrooms.

look in dry storage

Bee Local smoked honey.  Stone-ground masa harina.  Blis bourbon-barrel aged fish sauce. Songbird farm red flint cornmeal.

Bean braising weather: oja de cabra, black calypso, jacob’s cattle, Maine soldier, scarlett runner, and marrow.

Spice jar: vadouvan, gochugaru,  shichimi togarashi, za’atar, ras el hanout, garam masala.  Who has awesome spices?  You should see how green our coriander seed is.  If yours is the color of white pepper, time to get a fresh source.  When it comes to spices, fresher = better.  We get the good stuff.

 Thanksgiving is coming…

Market Report

News this week: a fresh shipment of French crosnes are expected in Monday: availability and quality are going up; prices are coming down.  The ongoing warm weather has allowed Ted Dobson, of Equinox Farms, to harvest a bumper crop, so we continue to see excellent, peppery outdoor-grown mesclun greens from him.  We are also expecting more beautiful baby purple bok choi, and first of the season kumquats.  We also just took in our first shipment of Bee Local smoked honey (see inset below.)

Fresh huckleberries are done for the season, but we continue to have IQF Oregon huckleberries available.  The Dolgo Russian crabapples are finished, but we do have other regional crabapples available.  Figs are pretty much done:  The only figs out there are middling quality and expensive.

A reminder: first of the season fresh yuzu, satsuma tangerines & finger limes from Rising C Ranch are here.  Time to hook up some fresh yuzu kosho: check out our in-depth article on their citrus and get inspired.  A word about citrus season: like apple and stone fruit season, different varieties ripen at different times: for example, yuzu is available now but won’t last all season, therefore get it while you can.  This is especially true with heirloom variety crops that aren’t commercially popular: they haven’t become industrialized and therefore seasonless.

Ordering notes: limited quantities have *stars* and new items are noticed in orange.

Coming Tuesday

• Native Purple Baby Bok Choi*
• First of the Season Kumquats
• Native Mixed Heirloom Radishes

Peak season

• Baby Brussels Sprouts
• Baby Artichokes*
• Pomegranates
• Native Cranberries
• Concord Grapes
• Forelle Pears
• Anjou Pears
• Comice Pears
• Seckel Pears
• Fuyu Persimmons
• Fresh American Chestnuts
• Local Hen of the Woods Mushrooms
• Local Chicken Mushrooms*
• Local Oyster Mushrooms
• Oregon Chantarelles
• Oregon Lobster Mushrooms
• Oregon Matsutake Mushrooms
• French Crosnes
• Baby Red Watercress
• Baby Purple Brussels Sprouts
• Black Trumpet Mushrooms
• NY Organic German Butterball Potatoes (Large/”B” size) 

Native Apples & Quince

Scott Farm Orchard- Dummerston, VT

• Cox’s Orange Pippin
• Belle de Boskoop
• Reine de Reinette
• Honeycrisp
• Gala
• Macoun
• Roxbury Russet Apples
• Calville Blanc d’Hiver
• Northern Spy
• Lady Apples
• Rhode Island Greening
• Hidden Rose
• Native Quince
• Winesaps
• Hudson Golden Gem

Native Roots & Greens

Black Fox Farm- Montville, ME

Rainbow Carrots

Bright Raven Farm- Jacksonville, NY

Golden Globe Turnips

County Line Farm- Petaluma, CA

Mixed Ultra Baby Chicories

Rising C Ranch- Orosi, CA

• Fresh Yuzu
• Satsuma Tangerines
• Finger Limes

4 Town Farm- Seekonk, MA

Macomber Turnips

Phat Farm- Unity, ME

• Chantenay Carrots
• Yellow Sun Carrots
• Purple Haze Carrots

Ward’s Farm- Sharon, MA

• Long Island Cheese Pumpkin
• Delicata Squash
• Georgia Candy Roaster
• Uchiki Kuri Squash
• Butternut Squash
• Spaghetti Squash
• Blue Hubbard Squash

Crossroad Farm- Jonesport, ME

Native Sunchokes

Green Sunshine Organic Farm- Hodgdon, Maine

• Bintje Potatoes
• Russian Banana Fingerlings

Sparrow Arc Farm- Copake, NY

• Watermelon Radish
• Bora King Radish
• Korean Green Daikon
• Black Radish

Frog Hollow Farm- Brentwood, CA

• Warren Pears

Equinox Farm – Sheffield, MA

• Mesclun Mix Greens

Bee Local: Smoked Honey

Who: A collaboration between Bee Local Honey + Smokehouse 21 in Portland, OR
What:  gently smoked single-origin honeys: a really pretty white oak-smoked honey, and a more robust/leathery cherrywood honey
Where: urban hives around Portland, OR
How: hot buttered biscuits, smoked hot toddy, cherrywood bourbon smash, fried chicken, with ricotta, smoked honey butter, smoked honey ice cream… in 1/2 gallon jugs.

Special, local, Artisanal

Fiddler’s Green Farm- Vassalboro, ME

Stone-Ground Masa Harina, from non-GMO, organic nixtamalized corn (think artisanal “maseca”)

NOTE: fresh arrival Tuesday, November 17th.

Three Rivers Farm- Milo, ME

Soldier Beans, Dried, in 10# bags

 Heiwa Soy Beanery- Belfast, ME

Fresh Tofu, made from non-GMO Maine Soybeans

Hershberger Family Farms- Unity, ME

Fresh Duck Eggs, by the dozen

Aroostook Valley Honey Farm- Fort Fairfield, ME

Fresh Honeycomb, by the 12 oz pack

Cold Hollow Cider Mill- Waterbury, VT

Cold Hollow Apple Cider, by the gallon

Apple Acres Farm- Durgintown, ME

Apple Cider Syrup, small glass jar

Farmer Ground Flour- Trumansburg, NY

All organic. Available in 2# bags, or larger bags with one week’s notice

• Stone-ground Spelt Flour
• Stone-ground Rye Flour
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Organic All-purpose Flour (25# bag)

Citrus time.

 Many of us grew up in a world where tree-ripened fruit was no longer the norm, but a memory your grandparents had.  Supermarket fruit, which is typically rock-hard, underripe and grown for durability rather than flavor is unfortunately the bulk of what’s out there.  Thankfully, there are a few domestic growers that grow for flavor, rather than hardiness and ship-ability.  Rising C Ranch is one of them.  They grow heirloom varieties that they picked for both flavor and beauty.  They’ve learned how to work with these unique fruits, and purposefully leave them on the tree until they’re fully ripe.  Their soil-management and pruning practices give the fruit the best possible chance to develop the deepest possible flavor.  They’ve figured out how to time harvest and pack fruit so that it arrives both ripe and in top shape.  These guys are the best, and we are proud to carry their heirloom citrus varieties throughout the winter.

Rising C Ranch Citrus

Kishu Mandarins:  tiny, sweet & seedless, Kishu mandarins are an ancient Japanese varietal.  These mandarins, ranging from the size of a quarter to a half-dollar, are delicious and easy to peel.  You could almost serve them as-is: they’d make memorable and seasonally appropriate mignardises.  Also, if you just want a citrus that you don’t have to segment with a knife, this is it: while not shiny or glossy like a citrus suprême, they have the advantage of staying super-juicy and bursting when you crush them under your tongue, and there’s no waste.  Dry out the super-aromatic rind, or candy it.  A bowl of kishu mandarins on the table for brunch would not be a bad thing at all.

Buddha’s Hands:  No flesh, no seeds, so what do we do with it?  Give some to the bartender: it infuses beautifully into spirits, and would make a cool winter citron limoncello.  Or keep one on the bar to use instead for cocktail zest and let it spark conversation.  Candy it: unlike almost every other citrus, the pith of this one isn’t nearly as bitter, which makes it easy to candy or turn into marmalade–a lot less work than oranges, and twice as fragrant–David Lebovitz has an excellent breakdown of it here, (and it includes some really good tricks, too.)  Candy now, then make some panettone bread later.   And if you order some and they don’t all get used up, bring one home: their fragrance is incredible, and folks in ancient China would wash their clothes with them.  Spruce that greasy apron right up.

Cara Cara Pink Navel Oranges: yep, it’s a pink orange.  The pigment that makes it pink is lycopene, which is a carotenoid that is found in red carrots, tomatoes, watermelons and papayas–and the meaty depth you get from this super juicy orange is somewhat reminiscent of papaya’s rich flesh.  These are the number one fruit the staff is eating right now.  Their beauty is almost besides the point–these far surpass commercial navels in flavor, depth, juiciness, sweetness and overall balance.

Finger Limes: I can feel the word caviar, in quotes, coming on. These little beads of citrus really pop, and taste like a cross between lime and grapefruit blossom. Finger limes originated Australia, and the Aussies therefore have a few ideas about what to do with them.  While trying to find any dish that didn’t suggest using them on raw fish, or desserts (which are great uses) or martinis (really?), we found some Aussie websites with some very cool-sounding dishes like garlic & chilli prawns with pepperberry & saltbush, and sashimi of kingfish with quandong and finger limes.  Groovy.

Satsuma Mandarins: known also as the “honey citrus of Wenzhou,”  “Christmas orange” in Britain because it was often enjoyed as a holiday treat around that time, and “Satsuma” to us, because they were first exported to Florida from the Satsuma Province in Japan in 1876.  They are noted for their loose skin, easy peeling, mostly seedless nature as well as their sweet honeyed flavor and tenderness.  Besides eating out of hand, they pair well with rum: Cochon does a satsuma mojito, Ottolenghi does an almond flour and satsuma cake soaked in almond syrup, and they lend themselves to candying whole, if you’ve got the patience.  Don’t forget to save the peels and dry them out, for fragrant dried citrus peel throughout the winter, or housemade chai.

Fresh Yuzu: this crazy citrus is a cross between a super cold-hardy variety of citrus called Ichang Papeda and a sour mandarin.  The first one is a thick-skinned, fragrant ornamental variety, used largely for fragrance (rather than culinary) uses, is almost all seed and pith, and is hardy enough to survive a frost.  The second variety brings the sour juice and bright orange-lemon flavors to the party.  This hard-to-find winter citrus is one of the first to come and first to go during winter citrus season, so get it now.  Many of the best uses involve preserving it anyway:  yuzu kosho, yuzu marmalade (used to make Korean yujacha), or capture the moment and make a fresh, legit, non-soy based ponzu.  Show this one to the barkeep:  yuzu maple leaf.  And please, tell us what we missed.  Apparently, yuzu and matsutake are considered a classic Japanese pairing: they grow in the same season, are both incredibly aromatic, but used how?  Kick some knowledge and we’ll add it to the post.  Guest chefs welcome.

 

Market Report

The big news this week: County Line mixed ultra baby chicories are in.  Our first shipment looks gorgeous: baby heads of escarole, trevisano, red endive, and castelfranco are among the chicories in the mix.

Expected Friday: golden globe turnips, mixed purple and green tatsoi, and native mei qing baby bok choy.  These are all organic, from small farms in upstate NY.  We are super excited to try out Stick & Stone Farm and Bright Raven Farm–both new to us.  Your feedback on new items is always appreciated.

Expected Saturday: first of the season fresh yuzu, satsuma tangerines & finger limes from Rising C Ranch.  Time to hook up some fresh yuzu kosho.  A word about citrus season: like apple and stone fruit season, different varieties ripen at different times: for example, yuzu is available now but won’t last all season, therefore get it while you can.  This is especially true with heirloom variety crops that aren’t commercially popular: they haven’t become industrialized and therefore seasonless.

Ordering notes: limited quantities have *stars* and new items are noticed in orange.

Peak season

• Baby Brussels Sprouts
• Baby Artichokes*
• Fresh Oregon Huckleberries
• Pomegranates
• Native Cranberries
• Concord Grapes
• Forelle Pears
• Anjou Pears
• Comice Pears
• Seckel Pears
• Fuyu Persimmons
• Fresh American Chestnuts
• Local Hen of the Woods Mushrooms
• Local Chicken Mushrooms*
• Local Oyster Mushrooms
• Oregon Chantarelles
• Oregon Lobster Mushrooms
• Oregon Matsutake Mushrooms
• French Crosnes
• Baby Red Watercress
• Baby Purple Brussels Sprouts
• Black Trumpet Mushrooms

Native Apples & Quince

Scott Farm Orchard- Dummerston, VT

• Cox’s Orange Pippin
• Belle de Boskoop
• Reine de Reinette
• Honeycrisp
• Gala
• Macoun
• Dolgo Russian Crabapples
• Roxbury Russet Apples
• Calville Blanc d’Hiver
• Northern Spy
• Lady Apples
• Rhode Island Greening
• Hidden Rose
• Native Quince
• Winesaps
• Hudson Golden Gem

Native Roots & Greens

Black Fox Farm- Montville, ME

Rainbow Carrots

Stick & Stone Farm- Ithaca, NY

• Green & Purple Tatsoi
• Baby Mei Qing Bok Choi 

Bright Raven Farm- Jacksonville, NY

Golden Globe Turnips

County Line Farm- Petaluma, CA

Mixed Ultra Baby Chicories

Rising C Ranch- Orosi, CA

• Fresh Yuzu
• Satsuma Tangerines
• Finger Limes

4 Town Farm- Seekonk, MA

Macomber Turnips

Phat Farm- Unity, ME

• Chantenay Carrots
• Yellow Sun Carrots
• Purple Haze Carrots

Ward’s Farm- Sharon, MA

• Long Island Cheese Pumpkin
• Delicata Squash
• Georgia Candy Roaster
• Uchiki Kuri Squash
• Butternut Squash
• Spaghetti Squash
• Blue Hubbard Squash

Farm Girl Farm- Sheffield, MA

Baby Purple Bok Choi

Crossroad Farm- Jonesport, ME

Native Sunchokes

Green Sunshine Organic Farm- Hodgdon, Maine

• Bintje Potatoes
• Russian Banana Fingerlings

Sparrow Arc Farm- Copake, NY

• Watermelon Radish
• Bora King Radish
• Korean Green Daikon
• Black Radish

Frog Hollow Farm- Brentwood, CA

• Warren Pears

Equinox Farm – Sheffield, MA

• Mesclun Mix Greens

Stone-ground Masa Harina

Who: Stone-Ground Masa Harina made from organic Texas corn, ground in small batches fresh for us every week, on an old stone mill in Maine.  An upgrade from Maseca: check out the texture, note the lack of additives, dig on the non-gmo organic corn.
What:  flour made from nixtamalized corn
Where: originating in Mexico, nixtamalized corn (dried corn that’s been soaked in lime water to remove the hulls) became popular because it made the proteins in corn more digestible and the use of lime increased the calcium content.
How: use to make tortillas, tamales, atole, champurrado and a killer variation on cornbread.  Other cool ideas: Rick Bayless does a chipotle and bean stew with masa gnocchi, or braised chicken and dumplings by way of the southwest.  

Special , local, Artisanal

 Heiwa Soy Beanery- Belfast, ME

Fresh Tofu, made from non-GMO Maine Soybeans

Hershberger Family Farms- Unity, ME

Fresh Duck Eggs, by the dozen

Aroostook Valley Honey Farm- Fort Fairfield, ME

Fresh Honeycomb, by the 12 oz pack

Cold Hollow Cider Mill- Waterbury, VT

Cold Hollow Apple Cider, by the gallon

Apple Acres Farm- Durgintown, ME

Apple Cider Syrup, small glass jar

Farmer Ground Flour- Trumansburg, NY

All organic. Available in 2# bags, or larger bags with one week’s notice

• Stone-ground Spelt Flour
• Stone-ground Rye Flour
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Organic All-purpose Flour (25# bag)