Edible Baja Arizona Magazine

NOV/DEC 2013 • Issue No. 3 • GRATIS edible Baja Arizona

baja arizona

Celebrating the foodways of Tucson and the borderlands.

MEAT • WINE • TAMALES Number 3 Nov/Dec 2013

Meat • Wine • Tamales Member of Edible Communities

Barbicide Major Quad Damage & Iva Coldheart Tucson Roller Derby

we shop at the co-op

facebook.com/foodconspiracy

@foodconspiracy

www.foodconspiracy.coop • 412 n fourth ave • 520-624-4821

2 November - December 2013

®

Enjoy Our Wholesome Traditional Heirloom Food Products White Tepary Beans - Brown Tepary Beans - Roasted Corn - Ga’ivsa Roasted Corn Flour - Pima Club Wheat - White Sonora Wheat Garbanzo Beans - Black Eyed Peas - Stone Milled Heritage Flours For our webstore, list of local restaurants and retailers visit www.ramonafarms.com Receive 20% off your entire online order. Use key code: EB6A01N Ramona’s American Indian Foods, LLC • (602) 322-5080

NON GMO FARM

edible

Baja Arizona

3

PATAGONIA ORCHARDS ❁ SONORA HARVEST NURTURING SOIL, PLANTS, PEOPLE

PatagoniaOrchardsLLC.com

SonoraHarvest.com

Certified Organic - Arizona Grown Sonoran Desert Grown

Bringing you the Wholesome Bounty of the Sonoran Desert

Apples, Citrus, & Vegetables

Kale Chips & Fresh Citrus Juice

SUPPORTING ARIZONA GROWN, SUSTAINABLE, CERTIFIED ORGANIC FOOD PRODUCTION FOR 26 YEARS

Revolutionary Grounds VEGAN OPTIONS

YUMMY FOOD

OUTDOOR SEATING

SHADE-GROWN ORGANIC COFFEE

POLITICAL DISCOURSE

LEFTIST LITERATURE

& FREE WIFI!

How much more do you need?

606 N. 4th Avenue 1/2 block north of 5th Street 4 November - December 2013

Books and Coffee

8am - 8pm Daily 620-1770

Contents

10

Voices

November - December 2013

14

Gleanings

22

In the Business

27

Dish

28 30

90 ON THE COVER: Mano y metate on adobe brick, as styled by Amy Valdés Schwemm. ABOVE: Tamales for a holiday feast.

Photography by Steven Meckler.

52 62

Features A Ranch’s Observations At 47 Ranch, Dennis and Deborah Moroney are pioneering a model of collaborative conservation.

Muscle to Meat Small-scale meat processing plants are the bottleneck in getting local beef from ranch to market.

68

A Grape Grows in Sonoita

82

Hot Optimism

Arizona’s wine industry is coming of age, bottling distinctive desert terroir.

How grape growers are adapting to global warming.

90

Coming Home for the Holidays A four-course meal prepared with native and local ingredients brings Baja Arizona heritage to the holidays.

We asked a dozen gardeners: Why do you grow your food instead of buying it?

New bars on Congress; the UA’s mushrooming ambitions; Café Botanica serves fresh Sonoran; Arizona Food and Finance Forum comes to Tucson.

Q&A with Noble Hops and Vero Amore owners Aric and Josh Mussman.

That one thing they should never take off the menu.

What’s In Season Meet Your Farmer Ed Curry’s lifetime commitment to the fine art of selecting peppers for flavor.

34

Table

38

Fork in the Road

42

Artisans

48

Food Justice

98

Buzz

A Sonoran staple, Elvira’s jumps north across the border

A day spent seeking the Baja Arizona’s edible heirlooms.

In a remote town in Sonora, the Langford family crafts durable hand tools of rare quality.

How food biodiversity can help the poor in our communities.

Out of the mesquite-fired ashes of Arroyo Design comes Hamilton Distillers.

104

Sonoran Foodways

108

Ink

111

The Urban Homestead

130

Last Bite

An ode to the long-overlooked quince.

Book Reviews: An Everlasting Meal; The Whole Fromage; Food, Genes, and Culture

Seasonal planting guidelines; Home Brewing 101; in Father Kino’s veggie garden; Homesteader Q&A

Linda Ronstadt remembers a Sonoran-style breakfast.

edible

Baja Arizona

5

6 November - December 2013

ROC185775, 204338, 240455, 268262

OVER 4,000 OF YOUR NEIGHBORS HAVE ALREADY GONE SOLAR. Contact us today to find out how much SOLAR CAN SAVE YOU. It’s as simple as that.

520.740.0736 | TFSsolar.com

edible

Baja Arizona

7

A

grist for the mill

THE TASTE OF PLACE…THAT’S THE TERROIR…

lthough we don’t plan our issues with any particular theme, this third issue of Edible Baja Arizona resonates with the notions of intrepidity, variability, permutations, and adaptability across a range of story subjects.

Paying nuanced and constant attention to the messages encoded in weather, soil, plants, and animals comes into play whether you’re pioneering Cochise County ranchers Dennis and Deb Moroney, nationally renowned for their model of “collaborative conservation” to sustainably produce grass-fed beef, or one of the many stalwart winemakers around Sonoita and Willcox who are coaxing grapes out of varied arid soils, constantly adjusting their expectations and expertise to make increasingly outstanding wines. Veteran Tucson journalist Dan Sorenson writes the definitive story on the coming of age of Baja Arizona’s burgeoning wine industry, and essayist Nicole Walker probes the nuances of climate change and soils in pursuit of an authentic desert terroir for area vintages. Megan Kimble profiles the life work of the Moroneys and explores the bottleneck in local beef production.

Gary Paul Nabhan contributes two pieces to this issue: A profile of the legendary grower Ed Curry, a genius that sees the world through the lens of a chile pod. And in his essay on the empowering role that growing food can have for the poor, he says “I have come to believe that getting fresh, diverse, and nutritious foods into the hands of the nutritionally-at-risk is the highest goal that we can set for change in our food system.”

We pulled out all the stops for a photo and recipe spread for a Heritage Holiday Feast.

Tucson food artisan Amy Valdés Schwemm developed the menu based on local and heritage ingredients, and prepared and staged the dishes in a marathon daylong photo shoot at the studio of Steven Meckler. The results are nothing less than stunning and delicious.

Thanks, Amy! Regular contributor Dave Mondy goes behind the scenes at Tucson’s newest purveyor of spirited joy at Hamilton Distillers, the creators of single malt whiskeys, including a unique mesquite smoked variety. Intrepidity, indeed.

In a fascinating story, Moses Thompson goes on a quest to a remote village in Sonora to meet the makers of the lauded but little known Langford Tools, which are prized for their design and durability, reflecting an agricultural heritage that is driven by necessity.

Our resident curator of heritage Sonoran foodways Bill Steen will help you get a clue about the quince, an amazing and obscure fruit, and perhaps you, too, will fall head over heels with it.

Linda Ronstadt sat down with us to remember childhood food memories.

And there’s much, much more in an issue that will probably take you weeks to read. It was our pleasure putting it together and we hope you enjoy it and the coming holiday season.

Speaking of which: A subscription to Edible Baja Arizona is by far the perfect gift for any locavore on your list. Simplify your life and give several!

Lastly: Our deepest thanks to our intrepid advertisers, whose support of our mission to grow a strong local foods economy in Baja Arizona makes this endeavor possible. Please remember to patronize them often and express your gratitude for their support.

We’ll see you around the table. ¡Salud!

—Douglas Biggers, editor and publisher

Eating with the fullest pleasure—pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance—is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living in a mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend.

—Wendell Berry

8 November - December 2013

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

Douglas Biggers ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Jared R. McKinley MANAGING EDITOR

Megan Kimble ART DIRECTOR

Serena Tang CHAIR, EDITORIAL BOARD

Gary Paul Nabhan ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS

Becky Reyes, Stephanie Chace, Kenny Stewart CONTRIBUTORS Vanessa Barchfield, Lisa Levine, Teya Vitu, Lee Allen, Moses Thompson, Dan Sorenson, Nicole Walker, Emily Gindlesparger, Amy Valdés Schwemm, Dave Mondy, Bill Steen, Martha Burges, Molly Kincaid, Linda Rodstadt, Ford Burkhart, Rhonda Hoffman (ad design), Susan Seeley Roe (design) PHOTOGRAPHERS Steven Meckler, Jeff Smith. Bill Steen, fotovitamina [rosanna salonia+matthew yates], Liora K, Omer Kreso, Moses Thompson, Robert J Long (illustration), Danny Martin (illustration) WE’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU. 307 South Convent Avenue, Barrio Viejo Tucson, Arizona 85701 520.373.5196 info@edibleBajaArizona.com edibleBajaArizona.com Edible Baja Arizona is published six times annually by Coyote Talking, LLC. Subscriptions are available for $36 annually @ edibleBajaArizona.com. Copyright © 2013.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without the express written permission of the publisher. Research and community outreach of Edible Baja Arizona is cosponsored and funded by the W.K. Kellogg program in Borderlands Food and Water Security at the University of Arizona.

Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl NMWG Forever R.I.P. 2013

3000 E BROADWAY / 325 9988 / FALORA.COM

proud to be partnered with blue bottle coffee

245 e congress / 623 4477 sparkroot.com

edible

Baja Arizona

9

VOICES

Why do you grow your own food instead of buying it?

Photography by Steven Meckler

“Sustainable” is not a good goal. If we manage to sustain what we

I garden because it reminds me of my Dad and cool evenings

have now, it will destroy our world very quickly, and fail to repair

growing up in Phoenix, pulling carrots or picking strawberries

damage. Raising food is just a little step toward regeneration.

from his garden. A year and a half ago, after my mother died

Sunshine, air, birdsong, germs, life and death. Directly experiencing

unexpectedly, my father planted a garden as a Valentine’s gift for

the reality of what we need to survive is gravely important to sanity.

me at my Tucson home. It was my way of staying connected to

That’s the thing: What is good for the earth is good for you too!

him, to the earth, and to remember that things keep growing.

Adeena Baer

Maria Moore

Watching and helping my food grow from start to finish always

It’s about honoring the connection to our home, to each

makes me feel more connected to it. The plants have identities and

other, to our elders’ legacy, to the desert sky, and to the

stories, which produces a whole new relationship between me and

stories living in the barrio soil.

my food beyond it simply being an end product to buy and eat.

Logan Dirtyverbs Phillips and Spring Rain

Madeline Ryder 10 November - December 2013

When I was a graduate student, I did a research on a religious

I love plants. I love to watch them grow, to look at seeds as

cult and realized that many current social problems were caused

they sprout and get amazed as they change on a day-by-day

by desires for instant gratification in society. Today many of

basis. I like to grow food because food is more than just the

us have forgotten the importance of process. It is easy to buy

end result for me. It’s how the melon grows from a little

vegetables and fruits at stores and farmers’ markets, but for me it

fuzzy bud to a big sweet smelling fruit.

is important to grow some of our food even though I sometimes

Taryn Contento

kill the plants I grow. And I try to teach that value to my child.

Chi Nakano

Food from the store generally has a big carbon footprint—it

For me, growing is a process that can involve many people.

takes a lot of fossil fuel to grow, transport, and store food

This is one of the main reasons why I try to grow and not buy

in the conventional system. But when I grow food myself,

as much as possible. Whether I’m working on growing with my

it takes much less energy, and I also get to know everything

family or others, I feel it has the power to bring people closer

that happened to it, from seed to table.

together. For the last two years I have been fortunate enough

Ian Shiach

to grow at Las Milpitas urban community farm and explore growing with a diverse group of people.

Efren Martinez

edible

Baja Arizona

11

I enjoy the process of growing from seed, harvesting the

I grow food to eat local and organic but also to teach my child

plant, and cooking healthy vegetables. Gardening keeps me

about where food comes from, include him in the process, and to

in balance by providing a connection to the natural world. I

encourage a meaningful and healthy relationship with food. He’ll

also like to share my knowledge with my community about

eat vegetables he has picked from the garden that he wouldn’t

growing vegetables in Baja Arizona.

touch if they came from a grocery store.

Sidney Engs

Seánna Howard

I grow food in my yard because the food system is broken. Many

After buying organic produce, going to CSAs and farmers’ markets,

adults I know struggle to locate healthy, fresh food to eat and

gardening seemed like the next step for me in making healthier and

feed their families. When I walk into a grocery store, food-like

more sustainable food choices. You get a chance to see every single

products dominate the shelves and end caps. My boyfriend and

step that went in to making that tomato or chile. And it’s addictive.

I built a large compost bin, raised beds, and in-ground plots to

I’ve got numerous pots of this and that on my porch and I’m

grow fruits and vegetables for my family and friends. It was in

already trying to figure out how to convince my landlords to let me

this effort to find healthy, pesticide free, non-GMO foods that

convert part of the yard into a monsoon garden.

I found a flourishing gardening passion. I found what I was

Bryan Wilson

looking for by having to provide for myself.

Sarah Leischow 12 November - December 2013

edible

Baja Arizona

13

Photos by Serena Tang

From left: Good Oak Bar serves up a coffee-infused IPA, poured from a French press. At Unplugged, a tall (literally) selection of wines and beers keeps customers happy in the small space. At Saint House Rum Bar, bow to El Presidente: Flor de Cana rum, Dolen Vermouth Blanc, Bauchant Orange Liqueur, and real pomegranate grenadine.

New Flavors on Congress

By Vanessa Barchfield

T

hese days it seems like

if you leave downtown long enough to pick up a dozen glazed donuts from Le Caves, something will be different by the time you’re back feeding quarters into a parking meter on Pennington. A traffic light will have replaced that four-way stop sign you drove past earlier in the day; contractors will have broken ground on a new apartment project; or, perhaps, a new business will have opened its doors. A new spate of openings on Congress Street has broadened the flavors on offer to hungry (and, yes, thirsty) Tucsonans.

Good Oak Bar is about as all-Arizonan as they come. Nestled into a narrow space between the Rialto and Diablo Burger, this newcomer features wines and beers from across the Grand Canyon State, and locally sourced pub fare made fresh in the Diablo Burger kitchen.

“There are a lot of great bars in Tucson, but I don’t know of anyone that is as focused on purely Arizona craft beers and 14 November - December 2013

wines as we are,” says owner Derrick Widmark, who also opened Diablo Burger earlier this year. The menu at Good Oak rotates, but a typical selection on the chalkboard may include Tucson’s Thunder Canyon Deep Canyon Amber or Chandler’s San Tan Belgium IPA, while wines like Arizona Stronghold’s Tazi and Page Springs’ Mules Mistake flow from another tap. Customers can quiet their grumbling stomachs with a burger, BLTA (that’s a BLT with avocado), shepherd’s pie, seasonal salads, snackboards, or the kitchen’s signature fried pickles.

Even the name Good Oak Bar is an homage to Widmark’s adopted state. He explains that he got the name from “the most credible theory for the origin of the name Arizona, which is that it comes from the Basque words for ‘good oak.’”

If you’re craving something more tropical than the Sonoran Desert can provide, Saint House Rum Bar may be just what you have in mind. With its deep booths, sleek tables, and the over-

Artisan Pizza, Italian Specialties In-House Charcuterie

TUSCANY OR TUCSON 78 W. River Rd · 7301 E. Tanque Verde Rd

New & Used Bikes Repairs & Custom Design

A World of Flavor... Locally Owned

Explore the World’s Freshest Flavors.

Pair just the right Olive Oil with just the right Balsamic Vinegar. becomes overwhelming.

311 E. 7th St. 520.622.6487 OrdinaryBikeShop.com

520.441.9081 4320 N. Campbell, Ste. 40 St. Philip’s Plaza | alfonsooliveoil.com

edible

Baja Arizona

15

sized rum bar that sits at its heart, Saint House evokes sweltering Havana nights, swaying palm trees, and the lapping waves of the Caribbean.

After the success of their first downtown ventures, 47 Scott and adjacent Scott & Co., Nicole Flowers and Travis Reese were eager to expand their horizons. “We were introduced to the amazing world of rum by our team of bartenders who just kept pushing how unique and unexpected it could be as a spirit,” Reese says. “When we started researching more about the places where rum comes from we realized the cuisine is just as unique.”

The menu is a cruise through those varied flavors of the Caribbean: from coconut shrimp, Martinique-style mahi mahi, plantain soup, to pineapple-glazed chicken or sweet potato quinoa pancakes. And of course no trip to the Caribbean is complete without a daiquiri. The signature cocktail, Reese explains, is “made with rum, fresh squeezed lime juice, and sugar. Shaken then served up like a martini. So simple and perfect.” But be sure to sample the other rum cocktails on offer, including the El Presidente, with its fine mix of orange liqueur and pomegranate grenadine, or the Vicious Virgin #3, which is not nearly as nonalcoholic as the name suggests.

A few doors down, Unplugged Wine Bar brings a welcome dose of European gemütlichkeit, or coziness, to Congress. Mea-

Unplugged brings a welcome dose of European gemütlichkeit, or coziness, to Congress.

suring only 600-square feet, Unplugged showcases a curated selection of handcrafted wines from around the world—Austria, Spain, France, Italy, and even a Riesling from one of the oldest vintners in Germany. Several U.S. wineries also feature on the menu, including a selection from California, Oregon, Washington, and, yes, Arizona.

“You can eat in a hundred other venues downtown, but no one takes wine as seriously as we do,” says co-owner Frank Lietzau.

“We’re all about handcrafted natural wines.

Everything we serve is extremely authentic—it’s a new take on wine in Tucson.”

While Unplugged’s focus is clearly vino, there’s no shame in opting for one of the beers on tap, and the kitchen prepares tempting appetizers, salads, and paninis.

Good Oak Bar, 316 E. Congress St. 520.882.2007. GoodOakBar. com. Saint House Rum Bar, 256 E. Congress St. 520.207.7757.

SaintHouseRumBar.com. Unplugged Wine Bar, 118 E. Congress St. 520.884.1800. UnpluggedTucson.com Vanessa Barchfield is a freelance journalist and independent radio producer based in Tucson.

A locally-owned and operated produce wholesale company.

(520) 261-6677 · ArizonaFreshFoods.com 16 November - December 2013

P I Z Z A / PA S TA / G R E E N S / S A N D W I C H E S / W I N E / B E E R / C O C K TA I L S

Eat well.

Feel good. reneesorganicoven.com

Vegetarian

Vegan

Gluten-Free

Grass-Fed

886-0484

11am - 9pm every day

7065 E. Tanque Verde Rd. dine-in / pick-up / delivery follow us on facebook

“It’s like having your Grandma in the real estate business.â€? Âż7bĂ‚a ZWYS VOdW\U g]c` 0cPPWS W\ bVS `SOZ SabObS PcaW\Saa Ă€

BEER GARDEN NOW OPEN OPEN M-TH 3PM-11PM, FRIDAY & SATURDAY 3PM-12AM, AND SUNDAY 3PM-9PM

JillRealtor Rich ÂŽ

Located behind reilly, entrance off of scott

Jill Rich, GRI, CRS, ABR Long Realty Company

1890 E. River Road, Tucson, AZ 85718 Bus. (520) 577-7400 Cell (520) 349-0174 Toll free # 800-328-1575 email: jbr@dakotacom.net

101 E. PENNINGTON STREET 5 2 0 . 8 8 2 . 5 5 5 0 • R E I L LY P I Z Z A . C O M

edible

Baja Arizona

17

Gallery of Food on Display at Café Botanica

RIO SANTA CRUZ GRASS FI NI SHED BEEF IN THE TRADI T I ON OF ARGENT I NA

PO Box 562 Patagonia, AZ 85624 520-394-0243

info@rscgrassfinishedbeef.com

www.rscgrassfinishedbeef.com

By Vanessa Barchfield THOUGHTFUL DESIGN FOR THE DESERT DR. ANDREW WEIL RESIDENCE

K

Rob Paulus Architects www.robpaulus.com

Matt Cook/SILVERIMAGE

Makers of

Agua Chiltepin™

A spicy, healthy tonic, mixer and cooking ingredient hand made in Bisbee TioCeddy.com 18 November - December 2013

ristine Jensen has a long track record of feeding hungry Tucsonans. She opened her first restaurant, Gallery of Foods, on Congress Street 23 years ago in the space that Saint House Rum Bar now calls home. After several restaurant ventures, her business eventually evolved into a thriving catering company of the same name that emphasizes creative and wholesome dishes, custom designed to tickle her clients’ taste buds.

Find yourself at a dinner catered by Gallery of Foods and you’ll be feasting on asiago cheese puffs with sage-lemon pesto, saffron chicken skewers with cabernet cream, chilled salmon steaks with mint chutney and lemon. Jensen’s mouthwatering fare is a mainstay of events at the University of Arizona, the Fox Theatre, and the Arizona Theatre Company, among others.

Alongside her rigorous catering schedule, in October Jensen quietly returned to the restaurant business. Located down the weaving walkways of the Tucson Botanical Gardens, among hummingbird bushes and desert spoons, Café Botanica features foods sourced locally and inspired by the Sonoran Desert. “It’s Sonoran food with a contemporary take,” Jensen says.

The emphasis on local marks a clear diversion from her catering business and past restaurant ventures. “At the café, 95 percent of the food will be from local sources; the remaining five percent that we can’t get locally will be all organic and fair trade,” says Jensen. Even the coffee beans, which don’t grow in Baja Arizona, are roasted in town. She’s long wanted to showcase local crops in her fare, but logistical hurdles deterred her. “The infrastructure for local sourcing is much better now and will hopefully continue to improve. There’s much more interest and awareness about local foods now.”

“From an aesthetic perspective, this is an unbelievable backdrop for a café.”

Photo by Serena Tang

Voted #1 BEST ART CLASSES in Tucson Weekly’s Best of Tucson for 5 years running “Sonoran food with a contemporary take”: Café Botanica offers fresh, seasonal selections, like this salad featuring local beets, tepary beans, avocado, and seasonal greens.

The menu at her new café won’t change—swing by for lunch and you’ll always have a choice of salads, tacos, tortas (sandwiches), tortitas (savory pancakes smothered by vegetables or meat)—but the ingredients will. During the sweltering summer months, tacos may be filled with squash or peppers; come by a few months later and you’ll be chomping on the winter squashes and hearty greens that flourish when the days are shorter and the air more brisk.

Jensnen believes that, like the hummingbirds and ocotillo that thrive together in the desert, Café Botanica will have a symbiotic relationship with the gardens that surround it. “From an aesthetic perspective, this is an unbelievable backdrop for a café,” she says.

“The gardens have a stellar collection of indigenous plants. It’s perfect for showcasing what’s really here.”

Café Botanica is located at the Tucson Botanical Gardens. 2150 N. Alvernon Way. 520.326.9686. TucsonBotanical.org

where art meets life

Discover what inspires you—TAKE A CLASS and see how observing the world through the eyes of an art maker can enrich every facet of your life. www.thedrawingstudio.org 33 South 6th Ave. Tucson AZ 85701 520.620.0947

edible

Baja Arizona

19

Mushrooming Ambitions

S

TUCSON’S CREATIVE, CURATED BEER & WINE BAR 403 N. 6TH AVE • OPEN 7 DAYS • THETAPANDBOTTLE.COM

hiitake mushrooms tend to thrive on hardwood logs in damp, temperate climates, far from the penetrating heat of the Sonoran Desert. But if Barry Pryor has his way, the shiitake and other gourmet mushrooms that Tucson eateries serve will soon be grown much closer to home.

The University of Arizona professor has been working with students from his class “Mushrooms, Molds and Man” to cultivate edible fungi in a lab on campus. However, instead of breeding their crops on the oak and maple logs that normally play host to mushrooms, the team is using materials that are easier to come by in Baja Arizona—mesquite bean pods, coffee grounds, and old pizza boxes.

The aim is two-fold: to reduce waste in Tucson landfills and become a source of local mushrooms.

“We’ve found that a variety of mushrooms can be grown on certain non-compostable materials,” explains Pryor. “These are materials that rot in compost piles so they generally end up in landfills and generate methane gases. Mushrooms colonize them and break the materials down to such an extent that they become compostable.”

The team started by growing pink oyster mushrooms, which, Pryor says, are among the most heat tolerant. After some initial successes, their ambitions, well, mushroomed.

To ramp up production and create the conditions in which less forgiving strains can survive, the professor and his students built “mushroom houses” with solar-powered evaporative cooling.

“We’re harnessing something abundant in Tucson—sunlight—to create the moist and cool conditions that mushrooms need to grow.”

Pryor and his students are now harvesting mushrooms at three locations around town: the UA campus, the Tucson Village In a lab on the University of Arizona campus, pink oyster mushrooms grow from a bag of shredded mesquite pods.

Photo by Zhongguo Xiong

Craft Roasted, Single-Origin Coffee Innovations in Specialty Coffee Using Regional Ingredients Weekly Tastings Open to the Public

403 N. 6th Ave · 777-4709 · ExoCoffee.com 20 November - December 2013

Farms, and the Campus Agricultural Center, and expect to scale up production in the coming year.

“We’ve already been approached by a number of restaurants that are interested in buying our mushrooms,” says Pryor. He and his team are ramping up production to make their mushrooms available on the shelves of grocery stores around town. He’s also making plans to donate a portion of his crop to the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

Freshness is another advantage in local production, Pryor notes. “Mushrooms have a very short shelf life. You can really taste a difference in quality between one that’s grown locally and one that comes from 2,000 miles away.” But what about the taste?

Does growing mushrooms on used pizza boxes rather than lush oak trees change their flavor? “I haven’t measured the organoleptic properties of mushrooms grown on different [materials], but I’ve tasted all of our mushrooms and they’re delicious.” —V.B.

REAL CHICAGO PIZZA, RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! 2707 E Broadway Blvd 321-1860

RoccosLittleChicago.com

farm to fork local & seasonal Modern American scratch cooking

Slow Down, Money

J

oin the University of Arizona from Jan. 13–15 for the Arizona Food and Finance Forum, featuring nationally-acclaimed speakers, including Slow Money founder . Woody Tasch, on fostering start up food micro enterprises and new farms as means to jump-start the recovery of local economies. The night of the 13th will feature a lecture by two nationally recognized speakers from Slow Food USA and Slow Money in downtown Tucson. The registered participants forum will take place all day Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 14 and 15, from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. at the Biosphere 2 in Oracle. This forum will include lectures by Elizabeth Ü, author of Raising Dough, and Kimber Lanning, founder of Local First Arizona and board member of the the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, as well as other leaders. Participatory workshops on matching financial strategies with local business needs and a showcase of start-up enterprises seeking funding will follow.

“This two-day summit has the possbility to change the health and well-being of Arizona farmers, ranchers, chefs, processors, and eaters,” said Gary Nabhan, a professor in sustainable food systems at the UA and a conference organizer.

The forum is sponsored by the Kellogg program for sustainable food systems at the University of Arizona, in collaboration with Local First Arizona, Good Food Finder, Slow Money Arizona, Edible Baja Arizona, Edible Phoenix, Sustainable Tucson, Slow Food Southern Arizona, Slow Food Phoenix, the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, the Pima County Food Alliance, Mesa Community College Sustainable Food Systems, and Native Seeds/SEARCH. The $200 pre-registration deadline is Jan. 1; visit localfirstaz.com. Room reservations are available by contacting Kimberly Land at Biosphere 2 (520.838.5013; kland@email. arizona.edu).

10355 North La Canada Drive | 731-1100 | HarvestOv.com

edible

Baja Arizona

21

IN THE BUSINESS

Besting Themselves Triple-threat Tucson restaurateurs Aric and Josh Mussman are committed to quality.

Interview by Lisa Levine Photography by Steven Meckler

When you were starting out, who were your models?

Aric: Josh and I have been in the restaurant industry since we started working. We almost have 30 years of restaurant experience between us. We can’t take credit for how good our pizza is, you know. It’s been perfected in Italy for hundreds of years. We just run it here.

So the Italian restaurant was your model, versus someplace in Tucson?

Josh: There’s a restaurant in Seattle called Tutta Bella. I was out there visiting my uncle and he was taking me to all these little Italian restaurants. He says, “I’m going to take you to a certified pizzeria.” I tried it, and I fell in love with it. Growing up in Tucson, we didn’t have anything like it. I was talking to the chef, the pizzaiolo, and he said, “If you’re really interested, there’s an academy you can go to.” So I went out to L.A., and Italy, and trained to learn how to do this cuisine. The Italian way is such a beautiful thing. Our sauce, for instance: Our sauce is very basic, a San Marzano tomato with a little sea salt. It’s such a flavorful and robust tomato, and the Italian way is up from there. Start with the base, and put fresh ingredients on. Put fresh garlic on the pizza. Put fresh spices on. When you take a bite, it’s the freshest pizza you can eat.

Do you also serve products from the local foodshed?

Josh: It’s tough at the Veros [Vero Amore], because so much of our stuff comes from Italy. There is a lot of produce in Arizona, but it’s harder to get your hands on it. Aric: All our firewood is local pecan wood. Both restaurants’ wood-fired ovens go through a lot of pecan wood. Josh: We’re trying to use Mt. Hope for our seasonings, spices. Mt. Hope is a company that

22 November - December 2013

basically grows their own spices in town. They’re good. We try to use them a lot. We use the highest quality, and we don’t skimp anywhere. I’d rather go that route and serve someone a quality dish.

How do you judge quality?

Aric: We want the stuff to taste the best, period. If it’s a Tucson beer that’s the best, great, we’re going to get that one. If it’s not, we’re going to get another. We want to deliver the best possible product. We have a pretty good palate knowing what our customers like, and we have loyal, regular customers that have been coming in forever.

Do relationships with certain breweries guide your decision to stock a beer or wine?

Aric: There are breweries we’ve been supporting since they were tiny. They might make a specialty beer and only produce 10 kegs. We’ll get three of them; sometimes we’re the only people in Arizona that have a particular beer. But if, for instance, one of those companies has a porter that we’re pouring, and we taste a better porter, we’re going to switch. Josh: I think the wave of the future’s going to be distilleries. Breweries are going to fade out a bit, because it’s oversaturated. Too many people are trying to brew right now. You’re already kind of seeing micro-distilleries starting to sprout up in the Seattle area. They’ve been doing stills in Kentucky for years. That’s kind of come back.

Aric and Josh Mussman man their Fire Truck, a mobile pizza food truck, complete with wood-fired oven. On carry-out pizza, Aric says: “Pizza coming from an 800º oven is not meant to go into a box.”

EdibleBajaArizona.com

23

How deep do your pockets have to be to start hree restaurants?

Josh: To do a restaurant from the ground up? A million dollars, but if you take over this restaurant when we leave—it’s a 30-yearold restaurant, but the hoods and all equipment are in it—you could probably do it for 50 grand. Aric: We took over in Dove Mountain. The people put in a million and a half dollars and went out of business in five months. Just putting in a kitchen alone, with the plumbing you need, and the fire suppression, it’s a ton of money.

“We’d get off work and say, ‘Hey, let’s go have a drink. Where do you want to go?’ There’s nowhere to go. So we opened something that we would want to go to.”

What’s the toughest cut you’ve had to make?

Josh: Finding out people weren’t legal. It’s always hard because some of the best workers we’ve had didn’t have their citizenship.

I wasn’t really firing them for anything they did wrong.

Maíz Mágico

A Celebration of Corn Saturday, November 16, 2013, 10am–2pm NS/S Conservation Center 3584 E. River Road

$5 suggested donation A festive day of hands-on activities, seed bank tours, delectable treats and more!

From pinole and elotes to tamales and tortillas.

A “cornucopia” of maize-themed items for sale including jewelry, crafts, books, and food products.

Bring the entire family!

nativeseeds.org

520.622.0830 ext.104

24 November - December 2013

What investment has given back the most?

Aric: We paid off Noble Hops in a year and a half. We were living in Dove Mountain, and we’d get off work and say, “Hey, let’s go have a drink. Where do you want to go?” There’s nowhere to go. So we opened something [Noble Hops] that we would want to go to that people our age, people in their late twenties, thirties, would want to go. Josh: It gets progressive.

I mean, we serve hookahs. You go on a Friday night, there’s twenty, thirty, forty year olds smoking hookahs, hanging out on the patio. Aric: People say about our places that they don’t feel like Tucson, and part of that is that we love traveling. Any time we have free time, we like to do a trip, and we learn stuff from everywhere we go. We were the first real gastro-pub; we were the first certified pizzeria. We’re taking ideas that we get from around the country and around the world, and just bringing them to Tucson. ✜ Noble Hops Pub. 1335 W. Lambert Lane, Oro Valley.

520.797.4677. NobleHopsPub.com. Vero Amore. 2990 N. Swan Road. 520.325.4122. Call for Fire Truck catering.

520.579.2292. VeroAmorePizza.com Lisa Levine blogs about inner and outer natures at CargoCollective.com/alluvialdispositions.

Tucson Museum of Art and Craft Tucson Present ART ON TAP · Live Music by Saint Maybe, Carlos Arzate & the Kind Souls, and Satyr Entertainment · · Demos and Performance Art by Sonoran Glass School, Graham Thompson, Joe Brown, and Jim Jones · · Local artists’ work on display · · 20 beer tasters and food trucks ·

12·7·13 6PM -10PM

Tucson Museum of Art

140 N Main Ave · $65 Early Access · · $40 General Admission Advance · · $50 day of the event · · $30 for Museum members · · $20 for designated drivers ·

N TAP ART O

Illustration by Graham Thompson

· Over 15 Arizona Craft Breweries ·

For full list of participating breweries and to purchase tickets please visit www.TucsonMuseumofArt.org This is an age 21+ event.

from farm to fork sustainable local organic as it should be. tucson, arizona

300 East Congress Street 520-396-3357 ProperTucson.com

EdibleBajaArizona.com

25

Green Fields Country Day School

BAKERY & CAFÉ

The Perfect Pairing for Any of Our Delicious Sandwiches or Salads!

ONLY Offered at Our Campbell Location Campbell• 322-9965 3026 N. Campbell Ave. between Glenn & Ft. Lowell

PLUS! Growlers Available for To-Go or Delivery. Call for Details.

For a full menu and list of specials visit beyondbread.com 26 November - December 2013

ki d s ere ve to learn! h W lo

For 80 years Green Fields’ core classes have been enhanced with critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity to prepare students for success in college, work and life.

Green Fields accepts applications for Grades K -12

For more information call (520)297-2288 or visit greenfields.org

That one thing they should

never take off the menu.

Photography by Omer Kreso Clockwise, from top left:

Classic Tandori Chicken

Fall Vegetable Salad

Cast Iron Baked Eggs

Bayou Bowl

Saffron Deeply marinated chicken leg quarters come infused with yogurt-ginger-garlic artichokes and freshly ground exotic spices.

Hot-plate warning: This one is seared in a clay oven. $11.95

Lodge on the Desert This one’s a cornucopia: Chantrelle mushrooms, organic beets, Brussels sprouts, dried marionberry, acorn squash, sweet potato greens, micro mizuna, and goat cheese crema. Too bad you can’t take the bowl with you. $10

Cup Café Get your Sunday Times and settle in; this is a rich one. Two eggs, ham, leeks, and Gruyère cheese, baked in cream. Comes with hotel potatoes and toast. $10

Mother Hubbard’s Down south, done right: Creamy cheese grits, green chile, pico, two eggs, and the kicker: bacon-wrapped shrimp. It’ll keep you full until Mardi Gras. $11.25

edible

Baja Arizona

27

1

2

3

What’s In Season 1. BEET & BEET GREENS 2. SHALLOT 3. WINTER SQUASH 4. SWISS CHARD 5. TURNIP & TURNIP GREENS 6. KALE 7. POMEGRANATE 8. ARUGULA 9. PECAN 10. CARROT 11. RADISH & RADISH GREENS To find out where you can buy seasonal produce, visit EdibleBajaArizona.com for a complete listing of CSA programs and farmers’ markets.

28 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2013

É

M

COMING FALL 2013

HUBBARD’S C R E H AF OT

BREAKFAST · LUNCH Contemporary Native American Cooking Locally harvested foods include: tomatoes, corn, beans, nopales, squash, chocolate, chilies, blue, red, & yellow corn, tepary beans, mesquite flour, buckwheat, sweet potato flour, cholla buds, mussels, shrimp, apples, currents, and pine nuts

4746 E Grant Rd. · SentinelPeakBrewing.com

14 W Grant Rd 623-7976 MotherHubbardsCafe.com

We invite mobile

kitchens to gather several

times a month, in one place, at different locations,

so that you can sample their innovative

menus with your family and friends. Pick from a

variety of menu options, while sitting together in one place.

edible

Baja Arizona

29

Ed Curry (above) gathers long green chiles on a harvest day in late September.

(Right) Fresh red chiles hang heavy and ripe, ready for harvest.

30 November - December 2013

MEET YOUR FARMER

Chile Relleno with Curry Ed Curry shows the fine art of selecting peppers for flavor.

By Gary Paul Nabhan | Photography by Liora K

I

f you’ve ever eaten a chile relleno in the desert bor-

derlands, it is quite likely that it has some “curry” in it. Ed Curry, that is. Most long green chiles grown in the borderlands today have benefitted from the work of Ed Curry, a plant breeder who deeply cares about the excellence of flavor, fragrance, and texture in the foods he works with and eats.

Because he primarily uses protracted observation and patient riddle solving to guide his on-farm selection of superior vegetable varieties, Curry has become a rarity in the world of modern plant breeding, as he still breeds chiles with both the needs of the small farmer and the consumer in mind. He draws upon his vast knowledge of the diverse flavors, fragrances, textures, colors, and shapes of peppers, and combines these features in his varietal selections.

As such, Curry has gone from being treated as an “old fashioned plant breeder” by the lab scientists that have come to dominate crop improvement to being considered on the cutting edge of selecting seeds for the future of flavor by the likes of award-winning chef Dan Barber, vegetable historian Amy Goldman, and former Organic Seed alliance director Matthew Dillon, now with the Cliff Bar Foundation.

His skills to accomplish such work have evolved naturally over the last five decades, as Ed has long lived right on the farms where chile peppers grow. Now president of the Curry Seed and Chile Company based on the 1,200-acre Curry Farms in Pearce, you might say that Curry sees the world through the lens of a chile pod. Sometimes when I am listening to him talk, I feel as though I am hearing the voice of the chile pepper itself, for he has so profoundly contemplated what peppers have been in the past and so brilliantly envisioned what their potential may be for the future.

Curry was just a little “pepper sprout” when he flew with his father over to Hatch, New Mexico, and saw what a chile seed farm operation looked like for the first time; from that moment on, Curry seemed to sense that chiles would be the focus of his career.

By 1957, Curry’s father had planted some chile trials on their own farm. The very next year, the Curry family went into pepper production in a big way, for they realized they were ideally situated in the Southwest’s “Chile Belt,” which stretches from West Texas up the Rio Grande to Hatch, and over the small of the back of the continental backbone to southeastern Arizona. Curry fondly recalls his childhood as a precocious “chile head”: “By loving chiles all my life and getting this legacy of chile growing through my own family, all this determination welled up in me to make chiles better, you know, more flavorful, prolific, healthier, and easier to process. After almost a half century of daily engagement with them, I’ve come to believe that peppers are one of the most unique vegetables on earth because of the myriad ways we can process, store, and prepare them.”

But Curry is not merely informed by the hidden potential within peppers themselves; he has also been gifted with lifelong relationships with some of the most innovative players in the borderlands chile industry. Because his father was good friends with Gene and Judy England, co-founders of the Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Company, he grew up thinking about how long green and red pepper pods get harvested and processed into pastes, powders, or whole pods suited for canning. To this day, he is fast friends and business partners with the England’s daughter, Jeanie England Neubauer, who has strengthened and diversified her family’s company, based in Tumacacori. He has also worked for decades under the mentorship of the classic chile breeder Phil

edible

Baja Arizona

31

Villa; together, they released Arizona 20, the long green chile that has dominated the New Mexico chile canning industry for much of the last two decades.

When I mentioned to Curry that the state legislature of New Mexico has mandated that chiles grown within the state boundaries be labeled as distinct from all other chiles, he chuckled and said, “You should hear what Phil Villa had to say about that. After we released Arizona 20 with its stabilized level of heat, we were providing the New Mexican growers with somewhere around 80 percent of the seeds for their green chile crop for awhile. Phil says they couldn’t do without us!”

In essence, the chiles themselves don’t know which side of the Arizona-New Mexico border they are growing on, for the seed stock and soils which offer them their distinctive terroir are much the same on both sides of the line.

Curry and Villa first sought to stabilize the heat levels in chiles into distinctive selections for consumers who prefer either mild, medium, or the fiery hot. But they did not limit their endeavors to merely bracketing the pungency levels of peppers. They were also interested in providing the most compelling flavors and useful textures in chile selections.

At sunrise in late September, workers bend, pick, and fill buckets with fresh red chiles, in one of the only hand chile harvests remaining in the U.S. 32 November - December 2013

“A few of us realized that thin-skinned chiles typically have such great flavor because when you roast them, you get this crispness and aroma expressed that some people just die for,” said Curry. By 1999, he and Phil Villa were exploring a newly recognized peel trait found in peppers that would be helpful to canners of green chiles as well.

“You know, I never went to college, but I love to learn,” said Curry. “And I have noticed a thing or two about the features of peppers that have later proven useful to more lab-oriented chile geneticists. That’s why they consulted with me while advancing the worldwide scientific project on the pepper genome that is trying to describe all the diversity found in peppers as well as the locations and linkages among genes.”

At the same time, Curry is painfully aware that not all traits in chiles can be explained by reductionist Mendelian genetics.

He admits that he is “more and more fascinated by the field of epigenetics, which documents the outside environmental influences—sometimes multigenerational—on gene expression.”

But before Curry and I could drift off into esoteric science, he brought us back down to earth with an offer of lunch. “I’d like to whip you up some great chile rellenos and show you the

world›s heaviest pepper pod that I keep in our deep freeze.

On Nov. 6, 2009, it was accepted into the Guinness Book of World Records on account of it weighing 0.29 kilos, which I think comes out to 0.63 pounds,” he said. “You just have to stay to see that whopper! When it’s thawed, it stretches out to ten inches in length. We’ve kept it in our freezer all these years as a show-and-tell for folks like you who come here to fathom all that we could do with these chiles.” ✜

SEE OUR RECIPES www.wholesumharvest.com/cooking

In addition to producing peppers for canning and paste under the Santa Cruz Chili & Spice label, Curry Farms also grows a dozen kinds of heirloom beans and other crops for their crop rotations and sales to the public. Visit CurrySeedandChile.com and SantaCruzChili.com.

Editor’s note: Chile and chili are both technically correct spellings; Ed Curry prefers chile while Jean Neubauer spells it chili.

Gary Paul Nabhan is an internationally celebrated nature writer, food and farming activist, and proponent of conserving the links between biodiversity and cultural diversity.

FOR W HOLESOME FA MILIES For 82 years, our family has been a leading grower of fresh vegetables. Our crops are grown organically and according to the principles of sustainable agriculture that are good for you, your family and the planet.

Simple, natural & wholesome!

edible

Baja Arizona

33

TABLE

Elvira’s Crosses Borders A longtime Sonoran restaurant jumps north across the border into Tubac.

By Teya Vitu | Photography by Liora K

E

lvira’s Restaurant has

deep roots in Mexico—86 years deep.

Long before the upscale Mexican restaurant took up residence right at the entrance of the Village of Tubac, Elvira’s was a fixture on Avenida Obregon, just steps south of the border in Nogales, Sonora.

Elvira’s has come a long way since third-generation owner and chef Ruben Monroy’s grandmother Elvira launched the food-togo eatery in 1927. Back then, it had to be food-to-go because the original room was so small. Elvira’s saw five expansions across the decades—Monroy’s father had fueled Elvira’s popularity with free tequila—and in 1990 Monroy took over Elvira’s from his parents.

When he did, the cuisine was local Sonoran, but Monroy remodeled the Nogales restaurant and broadened the menu across Mex-

34 November - December 2013

ico, modernizing Elvira’s into a popular stop for the Hollywood set with the turn of the millennium seeing the likes of George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. “ABC and CNN came to interview me,” Monroy says.

Good times collapsed with the 2008 economic recession. Americans made up some 90 percent-plus of Elvira’s business in Nogales. Fun trips across the border dried up, critically compounded with new U.S. requirements for passports to cross into Sonora.

“Then the violence was a third factor. [So] we decided to close.

My main idea was to go to Puerto Vallarta,” Monroy says. He closed the Nogales restaurant in 2008 and took a year off to travel Mexico: Jalisco, Mexico City, Sinaloa. “I was seeing what was new.

I wanted to get away from the business. Just do nothing. I got a lot of ideas,” he says.

Wine Tasting & Tapas Lounge

Monday - Saturday 9:30am to 5:30pm Sunday 10:00am to 4:00pm 2909 E Country Club Dr, Willcox, AZ (520) 384-2993 CoronadoVineyards.com (Left) Grilled pineapple, shrimp, and chiles, stacked tall. Ruben Monroy (right) took the reins on designing the new Elvira’s Restaurant when it moved north to Tubac.

Monroy moved Elvira’s 21 miles north of the border to Tubac in August of 2009. A friend owned the La Entrada of Tubac Center and coaxed Monroy into establishing a U.S. beachhead in Tubac. “I had to be wise. [In Tubac, U.S. citizens] don’t have to cross the border. Here, you are more original. It’s been a good decision. When I came here, I realized Elvira’s had a big following,” Monroy says.

Far too often, Mexican food gets lost in translation across the border. Not at Elvira’s, where you get upscale, south-of-the-border Mexican. The dinner menu has no enchiladas, no tostadas, no chimichangas. Here it’s more about tenderloin or rib-eye prepared with chiles not typically found north of the border Mole is a primary pillar on Elvira’s menu. Monroy explained that mole is a Mayan word for a mixture of spices, precisely as curry is an Indian mixture of spices. His mole negro boasts 34 ingredients, among them several chiles, cacao, star anise, cinnamon and avocado leaf. “It’s the most difficult mole and the most famous one,” he says. “Mole made us what we are. When you go to Mexico City, the upscale restaurants have mole. It’s the way you dignify the dish.”

Seafood is the most robust pillar of Elvira’s menu, followed by meats and a special category called molcajetes, where you can choose tongue, flank steak, or shrimp and your choice comes to

Join Wine Club X for our Fall Release

Willcox, AZ

3 03 -93 1- 8 47 2

edible

Baja Arizona

35

you in a lava mortar heated to 180 degrees.

All the shrimp on the Elvira’s menu comes from Mexican waters. Although ahi tuna and Chilean sea bass also grace the menu, the main attraction at Elvira’s is the unlikely flounder, which thrives in the Sea of Cortez and shines in Monroy’s kitchen. He prepares it with a salsa fresca with cilantro, tomatoes, red onion, and lime on a mango/pineapple bed.

The flounder may be tasty, but Monroy’s favorite menu item, the Filet San Mateo, doesn’t come from the sea. “We grill a nopal leaf. On top of that, we put the filet. Many Americans don’t know you’re supposed to eat the cactus,” Monroy says. A sauce crafted with imported guajillo, morita, ancho, arbol, and mulatol chiles covers the filet. Monroy sweetens it with a drizzle of honey. What the menu doesn’t mention is the tiny shaving of piloncillo—an intense burnt sugar.

At Elvira’s, “comes with rice” does not mean a plain scoop of rice, nor the American Mexican tradition of rice soaked in tomato sauce. Monroy starts with long-grain rice, accents it with a scattering of wild rice, and mixes in some finely diced tomato, cilantro, and Anaheim chile. “We lift it a little,” says Monroy, who trained at the Instituto Ambrosia, Mexico’s culinary institute.

What’s the one thing above all else that he learned at the institute?

He answers instantly: “Discipline. That’s very important. Once you know that, everything comes from there.”

Monroy is a chef first, master of the menu and ingredients, but when Elvira’s relocated, he took charge of all the interior design. (He went to design school in Guadalajara straight out of high school before veering back to the family restaurant.) “[In Tubac], the décor is more modern,” he says. “In Nogales, it was very conservative.”

What Monroy calls “modern” includes the nearly 2,000 glass raindrops dangling from Elvira’s ceiling, an idea which came from a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta that had maybe a half dozen glass drops in one corner. Monroy himself installed all of the 2,000 raindrops on 60-pound fishing line.

The raindrops fill most of the ceiling, but one of the restaurant’s rooms features a few querubines (baby angels) among an overhead field of about 60 red hearts. Another room has a corner of three-dimensional estrellas (stars). Three large blower masks— rain deities from Guerrero—line one wall. Closer to the floor, Monroy and his long-time manager Ricky Garcia went at it with a large palette of colors to paint dozens of small circles. “I wanted to add some colors, so the room comes to life,” Monroy says. “I call it funky Mexican. It is what it is. It reflects my food. My food is funky, too.”

Although, for now, you’ll have to dip into Santa Cruz County to savor Elvira’s cuisine, Monroy says, “In two years, I’m looking to be in Tucson.” ✜ Elvira’s Restaurant. 2221 E. Frontage Road, Builing A-101.

Tubac. 520.398.9421. ElvirasRestaurant.com.

Teya Vitu is a freelance writer who has eaten at more than 250 restaurants in Baja Arizona.

36 November - December 2013

Bar & Restaurant SATURDAY JAZZ

7-10PM

Now serving Sunday Brunch COCKTAILS & DINNER Downtown Gem - Uptown Comfort Food Garden Patios 198 West Cushing Street 路 622-7984 路 CushingStreet.com

watercolor by W. H. Cook

edible

Baja Arizona

37

Fork in the Road

Seeking the Desert’s Edible Heirlooms Just outside of Tucson, a tasting tour of the desert’s heritage foods awaits the historically inclined food lover.

By Lee Allen Photography by Fotovitamina

38 November - December 2013

T

ake a day and fill it with scenic spots, informative ideas, and creative cuisine topped off by local wine.

Call it a heritage foods tour of the desert borderlands, a day trip for those gastronomes wanting to know more about southern Arizona heritage foods and the farms that produce them.

“Tucson has one of the oldest food traditions in all of North America,” said tour organizer Rafael de Grenade. “Our regional identity is tied up with the foods native to this area, edibles introduced by explorers and migratory peoples that help form the food culture we have today.”

De Grenade organized the tour as a prototype for others to emulate, as a sort of guide for those interested in learning more about the preservation of our unique natural and cultural heritage.

Starting at the Mission Garden in downtown Tucson on a warm August morning, the tour followed the Santa Cruz River south toward the border with a visit to the Tohono O’odham San Xavier Coop Farm, on to the Tumacacori Mission Orchard and adjacent Santa Cruz Chili and Spice Company and a magnificent garden-fresh spread at Avalon Organic Gardens. A visit to the Native Seeds/SEARCH Conservation Farm in Patagonia filled the afternoon before the tour ended with a heritage food spread at Overland Trout, a new restaurant in Sonoita.

“Heritage tourism offers a very real way to know the unique character and flavors of a place,” said de Grenade. “The mere act of seeing these foods grown can be an effective strategy that fosters revitalization of local and regional foodways. Traditional foods hold more than the genetic history of a lineage adapted over time. One bite of a taco with freshly-made nixtamal and carne asada, sprinkled with crushed chiltepines, wild oregano, and queso asadero; or a tepary bean burrito wrapped in a giant tortilla—[these foods] connect us with a food source that reaches back through generations.”

Highlighted along the path of our trip were heritage foods such as mission grapes, mission figs, quinces, sweet limes, pomegranates, tepary and Pima lima beans, White Sonora wheat, and mission grape wine.

The Mission Garden is a re-creation of the Spanish Colonial walled garden originally part of the San Agustín Mission, a site that interprets Tucson’s 4,000-year history of continuous agriculture. Roger Pfeuffer, vice-chair of Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace, says the plan is to re-plant and re-grow what flourished in that riparian oasis in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The four-acre garden holds more than 100 fruit tree varieties, direct genetic descendants of those first introduced by Padre Kino and billed as the oldest surviving heirloom fruit trees in Baja Arizona.

“When people move, they tend to take something familiar with them to their new home and that’s what the missionaries did. We’re

Bob and Jean Neubauer growing genetically identical trees inhereted Santa Cruz Chili to the ones brought here by Old & Spice Company, located World missionaries,” he said. in Tumacacori, from Jean’s A short jaunt down I-19 is father, who started the the O’odham Coop Farm, where business in the 1940s. members of the Tohono O’odham nation grow 60 heirloom food varieties across their 160-acres of cultivated land. Propagation manager Ci’ena Schlaefli walked us around the site where workers were busy cutting and bailing the tribe’s main crop, alfalfa, while racks of red chiles and mesquite beans dried under the sun, and freshly cut field corn was being shucked and roasted to be ground into meal.

Early farming efforts in the arid borderlands involved basic survival sustenance, growing enough crops to keep the desert

“Tucson has one of the oldest food traditions in all of North America. Our regional identity is tied up with the foods native to this area, edibles introduced by explorers and migratory peoples that help form the food culture we have today.” edible

Baja Arizona

39

At Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Company, an employee stocks shelves full of Sonoran desert staples.

peoples alive. Now, the farm finds itself with a surplus, so these certified-naturally-grown traditional foodstuffs—everything from tepary beans and O’odham peas to squash (H:al), Kuribaso melons, I’toi onions, and yellow watermelon—are sold in the San Xavier Cooperative Association farm store.

At the Tumacacori National Park, guide Vicki Wolfe led the tour of the mission and its five-acre orchard where missionaries and colonists once planted all manner of trees: apple and peach, apricot and orange, pomegranate and fig. To re-create the Spanish Mission-era orchard and garden, cultivars (fruit tree stocks) of the original trees from the Old World, the Mediterranean region, Asia, and other parts of the world are being propagated by horticulturists to replicate the orchard in a historically-appropriate fashion.

Across the street and up the road, Bob and Jean Neubauer led a tour through the Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Company. If you’ve never visited this place, prepare yourself for an aromatic sensory experience because your nostrils will start ululating the moment you walk through the door.

“If you stay in one place long enough and provide quality product, you become famous,” said Jean Neubauer, the company’s owner and CEO, whose father started turning chiles into chili powder in the early 1940s. “There’s a huge interest in food flavors now and our niche market variety of powders, pastes, and salsas grown in Willcox represent chiles of many varieties.”

The morning-long hands-on encounter with corn, cucumbers, and chiles brought on a case of the hungries as we pulled through the gate of Tumacacori’s Avalon Organic Gardens & EcoVillage, an all-volunteer community that, among many other projects, cultivates 165-acres using principles of permaculture and dryland farming. The farmland along the Santa Cruz River was inhabited by indigenous tribes for centuries before being settled by Father Kino, who built large grazing fields and gardens to feed the hungry. Since 2007, Avalon Organic Gardens has revived this mission, providing fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs, meat, and dairy products for the community.

40 November - December 2013

Master gardener Tarenta Baldeschi said, “We want to change the world and inspire others to live sustainably and in harmony with the earth. If love goes into the soil, it makes the food taste better.”

The Native Seeds/SEARCH Conservation Farm in Patagonia was next on the itinerary; Evan Sofro welcomed us to the 65-acre plot growing out a large diversity of foodstuffs. “Desert dwellers don’t realize the amazing varieties of edibles there are in the natural ecology around them, regionally-adapted consumables that have been around for thousands of years,” he said.

Gary Paul Nabhan, one of the founders of Native Seeds/ SEARCH, was on hand to offer his thoughts on heritage foodstuffs. “Availability of heirloom fruits and veggie varieties has blossomed since I got on board in 1985,” he said. “Back then, there were less than 5,000 items to be found in the marketplace.

Today there are upwards of 2,200 varieties of vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes thanks to the kind of work done by Native Seeds/SEARCH and Seed Savers Exchange. This diversity can make a difference in our overall health.”

At Sonoita’s newest eatery, Overland Trout, chef Greg LaPrad synthesized the lessons of the heritage food tour into a bountiful buffet: a hominy stew made from Tohono O’odham corn, limemarinated grass-fed beef, a summer salad featuring Querencia Farms Sun Gold tomatoes, Native Seeds beets escabeche, and organic cucumbers with chiltepines. And, of course, mission grape wine from Sonoita Vineyards and White Sonora wheat bread baked at Barrio Breads. ✜ See for yourself how the heritage foods that once sustained area residents may soon do so again. To create your own Heritage Foods of the Borderlands excursion, contact:

Served at three White House dinners

Mission Garden, 927 W. Mission Lane. 520.591 0478.

TucsonsBirthplace.org/tucsons-birthplace/mission-garden-project

“As I have said so many times in the past, this is one of the most interesting wineries in America” Robert Parker

San Xavier Cooperative Association and Farm, 8100 S. Oidak Wog. 520.295.3774. SanXavierCoop.org

“This pioneer symbolizes the spirit of the wines of the New World” Le Monde (Paris)

Tumacacori National Historic Park, 1891 East Frontage Road, Tumacacori. 520.398.2341. Nps.gov/Tuma Santa Cruz Chili & Spice Co., 1868 E. Frontage Road, Tumacacori.

520.398.2591. SantaCruzChili.com

Join Our Wine Club!

callaghanvineyards.com/products/wine-club/

Avalon Organic Gardens, 2074 Pendleton Drive, Tumacacori.

520.603.9932. AvalonGardens.org Native Seeds/SEARCH Conservation Farm, 45 San Antonio Road, Patagonia. 520.394.0227. NativeSeeds.org/our-work/conservationfarm Overland Trout Restaurant, 3266 Arizona 82, Sonoita.

520.455.9316. OverlandTrout.com

Tasting Room Hours Thursday - Sunday from 11am to 4pm 336 Elgin Road Elgin, Arizona 85611 520.455.5322 callaghanvineyards.com

Lee Allen likes to see what’s growing in other people’s gardens.

edible

Baja Arizona

41

ARTISAN

Forged Ingenuity In a remote town in Sonora, the Langford family crafts durable hand tools of rare quality.

Text and Photography by Moses Thompson

M

y love affair with Langford Tools began three

years ago on a rainwater cistern installation. In 2009, Lincoln Perino, co-founder of Ethos Rainwater Harvesting, showed up to help build a culvert cistern at Manzo Elementary with a Langford rock rake in hand. I noticed it immediately. From the heft of the handle to the individually welded rake tines, I could tell it was a handmade tool built for farm use. “The Langford rock rake is one of the tools that always comes off the truck. We use the rake for everything from spreading and tamping concrete to transferring mulch. With mulch, it’s the perfect pitchfork counterpart,” says Perino.

“Professional grade” is a term thrown around loosely in the tool industry, but as someone who has worked with both kids and professionals, I have found kids to be ten times harder on tools than professionals—especially when it comes to gardening tools.

During the first few years of our gardening program at Manzo Elementary, we amassed a pile of cracked shovel handles and detached rake and hoe heads. Professionals understand the proper use and limitations of their tools—kids do not.

They love prying and whacking; while mass-produced gardening tools are not built to stand up to that kind of abuse, Langford Tools are.

Handcrafted in the town of La Morita, Sonora, Langford Tools are designed and built by the Langford family, who use their tools to farm the fertile Bavispe River Valley. The craftsmanship in the welds, hand sharpened blades, and hand-dipped handles are an expression of the Langford family’s ingenuity and agricultural heritage, part of a cottage industry reminiscent of times gone by.

Indeed, Langford tools have more in common with pre-Industrial Revolution tools than they do with mass-produced tools of today. In

the 1900s, tools were hand built, heirloom quality, and, although gardening tools were of vital importance, they were fairly scarce. Rural agricultural communities, not unlike La Morita, depended on their tools for economic survival and sustenance.

Today, mass production and mass transportation have redefined tool construction, cost, and availability. A wealth of gardening tools can be purchased low-cost at big box stores or ordered online and delivered to your doorstep within a few days. But affordability and availability come at a price, as mass produced gardening tools verge on disposable and often fail within a season or two.

For the Langfords, failure-prone tools are not an option. “We live three hours southeast of Agua Prieta on a rough dirt road. To buy a tool and have it break is no good, so we started making our own,” says Taylor Langford, 21. Taylor learned to weld tools at age 14 and started learning the tool business at 17.

Taylor’s father, Lafe Langford, says, “Living in a remote community we have to improvise, manufacture, build, and fix our own equipment.

Besides being skilled builders as a trade, we are farmers, welders, machine operators, and mechanics.”

Soon after they started farming in northeastern Sonora in 1970, the rock rake and six-inch cotton hoe were the first tools the Langford family designed and fabricated. “The tools worked so well we decided to see if we could sell them to the farming communities in southern Arizona. Most stores we introduced them to didn’t need any more convincing than just seeing the tools—it was an instant success,” says Lafe. In the early 1980s, the first Langford Tools became commercially available in Willcox and Safford, where Lafe’s grandmother grew up.

The family’s agricultural heritage and tool line are inseparable; working the soil for 40 years has inspired Langford Tool design and construction.

42 November - December 2013

From left, the Langford collection: rock rake, cotton hoe, hole shark, and weeding hoe. The only marketing the Langfords employ is word of mouth; the signature orange label on all tools carries no contact information.

44 November - December 2013

The Langford family’s agricultural heritage and tool line are inseparable; working the soil for more than 40 years has inspired Langford Tool design and construction. In 1970, at age 5, Lafe moved with his parents from Las Vegas to La Morita, Sonora and began farming 60 acres of potatoes. But as American potato imports increased, potato prices in Mexico dropped and the Langford family began converting potato fields to pecan groves. At almost 3,000 feet elevation, with sky islands to the east and west of La Morita, the weather is cool enough for growing pecans, which require low winter temperatures to flower.

Over time the Langford family began ranching cattle and adjusting crop selection to suit the microclimate of the Bavispe River Valley. Although the winters are cool, the climate in La Morita is warm enough for growing citrus, pomegranates, and for cultivating the traditionally wild-harvested—and elusive—chiltepin pepper.

“Wild chiltepin does grow in this area, but is very scarce and mostly grows south of here in much hotter and lower climate,” says Lafe.

“For reasons unknown to us, commercial attempts to grow chiltepin in the same area as it grows wild have been unsuccessful.” But the Langfords are able to purchase wild chiltepin seedlings grown in the warmer-climate of Hermosillo; last year, they produced more than 1,600 pounds of the pea-sized fiery red fruit and this season, expect to harvest about 2,000 pounds.

La Posada del Rio Sonora

HOTEL AND RESTAURANT IN BANÁMICHI, SONORA

S

oon after stumbling upon Perino’s rock rake, Manzo amassed a small collection of Langford hoes and rakes. At Manzo, students use both Langford rock rakes and cotton hoes daily to aerate compost, till soil, and to transfer soil and mulch. Aerating and tilling requires that a tool be swung hard towards the ground driving the tines or blade deep into the compost or soil—an action that spells death for most rakes and hoes.

Usually, the part of the tool that fails first is the head-handle connection, or shank. The shank is often a focal point of stress when a tool is in use. The industry standard shank for rakes and hoes, even expensive rakes and hoes, is known as tang and ferrule. The tang is the metal stem protruding from the tool head that plugs into the hollow end of a tool handle. The ferrule is the metal collar that slips over the handle pinching the tang in place. Tang and ferrule construction lends itself well to mass production but is inherently weak. The hollow section of the handle cracks easily and the thin gauge metal ferrule does little to prevent the tang from loosening and ferrule slipping out.

(Top left) The Langfords have successfully cultivated and harvested chiltepin plants, as evidenced by this healthy cultivar in their fields. (Top right) In his work room, the stoic Lafe Langford leans on piles that will soon become rock rakes. (Bottom, left) At Manzo Elementary, Langford Tools hold up against the long swings and hard abuse of energetic students. (Bottom, right) A tool’s joints are what fail first; this rock rake is made strong by individually welding 3.5-inch steel-cut masonry nails.

Surrounded by majestic desert mountain ridges, Banámichi is a community that time forgot. The Hotel was built for the socially and environmentally conscious guest using local materials and built by local tradesmen.

Just 5 hours from Tucson in the Rio Sonora Valley.

MexicoEcoResort.com edible

Baja Arizona

45

In the Heart of Wine Country

A Farm to Table Restaurant by Greg LaPrad 520.455.9316

3266 Highway 82, Sonoita

“We solved the handle problem by hydraulically pressing the handle into an eye [a solid steel collar welded to the tool head] with just a minimal amount of conical shape to it,” explains Lafe. The collar is slightly tapered to allow the handle to fit tightly as the handle is inserted using a hydraulic press. The taper of the eye is subtle and causes the eye to maintain contact with the handle from top to bottom. Typical eyes have a more severe angle and pinch the handle tight at the closed end but offer little resistance towards the open end. Thus the tool head seems tight at first but comes loose with minimal use.

Langford handles are lathed in-house from American Ash stock, hand-dipped in varnish, and are longer and more substantial than the industry standard. Over the three years Manzo kids have been beating these tools into the ground, not a single handle has broken.

Handles and shanks are not the only remarkable features of the Langford Tool line. The tines, blades, and handles are equally impressive. The tines on the Langford rock rake are constructed from individually welded 3.5-inch steel-cut masonry nails and are incredibly strong. “Since we didn’t have the finances to purchase huge forging machines to make this tool, we had to come up with something simple and cost effective but also produce a high quality product that worked well,” says Lafe. The Langford tool shop contains a set of rock rake jigs, which hold the individual masonry nails in place for welding one at a time to the rake heads.

At seven feet long, with a heft of 15 pounds, the hole shark comes in right under the jackhammer on the serious business scale.

“Tell me how you can bend or break a steel cut masonry nail.

They’re made to be hammered into concrete,” says Tom Ormes, of Unicoa Industrial Supply, which sells Langford Tools in Tucson.

“About 12 years ago, Dan Langford came in to buy a chainsaw and had some gardening tools on the truck,” recounts Tom. Unicoa has been proudly selling Langford Tools ever since.

The blades for Langford gardening hoes are yet another expression of Langford resourcefulness. Langford hoe blades are repurposed from case-hardened discs taken from worn out disk harrows.

A disk harrow, or disc plow, is a farm implement consisting of a series of concave disks pulled behind a tractor to cultivate the soil. “Most major brands have two specific problems: The handle would eventually fall off and the steel isn’t hard enough,” says Lafe. “We solved this by using disc steel, which is extremely hard and readily available.”

When disk harrows wear out, the Langfords hand cut and hand sharpen the discs into hoe blades. The result is a slightly concave hoe blade, originally forged to withstand years of tractor use through rocky soil. When upcycled as a hand tool, Langford hoe blades are virtually indestructible.

46 November - December 2013

All Langford four- and six-inch cotton hoes, as well as it’s weeding blade, utilize hand-cut disc plow blades. The Langford weeding hoe is made of a single sharpened blade, designed to run parallel to the ground while chopping weed roots just below the soil surface. The Langford weeding hoe functions like a hula hoe, but with its forged sharpened steel blade, it has the ability to sever small saplings without much effort.

Dennis & Deb Moroney 47 Ranch, McNeal, Arizona Sky Island Brand Meats Another ingenious tool conceived of and fabricated by Langford Tools is the hole shark, a combination digging bar and drain spade.

At seven feet long, with a heft of 15 pounds, the hole shark comes in right under the jackhammer on the serious business scale. The tool consists of an inch-and-a-half diameter rubber-coated steel handle with a tempered, sharpened steel spade on one end and a digging bar point on the other. The wide, soft handle makes the tool more comfortable to use than a traditional digging bar and it’s more versatile with the addition of a spade—the perfect tool for breaking through tough turf, trenching for irrigation, or prying out rocks and stumps.

Although they aren’t planning to expand their supply significantly, you might see a few more Langford Tools around. “We have had many requests for a pitchfork lately and are currently designing one since it is not a difficult tool to build,” says Lafe. For the Langfords it makes sense, as pitchforks, another tang and ferrule tool, can be constructed in a similar manner to their rock rake and don’t require additional heavy equipment to fabricate.

Like many hand-built tools of the past, Langford Tools are both high quality and scarce. But make no mistake: Langford Tools are not artisan tools priced for the gentleman farmer. Langford Tools and built for tradespeople and priced competitively with lower quality mass-produced gardening tools. Langford rakes and hoes cost between $25 and $30; the Langford Hole Shark costs about $80.

You’d be hard pressed to find La Morita on a map and you won;t find Langford Tools in Home Depot or Lowes—but they’re worth seeking out. Word of mouth, quality, and hand dipped orange tool heads are the only marketing tools Langford employs. The only promotional material Langford prints are small orange stickers found on their tool handles printed with a Douglas P.O. box. As Lafe explains, “We are a very small company and hope to stay that way and always produce the best product available.” Langford Tools can be found in Tucson at Unicoa Industrial Supply, Horizon, and Sprinkler World.

They can also be found at Ace Hardware stores in Benson, Bisbee, Safford, and Sierra Vista. ✜ Moses Thompson started the school gardening program at Manzo Elementary in 2006. The initial focus was on native plants but over the last few years has shifted towards food production.

Progressive Conservationists & Local Food Growers What we’re all about.

520.882.2007

312 E CONGRESS ST.

CELEBRATING 5 YEARS OF COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE SleepingFrogFarms.com edible

Baja Arizona

47

48 November - December 2013

Food Justice

Nomadic Nurseries, Guerrilla Grafters, and SNAP Seed Sowers How food biodiversity can help the poor in our communities.

By Gary Paul Nabhan | Illustration by Robert J Long

E

very time I drive through poverty-stricken areas of our state—our urban barrios, our boarded-up dust bowl farm towns—I wonder how a phrase like “conserving food biodiversity” can even make sense to the poor and hungry in our midst, who simply are looking for bread to eat today. And yet, I remain haunted by the powerful words once spoken by my Italian friend Serena Milano who coordinates the international Ark of Taste list of endangered foods for the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity: “Threatened by the homogenization brought on by industrial production, the biodiversity of the planet is in danger. But biodiversity can’t be saved by scientists alone, nor by the powerful of the world, because it is of no interest to the market. And it’s probable that Noah won’t be arriving with his Ark at any time in the near future. This battle, therefore, is one that needs to be taken up by us, together with all the people we manage to involve, on our lands, every day. Because the battle to save biodiversity isn’t like any other battle. It’s the battle for the life of our planet.”

Does Milano’s phrase “on our lands” disempower the landless, the homeless, the rentees, the house sitters, and streetwalkers from participating in this effort, in the growing and eating of diverse food plants and animals?

For a long time, I believed that the goal of returning diverse foodstuffs to our tables was too lofty to speak about to the homeless and hungry; but lately, I’ve had second thoughts. In fact, I have now come to believe that getting fresh, diverse, and nutritious foods into the hands of the nutritionally-at-risk is the highest goal that we can set for change in our food system.

A few years ago, when I was in transition between jobs and moving between a small town in northern Arizona to another in southern Arizona, I found myself landless, housesitting and renting a place in South Tucson, and later, two more near Sonoita.

After regularly raising a garden, a flock of heritage turkeys and a herd of Navajo-Churro sheep at my previous residence outside of Flagstaff, I felt disoriented—if not despondent—that I had little

chance to carry on such activities while in transition.

But a telephone call from my friend Jesus Garcia broke me out of my self-pitying stupor and got me back in action. Jesus alerted to me to an upcoming sale of heirloom fruit tree saplings—figs, quinces, pomegranates, and grapes—over at Desert Survivors Native Plant Nursery in downtown Tucson. For discount prices, I purchased a half dozen fruit trees, loaded them into my beatup pick-up truck, and plopped them down in the driveway of the house that my daughter and I happened to be renting in South Tucson.

What I didn’t know at the time is that any low-income person eligible for a SNAP program food purchase card can use that card to purchase fruit tree saplings, seed starts, or seeds themselves from farmers’ market vendors to grow their own food instead of using it up on a single bag of fresh food. Thanks to food justice activist David Bowman Simon of SNAP Gardens, more and more farmers’ markets are helping low income families purchase fruit trees to secure their own food futures.

After I arrived home with an armful of heirloom tree saplings, I wondered, “What am I going do with these trees if we don’t find an affordable place to buy for another year or two?”

Many others—from the Fig Man of Albuquerque to the Guerrilla Grafter of San Francisco—had figured it out long before I finally did. I realized I could create a nomadic nursery.

A what? With very little space, sophisticated skills, or time investment, nearly any person can take cuttings off figs or pomegranates, dowse them with rooting hormones, insert them in gallon cans, plastic jugs, or recycled pots, and begin a fruit tree nursery. Some of these tree saplings will produce good fruit by their second or third year, others take five to seven, but no matter—you can also prune cuttings, root them, and sell them at farmers’ markets for as much as $30 a tree. Five to six six-inch cuttings pruned off the same sapling—when rooted and triggered into producing leaves and new shoots—can bring in $150 total in one season. And the rarer the tree variety—the more unique the

edible

Baja Arizona

49

fruit and the richer its story—the more likely it is that you can sell it for $50 or $100 a tree.

Yes, telling the stories behind the tree are what can make an initially poor nurseryman a little richer, and enrich his customers as well. My friend Lloyd Kreitzer, the Fig Man of Albuquerque, says: “At one of the farmers’ markets that I regularly go to and talk about the great diversity of figs I offer, a person listened to me for a bit and then must have begun to wonder whether all the varieties I was selling had such rich stories to go along with them. She asked me: ‘Don’t you have a single fig that doesn’t come with a story?’

“I shrugged and replied, ‘In all the years I’ve been collecting, growing, and selling different figs, I don’t think I’ve ever met one that comes that way.’”

By the time I moved out of South Tucson to Sonoita, I had a couple dozen heirloom fruit trees in my mobile nursery, enough to require two trips in my pickup to move them all. Today, they form the foundation stock of my backyard orchard and incipient nursery in Patagonia, which now harbors more than 75 distinct varieties of fruits, nuts, and olives.

And yet, it wasn’t until I met Tara Hui of San Francisco’s Guerrilla Grafters that I realized that I hadn’t needed a driveway or a pickup truck to start a makeshift nursery.

“We need diverse, delicious street trees for street people,” Tara told an audience of 140 Tucsonans on a hot August night. What Guerrilla Grafters do is to take cuttings of delicious, nutritious, flavorful fruits and “topwork” them onto existing trees in public spaces— parks, schoolyards, housing development entryways—by grafting the new varieties onto already mature branches of ornamental flowering plums, crabapples, or bitter oranges planted merely for “decoration.” A tree steward living in the immediate neighborhood is assigned to water, prune, and protect the tree so that its fruit eventually becomes accessible to anyone walking past it during the season of ripening and harvest.

Of course, there are time lags in producing such fruit, as trees do not necessary provide the almost “instant” gratification and sustenance that an annual vegetable or root crop might offer.

Now, more than ever before, southern Arizonans can obtain diverse heirloom seeds for “free,” as well as finding affordable or donated space in which to plant them. One place to start is with the Community Gardens of Tucson organization, which can help you find plantable space near where you live or work.

But that’s not all. The Pima County Public Library has become one of the first county library systems in the country to establish “seed libraries,” which now function in eight of its branches. They offer a remarkably diverse array of heirloom vegetable seeds for free to anyone willing to grow them and return 50 November - December 2013

part of their seed harvest back to the library. Small Arizona seed outlets such as Aravaipa Heirlooms and Native Seeds/SEARCH are among the donors of quality, open-pollinated GMO seeds offered through the libraries.

As Native Seeds/SEARCH Director Bill McDorman said, “The combination of seeds and libraries into seed libraries may give us the most powerful tool we have to remain American in this age of privatization and monopoly.”

Although not every person in southern Arizona will immediately be able to take advantage of these strategies for seed democratization and fruit tree access, these diverse food resources are no longer out of economic reach or direct access for the poor and landless. Arizona remains among the three states with the highest levels of childhood food insecurity in the nation; as a community, we must get serious about offering them more to eat than cake, Cheetos, and corn chips. ✜ CommunityGardensOfTucson.org; library.pima.gov/seed-library.

Gary Paul Nabhan is an internationally celebrated nature writer, food and farming activist, and proponent of conserving the links between biodiversity and cultural diversity.

New from The University of Arizona Press “This book is for every beer drinker who fancies himself an informed imbiber.”

—Richard Sims

AWAKEN YOUR SENSES Experience a new culinary journey at AZuL Introducing the new flavorful and vibrant selections created by Chef Russell Michel to delight and stimulate all of your senses.

Signature items include Adobo-Spiced Filet of Beef, Seared Jumbo Sea Scallops and Chile-Spiced Pork Tenderloin.

Feed your body and soul in a modern, elegant setting with breathtaking views of the Catalina Mountains.

BREAKFAST | LUNCH | DINNER | SUNDAY BRUNCH | HAPPY HOUR

360 pp. | available from your local bookseller and brew pub | $39.95 www.uapress.arizona.edu

AT THE WESTIN LA PALOMA RESORT & SPA | WESTINLAPALOMARESORT.COM MENTION THIS AD FOR ONE FREE* APPETIZER WITH THE PURCHASE OF ANY ENTRÉE. *Offer expires 12/31/2013

Bloom where you are planted

For those who rent or those who own rental properties, Real Property Management Rincon is the Trusted Leader in property management solutions. Visit us at www.rpmrincon.com to view our listings and to learn more about our services. We are locally owned and professionally operated.

Call us today for a FREE Home Evaluation 800-787-9565

Rincon edible

6380 E Tanque Verde #100 Tucson, Arizona 85715

Baja Arizona

51

52 November - December 2013

A Ranch’s Observation At 47 Ranch, Dennis and Deborah Moroney are pioneering a model of collaborative conservation, working both as ranchers and land stewards.

By Megan Kimble | Photography by Bill Steen edible

Baja Arizona

53

T

he little red truck pauses on the precipice of

a rainwater-rushed ravine. Dennis Moroney stretches up and over the steering wheel, surveying the terrain. Satisfied, he settles in, shifts the truck into gear, and says, “It’s really not as bad as it looks.”

With 22 years of Arizona ranching experience under his belt, Dennis Moroney would know. Maneuvering a beat-up red pickup truck across rugged desert rangeland is all in a day’s work for Moroney, who owns and operates 47 Ranch, located just north of Bisbee on the northern flanks of the Mule Mountains, with his wife of 42 years, Deborah Moroney.

The 25,000 acres of 47 Ranch span an elevation gradient of 2,000 feet, tumbling down from juniper-studded rolling ridges of the Mule Mountains and spilling across a Chihuahuan Desert plain that ends only 11 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border; the cattle of 47 Ranch—35 purebred Criollo cattle and 160 crossbred “Arizona native” cattle—leave no corner unturned.

“Sometimes, we’ll leave them at the foot of this mountain,” Dennis says, pointing to the rise of a steep crest, “and when it’s time to rotate, we’ll find them on the other side.” Once or twice a month, Dennis will round up his roving herd and rotate them across the ranch’s 25 pastures, easing the burden on any particular landscape.

For desert ranchers like Moroney, managing cattle means managing the forages and water resources those animals depend on to live. And, for Moroney, management begins by paying close attention to scarce resources. “I pay attention to the plant community. How rainwater moves across the landscape. How rainfall varies in time and place,” he says. “If it rains, I’m out the next morning checking to see what changed.” He looks to make sure the water catchment basins carved across the ranch haven’t filled with mud; he checks to see that the trenches and culverts that direct water to those basins haven’t collapsed; thinks about where the rain might have sculpted new watercourses, what grasses might be bursting after a flush of hydration.

Ostensibly, Moroney must regularly check on the forage quality and abundance of native grasses in each pasture to plan the rotations of his cattle, though you get the sense that it’s his curiosity that keeps him out in the pastures far more than other ranchers nearby. He has an unrelenting desire to answer the question: What happens when? Below Moroney’s wide-brimmed white hat, behind his bursting white beard, lives the mind of a range science professor, a homegrown ecologist, and a pioneer in the collaborative conservation movement.

“This is a landscape that’s not static. It’s always in flux. It could be a year or a decade, but an event happens and it changes,” he says. “And with climate change, those patterns are becoming more unpredictable.” The way to deal with this change: Be observant.

54 November - December 2013

Observe grasses, erosion, water—or lack thereof—and, of course, “I always observe the condition of the cattle,” Moroney says. “If they’re not doing well, the landscape is not doing well.”

The red truck makes it across the riverbed without a hitch.

After another few minutes rocking through ruts, the truck’s efforts are rewarded. Five steers emerge from the shade of a mesquite tree and gaze at their landscape’s interlopers. These cows are Criollos, America’s oldest heritage breed of large livestock, originally from the arid heat of southern Spain. They are both agile and beautiful, their coats an array of colors—shiny auburn, blond spackled, mocha brown brindled.

D

ennis Moroney started raising cows as a teenager in a 4-H club in Phoenix while other kids were riding skateboards in air-conditioned shopping malls. Even though he “went through” several Phoenix high schools, he was accepted into Arizona State University’s animal science program, where he overlapped with Temple Grandin, who later would pioneer animal welfare practices in the livestock industry.

When Deb was accepted to medical school at the University of Washington, the pair relocated to the northwest, where Dennis taught forestry, agriculture and horticulture at an alternative high school. “I was a hippie before I was a rancher,” he says. “I was doing environmental things clear back in my teenage years.” Deb’s residency brought them back to Arizona, to a ranch just outside Prescott; in 2002, they bought 47 Ranch and returned south, to the Chihuahuan Desert borderlands.

“Dennis and Deb have a unique history,” says Rafael de Grenade, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Arizona; she met the couple in 1993, when she was a 13-year-old longing to be a cowgirl. Dennis and Deb took her in “like family” and taught her how to rope and ride, how to gather and brand. De Grenade’s parents were farming and ranching on 55 acres near the Moroney’s ranch in Prescott—which is “some of the most difficult ranching country, anywhere,” she says. “There were a lot of pretty hardcore ranch families with strong identities as rough country cowboys. Dennis came in, a hippie with a beard, and Deb, a doctor with Hispanic roots—it caused a lot of suspicion.

“It was a different time then,” she says. “There was pressure from the environmental community to get ranchers off the land.

The Moroneys arrived and said, ‘Let’s get people together—the Forest Service, environmentalists, ranchers.’ In that time and place, they were almost revolutionary.”

In Arizona, most ranches consist of a mix of private land—land that Dennis and Deb own outright—and public land—leased from the state or federal government under the auspices of the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service or State Land Department.

Deb and Dennis Moroney set up shop at two farmers’ markets each week; they say they love the direct interaction with customers.

edible

Baja Arizona

55

Permits to graze cattle on public land usually come bundled with the “base” property—typically 15 to 500 acres where you’ll likely find a house, barn, storage, and any other infrastructure needed to keep the ranch running and cattle happy.

In the case of 47 Ranch, that infrastructure includes corrals, a wool spinning and weaving studio for Deb, a workshop, a greenhouse, five rainwater harvesting cisterns, two windmills and a solar array, which together produce enough electricity to power the ranch—and Dennis and Deb’s home—and keep it entirely off the grid.

The Moroneys commitment to environmental stewardship extends beyond their private holdings. Dennis is regarded as one of the founders of the collaborative conservation movement in working landscapes of the West, playing active roles with the Diablo Trust, the Quivira Coalition, Malpai Borderlands Group, and National Cowboy Poetry Gathering ranchland workshops.

of people—to incorporate both traditional methods of livestock management and land-stewardship, to ask, how do we utilize our natural resources to produce food in this harsh landscape?”

Of course, Dennis’s facility at marketing their fine grass-fed beef and lamb also helps them meet their triple bottom line of economic, ecological and social sustainability. For all the conservation work he does, Moroney’s main task in any given week is to raise cattle and sheep to sell their meat. About once every week, he loads “an average of four and half cows” into a trailer and drives them to the UA Meat Lab in Tucson. (“Though,” he jokes, “They usually don’t like when we send half of a cattle.”)

Four weeks later, after the cows or sheep are slaughtered, the carcasses aged, and the meat processed, he picks up frozen cuts of beef and lamb to deliver them to commercial customers: Tucson’s Food Conspiracy Co-op, the Sierra Vista Co-op, and a few restaurants. The rest of the meat goes back to the ranch and

“While the flagship operation of the ranch is protein production in the form of solar energy, there’s another opportunity here on the land. We wanted to set a living example of ranching that is done in harmony with nature.”

Over the past decade, Moroney has distilled what he has learned through these venues and worked with Arizona Game and Fish and the Natural Resources Conservation Service in the U.S. Department of Agriculture to put two conservation easements on his property.

“While the flagship operation of the ranch is protein production in the form of solar energy, growing meat from wild plants, there’s another opportunity here on the land, to build it up to its full capacity,” he says. “We wanted to set a living example of ranching that is done in harmony with nature. We now have 2,500 acres under conservation easement, which means that no matter who owns the land, even hundreds of years in the future, it will remain open space.”

Conservation easements place deed restrictions on land, tying development rights to the land title; they’re often issued to protect waterways, migration corridors, and endangered species. In the case of 47 Ranch, the presence of 13 “species of concern”— one level below endangered—qualified them for a grant to create a 960-acre easement. Between the two easements, the Moroneys earned enough money to pay off their mortgage and their operating loan in less than a decade. “Now, we’re debt free. That’s huge from the standpoint of the viability of the ranch,” says Moroney.

“They’ve held onto a multifaceted vision of what ranching can be,” says de Grenade. “It’s hard to make a living ranching, and they’ve done that by diversifying.” In addition to cattle, the Moroneys also grow Navajo-Churro sheep on a small set of irrigated pastures, and keep goats for brush control.

“They’re both visionary thinkers,” says de Grenade. “They have this way of looking across agencies and across different kinds 56 November - December 2013

into the freezer. On Thursdays, Dennis and Deb pack up a trailer and head to the Sierra Vista farmers’ market; Saturday mornings, Dennis repeats the endeavor for the Bisbee farmers’ market.

“The retail part is very rewarding,” he says. “I get to have weekly conversations with people who are being fed by what we do. It’s a strong feedback loop. Our repeat customers become like extended family.” And they’re getting closer to their ultimate goal: To sell everything they produce to the end consumer. “It’s more profitable and more satisfying,” says Moroney.

The Moroneys began raising and direct-marketing grass-fed beef in 1996. They’d been finishing their cattle on a grain-based diet and realized the input costs weren’t getting paid back in the price of beef. “It wasn’t profitable. We were trying to find a way to make ranching profitable,” says Dennis. When a friend—incidentally, de Grenade’s mother, Rebecca Rouston, who had been raising grass-fed cattle since the early 1980s—suggested they turn their cows back to the land to browse on native vegetation— namely, grass—the Moroneys hinged their business on a model they hoped would support them over next two decades.

They chose well: The grass-fed meat market in the United States has sustained a 25 percent annual growth rate over the past 15 years. On a per pound basis, direct-marketed grass-fed beef returns far more profit—as much as two to three times the price per pound—to a rancher than cattle sold on the whims of the commodity market.

At first, the Moroneys sold their beef through ads in penny saver papers—halves and quarter cows only. As farmers’ markets and CSA programs became more widespread, Deb and Dennis visited grocery stores and farmers markets to compare other’s

Flying Leap Vineyards - Ultra Premium, Handcrafted Local Wines

Wine Tasting Locations Estate Vineyard & Winery 342 Elgin Road Wed - Sun 11am - 4pm 520.455.5499

On the Sonoita Wine Trail!

Willcox Tasting Room 100 North Railroad Avenue Thur - Sun 11am - 5pm 520.384.6030

In Historic Downtown Willcox Bisbee Tasting Room 67 North Main Street

Opening in September 2013

Our grape vineyards are located in Santa Cruz and Cochise counties, where we sustainably produce the finest wine grapes in the region. Our farms utilize solar power, and we use local compost to replenish our soils.

Our wine is grown & handmade locally by a committed team of southern Arizona family farmers. Come experience the passion of Flying Leap Vineyards.

Locally-grown, Locally-made

FlyingLeapVineyards.com

edible

Baja Arizona

57

prices; they had a butcher break down processing price per cut, and then they crunched their numbers. “We want to earn a living and also sell affordable food,” says Moroney. Sold under the name Sky Islands, their ground beef sells for five dollars a pound, a price premium that represents, for consumers, a price increase of $1.50 over the average pound of grass-fed beef sold in the supermarket—but for Dennis and Deb, that increase represents a living wage.

“We try to keep everything pretty simple here,” says Deb. “We’re not investing in fancy rigs or machinery.” They have two kids, a son and daughter, who used to help them and a partner on the ranch but have both now moved away from home. “It’s a lot of work for the two of us,” says Dennis. “The successional thing is a big issue. It’s hard to find young people who want to do this kind of work.”

It’s hard work, of course. Early mornings, rough roads, leaking water tanks. Back-ups at the processor, inventory overfill or scarcity. Direct-marketing is labor and time intensive—frequent trips to Tucson, early mornings at farmers’ markets and long evenings bent over balance sheets. But it offers a certain freedom, one some ranchers don’t have if they are beholden to a bank, a livestock management corporation, or one of the six meat processing multinationals that set the prices for most of America’s commodity beef. “At least, I like to think I have a lot of freedom,” Dennis says. “I have the satisfaction of working in the natural landscape and have a role in feeding people.”

B

ack on the ranch, as a group of five cattle jogs—or rather, skitters—past the red pickup truck, Moroney points out the hipbones of an auburn steer, which are hidden below ripples of muscle and fat, and asks me to compare them to a blond-haired calf that, well, looks like skin and bones. “He’s almost ready to go. You look at the tail, the head. You’re looking for animals that are rounded.”

We’ve only climbed 300 or 400 feet since we left the ranch headquarters on the plains below; still, at the base of these etched mountains, we’ve gained a new perspective on the ranch. On what makes up a ranch. There are 200 head of cattle, of course, eating an array of Arizona’s native grasses, but that’s just the beginning. Before us spans the habitat of many of Arizona’s disappearing wildlife species—long-nosed bats and green rat snakes; northern aplomado falcons and black-tailed prairie dogs.

Unseen, there are the miles of pipeline that Moroney laid, redistributing water

58 November - December 2013

across the ranch; there are the tiny escape hatches he built on open water tanks so the bats, rodents, and birds that also utilize the tank’s water don’t drown when they fall in. (“It’s actually made a huge difference,” he says.) Groundwater wells powered by solar arrays and fields re-seeded with native grasses; a pond, re-shaped and sculpted to form a hospitable habitat for the threatened Chiricahua leopard frog; the invisible treads of the many Audubon Society and school groups that come out to the ranch to learn about the Moroneys’ work.

For all his observation, all the photographs he takes, ditches he digs and grasses he nurtures, Dennis likes that the ranch extends beyond his capability to comprehend or control. “In these big open spaces, there are all kinds of wildlife—coyotes, deer, mountain lions. It’s nice to think that they still have a home here,” he says. Of course, he loses a few cattle every season to predators— but very few. “And that’s just the cost of doing business out here,” he says. “I happen to believe there’s some grace in inefficiency. I like coming out here on horseback. Riding on horseback, you get into a whole different time dimension. It can feel like a sea out here.” The slightest crest offers a land’s perspective; each fall, a submersion into its nuance. ✜ Find the Moroneys at the Bisbee and Sierra Vista Farmers’ Markets (Thursday and Saturday). Contact at 520.642.9368 or facebook.com/pages/Sky-Island-Brand-47-Ranch.

Megan Kimble is the managing editor of Edible Baja Arizona.

TIME MARKET

A group of growers, millers, bakers and brewers are

622.0761 · 444 E. UNIVERSITY

collaborating to revive the heritage grain

OPEN EVERY DAY FROM 7AM TO 10PM HOUSE BAKED ORGANIC ARTISAN BREAD COMES OUT OF THE OVEN AROUND 10AM DAILY photo by Steven Meckler

WHITE SONORA WHEAT

· BREAKFAST · LUNCH · DINNER + COCKTAILS

BarWilko.com · 520.792.6684 · 943 E. University

SantaCruzHeritage.org/foods edible

Baja Arizona

59

Photo by Bill Steen

< Criollo Comeback > CRIOLLO CATTLE,

which came from the Canary Islands to North America through the port of Veracruz in 1519, spread out to many habitats and diversified into some of the continent’s most distinctive “Spanish” cattle breeds: Texas Longhorn; Florida Cracker; Pineywoods; Chinampo; and Corriente. The Criollo/Corriente breed dominated the rangelands of Chihuahua, Sonora, Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas through the early twentieth century, and provided nearly all the beef that filled K-Ration tins during World War II and the Korean War. After the war, the Hoof-and-Mouth epidemic and the introduction of cattle breeds better suited to rapid weight gains in feedlots brought the Criollo breeds to their knees.

But Criollo cattle have slowly been making a comeback, in part through the work of ranchers like Dennis Moroney of 47 Ranch who believe in the unique genetic package offered by this desert-bred animal.

Criollos are as much browsers as grazers, subsisting on many foods other cattle wouldn’t touch, from prickly pear pads to leaves off oak trees. “It’s one of the only breeds that will fatten up and marble on prickly pear and tumbleweeds,” says Moroney. “Because Criollo evolved in a semi-arid 60 November - December 2013

landscape, their eating habits are different than cattle that evolved in northern Europe.

They have an incredible genetic package for this kind of environment. They utilize more of what’s out there, instead of concentrating on lower grasses. You get equal impact over the whole landscape.” Studies by range scientist Ed Frederickson of Eastern Kentucky University confirm that Criollos sample a broader range of plants than other breeds in the same pasture, thereby allowing a diversity of plant species to coexist.

Criollo are less expensive upfront, requiring fewer initial inputs like shelter or feed.

But because they depend on whatever food they can forage—no matter how nutrient rich or poor—these cattle grow slowly. Compared to an Angus breed, which might reach 1,200 pounds after only 24 months, Criollo cattle might arrive at a packing plant after 36 months of maturing weighing only 750 pounds. Although it may take them longer to become slaughter-ready, they’re subsisting exclusively on pasture, which means significantly smaller input costs.

“Before I had tasted Criollo meat, I thought it was more marketing hype,” says Moroney. “But it’s is not like anything we’ve had before.” Moroney bought a dozen heifers from Fredrickson, who had personally escorted the cattle out of the barrancas in the

Chiapas region of the Sierra Madre. Since then, he’s bought more, virtually eliminating all non-Criollo bulls in his herd. He continues to be an active manager of his herd, selecting cattle for general disposition and palatability of the meat, and culling those that don’t measure up. “I’ve found that gentleness in disposition translates into tenderness in the meat,” he says.

“Criollos were fairly common in Mexico just forty years ago,” says Moroney. “Over time, a lot of the ranchers have been lured into crossing them with European breeds in order to have better market acceptance.

Many of the ranchers in Mexico that were raising these kinds of cattle aren’t raising them any more. Criollos have 10,000 years of selection pressure in a semi-arid, hostile environment. There’s a concern for long-term survival of these genetics.” Through a market that rewards consistency and feedlot-bred cattle, “[Most ranchers have been] promoting the proliferation of cattle from Scotland and northern Europe where conditions were fairly easy,” says Moroney. “Most people that raise that kind of cattle in this environment spend a small fortune on supplements.” Criollos, on the other hand, “represent a path to sustainability, especially in the face of climate change." ✜ —M.K.

V 9 EAST CONGRESS 5208828143

where plants meet their favorite pollinators

garden hours 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily 17 SPECIALTY GARDENS | GALLERY EXHIBITS TOURS | YOUTH PROGRAMS | ADULT CLASSES SPECIAL EVENTS 2150 N. Alvernon Way | Tucson, AZ 85712 | (520) 326-9686 www.tucsonbotanical.org AdVision Outdoor, Dex, Cox, Yellowbook 360, ON Media Publications, Tucson Weekly, Madden Media, Edible Baja Arizona

THAI MODERN

edible

Baja Arizona

61

courtyard BEAUTIFUL Dine in Tucson’s most

More than 200 local chapters of Slow Food USA believe in Good, Clean, Fair Food for Everyone!

To become a member, go to SlowFoodSouthernAZ.org

GLUTEN FREE, VEGETARIAN, VEGAN & OMNIVORE FRIENDLY

LIVE MUSIC UNDER THE STARS

To become a friend on our event & community mailing list LATE NIGHT DJ’S AND DANCING

info@SlowFoodSouthernArizona.org

BAR OPEN TIL 2:00 AM WED-SAT

Supporting good, clean, and fair food

201 N. Court Ave | 622-0351

SlowFoodSouthernAZ.org

www.lacocinatucson.com Local Food Starts HERE!

nativeseeds.org Join our 30-year-old non-profit Volunteer at our farm or seed bank Shop at our retail store or online Learn at Seed School Retail Store: 3061 N. Campbell Avenue in Tucson 62 November - December 2013

PROCESS

Muscle to Meat Demand at small-scale meat processing plants has become the â&#x20AC;&#x153;bottleneckâ&#x20AC;? in getting local beef from ranch to market.

By Megan Kimble | Photography by Jeff Smith

edible

Baja Arizona

63

64 November - December 2013

W

Carcasses are aged in cold storage, usually for two weeks, before cutting; during this time, enzymes begin to break down some of the muscle, thus tenderizing the meat.

hen he’s going to the slaugh-

terhouse, Jim McManus likes to be on the road by 6. It’s usually dark when he loads the animals into a 20-foot stock trailer—pigs first, then, behind a divider, two or three cattle. Before hitting the road, McManus, with the help of his wife, Tina, checks on inventory, on restaurant orders and CSA shares; they fill out paperwork, inspection records and cut sheets for the processor. “Cut sheets list everything from the size of the packages to the amount of fat in ground beef; if we want steaks or ribeyes, strip steaks or tenderloins,” says McManus. “How many of each cut per package and if they’re individually wrapped, which costs more.”

There are 111 miles between McManus’s front door at Walking J Ranch and Guzman’s Meat Processing in Cochise; he hopes his doesn’t get a flat tire or have trouble with the trailer along the way.

When he arrives, McManus unloads his cattle into small, shaded pens, where, complying with USDA regulations, the cattle will wait for 24 hours, emptying their stomachs of food and bladders of liquid.

The next morning, there’s a stun gun to the neck, a 45-minute loop around the cutting room floor, and a carcass hangs in a 38-degree freezer for two weeks—drying aging helps cure the meat, making it more tender and flavorful. Finally, the cut sheet comes in handy. “I come around to the other side of the processing plant and receive cut meat that we left as live animals two weeks previously,” said McManus. After loading the 50-pound boxes into the cab of his pickup truck, “I put on my hat and winter jacket, crank the A.C. and then haul butt to Tucson.” Every other week, McManus stops at Tucson Frozen Storage, checks his inventory, and restocks a trailer he’ll haul to the farmers’ market on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.

McManus takes his animals to Guzman’s Meat Processing, one of four small-scale meat processing plants in southern Arizona—a relative boom, given how large corporations have taken over packing plants across the country. In the United States, four firms—Cargill, Tyson, JBS, and National Beef—control over 80 percent of all beef slaughtered. That consolidation extends past the ranch, as there are now only 13 major slaughterhouses in the United States, compared to the thousands that operated in the 1970s.

In southern Arizona, ranchers can choose be-

tween Guzman’s Meat Processing, Willcox Meat Packing House, the University of Arizona Meat Lab, and a small processing plant at Double Check Ranch. Even so, many ranchers find themselves contending with month-long wait times, insufficient freezer space, and 200-mile drives.

“Distance, access and scheduling are my biggest challenges,” says McManus. “That much time on the road with your vehicles is risky.

When you break down and you have live animals and thousands of dollars of frozen meat in your vehicle, you stand to lose a lot.” And, he says, “I struggle and struggle to keep scheduled. We can sell more than we’re producing and we’re working to produce more, but there’s a real bottleneck at packing.”

One of the biggest bottlenecks arrives in the fall, when 4-H and FFA programs convene at fairs in nearly every county in southern Arizona. Dozens of animals might get sold at a single fair—and all of those animals go straight to the processing plant, pushing small producers like McManus and Dennis Moroney of 47 Ranch out of the slaughter schedule.

“We’re trying to time our animal harvest to get in advance of fair season and stock up on inventory for the next few months,” says Moroney. That requires a fair amount of foresight and skill, especially for the many ranchers who depend on the bounty of wild forage to fatten their cattle rather than readily available grain.

But the same scheduling skill holds true on the processing end. “We’ve had six fairs in here in the past month,” says John Marchello, who manages the UA Food Products and Safety Laboratory, a USDA-certified meat processing plant. “We’re absolutely overrun. We’re short on slaughter facilities in the state.”

In addition to his responsibilities at the Meat Lab, Marchello is also a professor of Meat Science and Muscle Biology and teaches five courses every semester. The UA Meat Lab is supported by the UA College of Agriculture, and trains students in food safety, large-animal veterinary skills, and meat cutting.

The UA Meat Lab processes roughly 500 head of cattle every year, as well as 400 hogs, 150 lambs, 20 head of buffalo, 50 ostriches and emu, and about 300 poultry birds. Those animals come from state fairs and 4-H programs; from small-

edible

Baja Arizona

65

scale ranchers like Dennis Moroney and Jim McManus; from the H-H Ranch maintained and owned by the UA; from urban homesteaders or backyard gardeners. “We get a lot of people doing that, raising pigs in their backyard and bringing them in,” says Marchello.

As complicated as it is for McManus or Moroney to get their beef to the slaughterhouse, as many logistical steps and early mornings as it requires, it is equally as complicated for Marchello to process that meat. One particular logistical hurdle is the USDA’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system, or HAACP. “We develop a flow diagram for every food item we produce,” Marchello says. “Every box on that diagram” [which range from “Tempering frozen meat” to “portioning and cutting”] is a potential hazard. There has to be a scientific justification for every decision in there.”

While Marchello says that HAACP systems, which were implemented in 1997, have reduced food born illnesses and made the food safer, “It’s a ton of paperwork. The food safety work has really increased since the late 1990s.” But, he says, “We in the food industry have done a poor job educating the consumer. Sixty percent of food-borne illness is caused by improper handling at home.”

In May of 2013, the Meat Lab developed a recall program; now, there’s a number on every package coming out of the UA Meat Lab that refers to the source and date of packaging. “If someone gets sick, now we can say, ‘It was processed on that day,’ and issue a recall,” he says.

Although a USDA certification means that ranchers can sell their beef anywhere in the country—meat processed at an Arizona-state certified facility must remain in-state—the burden on processors can be cost prohibitive. “Economically, you can’t make a new [processing plant] work unless you’re slaughtering 50 cattle a day,” says Marchello. The biggest challenge facing the manager of the Meat Lab? “Finances.”

Processing costs are calculated on a per poundage rate from an animal’s hanging weight plus a flat harvest fee. The UA Meat Lab charges a processing rate of $0.70 per pound plus a $70 per head fee. Moroney estimates he pays about $500

66 November - December 2013

per animal processed—“a significant portion of our operating costs.”

Even though the economics are tricky, McManus of Walking J believes there’s a place for a mid-sized processing plant in southern Arizona, one with the capacity to supply more retail stores with Arizona-raised grass fed beef. He’s planning to grow his business to keep pace with the demand for local, grass-fed beef but worries that processors won’t be able to keep pace with more production. “We need a packing house that can work on a larger scale than what we’re seeing,” he says. “We need someone that understands direct marketing, that can modify and work with us.”

Moroney agrees that ranchers in southern Arizona could support a new processing plant, but says that the barriers to entry are substantial. “A big roadblock for a processor is in the regulations, which have been designed for huge packing houses,” he says. “We need a set of regulations appropriate to scale, for a plant processing 50 cattle a month, not 5,000 a day.

“When [my wife] Deb and I were growing up, there were processing plants in every town,” he says. “Now, we’re lucky in southern Arizona to have four.” ✜ Megan Kimble is the managing editor of Edible Baja Arizona.

At the UA Meat Lab, a team of experienced cutters processes cattle by hand into individual cuts of meat, which go back to the producer for direct marketing. On a Friday morning, butchers are busy preparing for the UA Meat Sale, every Friday from 3–6 p.m.

To s ee it is t o sm ile .

To t o u ch it is t o fe e l g o o d .

To wear it is to know... Óptimo CUSTOM HATWORKS

Milliner Renovator

Fine straws hand-woven in Ecuador, including the legendary Montecristi.

Custom-blended beaver, cashmere, and wild hare felt hats.

We have original designs, both in contemporary and period fashions, along with cleaning and re-blocking.

The hatworks is museum-like in its layout so the public can view hat-making in the Old World style.

Óptimo — the best, the very finest.

FOR A FITTING WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU CALL FOR AN APPOINTMENT 47 Main St. | P.O. Box 1914 | Bisbee, AZ 85603 USA | phone/fax 520.432.4544 www.optimohatworks.com | grant@optimohatworks.com | Longitude S109º 55' .5622" Latitude N31º 26' 29.24"

OUR MISSION IS YOUR KITCHEN gadgetscookwarespicesfoodcoffeebartoolsknivesappliancesteasharpening

Ad Proof #2

TGfw12

Ad Size: half File Name: Optimo(TGfw12) Changes (Non-Billing) Total as of 8/21/12

$35.00 $0.00

Designer: TB *This advertisement will remain the property of Madden Media. Usage of this advertisement is exclusive to Madden Media and may be used in any Madden Media product. Advertiser may purchase right to use this advertisement outside RI 0DGGHQ 0HGLD IRU ÀQDO LQYRLFH DPRXQW

Open 7 days 10 am – 5 pm · La Entrada de Tubac · Tubac, AZ · 520.398.9497 · tumacookery.com

Fax changes and/or approvals to 520-322-9438.

Ad Approved by:

____________________

edible

Baja Arizona

67

A Grape Grows In Sonoita

By Dan Sorenson | Photography by Jeff Smith

After three decades of coaxing grape vines out of shaky soils, Baja Arizona’s wine industry is coming of age and bottling distinctive desert terroir.

A

place doesn’t have

to make its own wine to be taken seriously. There are ships and trucks for those not blessed with the climate, soil, and talented fanatics to make their own. But having your own helps create an identity because wine, maybe more than any other agricultural product, is of the place where its grapes are grown. That’s the French concept of terroir. And less than 40 years since its infancy, southern Arizona’s wine industry has moved past the novelty of growing grapes in the desert.

So, while Southern Arizona may be best known in culinary circles for the chimichanga and the Sonoran hot dog, we’ve now got wine. Good wine. Sometimes great wine.

Southern Arizona winemakers—making wine from grapes grown in the Sonoita and Elgin area 50 miles southeast of Tucson and more recently near Willcox, 85 miles to the east—have the ribbons, medals, and rave reviews from big shot wine critics to prove it. Southern Arizona has become a place increasingly capable of producing fine wines made from its own grapes. But, it didn’t come easily or instantly.

The story of this success isn’t a deep one. Less than 25 years ago, wine making in the desert still wasn’t much more than a long shot based on the heavy sweat and wild hope of some grapegrowing hobbyists turned semipro. In the mid 1970s, a handful of adventurous sorts saw the similarities between soil and climate in southeastern Arizona and some of those places that produced great wines.

Gordon Dutt, a University of Arizona soil scientist, was probably the first to have any noted success, planting vines in the 1970s and making some decent wines under his Sonoita Vineyards label by the early-to-mid 1980s from grapes grown on land in Elgin.

Just as importantly, he encouraged others who showed an interest.

A number of other smaller operators, some advanced hobbyists, made wine in southern Arizona from California grapes, and a few from small plantings grown in Arizona.

But it wasn’t until Callaghan Vineyards of Elgin scored a rave

review from famed wine critic Robert Parker that people outside Arizona—and soon outside the United States—began to take Arizona winemaking seriously. Indeed, if southern Arizona’s wine potential ever became official, it was when Parker, of The Wine Advocate, blessed a 1993 bottle of Callaghan Vineyards’ Buena Suerte Cuvee with a score of 92. Suddenly, Arizona wine became more than a liquid gift shop gimmick peddled to tourists from a shelf next to the scorpion bolo ties and stuffed jackalopes.

Making wine takes good grapes, and growing good grapes takes backbreaking hard work, considerable luck with weather, disease and bugs—and some intangibles. And the grapes then must be in the hands of a talented and a highly determined, and often obsessed and quirky, winemaker. But first comes that hard work, most of it during harvest.

T

odd and Kelly Bostock, a couple in their mid-30s, are the owners of Dos Cabezas Wineworks in Sonoita. By late September, the Phoenix natives have been working 12- to 14-hour days, seven days a week, for weeks. It’s not even 9 a.m., and it’s already hot, the smell of ripe fruit is thick, and bees are everywhere. Kelly wrangles boxes of Tempranillo grapes picked many days earlier and de-stemmed, and left to ferment to a desired level, toward the winery’s press. She and Todd scoop them out of the giant plastic boxes using five-gallon orange plastic buckets and dump them into a press. The German-made press is a horizontal, perforated stainless steel drum with a flexible bladder inside that, when filled with compressed air after the loading door is closed, squeezes the juice from the grapes, through the holes and into a huge steel pan below.

The plastic boxes are about four foot square, and just as deep.

Todd tips the box so Kelly, standing on a short step stool, can scoop out the last grapes without falling in. Todd says he could get an attachment for their old forklift to allow them to dump the grapes straight into the press, but he likes to keep the process as “hands on” as possible. Somehow, it is these things, he says, that make Dos Cabezas’ wines different.

And there’s a lot of this hands-on work. While Todd may be the official winemaker, he says, “People don’t realize that if I just moved 3,000 pounds of grapes, Kelly moved 3,000 pounds of grapes.” Indeed, their purple-stained hands won’t return to a normal color until after this season ends.

Kelly keeps moving grapes around, through various stages of the process leading up to pressing, while Todd takes samples of already picked grapes packed in gallon-size Ziploc bags, crushes them by hand in the bag, and then uses an electronic tester to measure each sample’s acidity and sugar level. Then he tastes the juice and records the numbers and his impressions in a stained winemaker’s log book. He does this to every batch of grapes, juice and wine-in-the-making every day. It guides his decisions about what to do next, and will hopefully help him remember what conditions preceded vintages that will hopefully be considered great—or not so great—months or years from now.

As the winemaker for Dos Cabezas, Todd Bostock learned his

edible

Baja Arizona

69

“We’re finally overcoming [the notion] that people are surprised that it isn’t bad.

But, if you like drinking wine, it may not be your wine, but there’s a wine made in Arizona that will do it for you.” craft through a combination of on-the-job-training in Sonoita and weekend classes at the University of California at Davis, the leading U.S. program for wine grape growers and winemakers.

But like other southern Arizona winemakers, he repeats the truism that “Southern Arizona isn’t California. When they first brought vines [to the U.S. from Europe], it was stuff intended for California. And we’re not California, so you don’t know until you put it into the ground.”

70 November - December 2013

And that is why the experience of those who came first, albeit only a decade or even a few years before him, is so important— even trumping what one can learn from the grape gurus at UC Davis. Bostock apprenticed with Frank DiChristofano and later Kent Callaghan, then the winemakers at Dos Cabezas when he started there in 2002. “I don’t even pretend I could have done this without what I learned from them,” says Bostock, who became the lead winemaker in 2003. He’s talking of Dutt, DiChristofano, Callaghan, and another legend, Al Buhl, the founder and former owner of Dos Cabezas.

With nearly 30 varieties of grapes growing between Dos Cabezas’ vineyards—15 acres in Sonoita, and another 28 acres near Willcox—all of which ripen at different dates, the harvest goes on for a long time. “Our harvest gets dragged out over two months,” Bostock says. “For those doing just one [type of grape], it’s over in two weeks.” And that probably sounds inviting to the Bostocks right now. The couple have two boys, 11 and 5, and one or the other has to dash off from their grape wrangling to run kid errands—breakfast, school or sports practice, dinner.

“We’re finally overcoming [the notion] that people are surprised that it isn’t bad,” Todd says of fighting the novelty of growing grapes and making fine wine in dry, brown Arizona. “But, if you like drinking wine, it may not be your wine, but there’s a wine made in Arizona that will do it for you.”

(Left) It takes hard work and practiced hands to harvest undamanged grapes from the field. A worker at Callaghan Vineyards knows the drill.

(Above) At the Aridus Crush Facility, grapes come in and bottled wine goes out. What happens in between is in the domain of Scott Dahmer.

A

few miles away in Elgin, Kent Callaghan, the winemaker and local legend for that Parker review and rating, is the grumpy boss of the small, and mostly one-man operation. (Bostock, by the way, says it’s somewhat unfair, and maybe a little bit annoying to Callaghan, to be treated like a legend, the guru of the local vines and wines. “It must be hard for Kent,” says Bostock. “People talk about him like he’s some old guy. He’s not even 50.”)

But Callaghan has and continues to make some of the area’s most highly regarded wines. He’s still hard at it. This time of year, late September, he probably doesn’t have any time to think about what others think of him and his place in all of this.

Callaghan, who with his father planted a vineyard in Elgin in 1990, calls the Parker review and 92 point rating a turning point.

But it was anything but easy street even after Parker’s blessing.

Even today, with Callaghan Vineyards’ wines having earned major awards and ratings, and the honor of being served at White House dinners, the name is hardly a license to print money. His friend, Lisa Barkley, handles the humble, cluttered tasting room and some of the marketing, and he has but one full-time employee, and only during harvest, when he rides herd on the pickers and brings in giant plastic boxes of grapes from the adjacent vineyards using a trailer made from an old, yellow pickup truck box towed by a small blue tractor. The rest of the year, it’s mostly just Callaghan.

He mutters and grumbles as he charges between giant plastic

hoppers that hold recently harvested grapes outside and the succession of stainless steel machines, metal tanks and oak barrels behind the tasting room at the Elgin winery.

This isn’t some dilettante’s diversion, an amusing hobby for a gentleman farmer. This day, in the crush of the late harvest—Callaghan’s got a bumper crop of grapes and just learned from his assistant that more are ready—he looks like he could take over for Mike Rowe of “Dirty Jobs.” The only thing that isn’t about wine in this echoing, hanger-sized metal building is a big leg press machine with an impressive pile of weights on the bar. It’s pushed to the side, boxed in by barrels and boxes. Callaghan looks fit, but he doesn’t need weights to stay that way during harvest.

Callaghan says he doesn’t want the winery to get too big. He’d prefer to stay producing about 1,500 to 1,800 cases a year. To do that, and make a living, wholesale accounts for only about five percent of sales. The vast majority is sold through the tasting room, Callaghan says. And he says even the sales through the tasting room aren’t what they appear to be. “Everybody thinks it’s better when it’s busy, but we do better when we’re not busy. Tour buses do us basically no good whatsoever. More serious people buy more,” says Callaghan. Serious wine people don’t arrive on tour buses.

This year is a big harvest, and could produce more than enough juice for his purposes. He said that “interplanting,” replacing vines that were frozen out a couple years ago, has given

Workers at Dos Cabezas take a break from an early-morning grape harvest. Most wineries will use only five or six workers to harvest all their grapes.

72 November - December 2013

Bisbee e, AZ A Come visit

edible

Baja Arizona

73

(Left) Todd and Kelly Bostock of Dos Cabezas Wineworks aren’t afraid of a little purple juice. (Above) Sarah and Rob Hammelman of Sand-Reckoner Winery watch the transformation of grape to juice at the Aridus Crush Facility.

him vines that are just now coming into production. It’s the sweet side of what was a bad time.

“We lost a lot of vines that winter when it got down to 18 [degrees] two nights in a row in Tucson [in February of 2011]. Down here it was eight degrees,” Callaghan says of the hard freeze.

Even with Parker’s and other critics’ continuing praise for Callaghan, Sonoita, and Elgin don’t stand alone like France’s Bordeaux and Burgundy, California’s Napa and Sonoma, Italy’s Piemonte and Toscano, or Australia’s Barossa.

T

he U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms says Sonoita is Arizona’s sole American Viticultural Area, or AVA. But let’s not get too excited. Minnesota has one and Arkansas has three. Getting an AVA doesn’t certify that you’re good, just that you have a recognized and definable geographic area. And with the kind of production coming out of the Sonoita and Elgin wineries, there isn’t going to be enough Southern Arizona wine to create a worldwide market.

The less recognized Willcox and Kansas Settlement areas of Cochise County, 85 miles east of Tucson and northeast of Sonoita, are also producing some fine wines of their own—and more quantity. The Verde Valley, near Cottonwood and Prescott, also has a growing wine industry, though most of the grapes for that area’s most highly regarded wineries come from Southern Arizona vineyards—mainly the Willcox area.

Willcox is pushing wine the way it used to push apples and Rex Allen Days as a tourist draw and economic engine.

Hard rock band frontman-turned-winemaker Maynard Keenan of Merkin Vineyards, Arizona Stronghold and Caduceus Cellars has a presence near Cottonwood, but his and winemaking partner Eric Glomski’s (Page Springs Cellars) juice is coming from Willcox-area vineyards. Film and TV director-turned winemaker Sam Pillsbury, a Phoenix resident, also uses Cochise County grapes to make wines for his Pillsbury Wine Company.

Indeed, the production capacity needed to put Southern Arizona on the worldwide wine map may come from Willcox rather than Sonoita.

A couple miles east of downtown Willcox, next to the Willcox Livestock Auction, is an impressive, or at least large, series of steel buildings that is home to the fledgling Aridus Wine Company. Truck loads of grapes come in one side of the first building and cases of bottled wine behind several different producers leave from the last—or at least that’s the plan. The seven-figure remod-

edible

Baja Arizona

75

Tasting Hours

Friday through Sunday 11:00 am - 4:00 pm

(520) 455-5383 · 2368 Hwy 83, Elgin, AZ Great Wines & Good Times

Sonoita, AZ

(888) 569-1642 · AzHopsAndVines.com MESQUITE-SMOKED SINGLE MALT - CL ASSIC UNSMOKED - MESQUITE-SMOKED CLEAR

HAMILTON DISTILLERS HANDCRAFTED IN THE SONORAN DESERT www.hamiltondistillers.com

76 November - December 2013

el of a former Willcox apple warehouse is capable of putting out more wine than the rest of the Arizona wine industry, according to owner Scott Dahmer. He says this is a first for Arizona, the kind of place you’d see in California, the kind of one-stop facility that could help the industry reach critical mass locally.

“This is the largest crush facility in Arizona,” both in the number of tanks and square feet, says Dahmer, a former California wine country graphic artist.

“We can take it from bin to bottle,” Dahmer says. “I could have bought two Ferraris for what it cost,” Dahmer says of the fancy Italian bottling and labeling machines in the rearmost warehouse of the Aridus complex. And that’s just the bottling end.

This one-stop approach goes beyond de-stemming, crushing, and bottling. Aridus also offers the services of winemaker Rob Hammelman, who learned his craft working and studying in Australia, France and Colorado. Besides hiring out his talent and credentials—he earned an advanced degree in oenology from the University of Adelaide in South Australia—Hammelman is making his own wines under the Sand-Reckoner label.

Willcox is pushing wine the way it used to push apples and Rex Allen Days as a tourist draw and economic engine. There are already several tasting rooms in the Willcox area representing labels produced from local grapes, and there are plans to open even more.

Dos Cabezas, though its winery and tasting room are in Sonoita, has most of its acreage in Willcox’s Kansas Settlement area to the south of town. And Oregon Pinot Noir pioneer and legend Dick Erath still has more than 100 acres of suitable, but unplanted, land adjacent to Bostock’s Dos Cabezas vineyards and not far from those of several other vineyards.

Dahmer says he chose to do things backwards—starting with the winemaking facility before the vineyard to produce his own grapes. “We have land, but we’re just clearing it,” he says. “We’re doing all of the harvest processing for Sam Pillsbury, Erath, Sand-Reckoner, Arizona Stronghold, all of the Kansas Settlement area.” And he said a number of other winemakers, including well-established Keeling-Schaefer Vineyards and his own Aridus

BEST CASUAL DINING | BEST ICE-CREAM | BEST LATE-NIGHT EATS

MON-FRI 11AM-12AM

•

SAT-SUN 10AM-12AM

266 EAST CONGRESS TUCSON, ARIZONA 85701

P 520.207.8201 WWW.HUBDOWNTOWN.COM

We grow it. You choose it. We pick it. You eat it.

Order our fresh CERTIFIED ORGANIC veggies and fruits online and we’ll harvest them and deliver them to the pick up location you choose. The FarmBox is completely customizable and you may cancel at any time. We are committed to providing you with delicious Veganically Grown produce directly from our sustainable farm here in southern Arizona. Visit our website to learn more and sign up.

www.sunizonafamilyfarms.com (520) 824-3160

edible

Baja Arizona

77

Come Visit the New and Improved Coyote Salon at 2855 E Grant Rd!

OPEN LATE 623-7341

YOUR HAIR WILL BEHAVE!

TUCSON’S LARGEST SELECTION

LIQUOR BEER WINE

2642 N. Campbell 520.327.0452

label, are putting in even more acreage, in his case near Turkey Creek, about 32 miles south from Willcox.

“This year we’re looking to do 200 tons [of grapes],” says Dahmer—five times what Aridus processed in 2012. Dahmer says that on a recent Saturday, the facility processed 40 tons, equaling the total for the previous year in one day.

Hammelman, the 36-year-old owner of Sand-Reckoner and the contract winemaker for Aridus, says the time is right for the expansion. (Hammelman got his start working a summer job at Dos Cabezas Winery—a generational lineage that proves the industry is coming of age). The massive production facility, with a cafeteria line of services ranging from partial to complete winemaking, will further spur growth in the local industry.

“There’s been huge growth in Arizona in the last five years,” Hammelman says. “If we decided to do it 10 years ago, it would have been almost impossible. Just everything that goes into it, from labor to attracting people into the tasting rooms.” And Dahmer says that while the Aridus plant looks massive, compared to other local operations, it’s exactly the kind of thing that you would see in California’s wine country. When producers and wineries get big enough, they buy their own facilities. Until then, Dahmer says, Aridus can give them the equipment and services to get them to that next step.

But the next stage will take driven and talented winemakers, as well as investment. With relatively young, but already experienced winemakers such as Bostock and Hammelman, both only 36, it appears that next generation is already here. ✜ Dan Sorenson is a freelance writer, musician, longtime Tucson newspaper reporter—and fan of the grape arts. (His hobbies include searching for $9 bottles of wine he wouldn’t feel bad about paying $50 for in a good restaurant. They’re out there.)

Thursday 4PM-8PM Friday 4PM-8PM Saturday 2PM-7PM

3810 East 44th Street 78 November - December 2013

RESTORATIVE MASSAGE Still the mind and the heart will open

GMO-free masa, gluten free, vegetarian and vegan available.

Allow your body, mind and spirit to fill with spaciousness and light.

2545 E Broadway

This work is based on Swedish massage and may also include the use of basaltic stones, reflexology, breath awareness, and other energy modalities.

Visit Tucson’s closest winery.

Enjoy handcrafted Arizona wines with breathtaking mountain views.

Open Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 6pm

Wendy Brittain, LMT WdBrtn@msn.com

884-8226

18585 S. Sonoita Hwy, Vail, AZ · (520) 762-8585 · CharronVineyards.com

SUPPORT KXCI's CAPITAL CAMPAIGN

LEARN MORE AT KXCI.ORG

edible

Baja Arizona

79

AN OUTSIDER’S APPROVAL

WHEN DICK ERATH answered the phone in early

October, the 78-year-old engineer-turned-winemaker had just come in from his Oregon vineyard where he had been fixing a propane cannon used to scare off birds bent on eating those precious grapes that the year’s cruel weather hadn’t murdered.

“Everybody wants the sugar,” Erath said, 50 some years into— and long resigned to—the facts of the vineyard owner and winemaker’s life. Making wine is always a struggle. Those grapes weren’t ruined by the 6.7 inches of rain that fell in September, ominously late in the Oregon season, and he wasn’t about to give them to the feathered freeloaders.

That the famous Dick Erath is dabbling in southern Arizona’s wine scene caused notice to be taken locally and nationally. It’s the kind of thing that serves as a de facto endorsement of the area to outsiders. After all, Erath and the Pinot Noirs he started making in Oregon in the 1960s and 70s were key in putting that state on the New World’s serious wine country map, just behind California. He’s been visiting southern Arizona for many years, and still has houses in Tucson and Green Valley, though he’s spending most of his time up in Oregon these days and has a contract with St. Michelle, the wine giant that bought his Erath label in 2006. But his vineyard near Willcox and his winemaking collaborations, most notably with Todd Bostock of Dos Cabezas, continue to draw a lot of attention.

Although he made his name in Oregon on Pinot Noir, he’s an advocate for blends in southern Arizona.

He thinks it’s likely that many of those varieties that originated in the hotter regions of Italy, including Sicily, and Spain that are more suited to Southern Arizona’s hot and dry climate.

Erath’s collaboration with Bostock, sold under the Cimarron label, consists of two blends, one of Spanish grapes, the other of Italian. But, Erath says, “We’re still trying to figure out which varieties are best” for southern Arizona’s hot, dry and high vineyards.

Erath said southern Arizona’s wine scene takes him back to his early days in Oregon. “Arizona now reminds me of Oregon 30 years ago,” says Erath. “We’re still trying to figure things out. We didn’t have so much of which varieties to plant in Oregon because we’re so cool up here we’re really limited in our selection. The issue we had is we didn’t know how to best plant, the spacing to use, what kind

80 November - December 2013

of training systems you use, and how to deal with our weather.

“The whole concept [in southern Arizona] is the same thing we did in Oregon. You want to pick a variety that fits the growing season that you have. I call it ‘a window in time.’ When you can fit that window, you’re going to make the best possible wine,” he says. But the industry is small enough that growers could use some help.

Asked if anything is holding Arizona’s wine industry back from the kind of success experienced in California, Oregon, and Washington, Erath says, “I wouldn’t say it’s holding [Arizona] back, but…

There is a lot of stuff going on down there and it would be nice to get the University [of Arizona] involved,” says Erath. “We’ve discovered that there’s Pierce’s disease [an insect-borne bacterial disease that damages grape plants’ ability to move water] at some of the vineyards down there. There’s really no known cure for that. So, that’s an issue.” Another issue in disease control comes from the fact that, in Arizona, “you have the monsoons coming through the same time the grapes are getting ripe,” he says.

The answer, Erath says, will probably come from combining experience and research, which takes both growers, winemakers, and a dedicated university group. “You have to get close to Mother Nature,” Erath says. “’Snuggle up with Mother Nature,’ I call it.”

It so happens that the UA is ready to help, says Jeffrey Silvertooth, associate dean and director for economic development and extension in the UA’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

While Silvertooth says the agriculture school was distanced from the wine industry in recent years, it is now working on a collaboration that could assist southern Arizona grape growers and wineries with needed research, and some training. Silvertooth says the local wine industry is still young, and too small to fund its own research, but could benefit from pooling resources to fund research through the UA. The college is also providing opportunities for students to complete the second half of a four-year degree in sustainable agriculture at the UA to those with a two-year degree in viticulture from Yavapai College.

In the end, Erath says, growing wine grapes is just agriculture, a lot closer to farming than most people drinking the product will ever know. And another thing: Erath wishes people would quit taking wine so seriously. “A lot of people worship wine. They should just drink it and enjoy it,” he says. ✜ —D.S.

fresh distinct real

Lunch & Dinner Happy Hour Sunday Brunch Parties & Catering

Open daily 11am-9pm 3001 E Skyline Dr acaciatucson.com

520.232.0101

BOOK YOUR HOLIDAY PARTY WITH TAVOLINO Private Dining Room & Catering

Earn a $20 Gift Card for every $100 in gift cards purchased!

Nov 1-Dec 31!

LUNCH - HAPPY HOUR - DINNER - REVERSE HAPPY HOUR

520.531.1913 | 2890 E SKYLINE DR

TAVOLINORISTORANTE.COM edible

Baja Arizona

81

Hot Optimism

In the words of Gabrielle Calvocoressi: “All this global warming and I can’t find a decent bottle of Rosé.”

By Nicole Walker | Photography by Jeff Smith

82 November - December 2013

CLIMATE

T

he winegrowers are trying

to be optimistic about climate change. It’s worth a try, I think. Why spend your days imagining forests desertified? Ice caps melted? Polar bears drowning? Humans are basically optimists and people who grow grapes are good at looking at the bright side of things. In Canada, thanks to global warming, vintners are hoping they will be able to raise Cabernet Sauvignon grapes soon.

The vintners are adapting to incremental, but eventually extreme, change. And they’re patient. They’re planting now for an eventual future.

Arizona is the opposite of Canada. Here, winegrowers are worried about the temperatures climbing too high, even for Cabernet. Canada might worry, as the glaciers melt, about too much water. Arizona worries about water disappearing.

Arizona has a long wine history, dating back to the sixteenth century when Jesuit priests tended vines and made wine for ceremonial purposes. Most of the grapes in Arizona are grown in Willcox or Sonoita, in the southeastern part of the state, where white oak forests give way to grasslands, which give way to rows of vines. Along the perimeter? Prickly pear cactus. Who would think cactus and grapes go together? No one. Or no one except Gordon Dutt who, as a soil scientist, knew that soil surprises. In 1973, he discovered the pH in the red soil of very southern Arizona to be identical to the red soil, terra rosa, in the Cote d’Or region of France. And so, if soil is at least half of the bargain, why not plant some vines? So he did.

He thought at first that the harsh Arizona sun might bleach the grapes or produce grapes with too low acidity. But that didn’t happen. So Gordon Dutt bought a few more vineyards and opened the first winery in Arizona, Sonoita Vineyards.

He had his share of setbacks. Hail. Drought. Sharpshooters— mosquito-like insects that infest grape vines. All the vines died.

He had to replant and wait three years for the vines to produce fruit. He staved off the next infiltration by planting blackberries around the vineyards and spraying them with insecticide. The poisonous blackberry vines killed the sharpshooters, the grapes went on to make wines that won awards. Now run by his granddaughter and her husband, the wine is sold across the country.

T

here are people who sought this state out, who chose these varied climates on purpose. Even wine people.

Between Sedona and Cottonwood, the road to Page Springs turns flat and dismal. Like cow-flat and chaparral dismal—the kind of scrub plants that hug tightly to the ground, tucking away from the sun. Looking at the scrappy leaves on the chaparral, you’d think there is no way anyone could grow anything delicious here, let alone grapes. But then you turn left and

there is Oak Creek. Birds fly outward from the watercourse like there’s somewhere better to go. They figure out quickly that there is not and return. To the right, as the road twists by the creek, riparian vegetation abounds with cottonwoods, willows, reeds. To the left, full-on desert sand. You get whiplash between the contrasts—lush to the right, vapid to the left, abundance to the right, scarcity to the left.

But that variation presents challenges and benefits to winegrowers. If the tiniest variation can lead to different outcomes, then unless you know all the permutations of variation, the outcomes will not turn out as you had hoped. I sit on a deck overlooking Oak Creek with Eric Glomski, the co-founder of Page Springs Winery. A small vineyard extends toward the river.

Glomski planted two varietals, mainly Grenache, near the bottom of the river where the river materials are mostly gravel and sand.

Grenache is known to be vigorous and he thought the gravel would keep the vines in check, vigor-wise, allowing the grapes, which like warm air, to produce a good mixture of sweetness and acid.

But he was wrong. Lower is not always warmer. The river valley drains cold air all the way from upper Oak Creek and the edge of Flagstaff. Cold air is denser and flows down the valley across the bottom of the vineyard that had been planted with Grenache.

They realized that the lower-elevation of the vineyard is radically colder. Eight years later, he still hadn’t gotten a crop off those vines.

Glomski shakes his head like he can’t believe this happened to him, after all that research, after being a river ecologist, for God’s sake.

“We tried all these different things—built straw bales to act as a wall, a fan that takes air from the ground and shoots it into the sky.

Years and years late, we finally pulled out those Grenache vines one-by-one and planted a French-American hybrid. Gewürztraminer and Soave-blanc. That’s just one of many examples that you learn about microclimates by farming. When you live a lifestyle where your economic sustenance is directly linked to the cycles of nature, you have no choice but to become very conscious of those things.”

In such a variable climate, adaptability makes or breaks a winery, and climate and soil make or break grapes. Because of Arizona’s diverse topography and climate, one can reach from around the state to find grapes with different textures and tolerances. Eric Glomski brings grapes from Sonoita to Page Springs to blend and complicate the grapes he grows by Oak Creek. But the signature flavor comes from the primary place the winegrowers established their own vineyards. Glomski and Dutt chose to plant their vineyard in a particular spot because of the soil, its volcanic material, an extrusive igneous rock, a blackish kind of gray basalt. Under-

edible

Baja Arizona

83

neath that basalt is a bed of limestone. Layers of complicated soil make complicated grapes. Limestone is one of the golden jewels of winegrowing because it has a high pH that limits the vigor of the vines. You want the vines to suffer so they put more energy into the fruit. Choosing your soil means you manage the suffering. The climate variations tend to manage you.

S

aguaro and sauvignon are not words you usually use in the same sentence. It’s September and 107 degrees and I worry about the Village of Elgin Winery, which processes its grapes the old fashioned way, meaning they stomp the grapes with their feet. Boiling grape juice, burning toes. But there are some similarities to Europe. Oleander shrubs line the freeways just as they do in France. There is a little of France in every vineyard, if you look for it.

When I told Mark Beres of Flying Leap Vineyard about Glomski’s poor Grenache and asked if he had any similar stories, he told me that he didn’t mean to change the dirt. But he did, on accident.

“One of the more interesting issues we’ve had to tackle is soil pH. As you know, soil pH is a very, very important thing with regards to grapevine growth. Grapevines prefer mildly acidic soil, but can thrive anywhere from a pH of 6.4 to 7.7,” he said. “When we first pulled soil samples on our Block 1 field in 2009, the static pH of the soil was 7.1. This was absolutely ideal. However, we forgot a few things along the way. Our area is widely covered with several layers of bicarbonate—caliche, high calcium rock below the surface. When surface water perks down through this, it becomes basic.” Essentially, by the time the water gets all the way down to the leach gravels below, it has turned into alka-seltzer.

“When we drilled down to the leach gravel and began to pump this water up to the surface and drip it on our vines, we were essentially applying basic water onto our perfectly balanced soil. In two years, we increased the soil pH from 7.1 to 8.1, and I about had a frickin’ heart attack.

“Solving this pH and nutrient dilemma required a lot of engineering work and money. This year, we designed and built a rather elegant acidification system for our irrigation, and we began to apply specific combinations of liquid acid and dry elements to both replenish the soil and adjust its pH. We also began a clever composting routine to throttle the changes with organic matter, necessary salts, and decaying plant material.”

I

n Arizona, every big band of climate and soil and moisture has little tiny bands within it. There are little bands within the big bands at every winery. Todd Bostock of Dos Cabezas Wineworks underscores what Glomski knows about adjusting whole vineyards. Two times in a row, he planted Grenache and, in the winter, the temperature dropped, uncommonly, to below six degrees. Fatal for Grenache vines. He started planting more whites—viogniers. He says, “That’s one of the first things I learned. To give up my taste and let the grapes guide me.” We talked about how that’s one great thing about trying to grow grapes in the desert—you try to change the desert, the vines, the 84 November - December 2013

wine, the grapes, but in the end, the wine, the vines, the desert changes you.

Possibly because Arizona is a relatively new winegrowing region, and definitely because everyone is watching what you do with water, Arizona growers try to grow grapes as sustainably as they can. Sustainability is the slow version of adaptability’s quick neediness—you want these vines to last far into the future even as you tinker and manipulate them. Vineyards are meant to be old.

For vines to be old, they need an earth healthy enough to grow old upon. Kief Manning, winemaker and co-owner of Kief-Joshua Vineyards, works with the earth by paying attention to sustainable growing methods.

“We have been talking to a local nonprofit in the area that is devoted to maintaining and developing agricultural diversity and sustainability in the Southwest to figure out proper planting schedules and species [like clover, vetch, mustards, legumes] to be used as non-irrigated cover crops in the vineyard to help build soil structure, promote nitrogen fixing bacteria and plants, water infiltration and maintain the biodiversity of our native soils,” he said.

By growing cover crops between vines, you keep water in, pests out. Less water, fewer pesticides. Winemakers, because they have to wait so long for grapes to pan out, can see into the future. They would like that future to include “biodiversity of our native soils.”

I

n Arizona, with winemaking, sometimes the problem isn’t a lack of water. It’s too much. One of the hardest things to deal with is the monsoon. It almost always rains in Arizona during harvest. Grapes take on water. It’s not so bad for the Cabernet grapes; they’re loosely packed and can dry out the next morning but for grapes like Pinot Noir, it’s rough. Pinot grapes’ skins are so tight, that when the water gets in, it can’t get out. The grapes rot from the inside.

Kent Callaghan has been dealing with desert and monsoons

You want the vines to suffer so they put more energy into the fruit. Choosing your soil means you manage the suffering.

The climate variations tend to manage you.

Sit n Feast on your life n

Café é Justo Grower Owned Cooperative, based in Chiapas Mexico Excellent organic very low-acid coffee Fair Trade and Direct Trade, Shade Grown, Single Origin Roasted Daily in Agua Prieta, Sonora JustCoffee.org

520.727.0014

9121 E Tanque Verde Rd n 749-3903

SUBSCRIBE NOW WHY SUBSCRIBE? SUPPORT OUR MISSION of celebrating the local food and drink community of Baja Arizona, enabling us to do more great stories.

BE THE FIRST TO SEE THE NEW ISSUE – subscribers get the magazine in the mail before edible hits the street.

No frantic searching!

You will have the satisfied smile of a subscriber.

$36 a year $58 for two years

Subscribe online at

edibleBajaArizona.com

Find us!

edible

Baja Arizona

85

since 1990. “We planted Zinfandel in 1990 and I worked with it—or fought with it—for 17 years before grafting the two-acre block over to Graciano, a high quality red grape from Rioja. Our monsoons created major rot issues for Zin. I tried just about every trick in the book to alleviate the problem—leaf pulling, cluster thinning, deficit irrigation during berry enlargement—but nothing worked. Graciano buds late, has no rot issues, and produces very high quality wine.”

It seems simple to switch the varietal but it takes years to wait for the grapes to grow, to understand what the problem is, to finally decide to pull the vines, to pay for new ones, to wait for those new vines to produce drinkable fruit. Todd Bostock said that what surprised him most was how long everything takes.

That he wasn’t selling award-winning wine right off the bat. “We were going to do stuff nobody has ever done. It does a number on your ego. Nature is the steward.” The Arizona wine-pioneers had warned him: you’ll be lucky if your vines survive the year. “And then, we did what everyone does. Planted rootstock. Watched 90 percent of our vines die.”

Bostock is taking the long-view now, even though his wines have been tasted around the world, even though he sells cases of wine across the country. “I hope now that I have a healthy vineyard to give my children, my grandchildren.” Maybe it’s easier to 86 November - December 2013

adapt when you think about your grandchildren inheriting the ground you left them.

What makes me optimistic is this: Winegrowers can imagine the force of cold air, the will of red grapes, the size of a barn, the humidity of a valley, the effect of a slope, the amount of sulfur on a grape, the rate of water flowing through Oak Creek per minute, the burble of the spring, the sway of a Cottonwood, the birth of a child, the first taste of apple wine, Bostock’s inheritors, Dutt’s great-grandchildren—and they can fashion a response in order to bring out the nature of each place in each wine.

What each winegrower had in common was his ability to tell where his wine came from—not just what winery but what vineyard. By paying attention to all the details, each time they adapted to the threat of sharpshooter, the acidity of limestone, the cold of Oak Creek, the mustard greens between the vines, the drought, the near-mildew, the climate changing, the Jesuit Priests and the six life zones of Arizona, in one glass, they could locate themselves in a specific moment in a specific place. The accretion of all that mental and physical work is unique. Each one tastes like your vineyard and only the smallest bit like cactus. ✜ Nicole Walker is the author of the essay collection Quench Your Thirst with Salt and a book of poems, This Noisy Egg.

tan路gi路ble adjective 1. discernible by the touch; material or substantial.

2. real or actual, rather than imaginary.

Print is not dead. Print resonates. Print is tangible.

At Edible Baja Arizona, our business is telling stories...in every issue we introduce our 90,000 readers to the people, places, businesses and organizations that are exemplary, innovative, exciting...that make a difference in our local foods economy. And our advertisers are part of that conversation.

We place a high value on top-notch journalism, outstanding photography and design, quality paper stock, and a print quality that conveys warmth and credibility. It costs more, but it's worth it. We like to think we're creating collector's items with every issue.

Readers can see and touch your ad in an environment that is conducive to communicating your message.

It simply works.

Our mission is to change the world here in Baja Arizona, helping to grow a strong local foods economy that creates jobs, keeps the dollars here, and makes our communities more sustainable, healthy and prosperous.

Grow your business in the pages of Edible Baja Arizona and be part of the revolution.

Photography by Jared R. McKinley

(From left) Hops are starting to grow on the grounds of Arizona Hops & Vines. That isn’t detering sisters Megan Haller and Shannon Zouzoulas, who are hoping to be raising glasses of their beer soon. In the Arizona Hops & Vines tasting rooms, the barrel that began it all: a repository for wishes (and display case for their wine offerings).

The Lobbyist, the Shooter, and the Two Sisters How Arizona winery laws were won.

By Emily Gindlesparger

W

hen sisters Megan

Austin Haller and Shannon Austin Zouzoulas bought a property in Sonoita for a vineyard, everyone told them their little house on the hill couldn’t be the tasting room. It was falling apart, and a load-bearing wall divided the space awkwardly. So one day in frustration, Haller took a sledgehammer to the wall and knocked it down. The ceiling promptly threatened to cave in. A contractor jacked up the beam, and the sisters disguised the support by putting a wine barrel around it. Now the barrel is a repository for wishes: Customers spill their hearts on scraps of paper, toss them in the barrel, and every summer solstice, the sisters set the scraps ablaze. So far, the sisters’ wishes—to run a combination winery and brewery called Arizona Hops & Vines in the heart of the Chiricahua grasslands—have come true.

“We knocked down a wall,” Haller says, “and it just opened everything up.”

It was not without some doing. Until recently, Arizona liquor laws prohibited a winery and brewery to operate on the same property. But after meeting with people at several levels of gov88 November - December 2013

ernment, the sisters couldn’t figure out why; the rule seemed arbitrary, an outdated phrase to protect distribution profits. Word soon spread and lobbyist Mark Barnes contacted them to see how he could help.

Some senators they met with were wary of the reaction of distribution lobbyists who might oppose a change in the law; others wondered how they could spin the move as a positive for re-election. But when Barnes connected them with Senator Don Shooter, a “crazy” and charming Republican from Yuma, an unlikely piece was fit in place. “Senator Shooter didn’t seem to care,” says Haller. Zouzoulas agrees: “He was a blessing. He just fit right into the calamity that is this place, and he drove it forward.”

Senator Shooter escorted the bill through committee meetings, and at the final hearing, as Haller describes it, “He was going to introduce us, and we thought he was going to talk about small business or entrepreneurs or job creation to get us going for the board, and instead he stands up and says, ‘Well, it’s pretty girls and beer, what else do you need to hear?’” (His actual quote: “This bill has beer, has beautiful ladies, it has wine. This is a bill we can

all unite on.” Zouzoulas’ reaction: “It was a very chauvinistic moment, but he’s charming.”)

“Even though I don’t necessarily agree with [his] politics,” Haller says, “he made it happen. He was straightforward with everybody. And that’s exactly the same thing that makes this place so special. People who came to us, they just felt moved by this and they helped us with it.”

The sisters continue to break through walls. The day before I visited, the time had come to buy more grapes for the next vintage, but a neighboring winemaker had advised them against the expense: They’d run out of barrel space for new wine. No matter.

“If I don’t have the barrel space I’ll go get water bottles and fill them up,” says Haller. “We want this to work so badly that we’ll keep moving forward at all costs.”

The renegade winemakers serve Cheetos and barbeque potato chips with their fine wines, which sport names like First Crush, Imbibe, Zinnerpeace, and the wildest experiment, Drag Queen: a hopped white wine that sold out last spring. Their hop field, the first commercial one in Arizona, sits in a low spot on the property where the frost sets in. While frost is a death kiss for grapes, the hops thrive in this patch where the water gathers. They grow thick enough to choke the weeds, and their bitterness deters the insects. Just as the environment shapes a wine, it influences the hops too; breweries have already called looking for a taste of Arizona. (After the sisters harvested their field into a big bucket that weighed just ten ounces, Four Peaks Brewery called and asked for forty pounds. “I hate them,” Zouzoulas quips about the hops. “I want to make them fat.”)

Come New Year’s, a new label of zinfandel will be added, dubbed The Lobbyist in honor of Mark Barnes, “because it’s a very persuasive wine,” Zouzoulas explains. They’ll serve it alongside their first Shooter IPA at their New Year’s Eve Speakeasy.

They’ll be releasing a new blend called Gracias around Thanksgiving to give thanks for everyone who’s been involved in making Arizona Hops and Vines grow. “It’s been a community effort one hundred percent,” Haller explains. “That’s what pushed the law forward. And that’s what pushes us forward every single day—the connection with the people we’re doing this with; not for, but with.”

The next project they’ve set their sights on is serving other local brews alongside their own, which will take some legal footwork, buying a separate property where Zouzoulas will hold the brewery license and sell beer to Haller, who will have a license for tap microbrews in the tasting room. The law prohibits them from creating a restaurant or brewpub in their little house on the hill.

But if they want it, it’ll happen. Gazing over the hops and vines, impossibility just seems like a solution waiting to be found. ✜

Give the gift of

ð

ä

î

Ë

Ë

ä ð

ä

ð õ

$36 for one years $58 for two years

Ë Send a check with your contact info and the address of the person receiving the gift subscription.

Edible Baja Arizona 307 S. Convent Tucson, AZ 85701 or call 520.370.5864 to pay with credit card

Arizona Hops & Vines. 3450 Highway 82. Sonoita. 888.569.1642.

AzHopsAndVines.com.

Emily Gindlesparger traded the forested Southern Illinois for the mountains of Tucson, where she teaches yoga and writes about adventures on bicycles, cliffsides, and wine trails.

Subscriptions start with the next issue.

Current and past issues can be requested at $10 each.

edible

Baja Arizona

89

Coming Home for the Holidays

90 November - December 2013

This four-course meal, prepared using many native and local ingredients, brings Baja Arizona heritage to the holidays.

By Amy Valdés Schwemm Photography by Steven Meckler

A

fresh tamal and a mug

of hot atole set on the kitchen counter next to rows of steaming tamales set out to cool: That says holidays to me.

No simple sauce: the many ingredients of mole negro come together for a holidayworthy treat.

When the Fernández family reunites this year, we will make tamales and tell stories about them. The kids start by cleaning corn silk from the hojas, eventually learning to spread masa, and the most experienced tamaleras filling and folding. Our Grandma always carefully stacked the steamer, leaning the tamales against an inverted mug in the center, not letting any of them spring open and packing them just so.

We learned from our neighbor about tying the tamales so they don’t flip open. She learned long ago from her new in-laws, who determined she was all thumbs. The next year she wanted to be ready, so she practiced ripping two thin strips of hoja, tying them together for length, and then tying around the tamal. The in-laws then admitted they usually skipped the ties.

I enjoy other families’ tamales made with a green un-pitted olive, though our family

edible

Baja Arizona

91

never uses olives, even though we like them.

The tradition is to give tamales as gifts or sell enough to pay for the season’s tamale ingredients. My siblings, cousins, and I would stand in the yard with a big sign and hold up a dozen in a plastic bag.

Reviving old traditions, I’m learning to use my great grandmother Abuelita’s wellused metate and metlapil (mano) to grind the corn. Grinding nixtamal is quicker and easier than it sounds, but I do need more practice.

While Abuelita didn’t grind the corn herself, Papa whipped air into the masa with his bare hands, making onditas (waves) in the stiff batter. Papa, my grandfather, taught me to grow a little corn, chile, squash, and beans in the backyard and render lard.

I also make mole on this three-legged metate, another special dish with a long recipe. When filling tamales with mole, the starch and fat in tamales subdue the chiles and spices, so the mole can be bolder than might be served pooled on a plate. Mole negro gets heat from plenty of chipotle morita, pasilla and mulato chiles, a slight bitterness from cacao nibs instead of sweetened chocolate, and has just enough local pecans to finish the sauce.

This meal can be made ahead of time before guests arrive, but it’s more fun to get any available family and willing guests involved. I especially thank my family for their help and good times in the kitchen!

Clockwise from left: Mesquite Pecan Crackers, Apple Prickly Pear Pie with White Sonora Wheat Crust, Atole de Péchita, Fresh Goat Cream Cheese (in preparation).

to a boil and soak overnight.

Another tradition is to make nixtamal and take it to be ground at a commercial mill, like the old Grande Tortilla Factory in Tucson.

4 cups dry corn, flour or dent, removed from the cobs

The Meal • Mesquite Pecan Crackers and Homemade Fresh Goat Cheese • Mole Negro Tamales with Turkey or Butternut Squash • Refried Beans • Wild and Backyard Salad • Apple Prickly Pear Pie with White Sonoran Wheat Crust • Autumn/Winter Herbal or Cinnamon Tea • Atole de Péchita

Mole Negro Tamales For each 2 dozen (approximately) Nixtamal (prepare the corn): To grind your own masa (dough), you can buy fresh nixtamal and grind it by metate or hand-crank molino (mill).

Or buy dried corn for posole, bring 92 November - December 2013

¼ cup cal (pickling lime available in the canning section of small hardware stores). Use construction lime if that’s what you have.

12 cups water

Simmer everything in a nonreactive pot for 30 minutes and soak overnight. The kernels should be in a slurry of their skins and white corn will turn bright yellow. Drain and rinse thoroughly several times, rubbing vigorously between your hands. (The rinse water is not suitable for gray water on plants.) When the rinse water is clear and kernels are not slimy, drain. The nixtamal is now ready to be boiled into posole or ground into masa for tortillas or tamales.

Grind the nixtamal by metate or molino. As the grinding exposes

dry starch of the grain, knead in water to make pliable dough.

4

cups turkey or winter squash

½

medium (yellow) onion

4

cloves (purple) garlic

4

cups prepared mole negro (homemade or 4 tins of Mano Y Metate mole powder)

If using roasted turkey, shred the meat and boil the bones with chopped onion and garlic in water to make a broth. If using raw chicken or turkey,

simmer with seasonings until tender.

Debone and shred the meat, reserving broth. Refrigerate the broth, then remove the solid fat and reserve.

If using squash, cut in ½ inch or smaller pieces and cook in water or vegetable broth with onion and garlic.

Strain and reserve the broth.

Toast the mole powder with ½ cup oil or reserved poultry fat. When fragrant, add 4 cups broth and simmer until thickened. Save a splash of mole to tint the masa. Fold enough mole into squash or meat to make a flavorful, but not runny, filling. If using squash, further reduce the sauce a bit since the squash doesn’t absorb the mole. Adjust for salt.

If using home rendered lard, keep it cool enough to prevent melting. Whip the fat with a bare hand or a stand mixer.

Add the room temperature masa, baking powder, and salt to the fat. If beating by hand, try to use masa before it gets refrigerated. Add the broth a little at a time to make a nice spreadable consistency, then a little mole for color. Beat until light and fluffy. When enough air is incorporated, a small piece will float in a glass of cold water. It will taste much less salty when cooked, so season accordingly.

If using shortening, add a second splash of mole to the masa for flavor.

1 ½ cups lard or shortening (almost ¾

Clean the hojas of corn silk and debris from the field. Soak in very hot water, stirring and weighing them down. When pliable, remove from water and squeeze dry. Select the largest hojas or piece two smaller ones together. Feel the veins of the hoja on both sides and put the smooth side up. Cooked masa sticks to the coarse side. Place ¼ cup of prepared masa at the cut end of the hoja. Spread the masa until it is about 5 inches along the cut side of the hoja, and about 4 inches up the hoja towards the tassel end. Next scoop 2 tablespoons meat/mole mixture into the center. Spread up and down to make a 2-inch wide line in the center (following the veins of the leaf). Fold

pound) 4

cups fresh unprepared masa (about 2 pounds). If purchased from the store, it should be coarser than masa for tortillas. Soft textured “Masa preparada para tamales” is already whipped with fat, and can be purchased at some restaurants.

2

teaspoons baking powder

4

teaspoons salt, depending on broth

1

cup meat broth

1

splash of mole

½

pound or more dried hojas (corn husks) or fresh saved from any corn

Assembly

the sides of the hoja to cover (folding in thirds with the veins of the leaf). It is fine if some of the masa is caught in the folds. Then fold the pointed end over (in half against the veins of the leaf). Pile the tamales carefully to prevent them from unfolding. Or tie with a thin strip of hoja (two lengths tied together to make it long enough) to hold the tassel end folded.

Line a steamer with small hojas. Stand the tamales upright with the open end up.

Pack in the steamer tightly enough to keep them standing, but leave enough space for them to expand during cooking. Cover with small hojas and/or a tea towel (it will become chile stained). Bring water in the bottom of streamer to a boil. After the appearance of steam, cook for 1½ hours more. Carefully remove a tamal from the steamer. If the masa is firm to the touch and when unfolded the masa falls away from the hoja, the tamales are ready. As they cool, the masa will continue to firm.

Reheat by steam or on a lightly oiled cast iron pan. Cooked tamales freeze beautifully for a few months.

With any remaining filling, eat in a hot tortilla. If you have more masa than meat, make sweet tamales. Mix raisins, shredded coconut, sugar, and cinnamon into the masa. Or make a filling of pinto beans by cooking, pureeing, and sweetening with brown sugar.

edible

Baja Arizona

93

Mesquite Pecan Crackers Adapted from Darcey Blue’s recipe in Desert Harvesters’ EAT Mesquite! A Cookbook. This is a great way to showcase any little collection of edible seeds collected from the desert. Sesame seeds and poppy seed are just as pretty. ½

cup mesquite meal (or whole wheat flour or acorn meal)

½

cup pecan meal

2

tablespoons seeds (barrel cactus, chia, saguaro, amaranth)

1

egg

1

tablespoon olive oil

½

teaspoon Gulf of California salt, plus a sprinkle for the tops

Mix everything and refrigerate, adding a tablespoon of water if necessary to make a stiff dough. Chill the dough thoroughly. Roll between two sheets of wax paper. Remove the top layer of paper and cut with a knife or cookie cutter. Bake on a lined cookie sheet in a preheated 375o oven for 6 to 8 minutes.

crushed chiltepin or cracked black pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to a week, or freeze.

Apple Prickly Pear Pie with White Sonoran Wheat Crust My Grandma Valdés made scores of empanaditas every fall to sell at church.

Pastry made with home ground whole wheat seems to crumble on me, so I started adding butter and cream cheese, and switched to open faced pies. Using White Sonora wheat flour with some of the bran sifted out, all-purpose or type 00, makes more forgiving dough for empanadas, small tarts, or one large pie.

2

pounds apples

¼

cup prickly pear jelly, or to taste

¼

cup pink prickly pear juice (about 4 frozen cubes)

½

teaspoon ground cinnamon

2

teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

2 ½ cups flour

Fresh Goat Cream Cheese The addition of cream makes the cheese better for the empanada pastry recipe below, but isn’t required for great cheese.

Rennet and culture are available at home beer brewing stores. For further instructions, consult Ricci Carroll, The Cheese Queen, at cheesemaking.com. ½

gallon raw goat’s milk

1

cup heavy cream (optional)

1

packet Buttermilk culture

4

drops rennet

¼

cup cool, un-chlorinated water Salt to taste

Warm the milk and cream to 86o. Sprinkle in the culture, allowing it to moisten for a minute, and stir. Add rennet to water and stir into milk. Allow to sit undisturbed for 12 hours (or up to 24 hours) until the curd pulls away from the sides of the pan. Very carefully spoon the yogurt-like curds out of the liquid whey and into a colander lined with a cloth napkin. Tie the corners of the napkin around a wooden spoon, place over the rim of a stock pot, and drain for 8 hours. Salt to taste. Sprinkle with herbs,

1

tablespoon sugar

½

teaspoon salt

½

cup butter

½

cup soft fresh goat cheese or cream cheese

Without peeling, core and dice the apples to ¼ inch pieces. Cook with a tiny bit of water until slightly softened.

Sweeten to taste with jelly and add cinnamon. Add the prickly pear juice and thicken with cornstarch just until translucent to save the pink color.

Pulse the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor or mix in a bowl. Cut in cheese and then butter until a dough forms. Refrigerate until firm. Roll dough and fill. Bake in a preheated 400o oven until the crust is brown, about 60 minutes for a large pie. Serve immediately for the best pink color.

Atole de Péchita Atole is a hot, drinkable porridge with countless variations, perfect for breakfast, with meals or snacks, or as dessert. I often add mesquite for natural sweetness

and omit the chocolate. The chocolate version is sometimes called champurrado.

This recipe allows you to use mesquite pods without grinding them into meal.

1

handful mesquite pods (or chaff sifted out when making meal) A few shreds of canela (Mexican/ Ceylon cinnamon)

6

cups water

¼

cup unprepared masa (or cornmeal or pinole)

2-4 ounces Mexican table chocolate or honey or roasted agave syrup (optional) A splash of milk (or cream or winter-squash seed milk or water)

Simmer the pods and cinnamon in water until the pods are soft and the water is brown or steep in a slow cooker overnight.

Mash the pods with a spoon to extract some pulp from the pods. Strain the liquid. Whisk in the masa and simmer until slightly thickened. Sweeten with chocolate, honey or roasted agave syrup and thin if necessary. Serve hot. ✜ Thanks to Arizona Sprout House, Desert Tortoise Botanicals, English Fruit Farm, Fiore di Capra, Flor de Mayo, Forever Yong Farm, Freddie Terry’s Apiaries, Green Valley Pecan Company, Hayden Flour Mills, Native Seeds/SEARCH, San Xavier Coop Farm, Skeleton Creek/The Mesquitery, Tucson Community Supported Agriculture, and Xocolatl for sourcing ingredients for this meal.

Amy Valdés Schwemm, at ManoYMetate.com, grinds chiles, spices, nuts, and seeds into six varieties of mole in a big metal-bladed grinder, for when you don’t have time to get out the metate. Toasting mole powders in the oil of your choice freshly releases the aromas as you make the sauce. Available online and at Native Seeds/SEARCH, Flor de Mayo, Santa Fe School of Cooking, Tucson CSA, Maynards Market, Tumacookery, Winter Sun Trading, Mercado San Agustin, Caduceus Cellars, and at the Desert Botanical Garden’s Chiles and Chocolate Festival, Nov. 15–17. Amy has been making Mole Dulce, Pipian Rojo, Adobo and Mole Verde since 2007; she’s also introducing Mole Negro and Pipian Picante (perfect with nopalitos).

edible

Baja Arizona

95

96 November - December 2013

edible

Baja Arizona

97

A man’s best friend: Steven Paul and his loyal companion—the 40-gallon whiskey still that catalyzed Hamilton Distiller’s expansion.

98 November - December 2013

BUZZ

Mesquite: Chairs to Cheers Out of the mesquite-fired ashes of Arroyo Design comes Hamilton Distillers, the first whiskey distillery in the Southwest.

By Dave Mondy | Photography by Steven Meckler

S

ay a man sits in a chair and thinks, “I want whiskey”—that’s not really news. But if a man thinks, “I could use this chair to create whiskey,” well, I want to meet that

man.

Which is how I landed in Arroyo Design, a premier manufacturer of mesquite furniture. I was searching for the proprietor, Stephen Paul—who, in addition to creating furniture that’s been featured in most major design magazine, has also built the first Scotch distillery in the desert Southwest.

It’s a crazy proposition: crafting desert-made Scotch, as the spirit conjures thoughts of verdant isles, not Sonoran sands.

(Though there is one obvious connection between Tucson and Scotland: golf.) Crazier still: Local bartenders who’ve tried his nascent distillations swear they’re as delicious as any they’ve tasted.

I love when The Lauded hail from hidden places, rather than some Big Box—and Arroyo Design fits the bill. You have to dodge bar dumpsters to find it, off back alleys behind Fourth Avenue. I didn’t know I was close until I heard the keening creee of spinning saws.

A man in his early sixties strode outside. “Dave?” he asked, wearing cowboy boots, tight jeans, big belt buckle, lavender button-down, and the big hat that only real ranchers—and a few other people—can get away with. This guy, an artisan, happens to be one of those other people. As a native Northerner, I won’t pretend to be an arbiter of big hat wearing—I will just say: This was a man, however congenial, that had worked with his hands. “Yes,” I said.

He took off the hat and smiled. “Come in.”

He toured me through Arroyo Design—a confusing tour, because Arroyo Design is also Hamilton Distillers, is becoming

Hamilton Distillers (Both names are an homage: Arroyo is the maiden name of Paul’s wife and business partner. Hamilton is his mother’s last name—though it was his daughter, who helped start the whiskey business, that pushed for the moniker. “We have to do something for Nana,” she said.) But this transition is temporary, as the furniture shop is closing down after 27 years (of profits and plaudits) to morph into a place to make whiskey.

So it’s a strange space, a transitional species—it is two images super-imposed over each other. The big workroom, still full of workers and humming saws, seemed mostly unmarred, but then we wandered into rooms filled with wood shards and whiskey barrels. “This used to be the oiling room; now it’s the aging room,” he said. How perfect, I thought: the oiling room now aimed at social lubrication. In the main office, whiskey bottles perched prominently upon his assistant’s desk—even as she fielded calls for furniture.

I had to ask: What’s the connection between furniture and whiskey?

“Mesquite?” he replied. “Or this place.” I looked around, but realized he didn’t mean the room. He meant this city, this desert.

S

tephen Paul dropped out of architecture school in the early 1980s and began restoring old homes. “I was restoring this an old adobe on Kennedy Street and they wanted me to put in a big closet,” he said. There are many pieces a person can place within the “undulating walls” of an adobe, but a built-in closet isn’t one of them. So he dug into library books and decided on a free-standing armoire made from local materials. The owners loved it. Paul began to use more and more mesquite wood in

edible

Baja Arizona

99

Scotch v. Whiskey These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but there is a big difference. The simplest analogy would be the difference between Champagne and sparkling wine. All Champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine can be called Champagne; indeed, only sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France can wear that appellation.

Similarly, all Scotch is whiskey, but not all whiskey is Scotch. Only whiskey made in Scotland can be called Scotch—and there’re several other restrictions, as well (as laid out in official government edicts). Some hallmarks of Scotch include the use of malted barley (American whiskey, for example, often uses corn instead) and peat-smoking the product.

So no, Stephen Paul’s product should never be officially referred to as Scotch. I’ve occasionally refer to it as such in here, briefly, to make a point: By using barley, malting it inhouse, and then smoking it, his product is of the Scotch tradition—and tastes like it—rather than the standard profile of American whiskeys. It’s hard to know exactly what to call the product (except “tasty”)—it is, certainly, the only distillery in the U.S. smoking with mesquite and malting barley in-house.

100 November - December 2013

projects, but realized that the dominant style was “rustic.” Paul is careful to not disparage the rustic look—“but I was interested in ‘fine furniture.’ The finest African mahogany, people love those [grains], but mesquite is as beautiful as the best woods in the world,” he said.

When he displayed some mesquite planks to me, I began to understand that passion. The appealing thing about wood furniture is that it’s so solid—yet less so than steel or stone; there’s something fluid about it, however stolid, and mesquite wood is the exemplar. Evident even in the table at which we sat: strong, but pocked with knotholes, unwieldy whorls, coarse coronas.

“You find bullets in the wood,” he said, “and barbed wire. Bullets are okay,” saws can cut the lead, “but barbed wire?”

Yes, he’d found a wood to rival any other—from his native Southwest—and yet, it was problematic. Despite (or because of) this, clientele bloomed.

Still, how did all this lead to Scotch?

“I call her Idea Woman,” Paul said, quick to cite his wife, Elaine Paul, for all their businesses’ best ideas. “We’re Scotch drinkers,” he added.

Picture Stephen and Elaine barbequing on weekends—but picture them barbequing over flames flickering from mesquite.

Mesquite, that troublesome source, created many scraps. “We discarded almost as much as we used.” he said. So they used the scraps for firewood. “I always joked, ‘that’s our profit going up in smoke.’”

Picture them sipping Scotch, post-barbeque, and Elaine says, “Why couldn’t we make our own Scotch?” More specifically, she wondered, “Why couldn’t we smoke barley over mesquite instead of peat?”

Now, this is a brilliant and stupid question.

The stupid part: Everyone knows that peat-smoking barley is what gives Scotch its distinctive flavor—is what makes Scotch, Scotch.

The brilliant part: It turns out, after one has tasted Scotch made from mesquite-smoked barley that a distinctive flavor of Scotch is … smoke. Full stop. Doesn’t matter if it originates from peat or mesquite. Sure, there’s a difference—but it’s a slight difference. Idea Woman’s question was legitimate—like all great questions, it risked sounding stupid to ask something smart.

“I couldn’t get her question out of my mind,” Paul said. So, eventually, he bought a small copper still from Portugal. “That little guy right there,” he said, pointing to a shiny overturned urn in the corner.

He experimented with that “little guy” for years, trying to make Scotch, with mostly poor—but occasionally intriguing—results. One customer of Arroyo said, “If you ever get serious about this, let me know.” Paul shrugged it off.

Until he bought “This!” He showed me a gigantic, 40-gallon still—a huge Aladdin’s Lamp of a device which, if placed upon a sink basin, almost towers over one’s head. Shimmering, with a wicked top. He’d ordered it from Europe and didn’t understand how big it’d be until it arrived in his shop. “I realized I couldn’t bring it home, or my wife would kill me.”

He absent-mindedly mimed running his fingers beneath the still’s spigot. As if it were pouring out a spirit he could taste and test.

“What about keeping it in the shop?” I asked. “Too visible,” he said, then spoke out of the side of his mouth with comic exaggeration, to say: “It wasn’t legal.” That’s when I realized it’s not illegal to order a 40-gallon still, but it is illegal to start making a bunch of liquor in it. That’s what we’d call “bootlegging!”

So Paul’s solution was to contact that old customer, to “get serious”—and that guy guided him through a “Product Development Phase”—corporate-speak for a Greek-like struggle.

If you recall high school drama classes, then you’ll remember there are Seven Major Dramatic Conflicts, and Paul was running right into two of them: Man vs. Society, and Man vs. Self. Man vs. Society: Paul fought, for over 6 months, with the health department. At one point, they wanted him to install five different sinks next to one another, with various different hand-washing purposes. Eventually, after much legal tangling, he prevailed: by finally convincing them (accurately), “my product is anti-septic,” he said. But still there was Man vs. Self: All this time, he kept making Scotch. Or tried to make Scotch.

He explained to me about “runs”—how one makes a “spirit run.” It’s very technical, but here’s a two-sentence crash course on the making of Scotch (which is, ultimately, nothing more than barley and water). Barley is watered until it just starts to germinate, then dried (this was, traditionally, where the peat-smoking happened), then ground into a grist. This grist is mixed with hot water and made to ferment, much like making a “wort” for beer— before the liquid finally goes through many different adjustments and distillations, called runs, which greatly affects alcohol content and taste. Speaking of which, Paul would often send off samples of his product to a Berkeley consultant, Nancy Fraley, who has the best job in the world. Her job? To taste the distillations from various folks around the world and offer her expert opinion.

“She’d tell me…” he said, “usually… what I’d made, she said… it sucked.”

But eventually, she told him his creations were getting better, but he had to get to the point where, “You can taste it yourself,” she said. “She said I had to get to the point, with the spirit runs, where I could taste the whiskey getting good,” he said. “It took a long time, but… I felt like I could start to.”

As he said this, he absent-mindedly mimed running his fingers beneath the still’s spigot. As if it were pouring out a spirit he could taste and test. It was a gesture that reminded me of the way his fingers earlier moved over furniture, mid-construction.

Quality Matters Direct Sourcing from Small Producers Local Business Internationally known

(866) 997-2877

sevencups.com

edible

Baja Arizona

101

He then looked down at the concrete beneath our feet. “This,” he said, “is where I do it.” And by “it,” Paul means malting barley.

And this is unique, that he does it all. No one really malts barley in the desert Southwest—certainly no one does it in-house. But Paul tried making liquor with barley malted elsewhere, and he didn’t like the result. So now, he scatters his barley—bought from Coolidge—all over the floor, gets it wet, then carefully tends it until it’s sprouted to a very specific length, then dried with mesquite in the smoker. Voilà! Malted barley, made in Baja Arizona.

F

inally, it was time for the tasting of the Scotch. Lucky for me, I didn’t have to rely on my palate alone, as we were joined by bartenders from Wilko and Café Passe. Paul set out three bottles for us, two of which were filled with brown liquid (the two barrel-whiskies, one smoked and one unsmoked) and one with liquid clear and clean (a smoked but un-aged whiskey, a rare species called “white dog”). The last one tasted like liquid smoke—in a good way. The way one loves a smoky/woody taste with salmon, say, or almonds. The aged, unsmoked version offered a pleasing smoothness, yet still had that complicated bite, akin to a Speyside whiskey. It was the aged, smoked whiskey that had the aggressive notes of an extra-peaty (or in this case, mesquite-y) Scotch to which I most gravitate. All of us gathered there had different favorites, though we were unanimous in this: We were impressed.

After the tasting, I told Paul something I’d been thinking about: “It’s like with both, the furniture and the distillery—both are sort of due to the same things.”

“Maybe,” he said. “What?”

He has these two qualities that seem opposed, but actually complement each other to allow unconventional success: First, there’s a brash intrepidity, wholly disregarding if something has been done before; but then, secondly, there’s this amazing attention to detail.

“Attention to little things is what makes anything special,” he said, off-handedly and with a hint of exasperation—as if he’d been forced to remark upon the sky’s hue being blue. “I mean, you can breeze through a piece of furniture or a spirit run, but…” He trailed off, the poor result of such foolhardy carelessness too obvious to state aloud.

“But I think,” I said, “the rare thing is to be that meticulous, but also cavalier in trying these big new things?”

He replied—or joked, “It’s my disease. I’ve always been a risktaker. I never wanted to be rich. That helps. You can’t take these risks and expect to get wealthy.” Then he paused. “Now I’m risking other people’s money and that’s new,” he said, referring to the capital campaign to fund a larger distillery. “But you know, all of the people that have signed on so far, all of them, are friends that we made from first being customers of Arroyo. We made furniture for them. They saw how we follow through, on everything, the details. They trust us.”

102 November - December 2013

“Agua Caliente” Cocktail Recipe Bartenders David Scharf at Café Passe and Garrett Steffgen at Wilko collaborated on a cocktail using the Whiskey del Bac they tried at a Hamilton Distillery tasting. They agreed that the smoked and aged whiskey was “a fine liquor to be enjoyed on its own,” so opted to concoct a recipe using the “white dog.”

Muddled rosemary from a three-inch sprig ½ ounce lime juice 1 ½ ounce Whiskey del Bac “White Dog” Tucson Mesquite Whiskey ½ ounce Pernod Anisette Liqueur or Absinthe

Combine ingredients in order from top. Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass filled with ice. Top with a splash of soda, garnish with a lime and a straw.

Note: Hamilton Distillery’s product is named Whiskey del Bac (they wanted to include both Spanish and Tohono O’odham in the name, to create a sense of place, with a phrase that translated as “the place where the river reappears in the sand”).

Look for it in your favorite bars, as it won’t be sold retail, at least not initially.

Earlier, as Paul had showed me the furniture store, he kept mentioning “book matching,” which turns out to be an old-school element of design, wherein one matches up two planks that were cut together, lining them side by side in the final piece of furniture. A time-intensive method that provides eventual payoff.

Book matching and malting barley, I thought: Both are old techniques that Paul has carefully/cavalierly brought back. I mentioned the book matching and barley malting comparison. “It’s even an alliteration!” I added, feeling clever.

He offered a polite laugh, then noticed a pile of drawers for a new cabinet. “Look! See these, right here, are book matched.”

He began arranging them, as if speed-solving a puzzle, until they all lined up. “See?” he said, looking at me; then he looked back down at the woodwork, weirdly whorled but beautiful, and allowed himself a quick grin—pleased with the grain which would remain in his life, but in a new form. ✜ Dave Mondy is a freelance writer/imbiber and an instructor at the University of Arizona.

BOOZE NEWS

All the news that’s fit to drink There are many ways to celebrate wine in the fall. At the 14th Annual New Release Festival at St. Martin’s Vineyard in Sonoita, there are tastings, tours (including horse rides!) and great wine pairings, but even better: Be there at noon for the blessing of the wines. I don’t know what that entails, but I’m guessing the serving sizes are bigger than communion cups. Nov. 9, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., 520.455.5893. SonoitaVineyards.com Want more wine? Check out the new release tasting at Callaghan Vineyards, when they’ll kick down the barn doors and reveal their new vintages. Nov. 16, 5 p.m., 520.455.5322. callaghanvineyard.com. Stay in Sonoita for Music at the Vineyards the following day, at Kief-Joshua Vineyards. Nov 17, 1 – 4 p.m. 520.455.5582, KiefJoshuaVineyards.com Borderlands Brewery features a full lineup of local bands every week in their tasting room—a great way to hear up-and-coming acts in an intimate venue. Find out who’s playing at BorderlandsBrewing.com. 119 E. Toole Ave., 520.261.8733.

3719 E Speedway Tues - Sat 11am-9pm Sunday 10am-9 pm

Feast offers a monthly-changing menu, full catering services, and Sunday brunch. And our new bottle shop is coming this fall. See details and our current menu at EatAtFeast.com

Here’s a quick decision tree for you: A.) “Do I like dessert?” IF YES, PROCEED TO B. B.) “Do I like to drink while having dessert?” IF YES, PROCEED TO C. C.) “Do I like arts/culture?” IF YES, PROCEED TO D. D.) “Do I wish to contribute to charity?” IF YES, PROCEED TO SWEET CHARITY. This charity event, held on Nov. 22 at 6 p.m. at the outdoor courtyard of Plaza Colonial, is put on by The Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance, and will feature desserts from top area chefs and students alike. It’s a big event (there’ll be over 50 dessert tastings accompanied by various beverages), but most intriguing: This year, pairings focus on sweets and beer. $60. saaca.org 520.797.3959. Dessert and desert, what a difference an S makes.

But for desert drinkers less concerned with dessert—but who still love (capital A) Art and (capital B) Beer, check out Art on Tap. Held at the Tucson Museum of Art on Dec. 7 from 6 – 10 p.m. the event features art demonstrations, great bands, vendors from all over Baja Arizona, and 15 local beers. Admission: $40, $50 day of, $30 members. Get in for $20 if you’re the designated driver.

Tucson’s own Tap + Bottle placed third in the Mountain West Region for “best beer bar” on craftbeer.com. Tap + Bottle features many off-sale options, too, while all the origins/ABVs of on-tap offerings are displayed on a looming chalkboard. And, say you are into numbers and competition? Here’s a perfect evening: Have a brew at Tap + Bottle, then stop into the new pinball arcade, D & D Pinball, just one block away. May your scores be higher than your ABVs. Tap + Bottle. 403 N. 6th Ave. TheTapandBottle.com. D & D Pinball. DandDpinball.com.

Contact Dave Mondy at dmondy@email.arizona.edu. with your event or new brew for inclusion in Booze News.

weddings · corporate events · parties

celebrate with

a c r o b a t i c s

for your next event FlightSchoolAcrobatics.com | 520.329.ACRO

edible

Baja Arizona

103

Sonoran Foodways

Quintessentially Quince This long-overlooked fruit might just be the key ingredient missing in your kitchen.

Text and Photography by Bill Steen

C

hances are the quince

has escaped you. Perhaps you have heard about quince jelly, maybe even tried it, but you have no idea what quince, a little known, underappreciated, and misunderstood fruit looks like.

That may be rapidly changing. There are an increasing number of dedicated quince aficionados around the country that are spreading the virtues of what is truly a magnificent fruit. Locally, heirloom Sonoran quince is being nominated for inclusion in the Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste, a living collection of distinctive and meaningful foods that could be in danger of extinction In my case, it wasn’t until I moved to our current home, once an old homestead/farm, in southeastern Arizona that I fell head over heels for this obscure fruit. Although I eventually found that it adds marvelous depth, dimension, and diversity to our kitchen whenever it is in season, for several years I did little else but watch abundant quantities of this yellow, pear-like, sour and astringent fruit, from two different thickets of bush-like trees, fall to the ground and provide a bountiful feast for the local wildlife.

I had not a clue what they were, much less any idea of what to do with them. Finally, it was Canelo old-timer Alex Gonzales, whose father had deserted Pancho Villa’s army during the raid on Columbus, New Mexico, who demystified the fruit for me. He told me: “Son membrillos y son riquisimos”—they are quince and they are delicious. In that moment, I got a glimpse of what they were.

In my youth, it was what I had known as cajeta de membrillo, a deep red or maroon colored sweet paste from Mexico, that was irresistible when served with Sonora’s queso fresco (homemade unheated cheese). However, I still had no idea that membrillos were the same things as quince and that I could give some to Alex’s wife Elizabeth who would make something similar to the Mexican cajeta. Shortly thereafter I made the connection, learning that membrillos were quince, Cylonia oblonga.

104 November - December 2013

The trees on our property are remnants of a time when quince trees were common in the backyards and orchards of Mexican Americans in southern Arizona. At the very latest, our trees date to the 1920s. These are true heirlooms, vegetatively propagated over the centuries from trees that originally arrived in Mexico in 1536 and came to Arizona and Sonora between 1687 and 1706—the era of Padre Kino, which means they are genetically related to the trees planted at the Tumacacori mission and Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace Mission Garden.

Quinces were once common in every colonial garden and orchard here in the States. Most likely, quince was primarily used for making marmalade and jelly as well as providing pectin for other types of preserves. In ancient times, quince was viewed as the symbol of love and happiness; today, it is mostly forgotten.

One questionable estimate puts the total amount of acreage in this country dedicated to quince trees at approximately 250 acres compared to more than 350,000 acres for apples. The point being: There are very few quince trees in comparison to other fruit. One of the major contributors to quince’s demise was the arrival of Knox gelatin at the turn of the century that took the place of pectin. Interestingly, today, the Mexican Hawthorn, Crataegu mexicana or Tejocote, is the largest source of pectin used in this country and in Mexico, often grown in the same orchards as quince.

When it comes to the region of Baja Arizona, all one has to do is cross the border and head to the area around Magdalena, most notably to the historic town of San Ignacio, to find quince trees that are still flourishing. The quince tradition of San Ignacio owes much of its quince fame to 95-year-old Señora Josefina Gallego, affectionately known as Dona Chata, who could be easily be considered Sonora’s very own Reina de Membrillo (Queen of Quince) as she makes the finest cajeta de membrillo in the region.

Of course, it might also be due to her charm, perfectionism, and

dedicated hard work. In October, the town of Magdalena held its first Feria de Membrillo (Quince Fair). To the east, in the Rio Sonora Valley, the town of Arizpe is also known for its quince.

Further south, the region around Alamos is another production area. Cajeta can be commonly found at any of the food stands in both these areas.

In Mexico, quince is typically prepared as a fruit that has been poached and bottled in syrup or as a paste called cajeta. Cajeta is made by cooking quince over a long period of time with sugar; it’s sold as small brick-like blocks or in a variety of molded shapes.

As a liqueur it is sold as crema de membrillo, produced by the company Tequila Orendain. Quince is prepared in much the same way throughout other parts of the world. It is known as dulce de membrillo in Spain, galeia de meleo in Portugal, quince cheese in England and quince candy in France. All can vary slightly with the addition of spices, lemon, and other ingredients.

At first glance, many confuse quince fruit with apples or pears and are often disappointed when they discover, instead of a sweet and juicy fruit, something rather dry and tart. But, in combination with quince’s exquisite fragrance and unique taste, these are the very characteristics that make it a most versatile culinary ingredient. The world of quince is broad and extends far beyond marmalades, preserves, pastes, and jellies that incorporate sugar and sweeteners. In the Middle East, quince is used in stews; in the famous spiced tagines of Morocco, chutneys in India, an exquisite fruit tea in Korea. Here in our home, we have used it to make vinegar, wine, and salads. A favorite fish uses tomatoes, onions, garlic and quince, baked in a clay pot with chicken or tofu.

In addition to its place in the culinary world, quince is also renowned for its health benefits. Loaded with pectin and fiber, vitamins B and C, it has traditionally been used in different cultures to treat cough, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and inflammations of all types, cardiovascular complaints, upset stomach, and ulcers.

And it is reported to be full of antioxidants.

W

Where to Find Quince Fruit

hen entering the marvelous world of quince, the first challenge will be to find some. This can be difficult.

It is not an item commonly found in the grocery store, although Food City markets often carry a small amount of it in the fall, as well as some Middle Eastern. Another option is to locate a tree in someone’s yard, typically in an older, Mexican American neighborhood. On a good year, when our quince blossoms have escaped late frosts, we have an abundance of fruit, which we happily give away. In the fall, quince is easily found in the towns of Magdalena, San Ignacio, and Arizpe, Sonora. The only snag is that they can’t be legally imported to the States. What to do about this will remain your decision.

Quince paste is easily the most commonly available quince product. It can be found just across the border in the area around Magdalena and Imuris at almost every food stand. You can also find the bottled poached fruit at these locations. Another source for the bottled fruit is the Ishkashitaa Refugee Project in Tucson.

Outside Bisbee, a heritage quince tree is most likely of the same origin as those grown in Sonora.

edible

Baja Arizona

105

(Clockwise, from top left): Sheets of dried cajeta are cut into slabs and sold throughout northern Sonora. Doña Chata’s copper vessel is used to cook membrillo.

Cajeta can be molded into many shapes. At roadside stands in Magdalena, cartons of quince line the roads, waiting for consumption and/or transformation.

Growing Quince

O

ne of the best options for finding quince is to plant a tree. Quince is a compact, attractive, and self-pollinating tree that doesn’t take up a lot of space. It has a culture similar to apples and pears, and may be grown successfully in both cooler tropical locations and colder temperate regions.

Quince trees are not very particular about soil, and tolerate a wide variety of conditions, but they are susceptible to fire blight.

To my knowledge, there are about 20 commonly available types of quince tree. Joseph Postman of the USDA curates a quince collection in Corvallis, Ore., where the germ repository contains 50 to 60 varieties. Check out his article, Unappreciated Quince to learn more. Orange quince, which is favored for its size and good flavor, is a great option; two others, both Luther Burbank cultivars, are Van Deman and pineapple quince. Many consider the pineapple quince to be the best to eat without cooking; in Mexico, slices of

106 November - December 2013

fresh quince are frequently eaten with lime juice and chile powder. For the dedicated horticulturists, the only book about growing and cultivating quince, called Quince Culture, was written in 1888 by the Rev. William W. Meech.

For those in the southern Arizona region, the most convenient place to buy quince plants is Desert Survivors Nursery; they offer a Sonoran quince heirloom variant called Kino Heritage Quince.

Should you find a local tree, one of the easiest ways to propagate is from a root division of a dormant tree. Other options for a variety of quince cultivars include One Green World Nursery, Bay Laurel Nursery, and Wills Orchard.

Q

Cooking with Quince uince combines beautifully with a variety of spices and other ingredients. For most uses, quince needs to be cooked; cooking quince helps release its finest quali-

ties, with the flesh changing to a deep amber or burgundy color.

Although one of the upsides of having a bowl of quince in the kitchen is that they give off a perfume like fragrance that can permeate the room, the downside is that the fragrance is so delightful that it can actually discourage one from cooking them.

The recipes that I have listed below will give you a basic idea of just how flexible quince can be. I still am fascinated by how many different ways it can be used. If you are eager to explore the world of quince, you should consider buying the recently released cookbook dedicated entirely to quince: Simply Quince by Barbara Ghazarian. I heartily recommend it. In fact, I would say that it is essential. The book is packed full of great recipes, offering a nice balance between both traditional and innovative recipes, and contains information on the history, culture, and background of the fruit.

Quince with Tomatoes, Onion, and Garlic This has been the household favorite for years. The ingredients can vary according to your taste. For that matter, once you’ve tried the basic recipe, try adding different spices and ingredients. I’ve included the chicken in the recipe below that, but depending upon preferences, it can be left out.

3–4 peeled and cored quince, diced into small pieces 3 pounds salted and peppered chicken sautéed in olive oil until golden 1 cup diced white onion 5–6 diced garlic cloves or as desired 2–3 medium diced tomatoes 4-5 tomatoes pureed or 8 ounce can of tomato puree Salt to taste

Sauté onion until transparent. Add garlic to onions and cook for a minute or two. Add diced tomatoes and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Return chicken peices to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes. Add tomato puree and bake all the ingredients together in glass pan (covered) at 350º for 45 minutes to an hour. The best versions of this recipe I have done use a Romertopf clay pot.

Poached Quince Many desserts and side dishes require that the quince be poached ahead of time. They can also be served as thin slices by themselves or in conjunction with other foods. Nothing complicated here; just a little slow cooking time on the stovetop.

8 1 2–3 1 2

cups of water cup sugar tablespoon lemon juice stick of the Mexican cinnamon (optional) pounds peeled and cored quince, cut into ½ inch wedges

Bring to a boil to dissolve the sugar and continue cooking on low heat. This will take about an hour. It is done when the quince is tender and has changed color.

Quince Vinegar 3 4 1

cups of peeled and cored quince, diced into small pieces cups white wine vinegar cup (or less) sugar

Warm the vinegar until hot, just short of simmering, and remove from the heat. Put the quince in a glass bowl and pour the warm vinegar over it and mix well. Let the mixture cool and put the ingredients into a sterilized glass jar and covered with plastic wrap. Let stand for approximately one month in the refrigerator.

After aging, sugar can be added to taste by dissolving it in a small amount of heated aged vinegar. Finally, the vinegar mixture can be strained through a sieve and then a coffee filter before bottling. It can be stored at room temperature. (Note: If your screw cap is metal, there should be distance between the lid and the vinegar as corrosion is possible. Plastic lids are an option as are old wine bottles with corks and screw off lids.)

Cajeta This is version is close to the Mexican cajeta de membrillo or the Spanish dulce de membrillo. This is a condensed version from Barbara Ghazarian’s book Simply Quince. If you want to replicate the “real thing” of Sonoran cajeta, in late September and early October, drive down to the town of San Ignacio. Get get there early in the morning so you can ask who is making the cajeta.

Typically this is eaten cut into small slices and is fantastic with cheeses such as manchego, but here, close to home, many of the Mexican cheeses are great. It also goes well with a dry white wine, aged meats, and a rustic loaf of bread.

2 9 2 ¼

pounds quince, peeled, cored, and diced cups water cups sugar cup lemon juice

Simmer the quince and water uncovered for about 1½ hours until mushy. Stir occasionally. Remove from the heat and cool for no more than 10 minutes. Transfer to a food processor, add lemon juice, and puree until it resembles applesauce. Pass through a sieve and return to a heavy bottomed pot. Approximately 3 cups should remain. Add ⅓ cup of sugar for every cup of quince.

Cook for one hour over moderate heat, stirring constantly until it forms peaks and pulls away from the sides. Pour into an 8-inch non-stick cake pan and let stand for about 8 hours. Cut into small squares and let sit for another two hours. Wrap in wax paper and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

edible

Baja Arizona

107

Book Reviews by Molly Kincaid An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace. By Tamar Adler (Scribner, 2011)

T

his is unquestionably the era of the foodie. Surrounded by talk of “cronuts” or molecular gastronomy, it’s easy to get swept away and spend your entire budget on truffle butter and grass-fed rib eyes. But Tamar Adler tells us that we can eat like kings without spending a fortune.

ions into “golden jam,” and how to use one inexpensive bunch of celery to make rich stock, piquant salsa verde, and sumptuous pasta fritatta. Aside from her “tip-to-tail” approach to vegetables and meats alike, Adler lives and dies by farm fresh eggs, olive oil and “day-old” bread.

Her chapter on beans is especially lovely. A description of when a bean is done— “the mere flutter of your breath should disturb its skin right off”—reveals both how seriously Adler feels about beans and how she can seriously write. Adler encourages thoughtfully composing meals without any hurry, taking time to taste and season and utilize the senses. Her method is the antithesis of “30 Minute Meals,” and you’ll want to relish the book to pick up each flavorful crumb. Like Adler’s modest, unpolished meals themselves, this book is destined to be dog-eared, worn, and well-loved.

The Whole Fromage: Adventures in the Delectable World of French Cheese. By Kathe Lison (Broadway Books, 2013)

P As a young editor at Harper’s, Adler drifted into the kitchen at New York’s Prune, where she studied under chef Gabrielle Hamilton. She cooked at Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse, and now works for Waters’ Edible Schoolyards. Despite her formidable experience, An Everlasting Meal champions cooking at home. Adler clearly prefers simple, humble meals made with inexpensive local ingredients—scraps and all.

Not a cookbook per se, An Everlasting Meal is divided into sections on subjects such as “How to Find a Fortune,” where Adler instructs on how to turn homely on-

108 November - December 2013

art travelogue and part cheese history, The Whole Fromage is a delightful read. I’ll admit being a skeptic initially: Lison is a Wisconsin native living in Tucson; what business does she have writing about French cheese?

I was soon convinced.

Lison wins the reader with her humor-spiked storytelling and insatiable curiosity. She brings the world of French cheese alive as she explains that cheeses, the good ones anyhow, actually are alive. “Never put them in the freezer. That would be an act of murder,” she writes, quoting legendary tastemaker Pierre Andouët.

While her book is enjoyable as a travel story (and will likely prompt the reader to Google “Paris plane tickets” obsessively), Lison brings the story home by exploring the American ban on unpasteurized cheese, of which her French sources aren’t bashful in their condemnation. “You need des écoles du goeût”—schools where people can learn how to taste—one country cheesemaker told her.

Perhaps it’s true—Americans would choose bland, bagged spinach over a finely crafted cheese when asked which is the healthier choice. But one wonders, as Lison describes the tradition of hand-making pure cheeses in caves and carting them directly to market, whether our health concerns have dulled our tastebuds.

Even in France, though, modernity creeps in on Lison’s bucolic vision. In one scene, having thought she had found the lone elusive cheesemaker who still handmilked cows in the Salers region, Lison spies, to her horror, a portable milking machine attached to a cow’s udders.

In terms of taste, however, Lison exuberantly reports that French cheeses haven’t suffered. She mouth-wateringly describes a “luminous” wedge of Beaufort as having a “light odor of hazelnuts and yeast sifted from the folds,” studded with “lovely, crunchy crystals… like bits of candied cheese.”

Even if we Tucsonans can’t gorge ourselves on luminous French cheese, we can live vicariously through Lison’s evocative, informative and romantic ode to dairy’s finest form.

Food, Genes and Culture: Eating Right for Your Origins. By Gary Paul Nabhan (Island Press, 2nd edition, 2013)

M

ore than any other tome I’ve cracked open in public, people inquired about this book, asking whether it unlocked the secrets to weight loss. This curiosity reveals some peculiar modern desire of wanting to be told how to eat, as if there were some magic formula to svelteness.

But this isn’t a diet book. Unlike the Paleo craze, Nabhan doesn’t adhere to a formula by which all people can live healthfully. The University of Arizona professor (and editorial chair of this magazine) is more concerned with pressing world health concerns, particularly those threatening indigenous populations, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Through fastidious research, Nabhan demonstrates how our origins, migration patterns, and modern food systems affect

health. He recounts intriguing case studies, such as why eating fava beans protects some from malaria while it causes anemia in others, and why French and Americans who adopt a Mediterranean diet laden with olive oil don’t get the same benefits as the exceedingly healthy Cretans. “There is a context to the way the folks of Spili live and pray, eat and fast, that cannot just be extracted and plopped down in another land to gain the same benefits,” he explains.

“We cannot facilely assume that their cuisine will do as much for our genotypes as it does to their genotypes.”

The book also explores success stories of indigenous populations reconnecting with the land in order to improve their health.

Native Hawaiians plagued with heart disease experienced a health boon when they began growing taro plants and making the nutritious traditional dish called “poi.”

While it doesn’t provide guidelines on how to eat, this book gets to the heart of how food profoundly affects the human

condition. Nabhan promotes the idea of reconnecting with ancient foodways in order to heal. On Hawaiian ancestors, he writes, “They knew that food without mana—that is, without life force—is not going to support anyone’s health.”

edible

Baja Arizona

109

110 November - December 2013

The

Plan But Be Yielding

By Jared R. McKinley | Illustration by Danny Martin

“For gardeners, this is the season of lists and callow hopefulness; hundreds of thousands of bewitched readers are poring over their catalogues, making lists for their seed and plant orders, and dreaming their dreams.”

Of course, nobody loves to fail; it’s frustrating when our hard work and ambitions can lead to results that are not aligned with our expectations.

But considering where our unwillingness to accept nature’s whimsical tendencies has led us, perhaps we might learn to accept failure.

Instead of being tempted to purchase some sort of pest control from Home Depot (deemed organic or not) to “control” the aphids on your lettuce plant, why not just pull that plant out?

Or try merely washing them off with water — Katherine S. White, Onward and Upward in the Garden first. Sometimes, something this simple works. Either way, consider IN THE LATE 1950S AND 1960S, Katherine S. White wrote a series the following: Perhaps that variety is of literary criticisms for the New Yorker. The object of her analysis: not the best for this month. Perhaps seed catalogs. She judged them based on the information they gave you didn’t plant it in enough sun. about the plants being offered, or how helpful or delightful the Perhaps there is just a spike in the pictures or illustrations were. After her death, her husband, famed aphid population. You can plant writer E. B. White, compiled the articles into a book, Onward and again, learn from your mistakes, and grow more if you accept your Upward in the Garden, a smart, charming read, especially if you love misalignment with nature and learn about how that misalignment both gardening and literature. happened. If you cannot find a reason, accept that the unexpected Many of the best gardeners, in the fashion of White, make a happened. habit of studying seed catalogs ahead of the season. Making yourself Speaking of unwelcome forces of nature, frost is on the horizon. familiar with what is available to plant, you can choose and plan what And speaking of being aligned with the season, consider this: While you want to grow in an intelligent manner. All too often, gardens can frost may put an end to your basil, pepper and tomato season, it be haphazard expressions of what caught enriches the flavor of cabbage and other brassicas, and the cooler the attention of the distracted consumer. temperatures allow for plants like mache (a very underappreciated Planning is critical for an efficient green, nutritionally dense, with a mild flavor and smooth, pleasant garden. But, like anything, it can texture) to flourish. Move with the season, for there is a lot to plant. be taken too far. When one has the Germination is slower as the winter progresses. But because we’re ambition to raise food from the soil, lucky to live in a subtropical climate, we can grow all winter long. specific expectations arise. We become Of the crops you really enjoy, keep planting new successions. Most attached to them, and assume they can edible foods are best when young and tender. be recreated consistently; ironically, Sometimes we get spikes in temperature in our winters, and these efforts can make an enemy out of this can cause more sensitive plants to bolt (go to flower and put all nature. Nature is neither predictable energy into seed production)—yet another reason to be prepared to nor consistent. Instead, nature has replant new successions. tendencies.

edible

Baja Arizona

111

Plant Now 27811 S. Sonoita Hwy (Hwy 83), Sonoita 520.455.9272

Silverbell Nursery Sustainable farmed Christmas trees Living Christmas Trees, Locally grown poinsettias Handmade Arizona wreaths & swags Family owned and operated since 1959

THE GREENS AND COLE CROPS There are endless greens to choose from in the cool season: lettuces, cabbages, the leaf chichories (radicchio, escarole, endive, frisée), Asian greens (bok choy, garland greens), kale, collards, arugula, mustards, mache, orach, cress, miner’s lettuce, salad burnet, spinach, chard, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, rapini.

We also offer Water Harvesting, Landscape and Design, Pet health supplies and Premium dog food 2730 N. Silverbell Rd. Tucson, AZ 85745 622-3894

THE ROOT CROPS Root crops are easy to grow, so long as the soil is loose and well-drained: radishes (don’t forget the delicious daikon radishes), beets, turnips, parsnip, carrots, root chicory, burdock, horseradish.

LEGUMES Beans are not just for summer: peas, garbanzos, lentil, fava.

The finest beer and wine brewing equipment & ingredients available 2564 N Campbell Ave Tucson, Az 85719 520.322.5049

525 E Baseline Rd Gilbert, Az 85233 480.497.0011

8230 E Raintree Rd #103 Scottsdale, AZ 85260 480.625.4200

Three Arizona locations to serve you!

BrewYourOwnBrew.com 112 November - December 2013

HERBS You can plant most perennial herbs (omitting dormant or frost-tender crops) and many annual herbs: parsley, dill, chervil, cilantro, fennel, borage, salad burnet.

HOME FERMENTATION

Bringing the Brew Closer to Home

By Jared R. McKinley

IN 1978, JIMMY CARTER signed a bill that legalized home brewing in the United States. Many argue that this action alone transformed the United States, over just a few decades, from one of the worst producers of beer in the world to the one of the best, especially of craft beer.

Home-brewed beer is often exceptional. Because you normally deal in batches of five to six gallons, you can give each brew more attention and detail than even a microbrewery has the time or ability to do. And you can experiment. At the worst, you might end up with a bad-tasting beer; it’s nearly impossible to make anything dangerous to your health.

Home-brewed beer is no more difficult than baking sourdough bread. If you can follow instructions, and assemble a few of the right tools, you can brew at home. The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian is perhaps the best book on the subject, offering not only simple beginning brews, but also novice and expert methods and recipes. If you prefer your advice dished up live, there are groups that meet, chat and share knowledge; check out the Tucson Homebrew Club at TucsonHomeBrewClub.com.

It is always great to start brewing with someone who already knows how, and usually a brewer doesn’t mind having you help, as in the process of brewing, two sets of hands are better than one.

Although there are many recipes and styles of beer, the brewing process generally consists of four basic stages: Brewing: The actual brewing starts when you boil grains, usually barley, in water. The boiling process extracts the flavor from the ingredients (grains, hops, and whatever other ingredients you may add) and also sterilizes your wort, what brewers call the product you end up with prior to adding yeast.

Fermentation: After the wort has cooled, it is siphoned into a glass vessel (called a carboy) that will omit oxygen. This is when the yeast is “pitched” or added to the wort. Often, after a few weeks, the fermenting liquid may be siphoned into another carboy, leaving behind the senescent yeast cells that collect on the bottom.

Bottling and secondary fermentation: When the fermentation process is more or less finished in the carboy, the mixture is mixed with “priming” sugars and bottled.

Aging: The added sugars will reinvigorate the yeast in the bottle.

Because the bottles are sealed, and no gasses can escape, the beer becomes carbonated. After a few weeks, your beer is ready for drinking.

A LIST OF BEGINNER’S SUPPLIES You can find all these supplies (and more) online, but if you also want some in-person advice, pay a visit to Brew Your Own Beer (2564 N Campbell Ave, 520.322.5049). The staff is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about getting beginners started. (Prices are estimates.)

Full Starter Kits: Everything you need. Range from $80-$220 Carboy: Glass is the best but there are plastic carboys that are slightly cheaper. Eventually you may want two. Costs about $30-40.

Airlock: This goes on the carboy to let the gasses out but not oxygen in. Costs around a dollar.

Thermometer: Should have a range of at least 40° to 180°. $20 Five-gallon stainless steel pot: You may already have one of these, as large pots are incredibly useful for all sorts of purposes. $50 Bottle brush: Should be large enough for cleaning the carboy. $5 Siphon: You need enough tubing with the siphon to go from one carboy to the bottling bucket. $12 Bottling bucket: Has a tap on the bottom. You can also get a bottling wand attachment that makes filling bottles a lot easier and less messy. $14

Bottle capper: Two styles are available: hand cappers and bench cappers. Bench cappers are more versatile and are needed for the champagne bottles, but are more expensive. $20 Caps and bottles: Caps must be brand new, but you can recycle bottles (avoid twist off tops). Brown bottles are best (keeps light from denaturing the beer). They must be clean and sanitized. $2 for a bag of 75 caps and $15/case for bottles.

In addition, for each brew, you’ll need to purchase fermentable malted grains, hops, and yeast. As you experiment, you may want to try all sorts of other ingredients.

You will also need a sanitizing agent for cleaning all supplies.

Probably the thing you must pay attention to most is sanitation.

You are offering food to yeast and you want the intended yeasts to consume your grains and produce good alcohol—that is, beer. When brewing isn’t successful, usually uninvited guests are the reason.

Warning: Home brewing is addictive. Of course, you should get the consent of whomever you live with before you start brewing, as the equipment takes up space. But you might be more convincing when you have the finished product to share.

Jared R. McKinley is the associate publisher of Edible Baja Arizona.

edible

Baja Arizona

113

BACKYARD Q & A

HOMESTEADER

NOEL PATTERSON works as a sommelier for Quench Fine Wines. A true foodie and urban homesteader, he raises bees, is involved in many forms of fermentation, animal husbandry, and gardening. He is famous for his pig roast dinners.

years of selection I finally have solid blue ears—Chris Schmidt from Native Seeds/SEARCH tells me that blue corn is rare for the low desert.

You have a lot of projects going on here. What is your motivation for maintaining all these projects?

The unifying theme with all my projects is to take as much responsibility for my food and drink as I can. I have the garden providing my vegetables. The chickens give me meat and eggs. The bees provide sweetener—which is, if you think about it, something that is difficult otherwise to get from your own backyard since sugarcane takes up a lot of room.

How do you decide what to grow in the garden?

Most of the time I have tried to grow varieties I cannot find in the market or that 114 November - December 2013

What do you have growing for the cool season?

I can grow significantly better than what is found in the grocery store (like heirloom tomatoes). But lately my aim is to grow more varieties that have cultural and historical significance to our region. Especially Tohono O’odham crops: the black-eyed peas, white teparies, most interesting lately is the June corn I got from Native Seeds/ SEARCH. It is a dent corn the Tohono O’odham would plant with the monsoon. A few blue kernels showed up in some of the ears and I thought it would be fun to plant the blue ones and see what came up. There were only about 15 at the time. After a few

For the winter garden most of what I am growing is fermentable. I have daikon radish for salt pickles and kimchi, various varieties of cabbage for sauerkraut. Also kohlrabi makes an amazing sauerkraut—I think kohlrabi is a very underappreciated vegetable. Also I have beets, carrots, chinese cabbage, tatsoi, nasturtium, peas, parsley, chervil, chamomile, kale, collards, chard, broccoli, turnips, and rutabagas.

What is on the horizon for you?

An aquaponic guanabana operation, with caviar producing paddlefish.

Photography by Roderick Mondt

In Padre Kino’s Veggie Garden

By Martha Ames Burgess

AS NOVEMBER’S SUN-ANGLE lowers in the sky and dry nights chill into blanket weather, the season for winter vegetable gardens begins.

For these winter gardens, we can draw our inspiration from Padre Kino himself.

Right here, on this very soil of Baja Arizona—through wet seasons or droughts—desert people have been growing their food for 4,100 years. It may be difficult to imagine centuries of desert agriculture, having survived the awesome heat and dryness of the last few years.

But archaeologists have shown us the proof: diminutive corncobs dating from pre-Hohokam times, the oldest evidence of maize found north of Mexico.

In the 1690s, Native Americans in the well-established Tohono O’odham village of S-cuk Shon (literally “Black Spring,” where there was water at the base of the black hill now known as Sentinel Peak, or “A” Mountain) were cultivating their traditional monsoon gardens on the fertile Santa Cruz floodplain. Father Eusebio Kino chose this site, a day’s ride north of San Xavier del Wa:k, for Mission San Agustín, and introduced the residents of S-cuk Shon to entirely new ways of life, steeped in Old World tradition. His vegetable “palette” was a colorful and delectable array of plants attuned to the ways of Mediterranean weather—drought-filled summers and wet winters. Padre Kino’s “possible sack” was replete with potential seed-

borne experiments, a shotgun approach to gardening in a strange new habitat. With good fortune and prayer, not to mention Sonoran Desert rains, many of his Mediterranean seed trials flourished to feed the Pima Bajo and Desert People who congregated in his mission communities and partook of the bread and wine brought forth from desert soil.

After 300 years, multiple cultural invasions, groundwater pumping and drying of riverine water-sources, agrochemical faddism, the sad loss of gardening and seed-saving knowledge, what has happened to Kino’s plants and the seeds he literally sowed?

Saving local knowledge FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY NOW, vegetable gardeners have been in the habit of going to catalogs, hardware stores, and nurseries, to buy new seed each year—seeds with few clues as to their provenance.

But with food insecurity crises looming and the realization that Baja Arizona cities like Tucson have three to five days worth of food available at any one time, we are at last culturally re-learning that we not only need to grow food but we must also re-learn how to

edible

Baja Arizona

115

presents

Coming to PBS Television in Winter 2013 Check Your Local Listings or go to ediblefeast.com

www.ediblecommunities.com

116 November - December 2013

save locally adapted seed—two of the most important basic skill sets humans have honed since they first “invented” agriculture.

At the base of Sentinel Peak in Tucson, on the very site where Padre Kino found the Native community of S-cuk Shon and established Mission San Agustín, visionaries at the non-profit organization Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace have re-created a beautiful living history orchard. It is a huerta of trees known to be cloned from the original mission trees. In addition to reviving these historic trees, the Friends’ goal was to build a vegetable garden each season to grow authentic Mission-period foods. Today, the Friends’ new Mission Garden is almost exactly where Kino’s original walled Mission Garden was situated, offset intentionally by about 30 feet so that future archaeologists will be able to distinguish the different eras.

Using the model of traditional Hispanic jardineros (gardeners) in towns such as Magdalena, Sonora, where Padre Kino’s influence is still very much alive, we placed our jardin de historia viviente (garden of living history) in a low swale, surrounded by young fruit trees planted in 2012 commemorating the Padre’s 300th anniversary. In keeping with examples of Sonoran kitchen gardens, we designed the north half of our almost 1,000-square-foot oval space to be tilled and furrowed. The south half of the jardin temporal (seasonal garden) area we designed as waffles, inspired by ancient farming patterns observed in nearby archaeological sites, three- to fourfoot squares surrounded by mini-berms to garner and hold water.

When we began the project, the land had not been farmed or gardened since the 1800s. When we took on the job of soil prep, it felt like mud cement. The waffle squares gave our crew of dedicated volunteers a good workout, digging by hand and shovel to loosen the soil and then amend with compost. I still remember how, as I lifted my pickaxe to cleave the compacted floodplain hardpan of the Santa Cruz to break ground for vegetables, I was struck with deep respect for these ancient desert gardeners and farmers. It still moves me, now, that it is our turn to turn the soil here.

A seed search NOW, WHERE WOULD WE get seeds of historically accurate Mission Period vegetables—the ones that Father Kino himself would have brought? Fortunately Baja Arizona is blessed with the seed conservation organization Native Seeds/SEARCH, whose plant explorers have been quietly conserving traditional food-crop seeds for more than 30 years and generously provided precious heirloom seed for our living history project.

Three decades ago, NS/S plant-sleuths found seeds of three different varieties of heirloom wheat, which had been continuously used through the three centuries since Padre Kino introduced them (although they had nearly fallen out of cultivation on both sides of the border): White Sonora wheat, Pima club, and early Baart.

Beardless varieties of White Sonora wheat and Pima Club wheat were our first choices for the Mission Period winter veggie garden.

From historical missionary documents, we knew to search for Old World pulses: legumes like lentils, garbanzo beans or chickpeas, fava beans, and so-called English peas. In the NS/S seed bank collection, we found Tarahumara pink lentils, a variety which missionaries had long ago introduced to Sierra Madre natives. NS/S also had Tohono O’odham peas, which the padres had brought to the Desert People—perhaps first to the ground we were re-turning.

The Mission Garden Project and the greater Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum community are also blessed with the bi-cultural teacher, farmer, and Hispanic tradition-carrier Jesus Garcia.

His family’s roots in Magdalena, Sonora, provided us not only knowledge about regional Hispanic gardening practices, but also the very seeds of plants grown by his forebears and saved from the time of Kino’s mission on the Rio Magdalena. Garcia

brought us local heirloom fava beans (habas), as well as heirloom Magdalena cilantro for its fresh green herb and its fragrant spicy seed. In addition, Garcia brought his family’s acelgas seed. Acelgas translates as chard, but this was different from any commercial chard we’d ever seen. Here was an heirloom unknown in the NS/S collection until now, proving that gifts can go both ways.

NS/S located a variety of Tarahumara mostaza roja seed, which produces a giant, leafy, non-biting mustard green called mequasare, originally collected in the Sierra Madre by NS/S founders Barney Burns and Mahina Drees. Definitive information is unavailable whether this mustard green was originally Old World or selected from wild plants by the Raramuri, as they call themselves, though Drees believes it was a mission introduction that came in with wheat.

Root vegetables brought by the padres proved important and healthful. Onions, garlic, shallots supplemented similar wild lily bulbs and roots collected by las indigenes. From the NS/S collection, we garnered a purple-tinted “red” garlic, originally from around Hermosillo, Sonora. Our third root vegetable was an I’itoi’s shallot, a prolific multiplier introduced by the Spanish.

edible

Baja Arizona

117

Planting designs and lessons

BY THE TIME our site was dug, rototilled and finally ready for planting, November was here. To maximize the cooler season, our seed was into the ground by early December.

Water dictates planting. In each waffle square, set with a spiral of leaky hose, we planted spirals of greens, wheat, or pea seed to “shadow” the water source. For repelling unwanted insects, we also planted an outer circle of onion sets or garlic cloves around all greens, forming a shield of strong aroma. This defensive strategy of companion planting seemed to work, as both the greens and the stinky root crops thrived.

The Orach greens grew gangly and tall with a single spike that reached up to five feet high, with a deep purple tinge to the large firm leaves. In two of the waffles, we broadcast the NS/S White Sonora wheat and, as wheat’s habit is rapid growth, the wheatgrass outpaced foliage predators. We planted the NS/S Pima Club wheat in two different ways: broadcast in a pool-irrigated panel, and rowplanted in the furrowed area. As with the White Sonora wheat, both plantings of Pima Club sprang tall, well over three-feet high.

For Mission people, wheat was far more than food: After grain harvest, the long stalks were helpful as bedding, animal shelter, thatch, compost, mulch, and insulation. Modern wheat is less than half the stature, genetically manipulated to put energy only into its seed, and low to the ground to be mechanically harvested.

More than two decades ago, NS/S sent Pima Club wheat seed back “home” to San Xavier, where it had been lost for generations.

With traditional crops in plentiful production now at San Xavier Coop Association, we can find Pima Club wheat at their Santa Cruz Farmers’ Market table, to toast or grind for ourselves.

In paired furrows separated by acequias (ditches), we planted acelgas, habas, and cilantro from Magdalena, commercial garbanzos, Tohono O’odham and Pima wihol (green peas), Tarahumara lentils and mostaza roja. Well-watered Magdalena acelgas were prolific, providing us with tasty greens, better cooked than raw, great for winter fare. So many acelgas seeds were scattered at harvest that our subsequent monsoon garden exploded with volunteer surprise acelgas. Success with the same vegetable in two different climate seasons is rare here indeed.

The Magdalena habas and Tucson Seed Company favas, as well as the Tarahumara lentils, became stunted by the intense winter sun. They bloomed and fruited low to the ground. Some form of shading would have been an advantage. The commercial garbanzos totally bombed, perhaps from being selectively chomped by cottontails or perhaps because they are not heirlooms adapted to our clime. Where our irrigation was plentiful, both the Tohono O’odham and Pima peas grew densely and produced many pods.

A watchful eye should be used daily as pods are maturing in order to harvest green fresh peas—they dry quickly. Cilantro produced copious edible foliage but as soon as a February hot spell hit, they bolted. Not a problem, as coriander seed is useful, too.

It was the mostaza roja, the Tarahumara mustard greens, that went off the charts for us. Ever-fresh leaves kept emerging even 118 November - December 2013

with weekly plucking through the season, until the branching green mounds were three to four feet around. Steamed, boiled, stir-fried, or chopped fresh in salad, this mostaza roja is delectable right up to its little yellow Crucifer flowers. Here is another double-duty plant whose seed are as plentiful and purposeful as its foliage; after the greens stage its mustard seeds can be added to masa for adding zip to tamales.

Padre Kino’s Garden recommendations for winter FATHER KINO’S Mediterranean gifts offer inspiration to dive into winter garden action. Garlic and I’itoi’s onions will be the gifts that keep on giving—in the garden and on the table. Orach greens, acelgas, cilantro, and mostaza roja will provide a profusion of taste and nutrition. With some wind protection or partial shading, fava beans, Tohono O’odham and Pima peas, and Tarahumara lentils should grow productive as winter vegetarian protein sources. White Sonoran and Pima Club wheat will be rewards for the novice gardener. Their grain can be sprouted and eaten for the benefits of wheatgrass. Grow them densely, even in small garden patches for a great reward. Grinding one’s own home-grown grain for homemade bread can truly be a religious experience. ✜

Martha Ames Burgess is an ethnobotanist, desert gardener, wild-harvester, teacher, and seed-saver. She also volunteers for Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace and Native Seeds/SEARCH.

Plant the Water Before the Seeds

R I L L ITO

Nursery & Garden Center

Try Growing EDIBLE FLOWERS! 6303 N. La Cholla Blvd. Tucson, AZ 575-0995 RillitoNursery.com

Helping you with water harvesting, soil building, native & edible gardens, and watershed restoration!

Visit watershedmg.org or call 520-396-3266 for consultations, water harvesting rebate classes, hands-on workshops, and online resources.

Mention this ad and get 10% off a site consultation

WMG is a non-profit organization working for the prosperity of people and health of the environment

edible

Baja Arizona

119

120 November - December 2013

where to find...

80 happy goats, makes artisanal, all natural, European-style cheese on an off-grid, sustainable site situated in the upper San Pedro River Valley near the Mexican Border. We treat our animals, land, and cheese with the utmost care and respect.

ChivaRisa.com · 520-901-0429

BAMBOO RANCH

Desert Grown Bamboo Plants for Shade & Screen Non-Invasive Clumping & Cold Hardy Types Expert Advice

BambooRanch@juno.com|520-743-9879 BambooRanch.net

The Edible Source Guide is a compact directory of our advertisers, with a description of what they do and other details of their businesses. Please visit these advertisers to pick up a complimentary copy of Edible Baja Arizona and let them know how much you appreciate their support of this magazine and the local food and drink community. Baja Arizona cities and towns are noted if the business is not located in Tucson.

ARCHITECTS & BUILDERS BAER JOINERY Fine architectural woodworking.

Specializing in the use of real wood, traditional joinery, and non-toxic finishes. Artisan-crafted doors, windows, cabinetry, and furniture. 520.358.0911 BaerJoinery.com ARTISAN PURVEYORS & DEALERS ALFONSO OLIVE OIL A world of flavor, locally owned.

We invite you to a unique tasting experience of the freshest, first cold pressed, Extra Virgin Olive Oils and flavored olive oils from around the world, and all natural Traditional Aged Balsamic Vinegars from Modena, Italy! “Taste first…buy when the excitement becomes overwhelming.” 4320 N Campbell Ave., Suite #40, 520.441.9081 AlfonsoOliveOil.com

SAVAYA COFFEE Our goal is to offer superior quality coffees available around the corner from where you brew at home: So the fresh flavors of the Americas, Africa and Asia are right here for you to enjoy. Three locations in Baja Arizona: 5350 E. Broadway, 2905 E. Skyline and 12120 N. Dove Mountain Blvd. (Marana).

SavayaCoffee.com SEVEN CUPS An American tea company based in Tucson. We source traditional, handmade Chinese teas directly from the growers and tea masters who make them, and we bring those teas back from China to share with people everywhere. Seven Cups is the only American tea company with our own Chinese trading license, so we are in complete control of our supply chain from tea maker to consumer. 2516 E. Sixth St., 520.628.2952 SevenCups.com BAKERIES

CAFE JUSTO Grower-Owned Coffee Cooperative based in Chiapas, Mexico with roasting and exporting in Agua Prieta, Sonora. The coffee is excellent, fresh, organic and LOW in ACID. Fair Trade and Direct Trade is GOOD TRADE. 826 E 11th, Douglas, 866.545.6406 JustCoffee.org

BARRIO BREAD Barrio Bread is Tucson’s first Community Supported Baker. Don Guerra’s artisan breads, prepared with wild yeast cultures, long fermentation and hearth baking create a truly inspired loaf. Crafting top quality bread and supporting local foods in Tucson since 2009. www.BarrioBread.com

CHOCOLÁTE All our boxed truffles are handmade with the freshest ingredients and fine chocolate. We use regional ingredients whenever possible. We use no chemicals, preservatives, additives or artificial flavorings.134 Tombstone Canyon, Bisbee 520.432.3011 SpiritedChocolate.BusinessCatalyst.com

LA ESTRELLA BAKERY At the Mercado: A Tucson staple with yummy traditional Mexican pastries and pan dulce you won’t find anywhere else in town. Monday-Saturday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m., 100 S. Avenida del Convento, 520.393.3320 LaEstrellaBakeryIncAZ.com

EXO ROAST COMPANY Exo seeks out the world’s finest coffees, craft roasts them in small batches, and distributes them in limited quantities to ensure unequaled quality. Roastery and café open Monday-Saturday, 7am to 7pm, Sunday 7-3. Come by for free twiceweekly tastings. Custom wholesaling for area cafes and restaurants. 403 N. Sixth Ave. ExoCoffee.com

SMALL PLANET BAKERY We started baking bread in February of 1975. At that point, we were a collective of six, only one of whom had any baking experience. We now service 14 stores and do custom baking for eight restaurants and participate in three farmers’ markets.

411 N. 7th Ave., 520.884.9313 SmallPlanetBakery.com

GRAMMY’S JAMS Grammy offers artisan jams, jellies, chutneys, mustards, and pickles. Habanero Dills, Dilly Beans, Rolling Thunder and Habanero Jams are favorites. Backyards, our trees, local farms and orchards provide fruits for Grammy’s special products! Find Grammy’s at Farmers’ Markets. 520.559.1698 Facebook. com/Grammys.AZ

ARIZONA HOPS & VINES We’re a small winery that’s awesome! One of many great Sonoita-area wineries in Southern Arizona, our family farm is a fun, warm place for families and wine aficionados alike. Come in and enjoy our patio, tell some stories, and explore the wonders of a winery that has free Cheetos. 888.569.1642 AZHopsAndVines.com

HAYDEN FLOUR MILLS A family business working to revive heritage and ancient grains in the desert. We have revived the tradition that started in Tempe, Arizona more than 125 years ago by Charles Hayden and his Hayden Flour Mills. While not milled at the iconic Hayden Flour Mills’ building, our fresh flour harkens back to a time when flour still was full of nutrients and flavor. 4404 N Central Ave., Phoenix. 480.557.0031 HaydenFlourMills.com

BORDERLANDS BREWING COMPANY A wholesale production microbrewery, brewing about 500 gallons of beer a week for Tucson’s local bars and restaurants. The brewery’s tap room is open Wednesday through Saturday from 4pm-8pm. The brewery hosts live local most nights.

119 E. Toole, 520.261.8773 BorderlandsBrewing.com BREW YOUR OWN BEER The Southwest’s largest home brewing Supply store. It’s where the art of brewing starts.

Ingredients and equipment for making beer, wine, soda’s, liquors and cheese. 2564 N Campbell Ave., 520.322.5049 BrewYourOwnBrew.com

SANTA CRUZ CHILI & SPICE CO. Both manufacturer and retailer of fine chili products. At our Spice Center in Tumacacori we sell, along with Santa Cruz Products, a wide variety of gourmet Southwestern foods, cookbooks and more. 1868 E Frontage Road, Tumacacori, 520.398.2591 SantaCruzChili.com

BEER, WINE, & DISTILLED LIBATIONS

CALLAGHAN VINEYARDS Located in the rolling oakdotted hills of southeastern Arizona, at an elevation of 4800 feet, we produce rich, complex red and white wines from its 25 acre vineyard. Mediterranean and Spanish varietals - Tempranillo, Mourvedre, Petit Verdot,

EdibleBajaArizona.com

121

SOURCE GUIDE

SOURCE GUIDE

Petite Syrah and Grenache - are the basic building blocks for our red blends, while Viognier and Riesling are blended for our estate white wine. 520.455.5322 CallaghanVineyards.com CHARRON VINEYARDS & WINERY Located ¾ of a mile off scenic highway 83 between Tucson & Sonoita, Charron Vineyards is a small boutique winery producing hand crafted Arizona wine. The winery’s signature White Merlot is made from grapes that are grown on the property. Pima County Arizona’s only Winery tasting room. 520.762.8585 CharronVineyards.com CORONADO VINEYARDS We believe that whether your palate prefers sweeter and fruitier wines, or dry complex sophisticated wines, you only should consume wine which you enjoy. 520.384.2993 CoronadoVineyards.com DOS CABEZAS WINEWORKS Planted, harvested and fermented in AZ. Come try a glass! Our winery tasting room is open Friday-Sunday 10:30-4:30. Tasting fee of $15 includes a souvenir glass. 3248 HWY 82, Sonoita 520.455.5141 DosCabezasWineWorks.com FLYING LEAP VINEYARD With developed acreage in both Sonoita AVA and Cochise County, Flying Leap offers a diverse portfolio of ultra premium, carefully crafted wines from tasting rooms at its estate vineyard as well as in Willcox. 520.954.2935 FlyingLeapVineyards.com HAMILTON DISTILLERS Whiskey del Bac is handmade

by Hamilton Distillers in small batches using a copper pot-still and house-malted, mesquite-smoked barley.

Three desert single-malt whiskeys made in Tucson.

Contact: Stephen Paul: info@hamiltondistillers.com KIEF JOSHUA VINEYARDS A small family business with 20 acres in beautiful Elgin and 40 acres in Willcox Wine Country. Our Elgin tasting room is open daily and is situated right in the middle of what is know as “winery row.” The Sonoita Arizona Wine Tour boasts of ten different tasting rooms and was selected by USA Today as one of the top ten wine trails in the United States.

520.455.5582 KiefJoshuaVineyards.com LIGHTNING RIDGE CELLARSA small family winery proud to offer wines based on our Italian heritage.

Our estate wines are made from classic Italian varietals: Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Montepulciano, Primitivo, Malvasia and Muscat Canelli. Clay soils, long warm summers, cool nights and an Old World style of winemaking provide the perfect combination to produce rich, full-bodied wines. 520.455.5383 LightningRidgeCellars.com PILLSBURY WINE CO. Winemaker Sam Pillsbury is dedicated to crafting fine wines that celebrate Arizona’s high-desert terroir. His sustainable Rhone vineyard in Willcox’s Kansas Settlement produces award-winning wines that are crisp, clean, and dry— created to complement the foods you love. 928.639.0646 PillsburyWine.com

OSWALD CATTLE CO. SOURCE GUIDE

AMADO, AZ

Not All Beef Is Grown Equal Irrigated-grass fed beef Available at Tubac Market and Walking J Farm TASTE THE DIFFERENCE 122 November - December 2013

PLAZA LIQUORS A family owned and independent store, has been around under the ownership of Mark Thomson for 35 years now. Plaza specializes in family owned wineries, breweries and distilleries from around the world. The service and selection speaks for itself. 2642 N. Campbell Ave. 520.327.0542 SAND-RECKONER VINEYARDS Located on the Willcox Bench at 4,300 feet in elevation, Rob and Sarah Hammelman tend to the Vineyards. Our name SandReckoner, means ‘sand-calculator,’ and references Archimedes’ revolutionary and thought provoking 3rd century B.C. writing. In this text, Archimedes calculates the size of the universe by figuring the number of grains of sand that will fill it. The name alludes to our sandy loam soils, our connection to the cosmos, and the infinite calculations required to create a true wine that expresses the very sand into which our vines’ roots grow deep. 303.931.8472 Sand-Reckoner.com SENTINEL PEAK BREWING COMPANY A nanobrewery offering a rotating selection of craft beers along with a few house favorites. Our inspiration comes from many sources including, but not limited to, travels we’ve had and suggestions from friends and family. 520.977.3611 SentinelPeakBrewing.com TAP & BOTTLE A craft beer and wine tasting room in Downtown Tucson featuring hundreds of beverage options to enjoy on site or carry out. Look forward to beer flights, events and merchandise. 520.344.8999 TheTapAndBottle.com TEN FIFTY-FIVE BREWING A small Batch Brewery catering to Tucson Arizona. we like beer, and we really like good beer. We want to put good beer in reach of those that want to enjoy it, and help nurture the developing brew culture in Tucson. We want to make beer for beer drinkers like us; adventurous beer drinkers that are just as likely to try something new as they are an old favorite. 520.461.8073 1055brewing.com VILLAGE OF ELGIN WINERY The largest producer of wine in the Sonoita AVA. This family owned winery still produces wines in the traditional manner. Classically styled and aged in fine European wood, the wines reflect the subtle grace of Arizona terrior. The winery produces a wide range of wines to please all of its customer’s tastes. 520.455.9309 ElginWines.com ZARPARA VINEYARD Visit our tasting room at the vineyard just 15 minutes south of historic downtown Willcox. Sample exceptional, hand-crafted wines while you experience breathtaking views of the Dos Cabezas Mountains from the outdoor terrace. Open FridaySunday, 11am-5pm. 602.885.8903. Zarpara.com COMMUNITY EDUCATION & WORKSHOPS THE DRAWING STUDIO When you take a class at The Drawing Studio, it’s not just about learning how to draw,

FARMS, RANCHES & U-PICKS ARIZONA FRESH FOODS. Locally owned and operated to provide the freshest produce on the market at the best prices. 520.223.6790 ArizonaFreshFoods.com AVALON ORGANIC GARDENS & ECOVILLAGE Avalon Gardens practices traditional permaculture principles and time-honored techniques of organic gardening, as well as new sustainable technologies, and promotes seed-saving and the cultivation of heritage varieties of produce provided to our local area through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program.

Tours available by appointment. 2074 Pendleton Dr.,Tumacácori, 520-603-9932, AvalonGardens.org CHIVA RISA We make artisanal, all natural, European-style cheese on an off-grid, sustainable site situated in the upper San Pedro Valley near the Mexican Border. We treat our animals, land, and cheese with the utmost care and respect. Sharing nature’s bounty with our community through finely crafted cheese is Chiva Risa’s primary goal. 520.901.0429 ChivaRisa.com FEATHERED REPTILES FARM Local hobby poultry farm raising chickens and turkeys on organic feed. Processed organic chickens and eggs. Show quality heritage and standard breeds for backyard flocks. Taking reservations for processed heritage turkeys for Christmas. Farm pickup near Ina & Silverbell Roads.FeatheredReptilesPoultry@gmail.com, FeatheredReptilesFarm.Weebly.com FIORA DI CAPRA Raw Goat Milk, Yogurt, Kefir, Artisanal Farmstead Goat Cheese and Confections. Healthy, happy goats fed grass, alfalfa and local browse. Award winning products can be sampled and purchased at the Heirloom Market, Sunday at St. Phillips Plaza.

520.586.2081 goatmilkandcheese.com HARRIS HERITAGE GROWERS Pick it your self veggies right out of the field. Also a small shop filled with paintings, handcrafted wood items, crafts, handmade jewelry and much more. 27811 S, Sonoita Hwy (Hwy 83), Sonoita 520.455.9272 OSWALD CATTLE COMPANY Not all beef is grown equal. High quality irrigated pasture and Black Angus genetics make our meat better. Happy land makes happy cattle, which means delicious beef. Available at the Tubac Market and Walking J Farms. Amado, 520.398.2883 PATAGONIA ORCHARDS An organic grower, packer and shipper based in Rio Rico, Arizona. We ship premium organic fruits grown in Arizona and Mexico to wholesalers and retailers throughout the U.S. and Canada. We partner with over 15 organic growers.

520.761.8970 PatagoniaOrchardsLLC.com RAMONA FARMS Akimel O’odham Farm producing ancient, heirloom food crops on ancestral land along the Gila River. Products grown and packaged on farm.

Visit our website for wholesome, delicious, traditional Pima recipes for tepary beans, corn and wheat. Shop at our online store. Wholesale + food service prices.

Sacaton, 602.322.5080 RamonaFarms.com RIO SANTA CRUZ GRASS FINISHED BEEF Our farm on the Santa Cruz River near the US-Mexico border uses the Argentine beef finishing system based on a chain of annual forages crafted for the climate and soils of Santa Cruz County. Our calves are born on our ranch in the uplands of the Santa Cruz River. At weaning, they are moved six miles to our finishing farm on the Santa

Cruz River. Here they live peacefully and naturally on forages sustained by irrigation and summer rains.

520.394.0243 RSCGrassFinishedBeef.com SLEEPING FROG FARM Sleeping Frog Farms is an intensive 75-acre farm nestled in the Cascabel corridor of the San Pedro River Valley in Southern Arizona. Our mission is to improve the health of our land and community by growing high quality fruits and vegetables without the use of chemicals. 520.212.3764 SleepingFrogFarms.com STARBAR RANCH Natural grass fed beef - Lovingly and humanely raised in beautiful Southeast Arizona.Our beef is dry aged 28 days - Saturdays at the Oro Valley Farmers’ Market. Online & phone orders.The way beef used to taste! 520.805.3345 StarbarRanch.com SUNIZONA We are a family-owned, certified organic farm in Willcox, Arizona growing fruits and vegetables with sustainable, veganic practices and greenhouse technology. CSAs available all over Baja Arizona. 5655 E Gaskill Rd. Willcox 520.824.3160 SunizonaFamilyFarms.com

Grow With Us,

Naturally!

Your Local Source From Seed to Table.

• Beneficial Insects & Organisms • Seed Care & Propagation • Fertilizers & Amendments • Easy-To-Use Tools • Weed, Disease & Critter Control

WALKING J FARM A polyculture farm specializing in grass fed, pasture raised beef, poultry and pork, and organically grown vegetables. At Santa Cruz River Farmers’ Market on Thurs, Nogales Farmers’ Market on Fridays, and Heritage Farmer’s Market on Sun (St. Philips Plaza). 520.398.9050 WalkingJFarm.com

Visit Our Store Today!

WHOLESUM FAMILY FARMS In 2012 the Crisantes family began farming in Southern Arizona after farming for generations in Mexico. The greenhouses built here are of the finest quality and latest technology available anywhere in the world. With three generations of experience, Wholesum Family Farms is producing outstanding quality organic tomatoes. 816.522.8262 WholesumFamilyFarms.com

10831 N. Mavinee Dr. Suite185 Oro Valley, AZ 85737

520-825-9785 • 1-800-827-2857 • www.arbico-organics.com

GROCERS, FARMERS’ MARKETS & CSAS BISBEE FARMERS’ MARKET Vibrant village market appears magically at Vista Park in the Warren district in Bisbee every Saturday morning. We feature local musicians while you enjoy shopping for healthy local foods and artisan crafts. Choices for Sustainable Living booth features workshops for healthy lifestyle changes.

9am-1pm, Saturdays, BisbeeFarmersMarket.org FOOD CONSPIRACY COOP Located on funky Fourth Ave., the co-op is a natural foods grocery store that has served the Tucson community since 1971 and emphasizes organic, local and fair trade options.

Among its many delicious offerings, the co-op serves homemade bagels, muffins, and green chili breakfast wraps, and features a hot food and salad bar. Everyone can shop at the co-op and anyone can join. 412 N. Fourth Ave. 520.624-4821 FoodConspiracy.coop HEIRLOOM FARMERS’ MARKETS Four local farmers markets that support of our region’s farms by: connecting consumers directly to local food producers, strengthening urban-rural agriculture and small food businesses. Heirloom Farmers Markets dedicated to the benefits of local food. 520.882.2157 HeirloomFM.com HIGH DESERT MARKET Gourmet food and gift market and cafe. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with indoor and outdoor seating. We do all our baking on premises, serve generous gourmet salads and sandwiches, quiches, pizzas, desserts and more.

520.432.6775 HighDesertMarket.com MATT’S ORGANICS Dedicated to providing convenient home delivery of top quality organic fruits and vegetables. You have the satisfaction of supporting organic farmers and the knowledge that you are eating the healthiest food free of pesticides. We guarantee 100% satisfaction on all purchases. 520.790.4360 MattsOrganics.com

Available at these locations in Tucson: Santa Cruz Farmer’s Market on Thursdays§ Saturday Farmer’s Market at The Loft§ Food Conspiracy Co-op§ Aqua Vita* Time Market Maynard’s* St. Phillips Farmers’ Market every other Sunday Sprouts and Whole Food Stores Rincon Market Albertson’s on Silverbell Safeway on Broadway And downtown at our bakery on 411 N. 7th Avenue§

*Bread and Cookies at these locations Bread, cookies, handpies, cinnamon rolls, granola, horse treats and more at these locations

§

EdibleBajaArizona.com

123

SOURCE GUIDE

or paint or sculpt. It’s about learning to look at things in a whole new way. The Drawing Studio is not just about art classes and instruction—it’s about possibilities. 33 South Sixth Ave. 520.620.0947 TheDrawingStudio.org

Grammy’s

ARTISAN JAMS, JELLIES, PICKLES AND MUSTARDS, HEIRLOOM TOMATOES located in Cochise Arizona

RIVER ROAD GARDENS We are a small urban farm, using Biodynamic principles, located on the grounds of the Tucson Waldorf School. CSAs available. 3605 E. River Road, 520.780.9125 RiverRoadGardens.com SANTA CRUZ RIVER FARMERS’ MARKET Fresh, sustainably grown foods from local farmers. Arizona fruits and vegetables, free-range meat, eggs, honey, baked goods, and natural plant products! Live music, cooking demonstrations, children’s activities and free workshops. A great place to get to know your community! West Congress Street, just west of I-10 at Mercado San Augustín, 520.882.3313 CommunityFoodBank.org SHOPORGANIC.COM An online retailer of carefully selected Organic and Non-GMO products. Local Tucson customers can shop online and pick up at our facility.

We offer shelf stable groceries, bulk foods, personal care, household items, gluten free, raw, and more.

520.792.0804 ShopOrganic.com

Grammys.AZ Always a great place to find Briggs and Eggers organic fruit.

BRING YOUR KIDS BY FOR A FREE APPLE!

Find us at all Heirloom Farmers’ Markets and the Sierra Vista Farmers’ Market

STARBAR FA R M & R A N C H McNeal, Arizona

SIERRA VISTA FOOD COOP Our mission: to provide the benefits of natural foods and products, economic cooperation and sustainable practices to as many people as possible in our community. Our store will have a full natural & organic grocery selection as well as frozen, dairy, bulk foods, organic and local produce, specialty & organic cheeses, olives, crueltyfree cosmetics, premium supplements, and more! 96 S. Carmichael, Sierra Vista 520.335.6676 SierraVistaMarket. com SIERRA VISTA FARMERS’ MARKET Open Thursdays at Veterans’ Memorial Park in Sierra Vista, AZ. Meet local growers, ranchers, beekeepers and bakers. Take home some of the bounty of southern Arizona! Grass-fed meats, desert heritage foods and plants. Contact sierravistafarmersmarket@cox.net SierraVistafarmersMarket.com TIME MARKET A neighborhood market since 1919, we bring specialty goods to the table: craft beers, esoteric fine wine, wood-fired pizza, espresso, and artisan handcrafted organic natural yeast breads. We sell organic produce and use it for our restaurant in sandwiches, salads and pizzas. We are committed to honest communication about sourcing, and enjoy featuring local farms in our menu. 444 East University Blvd., 520.622.0761 TUCSON CSA Offering weekly boxes of local, organically-grown produce since 2004. We also offer pasture-raised eggs and chickens, grass-fed meats, cheese, and bread (from Barrio Bread). Pickups are Tuesdays or Wednesdays, 4:00-7:00 pm, The Historic Y, 300 E. University Blvd., TucsonCSA.org HERBS & HERBALISTS

SOURCE GUIDE

NATURAL GRASS FED BEEF Lovingly and humanely raised in beautiful Southeast Arizona.

Our beef is dry aged 28 days.

Find us on Saturdays at the Oro Valley Farmers Market or Thursdays at the Sierra Vista Farmers Market. The way beef used to taste!

520-805-3345 StarbarRanch.com 124 November - December 2013

DESERT TORTOISE BOTANICALS We provide handcrafted herbal products from herbs wild-harvested and organically grown within the Sonoran desert bioregion. Owner John Slattery conducts the Sonoran Herbalist Apprenticeship Program, wild foods class, private plant walks, and individual wellness consultation services. 4802 E Montecito St., Tucson.

DeserTortoiseBotanicals.com TUCSON HERB STORE Located in the Heart of Downtown since 2003. Dedicated to serving a variety of ethically wild-crafted and botanical products of the southwest desert. We carry: bulk herbs, teas, herbal tinctures, beauty care products, soaps, books, incense, and much more! 408 N. 4th Ave., 520.903-0038 TucsonHerbstore.com INNS AND B&BS ARTIST’S GUEST HOUSE Charming Armory Park furnished home. Two bedrooms, bath, studio, all linens

supplied. Fully equipped kitchen, comfortable living room, wood floors; gated yards, gardens, shady porches.

Local coffee, home-grown eggs. A/C, washer; We compost, recycle, harvest rainwater, graywater. Go to: vrbo/352019 or Facebook Artists Guest House.

CAT MOUNTAIN LODGE A bed & breakfast in the desert! Featuring eco-friendly accommodations in a vintage ranch setting with five unique spacious rooms that provide Southwestern comfort—mixed with modern conveniences. Enjoy free full breakfast on-site at Coyote Pause Cafe. Reserve on-site Star Tours at Spencer’s Observatory. 2720 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, AZ, 520.578.6085 CatMountainLodge.com COPPER CITY INN A truly delightful, with beautiful rooms, excellent queen beds, abundant lighting, spacious bathrooms, balconies, free wi-fi, complimentary bottle of wine, organic coffee, parking, free off-site continental breakfast, DVDs, electronic locks. View website video: WYSIWYG. Bisbee is cool! 99 Main, Old Bisbee, 520.432.1418, CopperCityInn.com JAILHOUSE INN Once the Bisbee Police Station, the historic Jailhouse Inn, offers 5 clean, quiet rooms with full modern baths, Cable TV, WiFi, refrigerator.

Perfect downtown location, parking available. Walking distance to restaurants, bars, galleries, shops and Old Bisbee attractions. 8 Naco Road, Bisbee 520.432.8065 JailhouseInnAZ.com LA POSADA DEL RIO SONORA La Posada del Rio Sonora is a boutique hotel and restaurant on the plaza principal of Banámichi. Our 250 year old adobe has 10 rooms and suites and two apartments. This is the heart of “La Ruta Rio Sonora” with nearby hot springs. 70 Calle Pesqueira, Banámichi, Sonora, Mexico, MexicoEcoResort.com SUNGLOW RANCH A relaxed atmosphere with distant mountain views, charming one and two bedroom casitas, dark skies at night for incredible stargazing, a birder’s paradise, plentiful breakfasts and Cochise County wines served with delicious meals in the Sunglow Cafe.

A talented staff will make your stay an enjoyable and relaxing experience! (520) 824-3334 SunglowRanch.com LANDSCAPING & PERMACULTURE AHIMSA LANDSCAPING Ahimsa Landscaping is an ethically focused, small design + build business specializing in creating sustainable landscapes through the integration of permaculture design principles and water harvesting techniques for the desert environment.

928.830.8045 Facebook.com/AhimsaLandscaping LOCAL ROOTS AQUAPONICS We raise fish and plants together to create mutually beneficial ecosystems with a focus on food production. Aquaponic system sales, live fish, heirloom seedlings, consulting, site assessments, pool/pond conversions, tours, workshops, speaking events and more. 765.276.6427 LocalRootsAquaponics.com RED BARK DESIGN, LLC Landscape Design + Consultation. RedBark Design offers regionally and ecologically appropriate landscape design services for residential, commercial and consulting projects.

P.O. Box 44128 Tucson, Arizona 85733, 520.247.2456 RedBarkDesign.com SW GARDENWORKS A full vegetable garden service that installs and revamps existing gardens. Our gardens are built to last! Using bio intensive methods and soils we insure the best results with your backyard garden.3661 N. Campbell #312, 520.419.2886 SouthwestGardenworks.com TECHNICIANS FOR SUSTAINABILITY A Tucson based, locally owned, mission-driven company specializing in renewable energy and sustainable technologies for residential and commercial settings, including solar electric (PV) and solar hot water. (520) 740-0736 TFSSolar.com

LITERATURE BOOK STOP A Tucson institution for decades (since 1967!), the Book Stop stocks thousands of quality used and out-of-print titles. Monday-Thursday: 10am-7pm, Friday-Saturday: 10am-10pm, Sunday: noon-5pm. 213 N. 4th Avenue, 520.326.6661 BookStopTucson.com UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA PRESS Founded in 1959 as a department of the University of Arizona, the Press is a nonprofit publisher of award-winning scholarly and regional books that reflect the special strengths of the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Northern Arizona University. UAPress.Arizona.edu MASSAGE, SPAS & SALONS COYOTE WORE SIDEBURNS A High Quality Progressive Hair Salon. Our stylists are well trained and current.

If you would like to speak to a stylist about your hair service prior to making a commitment, consultation appointments are available. New location: 2855 E. Grant Rd, 520.623.7341 DR. FEELGOOD’S SPA & SALON A full service salon in Bisbee offers women’s and men’s hair styling, nail service, facials, waxing and more. We also offer a variety or relaxing massages and the only private sauna and hot tub in Bisbee, Arizona. 8 Naco Road, Bisbee 520.432.8065 DrFeelgoodsAZ.com WENDY BRITTAIN, LLC Allow your body to fill with spaciousness and light. My work is based on Swedish massage and may also include the use of balsaltic stones, reflexology, breath awareness and other energy modalities. wdbrtn@msn.com 520.884.8226

ORGANIZATIONS BISBEE HUB Are you traveling to Bisbee soon? Find out what’s in store before you travel by visiting BisbeeHub. com and checking out the events calendar. We are also working on a business directory so come back again and again and see why Bisbee is so special! BisbeeHub.com COSECHANDO BIENESTAR An initiative to renew food traditions in Nogales so that locally-grown food is enjoyed by all for better health. We do this by improving access, building residents’ capacity to grow food, supporting sound policy and promoting local business.

520.375.6050 Facebook.com/NogalesMercado

FOOD TRUCK ROUNDUP Helping independent chefs do what they love to do: cook great meals in their motorized, mobile kitchens, or full-size trailer. Gathering several times a month, in one place, at different locations, so that you can sample their innovative menus with your family and friends. TucsonFoodTruckRoundup.com SLOW FOOD TUCSON More than 200 local chapters of Slow Food USA Believe in Good, Clean, Fair Food for Everyone! To become a friend on our event mailing list email Don Luria at dsluria@aol.com. To become a member ($25.00). Join at SlowFoodSouthernAZ.org TUCSON CLEAN & BEAUTIFUL A non-profit organization with the intent to preserve and improve our environment, conserve natural resources, and enhance the quality of life in the City of Tucson and eastern Pima County.

These goals will be achieved through initiating educational and participatory programs implemented with broad-citizen, multicultural support. 520.791.3109 TucsonCleanAndBeautiful.org TUCSON MUSEUM OF ART Western, Latin, modern and contemporary, and Asian art fills our historic city block in downtown Tucson for an everlasting experience while traveling exhibits keep the paint and clay fresh for each visit. 140 North Main Avenue, 520.624.2333 TucsonMuseumOfArt.org

SANTA CRUZ RIVER

FARMERS’ MARKET THURSDAY 4-7

EL MERCADO

CONGRESS, WEST OF I-10 REAL FOOD. REAL FARMERS. ON YOUR STREET.

PLANTS, SEEDS & GARDEN SUPPLY ARBICO ORGANICS Arbico Organics has been providing organic solutions for homeowners, gardeners, farmers and pet, horse and livestock owners since 1979.

Products include beneficial insects and organisms, natural fertilizers, amendments, composting supplies, weed and disease controls, critter control and more.

800.827.2847 Arbico-Organics.com

www.communityfoodbank.org

ARID ADAPTATIONS We are a local nursery specializing in cactus and succulents with over 500 species. There is a strong focus on succulents for the landscape, but we also have a HUGE selection of Aloe, Agave, Hedgehog Cactus, Barrel Cactus, Pincushion Cactus, Torch Cactus, Euphorbia, Stapeliads, Caudiciforms, Adenium, and Seed Grown Ocotillos! 520.289.4083 AridAdaptations.com BAMBOO RANCH Providing Desert Grown Bamboo since 1986. Specializing in non-invasive clumping bamboo suited to harsh conditions. Providing plants, poles and expert advice on species, growing and care, for privacy screening and shade. 520.743.9879 BambooRanch@juno. com, BambooRanch.net B&B CACTUS FARM A cactus and succulent grower in Tucson, Arizona, B&B has both seasoned landscape specimens and plants for the collector. 11550 E. Speedway, 520.721.4687, BandBCactus.com ECOGROW A recognized resource for aquaponics, sustainable growing methods, unusual and rare plants, education, equipment and supplies so that plant

GRASSFED NATURAL BEEF PASTURE RAISED PORK & POULTRY ORGANICALLY-GROWN PRODUCE

Arid Adaptations A Local Nursery Offering Succulent Plants for Everyone: Beginners, Landscapers, and Collectors. www.aridadaptations.com 520-289-4083

WalkingJFarm.com Learning. Growing. Eating.

520.375.6050 · facebook.com/NogalesMercado

Amado, AZ

520.398.9050

EdibleBajaArizona.com

125

SOURCE GUIDE

WATERSHED MANAGEMENT GROUP Helping you with water harvesting, soil building, edible and native gardens, and watershed restoration. We’re a Tucsonbased non-profit serving the community by sharing our technical expertise and offering hands-on workshops, training programs, custom property consultations, site plans, and project implementation. 520.396.3266 WatershedMG.org

Grade A raw goat milk and goat milk products for Arizona since 2006!

Fiore di Capra

and garden enthusiasts can acquire the tools and knowledge to achieve their goals of growing healthy food, minimizing environmental impacts, enjoying healthy plants and experiencing the pride of achievement. 657 W. St. Mary’s Road, 520.777.8307 EcoGroHydro.com NATIVE SEEDS/SEARCH Revered Tucson nonprofit and world-class seed bank saving and sharing the seeds of the desert Southwest since 1983. Classes, tours, seeds, native crafts and more! 3061 N. Campbell Avenue (store) and 3584 E. River Rd. (Center). 520.622.0830 NativeSeeds.org RILLITO NURSERY & GARDEN CENTER An independent family-owned business that has provided our customers with a diverse inventory of quality plants and products since 1994. Our goal is to provide quality products and excellent service at a fair price. 6303 N. La Cholla Blvd., 520.575.0995 RillitoNursery.com SILVERBELL NURSERY & COUNTRY STORE We sell bedding, garden and landscape plants, water harvesting supplies and now even pet food. “Our success is yours.”

We believe that if we sell you a plant and tell you how to plant it, feed it, water it, harvest it and prune it, and you and the plant are successful, you will be back. 2730 N. Silverbell Rd., 520.622.3894

Find us at the Sunday St. Phillip's Farmer's Market GoatMilkAndCheese.com

P O AL H S C Matt’s Organics LO

HOME DELIVERY

TANK’S GREEN STUFF Our mission is to create value added products from stuff that was once considered waste. To create jobs and great products that can be used to build a sustainable local economy. Our compost is a naturally made soil amendment, containing no fertilizers or chemical products. 520.290.9313 TanksGreenStuff.biz

REAL ESTATE & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT JILL RICH REALTOR I am dedicated to our Long Realty mission: To create an exceptional real estate services experience that builds long-lasting relationships. “It’s like having your grandma in the real estate business.”

Email at (520) 349-0174 JillRich.LongRealty.com REAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT RINCON We are a full service Property Management Company, locally owned and part of a National Industry Leader. We offer comprehensive marketing for your property, online communication 24/7 and a full service team of professionals to lease, manage and maintain your property. 6380 E. Tanque Verde, 800.787.9565 RPMRincon.com

RESTAURANTS, BARS & CAFES

SOURCE GUIDE

1702 A pizzeria and craft beer bar extravaganza. On tap, 46 craft beers from the all over the 50 states and world complement our fresh hand tossed pizza made with the very best ingredients. 1702 E. Speedway Blvd.

520.325.1702 1702AZ.com

Tucson's Best Mobile Bistro

126 November - December 2013

ACACIA Located in the Catalina Foothills, Acacia offers an exquiste panoramic view of the city and features award winning cuisine by Chef Albert Hall. Enjoy fresh, natural and local ingredients lovingly prepared in the friendliest and most comfortable setting in Tucson. Join us for Lunch, Dinner, Sunday brunch and Happy Hour daily. 3001 E Skyline Dr. 520.232.0101 AcaciaTucson.com AMBER RESTAURANT & GALLERY Offering food and artistic adventure that both nourish and delight. Here guests will find the noble beauty of art and classical music along with a friendly atmosphere suitable for all fine occasions. 7000 E. Tanque Verde Rd. 520.296.9759 AmberRestaurantGallery.com AZUL RESTAURANT & LOUNGE Restaurant/Lounge at The Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa. Experience vibrant cuisine and local ingredients at AZuL. Nestled on 250 acres of high Sonoran Desert foothills in the Santa Catalina Mountains, our guests experience picturesque mountain and golf course views from 3-story arched windows while savoring the culinary creations of Chef Russell Michel. 3800 E. Sunrise Dr., 520.742.6000 AzulLaPaloma.com BEYOND BREAD Locally owned and operated since 1998, we offer a variety of hand-crafted breads, delicious sandwiches, house-made soups, fresh salads and decadent pastries all in a comfortable and friendly environment. We make just about everything from scratch, using only the finest ingredients. Serving Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Three locations in Tucson, visit our webpage to find the one closest to you.

BeyondBread.com CAFE 54 We are an urban bistro serving lunch in the heart of downtown Tucson at 54 E. Pennington Street and featuring imaginative “ American Fusion” cuisine using only the finest and freshest ingredients. Café 54 also functions as a unique employment training program for adults recovering from mental illnesses. 520.622.1907 Cafe54.org CAFÉ PASSÉ Dedicated to serving great coffee and coffee drinks, locally sourced organic food whenever we possibly can, craft cocktails and an eclectic beer menu.

It is also home to Tucson’s best patio and biergarten with a patio bar, live music four nights a week and local art.

415 N. 4th Ave., 520.624.4411 CafePasse.com CAFÉ ROKA Celebrating 20 years of serving the Bisbee community and Baja Arizona. We create a wonderful dining experience for our guests, providing delicious food, beverages & warm hospitality. Reservations recommended.

35 Main St., Bisbee, 520.432.5153 CafeRoka.com CHEF’S KITCHEN & CATERING A family affair, owned, operated by husband and wife, Chris and Mary Cryderman and son Ivor. Chris and Ivor have a combined 50+ years experience as chefs involving a wide spectrum of upscale cuisines. They use this knowledge and love of making fresh, healthy food from scratch to provide excellent, flavorful mobile dining and catering like one could expect in a high quality restaurant. 520.903.7004 ChefsKitchenCatering@yahoo.com

shop local. shop online. shopOrganic.

We cater wedding, holiday party, picnics and office lunches

Organic, Non-GMO, Fair Trade and Eco-Friendly products delivered to your door or available for local pickup.

find us on facebook!

shopOrganicTucson.com

THE CUP CAFE The signature Hotel Congress restaurant, attracts every walk of life for its eclectic American fare served seven days a week in downtown Tucson. “The Cup” is an award winning destination for locals and visitors alike, complete with a full bar, dining room and plaza seating. 520.798.1618 HotelCongress.com/Cup CUSHING STREET Uptown comfort food, garden patios, full bar and live jazz have made this 1860’s historic landmark a local favorite for forty years. Book an intimate party in a private dining room or a wedding for 100 guests. Family owned since 1972. 198 W. Cushing St. 520.622.7984 CushingStreet.com DELECTABLES International selections in a casual atmosphere. Breakfast, lunch, dinner & late night. Dogfriendly patio dining, Live music every Friday & Saturday.

Full bar, excellent wine list. Home-made desserts.

Vegan & gluten-free menus. Catering. 533 N. 4th Ave., 520.884.9289 Delectables.com DIABLO BURGER Named Arizona’s Best Burger in USAToday, Diablo Burger is a local-foods based burger joint serving 100% grass-fed, hormone- and antibioticfree, open range-raised beef. “All about local” and totally committed to enhancing the connection of people to place through local foods. 312 E. Congress street 520.882.2007 DiabloBurger.com DOWNTOWN KITCHEN + COCKTAILS Innovative farm to table cooking with global influences + killer cocktails from James Beard Award Winner Janos Wilder in an art filled, urban setting with roomy outdoor patio.

Dinner, Happy Hour, Bar Menu seven nights and Late Night Friday and Saturday. 135 S. 6th Ave., 520.623.7700 DowntownKitchen.com ELVIRA’S Established in 1927 in Nogales, Mexico, Elvira’s is now in Tubac, bringing you the best Mexican cuisine and award winning dishes! 2221 E. Frontage Road A101, Tubac 520.398.9421 ElvirasRestaurant.com FALORA In the historic Joesler-built Broadway Village, Falora builds pizzas & salads anchored in tradition, with a sharply creative angle. Ingredients are simple, fresh; imported from Italy or brought over by local farms.

Lunch/Dinner— charming patio or cozy interior. 3000 E. Broadway at Country Club, 520.325.9988 Falora.com

HARVEST Seasonally Inspired Cooking is the mantra behind MaRKeT Restaurant Group’s newest concept located in Oro Valley. Happy Hour daily from 3-6 and a Sunset Menu from 4-5:30. 10355 N La Canada Road, Oro Valley, 520.731.1100 HarvestOV.com HUB RESTAURANT & CREAMERY Enjoy American comfort food, downtown made ice cream and over 20 craft beers on draft. Voted Best Casual Dining, Best Ice Cream and Best Late Night-Eats 2013. 266 East Congress St., 520.207.8201, HubDowntown.com KINGFISHER An American bar and grill specializing in regional cuisine from across the U.S. serving several varieties of fin fish, shellfish, and oysters. Great intimate bar with happy hours and late night menu everyday. 2564 E. Grant Rd., 520.323.7739 KingfisherTucson.com LA COCINA RESTAURANT CANTINA & COFFEE BAR We care deeply for our community and strive to provide a gathering place for all. Tucson musicians take the stage most days of the week, our Cantina pours local beer, and we support our local farmers and ranchers. 201 N Court Ave., 520.365.3053 LaCocinaTucson.com LE BUZZ CAFFE A one-of-a-kind hangout popular with cyclists, climbers and locals with great in-house roasted coffee, full espresso bar, sublime baked goods, hearty breakfasts, soups, salads, panini and quiches. The Le Buzz “house” cookie is worth the trip alone. 9121 E. Tanque Verde Road. 520.749.3903 LeBuzzCaffe.com MARTIN’S COMIDA CHINGONA Nestled right on Fourth Avenue, Martin’s is fun, casual, and independent.

Martin’s serves traditional Mexican food. 557 N 4th Ave. 520.884.7909

Quality used and out of print books bought, sold, and traded.

214 N. 4th Avenue Tucson, AZ 85705 bookstoptucson.com M-Th 10am - 7pm F-Sat 10am - 10pm Sun 12pm - 5pm

520-326-6661

MAYNARDS MARKET & KITCHEN We established the first downtown market, and paired it with a charismatic restaurant and bar. Both are fueled by a passion for celebrating the best of place, product and service. 520.545.0577 MaynardsMarket.com MOTHER HUBBARD’S CAFE Serving contemporary Native American Comfort food. Breakfast & lunch only at the NW corner of Grant and Stone - just minutes from downtown Tucson. Come taste the love! 7-2:00 pm daily 14 W. Grant Road, 520.623.7976 NONNA VIVI PIZZERIA Serving fresh, homemade pizza cooked to perfection in our wood oven. We make the people of Arizona very happy! 1060 Yavapai Dr., Rio Rico 520.761.2825 OVERLAND TROUT Farm to table restaurant in Sonoita by celebrated chef Greg LaPrad. Dedicated to supporting

7000 E. Tanque Verde Rd (520) 296-9759

ts Guest Hou s i t r

se

A

FOOD FOR ASCENSION CAFÉ A new paradigm of sustaining community by providing pure food through fair systems that interact together and support a vibrant

life, vibrant community, and a vibrant self with the ultimate intention of reconnecting our body mind and soul. Opening Fall 2013. 330 east 7th street, 520.882.4736, FoodForAscension.org

SOURCE GUIDE

COYOTE PAUSE CAFE Offering healthy innovative food with a Southwestern twist! Cheerful unique atmosphere.

Breakfast & lunch Tues-Sun 730a-230p. Omelets, salads, sandwiches, vegetarian choices, beer, wine. Located in west Tucson at Cat Mountain Station with shopping, art, antiques. Arts & Crafts Fair December 1st! 2740 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, AZ 520.883.7297 CoyotePauseCafe.com

Landscape Design 520 882 0279

Darbi Davis, MLA, ASLA 520.247.2456 RedBarkDesign.com

Charming historic home for short stays & vacations Walking distance to everything downtown artistsguesthouse@gmail.com

EdibleBajaArizona.com

127

local and producing quality meals. Lunch, Dinner, Cocktails. 3266 Highway 82, Sonoita, 520.455.9316 OverlandTrout.com

Great meeting spot; you can even reserve our loft! Beer, wine & killer Irish coffee. 245 E. Congress at Fifth Ave., 520.623.4477 Sparkroot.com

PASCO KITCHEN & LOUNGE Urban farm fare is how we describe traditional comfort food & drink, approached with an eye toward modern techniques and emphasis on fresh, local ingredients. Our menu is infused with the soul & passion that Chef/Owner Ramiro Scavo brings into the kitchen also into the lounge. Enjoy Chef “Miro’s” unique creations in our comfy neighborhood setting or grab & go from our curbside farm cart. 520.882.8013 PascoKitchen.com

STELLA JAVA Enjoy delicious espresso drinks made from locally roasted coffee beans at this unique family-owned Tucson café. Mon-Sun 8am-2pm 100 S Avenida del Convento 520.777.1496 StellaJava.com

PENCA Mexico City Cuisine and international Bar located in the heart of Downtown Tucson. 50 E Broadway, 520.203.7681 PencaRestaurante.com PROPER A casual, urban dining establishment serving contemporary, farm to table cuisine. Brunch Daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dinner nightly from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Happy Hour M-F, 3-6 p.m. Late Night, seven days, 10 p.m. to midnight. 300 E. Congress St., 520.396.3357 ProperTucson.com REILLY CRAFT PIZZA & DRINK Offering reasonably priced modern Italian food in a casual urban setting.

Our menu features artisan hand-made pizzas, as well as craft drinks. We also offer fresh baked sandwiches for lunch and fresh hand-made pastas for dinner.

520.882.5550 ReillyPizza.com RENEE’S ORGANIC OVEN Renee’s Organic Oven serves up creative and traditional pizzas + so much more. We offer a casual space for you to enjoy a menu filled with local and organic ingredients. Everything we do is made possible by our connection to great people and we would love to add you to our mix! Happy Hour, dine-in, take out . Reservations encouraged, but walk-ins welcome! 7065 E. Tanque Verde 520.886.0484 ReneesOrganicOven.com

Residential and Commercial

Vegetable Gardening Service Reed Porter - (520) 419-2886 www.southwestgardenworks.com Kitchen - Edible Baja - Nov

SOURCE GUIDE

Not a licensed The Contractor Tasteful

128 November - December 2013

REVOLUTIONARY GROUNDS Your local source for shade grown, organic, direct-trade coffee; vegetarian & vegan sandwiches, salads and homemade desserts, with a great selection of books on local agriculture and sustainable living. 606 N. 4th Ave., 520.620.1770 RevolutionaryGroundsOnline.com ROCCO’S LITTLE CHICAGO PIZZERIA Real Chicago Pizza, right around the corner! Since 1998 Rocco DiGrazia has been serving perennially award-winning pizzas, Buffalo wings, and chocolate-chip cookies on Broadway’s Sunshine Mile. Check our gigantic beer selections, too. You’ll agree it’s a Helluva Pie! 2707 E Broadway Blvd 520.321.1860 RoccosLittleChicago.com SPARKROOT A cornerstone of a burgeoning downtown, Sparkroot serves up Blue Bottle Coffee & vegetarian fare with flare, in a striking atmosphere.

2013.pdf 1 10/6/13 9:08 AM Vibrant community flavor, morning through evening.

TASTEFUL KITCHEN Modern vegetarian cuisine creatively prepared and farm-to-table fresh. We showcase regional heritage foods infused with Chef Sigret’s hand-crafted Southwestern sauces and flavorings. Everything from scratch using whole foods, local organic when available, and few processed ingredients. Dine in, take out, weekly meals to-go, boutique catering, cooking classes, private function room. Dinner is served Tue-Sat 5-9pm, 722 N. Stone Ave. (at University). Free parking. Reservations recommended. 520.250.9600. TheTastefulKitchen.com TAVOLINO RISTORANTE ITALIANO Specializing in simple, elegant food, Tavolino’s Northern Italian cuisine features: fresh salads, homemade pastas, woodfired pizzas, succulent rotisserie meats and luscious desserts. Lunch: Mon-Sat 11am-3pm, Dinner: 5:00-10pm (11pm Thu-Sat), Happy Hour Mon-Sat 3-6pm and 9-11 pm 2890 E. Skyline Dr. (Plaza Colonial), 520.531.1913 TavolinoRistorante.com THUY’S NOODLE SHOP Authentic, from-scratch Vietnamese food, specializing in pho, a noodle soup Beef or vegan. #9 Naco Rd., Bisbee, 520.366.4479 TUCSON TAMALE COMPANY Over 30 different kinds of incredible tamales. Mild to spicy, Meaty to Vegan to sweet, we have just about any kind of tamale you can think of andd then some! 520.305.4760 TucsonTamale.com V MODERN THAI CUISINE A slice of Bangkok in the heart of downtown Tucson. Join us for your Thai cuisine cravings. We open nightly, Wednesday to Sunday 5pmclosing time. Also consider booking your private parties, and special events at V! 9 E Congress, 520.882.8143 VModernThai.com WILKO A modern gastropub featuring inventive classic American comfort food in the Main Gate district at Park and University. Everything on our menu is prepared on site and whenever possible we use local and organic ingredients. We have over 30 wines by the glass, a craft cocktail bar, 11 quality brews on tap, and an extensive tasting menu featuring the best artisan cheeses and salume available from small local and regional producers. 520.792.6684 BarWilko.com WISDOM’S CAFE Your neighborhood restaurant for over 69 years. Let our family serve your family mouth-watering Mexican food that is lovingly prepared and steeped in tradition. Owned and operated by 4 generations of the Wisdom family. 1931 E. Frontage Rd., Tumacacori 520.398.2397 WisdomsCafe.com

RETAIL SHOPS & PLAZAS AZ NATURE SCENT GIFTS & MORE Specializing in creating unique gift arrangements for busy eventplanners and industry professionals. We feature locallycrafted artisanal edible gifts, boutique gifts and fine art, as well as aromatherapy personal care items that are locally-crafted and eco-friendly. 135 E. Grant Street, Nogales 520.423.7274 AZNatureGifts.com LIL’ TRADERS New and used stuff for kids and moms to be! We adhere to the motto, “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!” Buy, Sell, Trade. 6216 E. Speedway Blvd 520.881.8438 LilTraders.com MERCADO SAN AUGUSTIN Tucson’s first and only Public Market plays host to several locally-owned shops, eateries and incredible experiences. Our courtyard is home to the award-winning Santa Cruz River Farmer’s Market and many other special events. Open seven days a week with Farmer’s Market on Thursdays from 4-7 p.m. 100 S. Avenida del Convento, mercadosanagustin. com 520.461.1110 MecadoSanAugustin.com ÓPTIMO HATWORKS We have original designs, both in contemporary and period fashions, along with cleaning and re-blocking. The Hatworks is museumlike in its layout so the public can view hat-making in the Old World style. Óptimo—the best, the very finest.

Known the world over. 47 Main St., Bisbee, 520.432.4544 OptimoHatworks.com PICÁNTE A treasure trove of traditional handmade crafts from Mexico, Guatemala,and Latin America.

Artisans works include colorful ceramics, tin objects, carved wood santos, and fine silver jewelry. There is an incredible collection of textiles, huipils, fabric by the yard, hand embroidered blouses and dresses, and oilcloth. 2932 E Broadway Blvd, 520.320.5699 PicanteTucson.com POP-CYCLE A gift shop devoted to handmade items produced from recycled, reclaimed and sustainable materials. The products are fun and whimsical, with a little something for everyone. Many items are produced locally, some by the store owners. Treat yourself! 422 N. 4th Ave., 520.622.3297 PopCycleShop.com TUMACACORI MESQUITE SAWMILL A leader in raw and finished mesquite materials. From lumber, slabs, posts, y-limbs, to exotic burls and burl slabs, The Sawmill has an ever changing selection.

2007 E. Frontage Road, Tumacacori 520.398.9356 MesquiteDesign.com

TUMACOOKERY 45 minutes south of Tucson, in Tubac, this well-stocked kitchen shop is a foodie destination for gadgets, appliances, cutlery, gourmet food and more.

Great local products, and knowledgeable, friendly staff, make Tumacookery a regional favorite. Worth the drive to Tubac all by itself! 2221 S. Frontage Road, Tubac, 520.398.9497 Tumacookery.com

SOURCE GUIDE

ZONA 78 Tucson’s premier destination for artisan pizza, Italian specialties, and an eclectic selection of wines, spirits, and beers. Zona 78 sources many ingredients locally and has an in-house charcuterie. Two locations: 78 W. River Rd., and 7301 E. Tanque Verde Rd. Zona78.com

TUCSON HERB STORE

YIKES TOYS! A cornucopia for the curious! Enchanting books, wacky wonders and old-school novelties. Brainbuilding science, kooky kitsch and fantastic fun. We offer amazing toys and gifts for all ages. Specializing in Pop Culture & Quirky Fun. 2930 East Broadway Blvd., 520.320.5669 YikesToys.com SCHOOLS GREEN FIELDS COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL Challenge.

Inquiry. Balance. The foundations of a Green Fields education. From Kindergarten to Commencement, students are encouraged to develop their interests in Academics, Fine Arts, Sports, and more. Class sizes are small and students receive individual attention. 6000 N. Camino de la Tierra, 520.297.2288, GreenFields.org TUCSON WALDORF SCHOOL We offer an engaging, experiential approach to learning. Art, music and the relationship between student and teacher enrich subjects from physics to Greek mythology. Visit us at the River Bend Farm & Craft Fair, Saturday, December 7, 10am-3pm. 3605 E. River Road, 520.529.1032, TucsonWaldorf.org SERVICES ORDINARY BIKE SHOP Servicing bikes of all sorts and selling new and used bikes and parts. “Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ~Albert Einstein 520.622.6488 OrdinaryBikeShop.com SUN SPROUT DIAPER SERVICE Bringing clean cotton diapers to your door every week and cleans the dirty ones for you. Choose the ecological alternative to disposable diapers. Check out our free monthly presentations on topics important to babies and moms.

520.351.2370, SunSprout.us VENUES, THEATRES & ENTERTAINMENT LOFT CINEMA A local nonprofit cinema dedicated to creating community through film, honoring the vision of filmmakers, promoting the appreciation and understanding of the art of film. Check out the Loft Cinema Farmers’ Market on Saturdays from 8am-12pm on the patio. 3233 East Speedway Boulevard 520.795.7777 LoftCinema.com

Located in the Heart of Downtown since 2003. Dedicated to serving a variety of ethically wildcrafted and botanical products of the southwest desert.

We carry bulk herbs, teas, herbal tinctures, beauty care products, soaps, books, incense, and much more!

408 N. 4th Ave. 903-0038 TucsonHerbStore.com

F E AT H E R E D R E P T I L E S FA R M Organically Grown Heritage Chickens, Turkeys & Eggs Ready-to-cook chickens & eggs for your table.

Live birds for your flock.

Now taking reservations for Christmas turkeys. www.featheredreptilesfarm.weebly.com

Desert Tortoise Botanicals Tucson, AZ

*Wild harvested Herbals from the Sonoran Desert

* Wild harvested Herbals Tucson, AZ the Sonoran Desert *Herbalfrom Education * Consultation Services * Herbal Education www.desertortoisebotanicals.com www.sonoranherbalist.c *Consultation Services

Conscious Design For Our Future

Desert Tortoise Botanicals Permaculture Design · Water Harvesting Edible and Native Landscapes · Greywater

928.830.8045 bramhall.justin@gmail.com facebook.com/AhimsaLandscaping

*Wild harvested Herbals from the Sonoran Desert *Consultation Services *Herbal Education

DeserTortoiseBotanicals.com SonoranHerbalist.com

Tucson, AZ

EdibleBajaArizona.com

129

Last Bite

The Perfect Sonoran Breakfast On a balmy October afternoon, we sat down with Linda Ronstadt in the living room of the old adobe ranch house at the Canelo Project, a picturesque spot near the former town site of Canelo, just a few miles from the border in the hill country south of Sonoita. With gentle breezes wafting through the open windows, Linda reminisced about some of her fondest food memories as a young girl growing up in the borderlands of Arizona and Sonora.

By Linda Ronstadt

M

y grandfather

was born in Banámichi, one of the many little towns in the Río Sonora valley... they’re like rosary beads.

We used to get our cheese—queso cocido— from a little town down there. As a child we’d drive down and stop in Ímuris, and there would be somebody sitting by the side of the road selling cheeses. And they would be the most delicate, perfect little cheeses, about that big around [making a circle with thumb and forefinger], and they’d have some kind of paper that would separate them. They were perfect—and when you would cook them in the beans the cheese would stretch and stretch and stretch. They had this incredible flavor, this exact, little salt/creamy flavor. We ate it every day—it’s just what you ate with your beans.

My father would go out and bag a bunch of white wing doves and we kids would clean them. You’d have to go find them in the bushes and then you’d have to whack their heads off, and pull off all their feathers, and you’d take off their feet with a little meat cleaver, and then you’d reach underneath where the breast bone is, hold it under the water, and you’d open it up like that [gesturing]; you’d have to stick your finger in and get all the guts out and then you’d stick your finger way down and you’d get the heart and the liver out and put that aside because that’s really good.

My dad was a good shot; he didn’t miss. The white wings would fly over—that would be in September when we’d get the doves.

And then we’d bag them up and put them in the freezer so that all winter long, we’d get up in the morning and my mom would fix 130 November - December 2013

refried beans with those cheeses, and there would be tortillas—we had a girl who lived in our house and she made those fresh tortillas every morning. And they were made out of that really good wheat that we used to be able to have here, the Sonoran wheat; it stretches just right. She’d make them with lard, which was freshly rendered; the commercial lard you buy today tastes like pig bristle and it tastes horrible. She’d make them with that freshly rendered lard so they’d be layered and they had a stretch to them and a kind of a snap, like good pie pastry. They were just delicious! She’d make a couple dozen of those in the morning.

So a typical breakfast for us would be three of those white wing doves that my dad would fry up in a pan with bacon with the giblets there, you know—we liked the heart, we thought that was the best. Maybe there’d be some scrambled eggs, and some beans and some tortillas and a glass of juice... and it was just the best breakfast you ever had!

My cousin would had have brought some coffee up from the farms. My family had coffee farms in El Salvador and Guatemala.

He’d bring up a gunnysack full of those green beans and my dad would roast them on the stove in a wok; he’d stir them and stir them for about a half an hour and we’d grind them up. That was good coffee. That’s probably why I don’t like other people’s coffee! ✜ Linda Ronstadt, a native Tucsonan, has just published Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir (Simon & Schuster), chronicling her 45-year career as one of the country’s most treasured musical artists.

EdibleBajaArizona.com

131

r u o n e h w , 1 5 In 15 , e e f f o c g n i v ser d e t r a t s y l i fam ay. w y l n o e h t s â&#x20AC;&#x153;organicâ&#x20AC;? wa is. l l i t s t i , t e k Mar e e f f o C a y a At Sav

132 November - December 2013