Celebrating the Food and Wine Culture of Santa Barbara County
Unsung Heroes of the Harvest
Pistachio Harvest La Huerta Mission Gardens Farmer to Table
Food, drink, culture and a celebration of community otherwise known as October.
The true character of California is always alive in Santa Barbara, but perhaps never more so than during epicure.sb. Come revel in a tastefully refined way of life.
2011 epicuresb.com
26 It’s Raining Pistachios in Cuyama by Nancy Oster
32 La Huerta Historic Gardens at the Santa Barbara Mission by Helena Hill
38 The Unsung Heroes of Harvest by Laura Sanchez
50 From Farmer to Table: A Menu Inspired by Farmers by Pascale Beale 56 Farming, Marketing and Why We Do It: A Farmer’s Perspective by Robert Abbott
FOOD FOR THOUGHT D
Harvest time. There is a certain anticipation that you get about the things that are only in season in the fall—the apple harvest, the first pumpkins and, of vital importance in our area, the grape harvest.
This fall we shine the light on some of the people involved in the grape harvest who aren’t the winemakers. Yes, we all love our rock star winemakers, but it takes more than a village to produce the incredible wines that are produced here in Santa Barbara County. It starts with people involved in growing the grapes—the vineyard managers and people who work in the fields. Then there is the processing and technical side to making wine—the enologists, lab and cellar technicians. There are thousands of people in Santa Barbara County who are employed in the wine industry, and Laura Sanchez has profiled three amazing individuals in this issue.
We also take a look at the pistachio harvest through Nancy Oster’s eyes, and you may find yourself craving fresh pistachios straight off the tree, as I am right now. Or perhaps you will crave a delicious autumnal meal like the one that Pascale Beale cooks after being inspired by talking to the farmers at the farmers market.
I’m also thrilled that we have one of those farmers that I see every Saturday at the market writing for us in this issue. I first heard Robert Abbott speak at a local food event years ago. Then last spring when he gave a talk at an Ag Futures Alliance panel, I was convinced that we needed to get down on paper what he was talking about and share it with the readers of our magazine. Robert is one of those people who surprise you with his depth. You might know him as a farmer and then be surprised to find out that he is an extremely talented artist. And you might think he’s pretty knowledgeable about avocados, but that’s only scratching the surface.
And finally, I’m happy to announce the creation of a new column, Edible Eater, for which we interview people about what they eat and love about Santa Barbara County food. Shannon Essa came up with this concept, and I have bravely gone first to be interviewed. But the idea is to hear from our readers. I know what an amazing community of Edible readers we have here, and that’s one more thing I’d like to share with all of you.
Krista Harris, Editor
Save the Date
Our next Edible Institute will be held once again in Santa Barbara, March 10–11, 2012. We’ll announce further details soon. Sign up for our email newsletter at ediblesantabarbara.com
us
PUBLISHERS
Steven Brown & Krista Harris
EDITOR
Krista Harris
RECIPE EDITOR
Nancy Oster
COPY EDITOR
Doug Adrianson
CONSULTING EDITOR
Laura Sanchez DESIGNER
Steven Brown
WEB DESIGN
Mary Ogle
Contributors
Robert Abbott
Pascale Beale
Fran Collin
Shannon Essa
Erin Feinblatt
Helena Hill
Jill Johnson
Jennifer LeMay
Deborah Madison
Nancy Oster
Mark Pfeiffer
Laura Sanchez
Carole Topalian Contact Us
info@ediblesantabarbara.com
Advertising Inquiries ads@ediblesantabarbara.com
Edible Santa Barbara® is published quarterly and distributed throughout Santa Barbara County. Subscription rate is $28 annually. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be used without written permission from the publisher. Publisher expressly disclaims all liability for any occurrence which may arise as a consequence of the use of any information or recipes. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention please accept our sincere apologies and notify us. Thank you.
Edible Communities 2011 James Beard Foundation Publication of the Year
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Notables
Apple Cozy A Sweater for Your Apple
An apple cozy is a knitted or crocheted reusable sleeve that protects your apple from bruising and keeps it clean in your lunch bag. We bought the one pictured above from ‘kris0376’ on Etsy, but you can also make your own or search Etsy for a variety of designs and patterns. This would make a great gift with a seasonal apple inside. Most are $6–$10 and some shops will do custom orders. Or make your own, which gives you the ability to customize it to a different shape—a pear cozy comes to mind.
Le Crepe Shoppe
French Swiss Crepes
Santa Barbara now has the perfect little spot to have a crepe. The owner, talented Chef Jill Barton, raised in Geneva, Switzerland, happens to be the niece of Maya Schoop-Ruten, owner of Chocolate Maya. Le Crepe Shoppe is conveniently located next door to Chocolate Maya with a connecting door, so it’s only natural that they will be serving delicious hot chocolate this fall. But the crepes are clearly the starring act here, with both savory and sweet options made skillfully right in front of you as you order.
They offer an excellent selection of both traditional and unusual combinations. Try the classic sweet crepes made with delicious fruit like persimmons. Or try the savory crepes that are made with buckwheat flour and come in all sorts of seasonal variations. The menu changes constantly because Jill sources much of her produce from local farmers and uses what is in season.
Le Crepe Shoppe is located at 15 W. Gutierrez St., Santa Barbara. Open daily 7am–4pm. Visit their page called Le Crepe Shoppe on Facebook. 805 963-5555
Visit etsy.com. For yarns, patterns and classes go to Loop & Leaf located at 536 Brinkerhoff Ave., Santa Barbara. 805 845-4696; loopandleaf.com
Rethink the Drink
Buy Less Pointless Plastic
Students at a number of Santa Barbara County elementary, junior high and high schools have the opportunity to ditch the plastic water bottle habit. The Community Environmental Council (CEC) has started a program to install water refill stations so that students can refill their reusable stainless steel canteens with cold, filtered water. According to the CEC, more than 17 million barrels of oil are used each year to transport bottled water to our stores—enough to fuel one million vehicles for a year. Despite being recyclable, most bottled water is consumed “on the go” and fewer than 30% of the bottles are recycled. The rest end up in landfills or as trash in storm drains, watersheds and the ocean. Last year the program installed refill stations at several schools between January and April and the tally for the stations over the course of about four months was more than 46,000 uses.
To find out how a school can get involved, contact the CEC at 805 963-0583 or cecsb.org and follow on Facebook at facebook.com/ rethinkthedrink
Corks n’ Crowns
Another Cool Addition to the Funk Zone
We love the wine tasting rooms in the Funk Zone—the area of lower State Street and the side streets near the waterfront— and now there’s a tasting room that offers both wine and beer. Corks n’ Crowns features a variety of small-production California wines along with artisanal craft beers from around the country. Whether you try a tasting flight of three awardwinning Pinot Noir wines for $8 or a craft beer flight of four beers for $6, there are plenty of options for a group with different interests. The stylish tasting room is definitely a cool place to hang out. And don’t miss Paparazzi Pizza Night on Thursdays 4–7pm.
Corks n’ Crowns is open daily 11am–6pm. 32 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara. 805 845-8600; corksandcrowns.com
vertical TASTING
Squash
Fall is the season for pumpkins and all the hard-skinned varieties of squash known as “winter squash” for their ability to keep so well throughout the cooler months. There are countless varieties showing up in the markets and seed catalogs, but here are four that we can’t wait to get our hands on this fall.
Butternut
Butternut squash is one of the most widely available and popular. For something a little different look for Tahitian Butternut, which is similar but has a longer curving neck. The long neck provides lots of tasty flesh. Butternut squash is a great all-purpose squash that is perfect for soup or a delicious filling for ravioli.
Hubbard
Hubbard squash can be blue, gray, green, orange, all different sizes and irregular shapes. Don’t let its large and ugly appearance deter you. It is delicious, and the bigger ones work well when you need a large quantity of squash. Mashed squash can make a nice alternative to mashed potatoes.
Kabocha
Kabocha may be the generic term for squash in Japanese but there is nothing generic about this delicious variety. When cooked, the flesh has a nutty, rich flavor that’s not as watery as some squashes. It makes a fantastic substitute for pumpkin in a pie filling. And try roasting slices of kabocha with a spicy glaze. The skin softens nicely when cooked and is quite edible.
Sweet Dumpling
This is a perfect single-serving squash, whether for a fancy dinner party or a night when you are cooking for one. It’s fairly easy to cut in half, although you can also roast it whole. The roasted halves make an ideal container for stuffing. Try substituting in recipes that call for Acorn squash.
Squash Tip
Some squash is very difficult to cut in half. Instead of dropping it off a balcony or using an ax, try placing it in a 350° oven for about 10 minutes. It should then cut open easily.
Notable edible
SECOND ANNUAL
SOL Food Festival
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1
AT PLAZA DE VERA CRUZ IN SANTA BARBARA
by Jennifer LeMay
The Sustainable Organic Local (SOL) food movement is definitely gaining momentum here in Santa Barbara. As it grows, people are asking questions: about where to find the best local seasonal and sustainably grown food, how to garden, how to make delicious artisanal foods and ways to eat that are healthier, more fulfilling and fun. At the SOL Food Festival on October 1 an abundance of resources and demonstrations will be offered, along with an expanded menu of mouthwatering prepared items at the food court, “The Garden of Eatin’: A Taste of What’s Possible.”
“At the festival last year, the SOL Food Chef Competition was a blast, and people were very engaged in the cooking demos and workshops, where they learned about canning, how to compost, beekeeping and more. And the kids loved the hungry caterpillar crawl,” says Alison Hensley, who co-founded the festival in 2010 with Heather Hartley. This year’s festival will feature all of this and more, including fun educational activities for kids such as seed ball making, hands-on gardening, worm bins, art and, of course, the animals: goats, chickens and possibly baby ostriches. For adults, there will be an expanded wine and beer garden, which will include information about how to make your own wine and beer.
Alison explained that the festival creates a forum where people learn how easy it can be to feed our bodies and minds in ways that are healthy and fulfilling. The way we grow, consume and relate to food has an impact on climate change, biodiversity, social justice, health, food security and more.
“Eating well tastes good, and we can feel good about it,” she says. “It’s amazing when you look at some of the trends that we’re getting back to—cycling, growing our own food, drinking from reusable water bottles—and see that what is good for the planet also promotes health, well-being, a sense of connection to each other and community, and it costs us less at the end of the day.”
For more information, visit solfoodfestival.com.
Jennifer LeMay is a designer and artist who appreciates great local food. Her communication design firm, J. LeMay Studios, provides outreach strategy and design services. Visit her website at jlemay.com.
Season in
Almonds (harvested Aug/Sept)
Apples (harvested July–Nov)
Artichokes
Arugula
Asparagus
Avocados
Basil
Bay leaf
Beans
Beets
Blackberries
Blueberries
Bok choy
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Cantaloupe
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Chard
Cherimoya
Chiles
Chives
Cilantro
Collards
Corn
Cucumber
Dandelion
Dates (harvested Sept/Oct)
Dill
Eggplant
Fennel
Figs
Garlic (harvested May/June)
Grapefruit
Grapes
Honey
Kale
Kiwi
Lavender
Leeks
Lemons
Lettuce
Limes
Melons
Mint
Mustard greens
Nectarines
Onions, green bunching
Onions, bulb (harvested May/June)
Oranges, Valencia
Oregano
Parsley
Peaches
Peppers
Plums
Pistachios (harvested Sept/Oct)
Potatoes (harvested May/June)
Radishes
Raisins (harvested Sept/Oct)
Raspberries
Rosemary
Sage
Spinach
Sprouts and legumes
Squash, winter (harvested July/Oct)
Squash, summer
Strawberries
Sweet potatoes (harvested Aug/Sept)
Tangerines/Mandarins
Thyme
Tomatillo
Tomatoes
Turnips
Walnuts (harvested Sept/Oct)
Watermelon
Yams (harvested Aug/Sept)
Fresh Flowers
Potted Plants/Herbs
Regional Dairy
(raw milk, artisanal goat- and cow-milk cheeses, butters, curds, yogurts and spreads)
Local Honey
Locally Produced Breads, Pies and Preserves
(bread produced from wheat grown locally; pies and preserves)
Local Meat
(antibiotic-free chicken, duck, Cornish game hens, rabbit, goat, grass-fed/ hormone-free beef and pork)
Local Seafood
Many types of local seafood are available year-round, but here is a list of some that will be in season this fall:
Anchovy
Black cod
California Spiny Lobster
Rock crab
Rockfish
Sardine
Squid
Swordfish
White seabass
Urchin
seasonal Recipes
Rapini (Broccoli Rabe)
Rapini, also referred to as broccoli rabe or raab, has a very assertive flavor. Some people love it; others find its taste too bitter. This recipe pairs it with garlic and red pepper to counteract that bitterness. Adding some nutty Parmesan cheese at the end makes it even more delicious. You can also serve this over pasta or polenta as a first course or main dish. Rapini is at its peak from fall to spring. Planting it in mid-fall when the weather cools down will give you a winter harvest.
Sautéed Rapini
Makes 2–4 servings
1 bunch of rapini or broccoli rabe, washed and bottom
1 ⁄4 inch of the stems removed
1 ⁄ 8 cup olive oil (preferably local)
Large pinch of red pepper flakes or a small finely diced jalapeño
1–2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon of flake sea salt or to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Thin shavings or slivers of Parmesan cheese, optional
Coarsely chop the rapini stems and leaves, and slice the florets into bite-sized pieces.
Heat a large, deep sauté pan over medium heat. Pour in enough of the olive oil to coat the bottom and add the red pepper flakes. Add the rapini and cover the pan. Cook for about 5 minutes and then uncover and add the minced garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for another 5–8 minutes, until tender. Serve with a generous sprinkling of shaved slivers of Parmesan cheese.
Root Vegetables
Carrots, parsnips, potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, celery root, Jerusalem artichokes, onions, beets and sweet potatoes—a multitude of tasty tubers and vegetables that grow in the earth are in season throughout the fall. One of our favorite places to stock up on root vegetables is Jacob Grant’s Roots Organic Farm. Jacob’s vegetables are organically grown and full of flavor. And there are few things easier or more delicious than a pan-full of roasted root vegetables.
Roasted Root Vegetables
Makes 4–6 servings
1 bunch of carrots (orange, yellow, red or mixed colors), tops removed and peeled or scrubbed
1 pound of other assorted root vegetables (turnips, parsnips, beets, etc.), cleaned
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 ⁄ 8 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary, oregano or thyme
1 teaspoon flake sea salt or to taste Freshly ground pepper to taste
Put a medium-sized shallow roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet in the oven and preheat the oven to 450°. Cut the carrots and root vegetables into 1-inch pieces and toss with the onion in a large bowl with the olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper. Make sure all the pieces are coated with the olive oil and the seasonings are evenly distributed. When the oven is up to temperature, carefully add the vegetables into the hot pan, spreading them out into one layer. Roast for about 15 minutes and then stir the mixture and continue roasting another 30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and slightly browned. The time will vary depending on the size and type of vegetables you use.
edible Books
Super Natural Every Day
by Heidi Swanson
Anytime I have leftover cooked quinoa, I make these little patties. They’re good hot or cold and are well-suited to fighting afternoon hunger pangs. It’s a bit of a stretch, but they could be described as a (very) distant quinoa-centric cousin of the arancini, Italy’s beloved deep-fried risotto balls. In contrast, these are pan-fried in a touch of oil, and smushed flat in the pan to get as much surface browning and crust as possible. I’m including my basic version, but oftentimes I’ll add a handful of very finely chopped thisor-that: broccoli, asparagus or cauliflower, depending on the season. They’re great on their own, slathered with ripe avocado or drizzled with hot sauce.
Recipe
To Cook Quinoa
Combine 2 cups of well-rinsed uncooked quinoa with 3 cups water and 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, decrease the heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the quinoa is tender and you can see the little quinoa curlicues.
Little Quinoa Patties
Makes 12 little patties
2 1 ⁄ 2 cups cooked quinoa, at room temperature
4 large eggs, beaten
1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 ⁄ 3 cup finely chopped fresh chives
1 yellow or white onion, finely chopped
1 ⁄ 3 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup whole-grain bread crumbs, plus more if needed
Water, if needed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil or clarified butter
Combine the quinoa, eggs and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the chives, onion, cheese and garlic. Add the bread crumbs, stir, and let sit for a few minutes so the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture.
At this point, you should have a mixture you can easily form into 12 1-inch / 2.5cm thick patties. I err on the very moist side because it makes for a not-overly-dry patty, but you can add more bread crumbs, a bit at a time, to firm up the mixture, if need be. Conversely, a bit more beaten egg or water can be used to moisten the mixture.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-low heat, add 6 patties, if they’ll fit with some room between each, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms are deeply browned. Turn up the heat if there is no browning after 10 minutes and continue to cook until the patties are browned. Carefully flip the patties with a spatula and cook the second sides for 7 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the skillet and cool on a wire rack while you cook the remaining patties.
Alternatively, the quinoa mixture keeps nicely in the refrigerator for a few days; you can cook patties to order, if you prefer. Reprinted with permission from
Santa Barbara
Farmers Market
SUNDAYS
Camino Real Marketplace In Goleta at Storke & Hollister
10:00am – 2:00pm
TUESDAYS
Old Town Santa Barbara
500 & 600 Blocks of State Street
4:00pm – 7:30pm 3:00pm – 6:30pm (beginning Nov 6)
WEDNESDAYS
Solvang Village
Copenhagen Drive & 1st Street
2:30pm – 6:30pm 2:30pm – 6:00pm (beginning Nov 6)
Harding Elementary School 1625 Robbins Street
3:00pm –6:30pm
THURSDAYS
Camino Real Marketplace In Goleta at Storke & Hollister
3:00pm – 6:00pm Carpinteria
800 Block of Linden Avenue 3:00pm – 6:30pm
FRIDAYS Montecito 1100 & 1200 Block of Coast Village Road 8:00am – 11:15am
SATURDAYS
Downtown Santa Barbara Corner of Santa Barbara & Cota Streets 8:30am –12:30pm
edible Books
Olive Oil and Vinegar For Life
by Theo Stephan
Autumn is my favorite time of year in California. Not only is it my own harvest season for olives, but other bountiful fruits close to my heart (and tummy) arrive in full flavor. Pomegranates are among those treasures, bursting with succulent antioxidant quality of divine sweetness, finishing off with a tarty pleasure, simply too awesome to be so healthful. Global Gardens Pomegranate Golden Balsamic Vinegar promises blushing goodness as a marinade featured in this ribs recipe. Be creative with interchanging any of my fruit vinegar flavors while sipping a balsamic Calitini. Cheers, Caliterranean style!
Recipe
Pomegranate Baby Back Ribs and Shrooms
Serves 2
One rack antibiotic-free, natural pork baby back ribs
6 ounces Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar
2 teaspoons Mendocino Sea Salt Crystals
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons Global Gardens Santa Ynez Italian Varietal Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 cloves Global Gardens Organic Elephant Garlic
Mince garlic into vinegar poured into a long glass or casserole dish, big enough to lay ribs, which have been brushed with olive oil, meat side down. Sprinkle bone side of ribs with sea salt. Make sure vinegar covers the depth of the meat to the bone within the dish. If not, add vinegar to reach meat height. Marinate for 8–12 hours in
Bake at 225° for one hour; meat and vinegar juices will reduce naturally. Place ribs onto hot grill. Coat raw King Trumpet mushrooms first with 1 teaspoon of olive oil each, then heavily with reduction juices. Put mushrooms on grill. Turn both ribs and mushrooms when grill marks are
Edible Santa Barbara is happy to announce a new column, Edible Eater, in which we will profile one of our readers in every issue. Our first Edible Eater is none other than our publisher and editorin-chief Krista Harris. For future installments of this column, we invite readers to get in touch with us and nominate themselves or others to be profiled. We will also be on the lookout for potential Edible Eaters around town. It is not hard to find all you public readers!
Where are you from? What foods do you miss from where you grew up?
I’m from San Diego. My dad is a fisherman, so I grew up eating fantastic freshly caught seafood.
edible Eater
Interviewed by Shannon Essa
What celebrity chef do you totally dig?
I love what Jamie Oliver is doing with his “Food Revolution” show and his political activism. Sometimes it takes someone from another country to call attention to what needs fixing in this country. And I like the fact that he transformed his career as a chef and cookbook author into becoming a champion of this food movement. About 10 years ago I remember watching his show “The Naked Chef”—the food was naked, not him—and I never would have guessed that he would be passionately trying to change the world the way he is now.
What are some of your favorite things to eat in Santa Barbara County?
Luckily I can still get that here in Santa Barbara. But when my dad comes to visit he brings his own smoked black cod.
What brought you to Santa Barbara?
What keeps you here—and what makes Santa Barbara so special to you?
I came to UCSB as a freshman back in the ’80s. It felt like the great wild north to me, coming all the way from San Diego. There was so much open land, and actual farmland in Goleta. I loved that and still treasure what we have left.
Someone once told me that Santa Barbara was the land of the lotus eaters and that once you came here, you’d never want to leave. I guess there is a little bit of truth to that. It is such a home to me, I can’t imagine living anywhere else.
Name three things that are always in your kitchen.
Espresso beans for the must-have cappuccino in the morning. A bottle of local olive oil—can’t cook without it.
People—everyone always ends up in my tiny kitchen.
What music are you into right now?
My new favorite band is The Way Much. I heard them play and bought their CD at the Saturday Farmers Market.
Oh, where do I begin? We have some of the most amazing produce and raw ingredients on the planet. I’m thinking of our spot prawns, avocados, artichokes, lobster, pistachios, abalone and grass-fed beef. Then there’s all the great Mexican food…
Name your top five local guilty pleasures.
The usual suspects: chocolate truffles, croissants, gelato, French fries and foie gras—however, I generally don’t feel guilty about eating any of those things occasionally, if they are sustainable/ethical or handmade from good ingredients. Even foie gras can be raised humanely now. There’s a guy in Spain doing it, and I think Chef Dan Barber is doing it in New York. But in general I think French fries and foie gras should be eaten in severe moderation and probably not together.
And to drink?
Wine—local, of course. I also really love local craft beers and this whole trend toward handcrafted cocktails using local fruit and herbs.
While we are on the subject, what is your favorite hangover cure?
The worst hangover I ever had was cured instantly by a Bloody Mary. There’s really nothing like the hair of the dog. And something spicy helps, too. But I’m a believer in
Krista Harris.
prevention: Drink a glass of water for every glass of wine, and eat food. It drives me crazy that there are these zoning laws that don’t allow most wineries to offer food when people are wine tasting.
Friends are visiting from out of town. What two or three places would you want to visit with them?
All my friends are as food obsessed as I am, so we would definitely build an itinerary around food and wine. I would take them downtown to stroll along State Street (and the even more interesting side streets). We would have to visit a farmers market, and we’d have to make our way down to the Funk Zone for some wine tasting.
Describe the perfect “food day” in Santa Barbara County.
I’d like to start off with someone bringing me freshly baked croissants from Renaud’s that I could eat in my garden. Then I would pack a picnic lunch and go wine tasting with my husband in the Santa Ynez Valley. We’d probably end up at Full of Life Flatbread in Alamos for an amazing dinner and then try to make it back to Montecito before Here’s the Scoop closes for a gelato.
What is the most offbeat food or dish you have ever tasted?
I grew up eating abalone, but that’s not really all that offbeat around here. And I guess neither is sea urchin—I love fresh uni, that’s about the most exotic thing I’ve had.
What is it that you like about Edible Santa Barbara magazine? Can you name a couple of your favorite articles?
I really enjoy the fact that with each issue I learn something new—actually a lot of things. That was one of the reasons I wanted to start Edible Santa Barbara —to be involved in something that I was passionate about. One of my favorite articles was the piece that Nancy Oster wrote about the young farmers. We were at one of the farms for the photo shoot, and I had this realization that this was exactly what it was all about. When you connect with the people who grow the food you eat, it satisfies a sort of primal longing. And to me, knowing that there were young people becoming farmers was a sign that we were on the right track. That just maybe this food movement was real, and that we should all do whatever part we can to make it happen.
Potential Edible Eater subjects should e-mail Shannon Essa at Shannon@ediblesantabarbara.com.
Shannon Essa is a California native whose beverage of choice is Santa Barbara Pinot Noir. She is the author of restaurant guidebook Chow Venice! and splits her time between Santa Barbara and Europe, writing and leading wine-, beer- and foodbased tours in Spain and Italy for Grapehops Tours. { Tasting Daily 10:30 AM - 4:30 PM }
5230 Tepusquet Rd. • Santa Maria, CA 93454 805.938.7896 • www.VolkWines.com
The Tepusquet Road Bridge linking Kenneth Volk Vineyards to the Foxen Canyon Wine Trail is finally open. Begin your Santa Barbara County wine tour at KVV and work your way down the trail. Offering one of the most extensive portfolios of wines produced on the Central Coast.
WHAT THE KIDS ARE EATING
Reading, Writing and Root Vegetables
by Jill Johnson
It is a sad day when children here in Santa Barbara have no idea where their food comes from; when milk is only known to come from a carton in the grocery store and a potato is best known as a character from Toy Story. Susan Horne, MEd and Master Certified Health Education Specialist with the County of Santa Barbara’s Health Department, knows all too well the dire health implications of this lack of food and nutritional knowledge. Horne, as health educator of the County’s Network for a Healthy California, is tasked with creating innovative partnerships that promote healthy eating and physical activity among lower-income community members. One of those programs is the popular Harvest of the Month that has been part of La Cumbre Junior High School since the fall of 2005.
Harvest of the Month introduces the seventh and eighth graders at La Cumbre to California’s vast bounty of fruits and vegetables through educationally based interaction and, most importantly, tasting. Using California-grown in-season produce purchased at Mesa Produce and Tri-County Produce, Horne works with science teachers Brad Hufschmidt, Tiari Dodson and Andrea Heiden and art teacher Lauren Minadeo to present demonstrations and projects based on the foods brought in.
Cafeteria manager Estela Maya helps with showcasing various ways of eating the highlighted food items. From studying and tasting the differences among a wide variety of apples to creating tissue-paper collages of strawberries, students are introduced to new ways of thinking about what they eat.
STEVEN BROWN
Some even learn for the first time how to eat a few of the foods. “I have seen kids who did not know exactly how to eat a tomato,” Horne sadly reminisces.
Funding for the program originates at the national level from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Nutritional education is an increasingly important aspect of the USDA’s efforts to improve the diets of low-income Americans. There are some stark statistics to show that these targeted efforts are to be applauded.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, childhood obesity in California is at approximately 30.5%. A study from the American Dietetic Association (ADA) found that childhood obesity and related health issues were not necessarily a result of overeating but rather from daily nutritional requirements not being met and poor nutritional choices being made.
Many of these choices are due to economic factors. Foods low in nutrients but high in calories are generally selected for their low cost, but ultimately it bears a higher medical cost to families and the community. Horne is working diligently to educate students and their families that fresh, healthy food can be delicious and affordable when purchased in season.
Feedback from the students has been gratifying for Horne. Comments such as “I liked the fact that I got to try new fruits and vegetables that I probably wouldn’t have tried on my own,” “I liked when I tasted broccoli for the first time and it was yummy!” and “getting to eat a bunch of different things and realizing that you like something you never have tried” are testimony that kids’ eyes are being opened to new food possibilities. They are then going home and encouraging their families to try some new foods, too.
In 1928, the first graduates of La Cumbre wrote, “The La Cumbre Junior High School will stand through the years to come as a symbol of the trust and confidence placed in us by the people of Santa Barbara, and as a lasting monument to public education ...” With Horne’s efforts, the school looks to be a monument to nutritional education, too.
For the Harvest of the Month program’s Tool Kit and more information, visit harvestofthemonth.com.
Jill Johnson is an artistic soul with an inquisitive mind and a hearty appetite for life ... and food. You can find her musings on spilled milk and cookie crumblings at her blog, cookiesinheaven. blogspot.com.
We cater to cheese lovers. Really, we do. Platters, tables and wine for parties, business lunches and events.
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Jerusalem Artichokes
Fall’s Little Tuber
by Deborah Madison
FROM HER FORTHCOMING BOOK VEGETABLE LITERACY
Even though these tubers are in the same family as artichokes, and even though they share the same name albeit incorrectly, they aren’t otherwise related. Artichokes are a thistle; Jerusalem artichokes, a sunflower. Its other name, sunchoke, reflects that the plant’s blossoms turn to face the sun.
I’ve noticed that for many, Jerusalem artichokes are not a favorite vegetable. For others they are. And for most, they are simply unknown. It’s not my mission to convince people to change their minds about what they don’t like, but it’s another matter to introduce a vegetable to someone who has never had it and is hopefully open minded about giving it a try, like this tuber. It’s bound to show up in your CSA box, plus it’s easy to grow and with so many novice gardeners around, there may be some who want to plant something that will actually flourish and produce a crop, and Jerusalem artichokes do just that. They thrive to the point that experienced gardeners love to warn beginners about not letting them into garden at all for fear they will get out of control. (Confine them to a raised bed if you’re nervous about that.) But as a not too confident gardener, that’s just the kind of plant I like. They’ve worked well for me and I love that towards the end of summer the
eight-foot stalks produce little spiky sunflowers that make me think of yellow stars. After the first frost I cut down the stalks, dig my fork deep into the bed and come up with magnificent clusters of cream-colored tubers. It’s very rewarding.
It’s also tempting to harvest them all at once, but I’ve learned that unless you have only a very few plants, you’re probably best off to just store them in the ground where they’ll remain firm and fresh, then dig them up as you need them. Otherwise keep them well wrapped in the refrigerator. Keep in mind that a 4 by 4 foot bed will produce bags upon bags of tubers. If the refrigerator is your own only storehouse this could be a problem, unless you’re on a mighty sunshoke binge.
Sunchokes look a little peculiar. Some produce knobby clusters; others are less complicated—straighter and without protrusions. They can be white or red. Their flavor is nutty and sweet, earthy and clean—a very pleasant complex of qualities. They’re not starchy, like a potato is, but contain inulin, a different kind of starch that gives them a good texture and makes them suitable for diabetics as the absorption of blood sugars is slowed. They needn’t be peeled, which would be a laborious process, but a good scrubbing is more than adequate
to clean them. They cook fairly quickly and are versatile, so if these qualities appeal to you and you don’t know Jerusalem artichokes, you might give them a try. A word of warning: they also can be hard to digest, hence their unpleasant nickname, “fartichokes” but I believe this is more true when they’re eaten raw than when they’re cooked.
The Jerusalem artichoke is an American native through and through. They were introduced to France in l607 and today some of the varieties grown are French cultivars, such as the white and red Fusseau. The kind of sunchoke I grow is called Stampede. It forms large clusters of intertwined tubers that are festooned with knobs and nodules. You get a good bang for your buck with Stampede. But one day at the market a farmer offered me a small red tuber, the Austrian variety called Walspinel, and commanded, “Take a bite.” I did. At first it was mild and sweet; that wasn’t unusual. But after a few moments the taste went from neutral to big and nutty. The difference was subtle, but it was there. I bought some, cooked some, then planted the rest six months later and they’re just about ready to harvest—an unintended way to get my “seed” sunchokes.
While Jerusalem artichokes are especially good sliced and crisped in oil, butter or ghee, another option is to cut them in somewhat larger pieces (or leave them whole) and roast them along side a chicken with other root vegetables. Or roast them by themselves then serve them with crunchy Malden sea salt and a grind of aromatic pepper or chopped rosemary. I also like turning these tubers into a gratin or a bisque and garnishing with a garnish of sunflower sprouts, sautéed slivered radicchio or a few drops hazelnut oil and toasted, chopped hazelnuts. Jerusalem artichokes don’t cook particularly evenly, even when they’re the same size. Some soften, others remain firm. They just do that, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Of the many varieties, several are heirlooms. Good sources are Fedco, Ronninger’s, Johnny’s Selected Seeds and Oikos Tree Crops, though no doubt other companies carry them as well. You can also just buy some Jerusalem artichokes from the store and plant them.
Deborah Madison is the author of 11 books, including Local Flavors, What We Eat When We Eat Alone and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. A former chef and pastry chef, she lives near Santa Fe, New Mexico. For more information visit deborahmadison.com.
Good Companions for Jerusalem Artichokes
Clarified butter or ghee, olive oil, sunflower seed oil.
Sunflower sprouts and seeds.
Walnuts and walnut oil; hazelnuts and hazelnut oil.
Santa Barbara Pistachio Company has 440 acres of pistachio trees in Cuyama.
Do pistachios really grow in Santa Barbara County? Why haven’t I ever seen a pistachio tree in a neighbor’s yard or observed crows dropping harvested pistachios in my driveway? Where exactly are these Santa Barbara pistachio trees?
Gail Zannon owns Santa Barbara Pistachio Company with her husband, Gene, their sons Josh and Tristan and daughter Melissa. She invited me to their ranch in Cuyama last October during the pistachio harvest.
Cuyama is only about 25 miles north as the crow flies, but the shortest driving distance to the ranch is Highway 33 from Ojai. We start out early. During a spectacular 2½-hour drive back into the mountains behind Ojai, we pass geological rock faces that reflect centuries of upheaval and weathered rock formations that rival those of the Southwest.
When we drop down from the peak and cross back into Santa Barbara County, the terrain flattens out and becomes dusty. As we descend to the high desert at 3,000 feet, we see our first pistachio trees off to the left. The clusters of ripe red fruit are hard to miss and there is no shortage of crows foraging the ripe nuts.
This forgotten corner of Santa Barbara County hosts about 1,000 acres of pistachio trees. Santa Barbara Pistachio Company owns 440 acres. Along the road we pass Sagebrush Annie’s, known for its wines and weekend dinners, and The Place, a café recommended by locals for its homemade pies. That’s the business district.
Pistachios ready for harvest. The fleshy yellow-red hull covers the nutshell.
Within minutes we pull into a parking space in front of a small general store with a large Santa Barbara Pistachio Company sign above the door. For hikers, campers, hunters and truckers coming to Cuyama, the store offers gasoline, freshly roasted pistachio snacks, a clean public restroom and a working telephone (cell phones are not reliable here).
Gail meets us inside, introducing us to Angel and Jennifer, who handle incoming orders that will be filled the same day. All the pistachio roasting, brining and shipping takes place in two large rooms behind the store. Sorting and shelling is done in a building off to the left.
This morning they are bagging up the last of the fresh pistachios. Fresh pistachios are only available a couple of weeks a year. These are pistachios right off the tree. A fleshy yellow and red hull covers the moist shell containing a tender nut. Fresh pistachios taste almost fruity in comparison to the dried nuts. Gail sends a limited number of bags of these pistachios to Santa Barbara and Los Angeles farmers markets during the two weeks of harvest.
“Growers must get their pistachios to the processor within 24 hours,” she explains, “to prevent the hull from leaving blotchy brown stains on the shell.” The staining doesn’t affect the quality of the nut, but in the past growers dyed their pistachio shells red to hide the stains.
Gail tells us that five truckloads carrying 40,000 pounds each have already left the field that morning to be hulled and dried by a processor about 70 miles away and then taken to cold storage in Bakersfield. Gail’s son Josh is on the road bringing 12,000 pounds
of newly harvested pistachios back from the processor to fill orders. “Some will be sold raw and some will be hot-air roasted slowly at 160° to give them their characteristic crunch while maintaining the quality of the flavorful oil inside the kernel,” Gail says. “Our flavored nuts are soaked in brine seasoned with organic ingredients before roasting to be sure that the flavors penetrate deep into the kernel. We brine and roast the nuts the same week the order is shipped, for maximum flavor and freshness.”
Tristan arrives and offers to take us out to the orchard. As we drive onto the property, we hear the shaker—a hydraulic mechanical arm that grabs the trunk of the tree and literally shakes the pistachios into a large collector. It takes five seconds to shake a tree. The ground shakes like an earthquake.
These are mostly female trees. Male trees provide pollen but no fruit. One large unruly male tree is needed to pollinate 25 females. Pistachios are wind pollinated, not bee pollinated. Cuyama’s afternoon winds help pollination.
Santa Barbara Pistachio Company.
We notice that Tristan has stopped talking and is listening to something … the sound of pistachios dropping from the trees. The wind has kicked up early and he is worried that the harvesters aren’t staying ahead of the wind. Only one day of harvesting left, but a heavy wind can take a toll at this point. “A penny per nut,” he tells us. Now we hear pennies hitting the ground too.
“This is the first really good harvest in four years,” he explains. Normally this high-desert climate is perfect for growing pistachios, but for three years in a row brutal frosts have hit in late April, freezing the blossoms.
Pistachios require periods of heat and cold to flourish. Cuyama has both. Plus, during the winter, freezing temperatures kill off the insects, which gives Cuyama an advantage for growing nuts organically. “And aflatoxin fungus is not a problem here,” Tristan adds.
The biggest pest here is … you guessed it: the crows. “We use scarecrows, automatic firing cannons and balloons with large hawk eyes,” Tristan says. He even hires an extra worker during the most critical six weeks to ride a motorcycle through the fields shooting off a flare-like gun that makes a big bang. Most of the year it’s just Tristan and longtime employee Francisco who work the fields.
When we arrive back at the plant, Josh is forklifting 2,000-pound bags of pistachios off the truck to move them to the walk-in refrigerator/freezer. As needed, each bag will be emptied into a sorter that pulls out the nuts with stained shells. Closed-shell and stainedshell nuts will be cracked open and packaged as pistachio kernels or mixed with dried fruits for the company’s Berry Mix.
A mechanical arm grabs the tree and shakes loose pistachios in seconds. Above: Tristan Zannon examines the quality of the pistachios.
Josh manages these processes. Gail and Gene handle the marketing. Melissa helps with sales at farmers markets and special events. What started as a family getaway property has grown into a successful family-run business and a source of great satisfaction for the whole Zannon family.
And if you’re wondering, Tristan says pistachio trees will grow in coastal Santa Barbara yards but the nut yield will be smaller than in Cuyama without the optimal chill and heat hours. It takes eight years for a tree to mature, but don’t worry: The crows will let you know when nuts are ready to harvest.
Nancy Oster is a food writer who strongly believes one must write from experience, which is why she had to eat a whole bag of Chile Lemon Pistachios, fix a salad dressed with Santa Barbara Pistachio Oil, snack on some Pistachio Berry Mix and make a batch of pistachio ice cream before completing this article.
Resources
Santa Barbara Pistachio Company
3380 Hwy. 33 • Ventucopa, CA 93252
800 896-1044, santabarbarapistachios.com
Sagebrush Annie’s
4211 Hwy. 33 • Ventucopa, CA 93252
661 766-2319, sagebrushannies.com
(check website for wine tastings and restaurant hours)
The Place
4014 Hwy. 33 • Ventucopa, CA 93254
Daily 9am–9pm, 661 766-2660
Loading pistachios into trucks for bagging. Below: Josh Zannon readies the bags for storage.
Lemon Pistachio Cake
Makes 9 servings
1 cup flour
1 cup pistachio meal flour*
3 ⁄4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
1 ⁄4 cup pistachio oil
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs (preferably local, free-range)
1 ⁄4 teaspoon Neilsen-Massey lemon extract
1 ⁄ 2 cup whole milk
Zest of 1 small lemon
Juice one small lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
2 ⁄ 3 cup powdered sugar
1 ⁄ 3 cup shelled, chopped unsalted pistachios
Pinch of sea salt flakes
Butter and flour a 9-inch square baking pan. Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk the flour, pistachio meal, baking powder, cardamom and salt together and set aside. Using an electric stand mixer, cream the butter, oil and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the lemon extract and beat until well incorporated. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35–40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Meanwhile, whisk together the zest and juice of the lemon with the powdered sugar until smooth. Pour over the hot cake when it comes out of the oven and then sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and a pinch of sea salt flakes, and press down lightly over the surface.
* Pistachio meal flour is available from Santa Barbara Pistachio or you can make it by grinding up raw, shelled pistachio nuts in a blender or coffee grinder until fine. You can also use a food processor, but keep an eye on it, if you run it too long it will become a paste.
La Huerta Historic Gardens at the Santa Barbara Mission
by Helena Hill
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVEN BROWN
In April I had the pleasure of visiting a mysterious little garden of edible delights—known as La Huerta Historic Gardens—with veteran teacher Kathy Escobar’s third-grade class from Adams School. The students were on a field trip to learn about the early history of food in their community.
Most of the plants in the garden, which is tucked in by the side of the Santa Barbara Mission, date back to the Mission Era in California (1769–1834), a time when the missions were self-sufficient agriculture outposts, belonging to Spain. La Huerta (Spanish for “the orchard”) is more than another lovely Mediterranean garden. It is, as described by Jerry Sortomme, the La Huerta project manager, “a living museum, a component of the old mission’s museum.” La Huerta is a collection of heritage, heirloom and historic plant materials.
Retired master teacher Judy Sims, who volunteers at La Huerta, and Santa Barbara Mission Museum Director Tina Foss have developed an innovative educational program at La Huerta. The program is supported by a grant from the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity, which pays for busing the students and any materials needed.
Last year La Huerta connected with the s’Cool Gardens program to offer a field trip experience to public elementary students. The tours are masterfully designed, leading the students through four “station rotations” at the garden, each directed by one of La Huerta’s volunteer garden docents. I followed a group of students moving from one section of the garden to another, hearing squeals of excitement as their food history came alive.
Opposite: La Huerta is tucked to the side of the Santa Barbara Mission. Above, left to right: figs, pomegranate, dessert bananas
The Chumash Garden
The group’s first stop was in the Chumash Exhibit garden, a unique annex to La Huerta, spotlighting native regional plants used by the indigenous Chumash people of the Santa Barbara area. The children sat under a rare Channel Islands oak tree with La Huerta garden docent Maria Cabrera as she read stories about many plants used by the Chumash for their everyday lives: for food, for hunting and fishing, for their housing and clothing, for making tools and weapons and even for recreation and fun. In the Chumash Exhibit garden, students are also taught the importance of the role of the Chumash in introducing agriculture to the California Missions. As Tina Foss told me later, “There were, after all, only a few padres at each of the Missions in the early years, so it was the Chumash who planted the seeds brought in by ships and tended the gardens. It was the Chumash who made the gardens bloom.” At the end of this segment, each student was given a small abalone shell necklace, as a memento, which they all proudly wore.
The Mission Era
At the next station students learned about the plants grown for food at La Huerta during the Mission Era. Docents had displayed an array of freshly picked seasonal fruits and vegetables. Sweet
dessert bananas, Mission oranges, pea pods ready to be shelled, yellow guavas next to jars of home-made guava jam, bunches of bright orange loquats and even chunks of sugar cane were arranged on several tables for students to see. Volunteer Laurie Koc explained that children in the Mission Era didn’t have stores filled with sugary snacks, but they did snack on fruit and vegetables from the garden and they especially loved chewing on sugar cane.
Seed Saving
After the plant tour, our group moved to a table in the shade where Judy Sims was teaching about seeds and seed saving. Each student was given an envelope for the seeds they were to collect, labeled “Seeds grown by volunteers at La Huerta Historic Gardens.” Judy began by showing them colorful dried corn on the cob. “Seeds are alive … they are embryos, like a promise of new life,” she told them, to which a student exclaimed “You mean corn is like a seed?” Delighted at the student’s aha! moment, she answered, “Yes, they are seeds! And you can take them home and plant them in your garden!”
She continued to show them other seeds grown at La Huerta they would be taking home: Peruvian popcorn, broom corn, Christmas lima beans, gourds, wheat and puffs of cotton balls with tiny
Top, from left: Jerry Sortomme shows off some of the garden’s produce on one of the newly paved paths making the garden accessible; squash. Bottom, from left: cactus fruit; a handful of fertile soil; Christmas lima beans.
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY BEEF
black seeds embedded inside. As she displayed each seed, and explained the uses of each plant it would grow, the students dropped the seeds into their envelopes.
Gardening and Composting
The fourth station, all about gardening and composting, was clearly a favorite. What child doesn’t love to dig in the dirt looking for bugs! Volunteer Jane Fleischman explained the cycle of soil composition and the importance of insects and worms in breaking down the plant material. “Look it! There’s a fat one right there!” exclaimed one of the third graders as a worm crawled out from a pile of rich soil. “And look at that fat roly-poly… don’t touch it,” he shouts. Jane then has the students dig some of the rich compost to use for planting several heirloom Coosa squashes they have started from seeds grown at La Huerta, which they watered using ladles made from gourds also grown at the garden.
Finally, several hours after the tour began, the happy students were gathered in a rustic amphitheater seated on huge rounds from the trunk of an ancient Monterey pine that had fallen several years before. When Judy Sims asked what the students had liked most about the field trip, one girl answered enthusiastically “I liked everything!” which seemed to say it all.
As Judy Sims summed up, “La Huerta is a good example of project-based learning, with a lot of student inquiry and handson activities—all targeted to appropriate learning standards and objectives in their school curriculum, and with opportunity to learn about food and sustainability.” Which I think means, children learn best about their food history when they are allowed to dig in the dirt.
Helena Hill is a former teacher and administrator turned writer, watercolorist and organic gardener. She writes, paints, gardens and keeps a small flock of chickens in Santa Barbara. Her greatest joy is teaching her grandchildren the wonders of gardening and letting them dig in the dirt.
Resources
Visitors may see the garden by appointment. Please call 805 682-4713 for a docent tour.
If you are interested in volunteering, contact Jerry Sortomme at 805 388-1921; professorsortomme@hotmail.com
Recipe
Laurie’s Pumpkin Bread
Makes 2–3 loaves
This recipe was adapted by La Huerta volunteer Laurie Koc from Oregon Sampler: Resorts and Recipes published by the Assistance League of Corvallis. Laurie uses Fairytale pumpkins and sweet dessert bananas when they are ripe in the garden at the same time, but you can also use other garden squash. We also suggest using locally produced walnuts for the nuts.
11 ⁄ 2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil (or 1 ⁄4 cup walnut oil and 3 ⁄4 cup vegetable oil)
4 eggs
2 cups pumpkin and/or banana purée (to make pumpkin purée see instructions below)
4 cups flour
1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt (less is fine)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon cloves
1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 ⁄ 2 cup water (as needed)
1 cup nuts, chopped (preferably local walnuts)
1 cup raisins (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease two to three loaf pans. Blend together the sugar, oil, eggs and pumpkin/banana purée and mix well. Sift together dry ingredients and add alternately with water to pumpkin mixture. Stir in nuts and raisins.
Divide batter among the greased loaf pans and bake at 350° for one hour or until done. The batter can also be used for muffins.
To Make Pumpkin or Squash Purée
A medium-sized pumpkin or squash that is 4½ to 5 pounds will make approximately 2 cups of purée. Preheat oven to 375°. Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the pulp and seeds (save the seeds to roast if you like). If the pumpkin is difficult to cut, just place in the 375° oven for about 10 minutes. It should then cut open easily.
Place the pumpkin halves face down on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast for 1–1½ hours until very soft and tender. Let the pumpkin cool slightly and then scoop out the flesh and purée in a food processor or put through a food mill.
The Unsung Heroes of Harvest
by Laura Sanchez
You’ll never see their names on a bottle of wine or find them pouring samples at a swanky event. But theirs are the hands that tend the vines, pick the fruit, drive the forklifts and guide the juice down its alchemistic path. They are the unsung heroes of harvest and the heart and soul of Santa Barbara County’s wine industry.
Wine is of enormous importance to our community. The wine industry’s local economic impact in 2010 is estimated at nearly a billion dollars. And according to the Santa Barbara County Vintners’ Association, viticulture and wine production directly employ 5,000 local residents in addition to many more as seasonal help and contract laborers. By sharing the stories of three individuals, representative of the thousands who emerge each evening from the vineyards and cellars, our hope is to recognize the efforts of many—and offer them our heartfelt gratitude.
Ruben Solorzano
At 3am on a misty autumn night the deep diesel rumble of a tractor echoes in the darkness at Stolpman Vineyards and a multitude of tiny blue lights emerges over the hill. The twinkling cluster approaches, accompanied by the clipping sounds of harvest, and slowly the silhouettes of vineyard workers picking grape clusters by headlamp come into focus.
Among these harvesters walks Ruben Solorzano, the barrelchested vineyard manager for Coastal Vineyard Care and Stolpman Vineyards. His smile is warm and his translucent green eyes are alive with ideas—even at this early hour.
If you ask people in the wine industry who their harvest hero is, 90% will name Ruben Solorzano. From late August to mid-October, the 41-yearold literally works around the clock. As the agricultural manager for several vineyards, he coordinates harvest crews, picking times and fruit transport for all of the different vineyards he oversees. And here is where the heroics happen: Many of the vineyards he cares for harvest during the daytime hours, while others, like Stolpman, pick during the cool of the nighttime. For Ruben, that means very little sleep for the eight weeks of harvest.
As the blackness gives way to crepuscular blue, we load into his pickup to get workers started picking a neighboring vineyard. During the drive Ruben tells me that he came to Santa Barbara County from Jalisco, Mexico, in 1989 not knowing a word of English. He was familiar with agricultural work—in Mexico he had raised tomatoes, corn, peppers, cows, chickens and turkeys—so he began working with his brother Marcos as a vineyard worker. During these years he put in long hours trying to learn all that he could about grapevines and their care. He asked questions, observed and eventually began suggesting ways to improve farming practices. In 1994, Jeff Newton of Coastal Vineyard Care recognized his passion and offered him a vineyard position. Twelve years later, he was offered partial ownership in the company—a role that he considers a great honor and responsibility.
Today he and his wife, Lupe, and their children Marissa and Omar live in a beautiful home on Stolpman Vineyard.
Opposite: Ruben Solorzano standing in the block that uses his unique trellising.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRAN COLLIN
He’s humble about his accomplishments. Ruben firmly believes that his experience as part of the vineyard crew offered him an intimate connection with the vines as well as sensitivity to the crew’s perspective. “I’ve been in their shoes,” he says. As a result, he has their respect. When crewmembers ask him for advice on how to achieve success, he shares his personal credo: “Work hard and believe in what you do.”
Ruben is an innovator. “If I never make a mistake, I’m not learning anything,” he wisely states, pointing out a section of the vineyard in which vines grow upright on tipi-shaped trellises rather than the standard long rows. Ruben learns and develops practices through experimentation—observing vines closely and adapting farming practices to address specific needs. Ruben began several vineyard trials after the Stolpmans sent him to Europe’s wine regions with winemaker Sashi Moorman. The most successful was the upright, Côte Rôtie-style trellising method he tried with Syrah clone 470. The head training and angled shoots offered even sun exposure and efficiency from a labor perspective. Now an entire acre (5,808 vines) is designated “Ruben’s Block” and the fruit is of such extraordinary quality that Stolpman bottles a special Ruben’s Block Syrah. “The wine is delicious,” Ruben says with a modest smile.
Blanca Rueda
If you listen and follow the low murmur of voices and rustle of leaves, you can always find Blanca Rueda somewhere amid the vines at Dierberg and Star Lane Vineyards. The 34-year-old mayordoma, or crew manager, oversees a 12-person vineyard team and affectionately tends the property’s vines. As we walk row-by-row, she continues thinning fruit—plucking off green clusters of Cabernet grapes—and shares her story in lyrical Spanish.
Blanca is representative of many women in the wine industry who gracefully balance careers caring for both vines and family.
At 18, soon after she emigrated to Paso Robles from Oaxaca, Mexico, Blanca began working with her brothers in the strawberry fields of the Santa Maria Valley. After four years of back pain and frequent chemical irritations, she decided to take a vineyard position in Santa Maria. She hired on at Dierberg and Star Lane Vineyards, where today she appreciates the sense of community as well as the benefits of environmentally sensitive farming. “I enjoy being a part of the entire process— working with the vines, tending fruit and harvesting. And someday,” she explains, “perhaps I’ll work in the winery too.”
Blanca explains that for her, tending plants comes as naturally as caring for her children. And the way she touches the leaves of a Petit Verdot vine reveals the maternal love and pride she feels for every tendril. In fact, Blanca is representative of many women in the wine industry who gracefully balance careers caring for both vines and family. She and her husband, Nahu Herrera, have two children, Josue, 13 and Jercahin, 9. On the weekends she loves to make pancakes for her children, take them shopping and spend time as a family at church.
Blanca has never tasted wine. But her kind brown eyes—the only part of her not covered by layers of protective clothing— light up when she samples a few Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for ripeness. Though she doesn’t consume alcohol, she likes to use excess fruit—especially Sauvignon Blanc grapes—in fruit salads. Her children’s favorites are the homemade sweet corn tamales and arroz hervido she makes with the raisins.
When I ask Blanca what one thing she couldn’t live without during the grueling days of harvest, I expect the obvious: a hot bath or a hearty breakfast. Instead, her response is the tractoristas or tractor operators. Since the operators move between groups, she explains that she can leave word with a tractorista to prompt crewmembers to pick a different section of the vineyard—perhaps one that has ripened earlier. “They facilitate communication and make it easier to manage the crew efficiently,” she says with a smile. In helping her find balance in supporting the people she works with and ensuring the highest fruit quality, they have created a sense of community. And for that, Blanca Rueda is incredibly grateful.
Opposite: Blanca Rueda at work, carefully shielded from the sun.
Junio Vargas Ojeda
“Hard work is just part of the game,” Junio Vargas explains with a wink as he tops off barrels of Chardonnay. The mere mention of harvest time makes the 31-year-old cellar master’s muscles twitch. Junio oversees wine production at Terravant Wine Co., where he coordinates the transformative process—from crush to bottle—for more than 20 different wineries. He is also assistant winemaker at Summerland Winery. Besides cleaning a lot of sticky equipment, according to him his job requires strategy and tremendous teamwork—two things that come naturally to the avid soccer player.
“I’m thankful for his support.” And it’s precisely this sense of teamwork that Junio thrives on during harvest. He compares coordinating the wine’s elevage (the art of maturing the wine) to passing the ball up the field. “Everybody gets very united,” he explains. “It’s an intense time of year. We have to communicate and work really hard together toward a common goal.”
Junio was raised in Nipomo and attended Santa Maria High School. His father, Fidencio Vargas, has worked for Tolosa Vineyards in the Edna Valley for over 25 years. In 1999 Junio decided to try vineyard work to see if he was cut out for the wine industry and took a job at Edna Valley Vineyards. He earned his degree and viticulture and enology certificate at Alan Hancock College and began his career as a cellar worker at Central Coast Wine Services in Santa Maria. His wife, Luciana, is an enologist at Central Coast Wine Services. In 2004 he connected with Etienne Terlinden, winemaker at Summerland Winery and also began working part time with him. “Etienne’s passion is catching,” he says. “That’s what made me fall in love with wine.”
In 2009, Junio moved to Terravant Wine Co. in Buellton, where he is equipment operation specialist/team leader and is in charge of running all the high-tech Memstar units and filters. That same year Etienne Terlinden was called to serve with the US Navy. Junio stepped in to help. “Junio was able to run the winery in my absence and make a great 2009 vintage,” Terlinden says.
During harvest he strategizes over a 6am cup of black coffee, looking over work orders to see what fruit is coming in and setting up the necessary equipment—crusher, pumps, augurs, hoses—in preparation. Once the fruit is sorted and de-stemmed, he makes sure it’s settled in open-top fermenters and kept cool. He begins writing work orders for yeast inoculations, punch downs and racking. It’s an action-packed eight weeks.
But harvest is a challenge that Junio looks forward to each year almost as much as his weekend YMCA league competitions. He first began playing soccer as an offensive player but often found himself sitting on the sidelines because of the popularity of that position. “Everyone wants to score a goal,” he says. So he told his coach, “Put me in anywhere! I just want to play!” And it is this same ebullient positive energy and cooperative spirit that Junio brings to wine production. For, he is that MVP athlete that draws little attention to himself but always raises the quality of play and makes his fellow players look good—and in doing so, Junio Vargas ensures that everybody wins.
Laura Sanchez is a Santa Barbara–based wine writer whose work appears in an array of print and online publications.
Opposite: Junio Vargas Ojeda in his element at Terravant Wine Co.
Cambria Clone 2A Pinot Noir
Santa Maria Valley, 2008 ($48)
WHAT THE GROWNUPS ARE DRINKING
This fall we are taking a little trip down the Foxen Wine Trail. The area is named after Captain William Benjamin Foxen, who received a land grant in the area in 1837. Not only does the place have a sense of history and beautiful scenery, but it is known for its wide variety of world-class estate vineyards and wineries. These days there are 16 wineries—Andrew Murray, Byron, Cambria, Costa De Oro, Cottonwood Canyon, Curtis, Demetria Estate, Fess Parker, Firestone, Foxen, Kenneth Volk, Koehler, Rancho Sisquoc, Riverbench, Tres Hermanas, Zaca Mesa— so we couldn’t hit them all. But join us on our little tasting as we paired the wines with an amazing multi-course dinner by World Cuisine Express.
Demetria Cuvée Papou
Demetria Estate Vineyard, 2009 ($28)
Right away we loved the fact that this white Rhone blend was named after the owner’s Greek grandpa. Some were curious about the blend, so for the record it is 35% Marsanne, 32% Grenache Blanc, 22% Roussanne and 11% Viognier. Even more important to our tasters was the fact that there was a delicious aroma of honey that evoked the flavors of Greek cuisine. We thought it was a rich, unctuous, big wine for a white, and that it would pair well with seafood. It also went beautifully with our appetizers of goat cheese–stuffed mushrooms and quesadillas with hummus and tomatoes.
Riverbench Bedrock Chardonnay
Riverbench Vineyard, 2009 ($24)
There are some among us who will drink anything but Chardonnay, but this wine just changed their game. They loved this wine. It is fermented entirely in stainless steel tanks, so there is not so much as a hint of oak. It’s crisp, but it had a richness and touch of the tropics that would pair well with everything from paella to lobster, and even our carnitas appetizers. Some tasters commented on the apple and papaya flavors and said this would be a fantastic cheese wine. It’s also just the right kind of wine for all of our warm, sunny days this fall.
We know we love Pinot Noir, but what’s with the clone? It turns out that in wine lingo, a clone is a subdivision of a varietal. Since Pinot Noir is a very old grape, it has the propensity to produce more mutations or clones. Clone 2A has been widely planted, and after tasting this wine, we’re glad. This is an earthy, classic local Pinot with a little more plum than cherry and a hint of smoke. Its velvety texture makes it a perfect pairing with all sorts of food. We paired it with an arugula salad with candied walnuts and ricotta salata cheese—pure perfection.
Zaca Mesa Z Cuvée
Estate Grown, 2007 ($20)
This wine was an enormous hit. When we tasted this with Chef Harold’s fried crab over potato hash, we were blown away. The wine has a bit of boldness and complexity with touches of pink peppercorn, sandalwood and cypress, along with fruit flavors of juicy blackberry and raspberry. It’s an everyday crowd-pleasing wine, but with something for a sophisticated palate. It’s a great choice for Thanksgiving dinner or a dinner party, since this wine would go with just about anything.
Foxen 7200 Cabernet Franc
Tinaquaic Vineyard, 2008 ($40)
After a bit of a palate cleanser with an orange sorbet, we shifted our attention to the winery that made Foxen Canyon a trail, since winemaker Dick Doré’s greatgreat-grandfather was none other than Captain William Benjamin Foxen. This wine paired perfectly with the heartier beef and roasted vegetables and had an almost woodsy, violet and floral feel. It’s bold and intense enough that you could substitute it for a high-end Cabernet Sauvignon, and love it for its own merit.
Fess Parker Syrah
Rodney’s Vineyard, 2008 ($49)
This is a massive wine. As one of our tasters said, “This wine is smoked bacon; this wine is chocolate; this wine is dessert.” It had some luscious and seriously earthy characteristics. The color was beautiful, and it could pair with all the classic autumnal flavors. Or try it with a strong-flavored cheese to tame, just barely, its intensity.
Our journey along the trail was both adventurous and delicious, especially with the meal prepared by Chef Harold Welch of World Cuisine Express. To find out more about the Foxen Wine Trail, visit foxencanyonwinetrail.com and for more information about the food visit worldcuisineexpress.com.
Krista Harris, Mark Pfeiffer and Shannon Essa contributed to this piece along with input from our intrepid team of tasters.
Stevie Balfour-Ritchie, Todd Norman, Eric Llamas, and Norma Hernandez
Dining Guide edible
Santa Barbara County
has its own unique food traditions— from Santa Maria barbecue to Santa Barbara spot prawns and the world-class local wines that accompany them—so we’d like to help you find some of the area restaurants that create the distinctively Santa Barbara dining experience. Restaurants are chosen for this dining guide because of their emphasis on using local, seasonal ingredients in their menus and their commitment to real food.
Santa Barbara
Backyard Bowls
331 Motor Way
Santa Barbara 805 845-5379
5668 Calle Real Goleta 805 770-2730 backyardbowls.com
Santa Barbara’s most innovative breakfast and lunch spot featuring Acai Bowls—bowls of a thick smoothie made from acai, an antioxidantrich berry, topped with fresh fruit, granola and other toppings. They also offer oatmeal, yogurt, smoothies and more. Mon–Fri 7am–6pm; Sat–Sun 8am–6pm.
Bouchon
9 W. Victoria St.
Santa Barbara 805 730-1160
bouchonsantabarbara.com
Carlitos Café y Cantina
1324 State St.
Santa Barbara 805 962-7117
carlitos.com
Enjoy fresh Mexican cuisine across from the historic Arlington Theatre on State Street in a sun-filled patio while the beautiful dining room features lovely views and a Cantina stocked with 100% Blue Agave tequilas. Member Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program. Open daily 11am–10pm.
Cava Restaurant & Bar
1212 Coast Village Rd.
Montecito 805 969-8500
cavarestaurant.com
Experience the bold flavors of superb Latin cuisine from Spain, Mexico and South America in a romantic setting in Montecito. Member Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program. Open daily 11am–11pm, weekend breakfast from 8am.
Coast Restaurant
31 W. Carrillo St.
Santa Barbara 805 879-9100
canarysantabarbara.com
Coast Restaurant and Bar offers savory, accessible comfort food in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara at the Canary Hotel. The food at Coast reflects Santa Barbara’s plentiful bounty of local seafood and farmers market produce. Restaurant serving 7am–10pm daily. Bar open Mon–Thurs 11am–11pm and Fri–Sat 11am–midnight.
Goodland Kitchen & Market
231 S. Magnolia Ave.
Old Town Goleta 805 845-4300
goodlandkitchen.com
The Goodland Market is a graband-go eatery in Old Town Goleta, specializing in delicious, locally sourced and affordable meals. They prepare food in small batches and utilize produce from local farmers to provide an exceptional culinary experience. Mon–Fri 7am–2:30pm; Sat 8am–2pm.
Pizza Guru
3534 State St.
Santa Barbara 805 563-3250
pizzaguru.com
sourced, organic ingredients. They also specialize in vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free pizzas. Mon–Sat 11am–9:30pm, Sunday 11:30–8:30pm.
Renaud’s Patisserie & Bistro
Loreto Plaza at 3315 State St.
Santa Barbara 805 569-2400
1324 State St.
Santa Barbara 805 892-2800
renaudsbakery.com
Renaud’s is a bakery specializing in French pastries and French-style cakes, as well as a bistro offering an extensive menu for lunch and dinner. Open daily 7am–3pm, and until 5pm Mon–Sat at Loreto Plaza.
Seagrass
30 E. Ortega St.
Santa Barbara 805 963-1012
seagrassrestaurant.com
Seagrass offers a fresh Santa Barbara Coastal Cuisine fine dining experience, procuring the highest quality ingredients available and superior local bounty. Open Mon–Thu 5:30–10pm; Fri–Sat 5:30–10:30pm; Sun 5:30–9:30pm.
Sojourner Café
134 E. Cañon Perdido St.
Santa Barbara 805 965-7922
sojournercafe.com
The Sojourner has been serving unique dishes created with wholesome natural ingredients for over 30 years. They purchase organic produce from local growers, carry local wines and beers and are known for their innovative desserts. Serving lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. Open daily 11am–11pm, Sunday 11am–10pm.
The Wine Cask
813 Anacapa St.
Santa Barbara 805 966-9463
winecask.com
Bouchon sources all of its ingredients using an “as-fresh-and-as-local-as-possible” approach, and Chef Greg Murphy is a familiar sight at the local farmers markets. Experience fine dining, excellent regional wines and relaxed service in a warm, inviting ambience. Private dining in the Cork Room is available for groups of 10–20. Dinner nightly from 5:30pm. bouchon santa barbara
Locally owned and operated, Pizza Guru serves traditional and eccentric gourmet pizzas, salads, panini and pastas made fresh daily from locally
The Wine Cask Restaurant offers fine dining in their exquisite Gold Room and the Wine Cask Bar Café offers casual dining in the courtyard, patio or by their cozy fireplace. Their food is sourced from area farms and local purveyors. They also have a tasting room where you can sample some of the finest wines of Santa Barbara County. Restaurant nightly from 5:30pm; bar and café Mon–Fri 11am–10pm, Sat–Sun 4–10pm; Tasting Room daily noon–6pm.
Santa Ynez Valley
Avant Tapas & Wine
35 Industrial Way
Buellton 805 686-9400
avantwines.com
Avant offers a selection of savory tapas, gourmet pizzas and desserts that are the perfect counterpoint to the over 30 wines available for tasting at their state-of-the-art production facility. Open Monday, Thursday and Sunday 11am–8pm, Fri–Sat 11am–10pm.
Dos Carlitos Restaurant & Tequila Bar
3544 Sagunto St.
Santa Ynez
805 688-0033
doscarlitosrestaurant.com
Dos Carlitos offers inspired Mexican and Latin cuisine handcrafted from the freshest ingredients to accompany its award-winning 100% Blue Agave margaritas. Dos Carlitos is a place to enjoy friends and family in a relaxed outdoor patio or casual indoor setting. Member Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program. Open daily 11am–10pm.
The Firestone Walker Tap Room Restaurant
620 McMurray Rd.
Buellton
805 686-1557
firestonebeer.com
The Firestone Walker Tap Room Restaurant celebrates the unique tastes of the Central Coast.
Showcasing fresh ingredients from local sources, the menu reflects their passion for capturing a distinctive blend of regional cuisine, beer and wine. Extraordinary flavors, prepared simply by talented hands. Open Mon–Thu 4–9pm and Fri–Sun 11am–9pm.
Full of Life Flatbread
225 W. Bell St.
Los Alamos
805 344-4400
fulloflifefoods.com
On weekends Full of Life Flatbread converts their production flatbread bakery space into a restaurant and offers an extremely innovative menu based almost entirely on what is grown locally and in season. Open Fri–Sat 5–10pm, Sunday 4–8pm.
Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café
2879 Grand Ave.
Los Olivos
805 688-7265
losolivoscafe.com
The Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café brings together the best flavors of the Central Coast. Their award-winning wine list offers over 500 wines, primarily from Central Coast winemakers, to enjoy with their fresh, seasonal and local cuisine, or to enjoy at home. Open for lunch and dinner daily 11:30am–8:30pm.
Root 246
420 Alisal Rd. Solvang 805 686-8681 root-246.com
Root 246 in Solvang offers a full menu of farmto-table creations and one of the most extensive selections of local wine. The contemporary yet comfortable setting includes a main dining room, a “chefs room” for private dining, two lounges and an outdoor patio. Wed–Sun: bar opens at 4pm with dinner at 5pm.
The Hitching Post II
406 E. Highway 246 Buellton 805 688-0676 hitchingpost2.com
From Santa Maria–style barbecue to more contemporary cuisine such as smoked duck breast, ostrich, homemade soups and outstanding pastries, The Hitching Post II also offers their own world-class Hartley Ostini Hitching Post Wines. Open daily except major holidays. Cocktails/wine tasting Mon–Fri at 4pm, Sat–Sun at 3pm. Dinners only Mon–Fri 5–9:30pm, Sat–Sun 4–9:30pm.
ADVERTISING IN THE DINING GUIDE IS BY INVITATION ONLY
From Farmer to Table A MENU INSPIRED BY FARMERS
by Pascale Beale
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIN FEINBLATT
“What are we having for dinner, Mum?” I get asked this question every day, and I often answer, “I’ll let you know when I get back from the market.” I grew up shopping for food at the local markets on a daily basis, and the habit has stayed with me. I feel inspired as I talk to the farmers and walk through rows of fragrant herbs, gorgeous vegetables, surrounded by the flowers and plants of the current season.
Autumn brings with it a cascade of wild mushrooms, piled higgledy-piggledy in great mounds on the farmer’s table, crying out for a risotto filled with sautéed tubers. Bulbous, sunset-hued squash sit plump and fat in hessian-covered baskets, asking to be transformed into fragrant soups. Autumnal fruits—flecked pears, crunchy apples with enticing names such as Honeycrisp—beg to be transformed into pies and buttery crumbles, and pomegranates bursting with luscious ruby red seeds are perfect for livening up a salad. The markets are filled with possibilities.
Sometimes coming across a special ingredient will trigger a culinary flashback. The same way an aroma will remind you of a place, a perfume of a person, so too can a dish transport you to a dining room halfway around the world. Coming across farmraised rabbit reminded me of a luscious dish my Grandmother Genevieve used to make—Lapin a la Moutarde. It was a crème fraiche and mustard sauce-laden masterpiece. I would pray she would make it each time I was lucky enough to visit her.
My uncle and I once battled over who would clear away the platter, containing the last of this succulent sauce, made even more delicious when you could mop it up surreptitiously with a piece of baguette in the kitchen. We got caught, of course— my grandmother walked in on us just as we were about to pop that perfect morsel of fresh bread, dripping with this unctuous crème in our mouths. She raised a disapproving eyebrow at me, “Pascale!” But it was that good.
That entire scene flashed through my mind as I stood in front of Marcie Jimenez’s stand. At Jimenez Family “beyond organic” farms, located in Santa Ynez on 35 acres, they have pasture-fed lamb, farm-raised pigs, rabbits and goats, in addition to a wide
range of fruits and vegetables. Jumping at the chance to recreate this dish, I told Marcie the story as I purchased a rabbit for dinner. As it so happens she has a rabbit tale of her own. Stemming from a Greek-Scandinavian background, Marcie and her family often ate rabbit. Her family’s dish was stifado. A Greek specialty, this cinnamon and spice, wine-laced rabbit stew features pearl onions bathed in a tomato sauce that cooks slowly in a stovetop Dutch oven. Her stew sounded moist and fragrant, a perfect match for the lean rabbit meat. I made a note to try her stew in the near future.
Now that I had decided on rabbit, I needed mushrooms for the sauce and meandered over to the Peacock Farms stand that always has tasty oyster mushrooms to choose from. Having picked up two baskets of mushrooms and a dozen of their incredible eggs, I spied some persimmons. I have to say that I have not in the past been a fan of this fruit. I don’t like its gelatinous texture. However I was persuaded to try one of the Fuyu variety and became an instant convert. I’ve been creating persimmon dishes ever since. They are wonderful in salads. I was intrigued by this fruit and spoke with Lynda Peacock, who along with her husband, Scott, both third-generation farmers from Dinuba, planted persimmon trees on their farm at the insistence of their Japanese neighbor. Lynda makes cookies and breads with the squishy Hichiya variety and mentioned that they dry very well, preserving their bright orange color.
Persimmons originated in Asia and have been widely cultivated for centuries in Japan and China. There are also species of American persimmon trees that were well known to Native Americans. The name persimmon is derived phonetically from the Algonquin tribe’s term for the fruit: putchamin. There are two types of fruit: astringent and non-astringent. The former can only be eaten when fully ripened, otherwise it will taste extremely bitter, but the latter can be eaten when still hard. The Fuyu persimmon is one of the non-astringent varieties.
Lynda described a salad she makes with the Fuyu variety, combining the chopped fruit with walnuts, avocadoes and a vinaigrette. I’ll have to try that too.
Opposite: Rabbit in a mushroom and mustard sauce.
At this point my basket was almost overflowing and I had yet to plan the last course of our meal. My father’s motto is “always leave room for dessert.” Walking through the market I was spoiled for choice. Pears, pomegranates and citrus fruit beckoned, but my eyes were dawn to the myriad apples piled high at the Fair Hills Farm stand.
David Rydell and his family grow about 20 varieties of apples. Located in Paso Robles, the 35-acre organic farm benefits from the 60° summertime temperature swings that help concentrate the fruits’ flavors. Braeburns, Cameos, Fujis, Honeycrisps, Galas and Jonagolds tempt passersby. I love combining different varieties in tarts and salads. David, whose family originates from Minnesota, says he likes baked apples, a dish that reminds me of blustery autumnal days in London where I was born.
We are a world away from the raw weather that can so frequently be dished out in England—or the Midwest—but just reminiscing about these apple-filled dishes evoke images of coming in from the cold and eating warm apple crumbles, filled with spices. The apple dish I have in mind today may not be as hearty, but those flavors will all be there.
I call my daughter and tell her what we are eating for dinner.
Pascale Beale grew up in England and France surrounded by a family that has always been passionate about food, wine and the arts. She was taught to cook by her French mother and grandmother. In 1999 she opened Montecito Country Kitchen, a Mediterranean cooking school in Santa Barbara. She is the author of A Menu for All Seasons—Spring, A Menu for All Seasons—Summer, A Menu for All Seasons—Autumn and A Menu for All Seasons—Winter. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and lives in Santa Barbara with her family.
Recipes
Persimmon Salad
Makes 8 servings
1 ⁄4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon fig balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 shallot, peeled and finely diced
Salt and pepper
8 ounces herb salad mix or mesclun salad mix
4 ounces mache greens
2 ounces watercress
6 Fuyu persimmons, stem removed, halved, then thinly sliced
Whisk the olive oil and vinegars together in the bottom of a large salad bowl. Stir in the diced shallot and add a large pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper. Place salad utensils over the vinaigrette.
Place all the remaining ingredients on top of the salad utensils so that the greens are not sitting in the vinaigrette. Toss the salad just before serving.
Rabbit in a Mushroom and Mustard Sauce
Makes 8 servings
2 or 3 whole rabbits, depending on the size, each cut into 6 pieces
1 cup Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
5 cups chicken stock
11 ⁄ 2 pounds crimini or brown mushrooms, thinly sliced
8 shallots, peeled and quartered
1 ⁄ 3 cup crème fraiche
Minced chives and parsley, for garnish
Place all the rabbit pieces in a large bowl. Spoon 2 ⁄ 3 cup of the mustard into the bowl and coat all of the rabbit pieces thoroughly with mustard. Add a little salt and pepper and toss the pieces again. Set aside for 30 minutes.
Pour a little olive oil and a tablespoon of butter into a large, heavy-bottomed sauté pan placed over medium heat. Stir until the butter foams and then sauté the rabbit pieces until they are browned and golden on all sides. This will take 8–10 minutes per side.
When all the pieces are browned, pour 4 cups of the chicken stock into the pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook for a further 25 minutes turning the pieces once or twice during the process.
Place 2 tablespoons butter in a separate pan placed over medium heat. Add in the shallots and cook for 3–4 minutes. Add in the sliced mushrooms and cook for 4–5 minutes so that they are golden brown. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper and set aside.
When the rabbit is cooked, remove the pieces from the pan and place them on a warm serving dish in the oven to keep warm whilst you finish the sauce. In a small bowl pour the remaining chicken stock, the remaining mustard and all the crème fraiche. Whisk vigorously so that it is well combined and smooth in consistency. Pour this mustard mixture into the sauté pan holding the cooking juices from the rabbit and bring it a simmer. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the pan, getting all those good bits and pieces! The sauce will thicken as you cook it. Add the cooked mushroom slices to the sauce, stir well and then return the rabbit pieces to the pan and then turn them over once or twice to coat them in the sauce.
Check the seasonings, sprinkle with chives and parsley and serve immediately.
Apple Millefeuilles
Makes 8 servings
4 Granny Smith apples, halved and peeled
2 tablespoons butter
1 ⁄ 2 vanilla bean
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch allspice
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Slice each apple half into very fine slices. Keep all the slices for each half together. Place each sliced apple half onto the parchment paper.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan with the sugar. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds out into the saucepan, add the spices and cook for 3 minutes. Using a pastry brush, coat each apple half with some of the apple-sugar mixture.
Bake for 20 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer each apple half onto a dessert plate. This is really good with a small scoop of good vanilla ice cream and the shortbread served alongside.
Brown Sugar Shortbread
Makes 20 pieces
4 ounces (1 stick) butter
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 ⁄ 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
6 ounces flour
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Preheat the oven to 300°.
Place the butter in a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until soft and fluffy. Add in the sugars and beat again until well combined, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl occasionally.
Add in the flour, vanilla extract and salt, and mix until the dough has just come together. Remove the dough from the bowl and combine into a ball.
Break off a 1-inch piece of the dough and roll it gently in the palms of your hand to form a spherical shape and then place each one on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake the shortbread for 35–40 minutes in the center of the oven. They should be a pale golden color. Place them on a wire rack to cool. They will keep for several days in a sealed container.
eat local challenge
OCTOBER IS Eat Local Month
As part of epicure.sb, the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market and Edible Santa Barbara magazine are co-sponsoring an Eat Local Challenge for Santa Barbara during the month of October.
Take a Pledge to Eat Only Local Food for 31 Days!
Whether you choose to eat only foods produced within a 100- or 150-mile radius, or Santa Barbara County, or the tri-county region, or even the state of California; and whether you choose to have exceptions that you will not be eating locally (i.e., coffee, tea or spices), you benefit from the experience of joining with your community to eat locally produced food.
How Can I Find Local Food?
How Do I Get Started?
You can find out more right here in the pages of this magazine. In addition, information will be provided at the Farmers Markets, at the Sol Food Festival and on ediblesantabarbara.com. To share information go to our Google Group: groups.google.com/group/sb-eatlocal-challenge. Check out the various events that will be taking place during the month of October that highlight local foods. And on October 1, start eating local!
Safe, Sound and Growing
Rabobank, N.A. Member FDIC www.rabobankamerica.com
Farming, Marketing and Why We Do It A Farmer’s Perspective
by Robert Abbott
The following perspective was taken from a talk given at the Faulkner Gallery on March 23, 2011, as part of the Ag Futures Alliance “Farm to Fork” Educational Series.
Ihelp manage Abbott Ranch, an avocado and lemon farm on the south side of Carpinteria that my grandfather bought in 1923. He was a young man at the time, and energetic, and he planted 60 acres of lemon and avocado trees, many of which are still producing today. But Abbott Ranch is only half of my job. The other half is dedicated to farmers markets, where we sell under the name Hilltop and Canyon Farms.
We sell at four markets a week, primarily lemons and avocados. We also lease a couple of acres for row crops, which go straight to the markets—30 different types of field flowers, 10 kinds of beans, some eggplant, a few heirloom vegetables, odds and ends to keep it interesting. My wife, Tessa, and I started doing markets about seven years ago, and to make a long story short, farmers markets have changed my life.
You see, I do enjoy farming—I love it, except for hand weeding. But there are some long days. Farming can get kind of lonely if you’re on your own most of the time. And if the difficulty of growing a quality crop weren’t enough, the fickleness of the wholesale markets coupled with the fickleness of the weather can be downright demoralizing.
Selling directly at the farmers markets, on the other hand, solves these problems. I get to talk to people—some of whom are actually interested in what I do. The pricing is stable, and it’s something I can count on. In a time when our economy is anybody’s guess, there is nothing more gratifying—or more real, in an economic sense—than showing up at the market with a truckload of the best stuff we can grow and offering it to enthusiastic, supportive customers. I’m proud of what we bring to the market, and it really makes me happy to know that people will take it home and enjoy it, and that it will sustain them.
The only thing farmers markets don’t resolve is the workload. Actually, I’d say it just about doubles the work. But for me it’s
well worth it. Half the time it doesn’t even feel like work—which is the way a job should be.
So, obviously I’m a big advocate for local marketing. I’d love to sell everything we grow locally, but then you’d all have to start eating a lot more guacamole and drinking a lot more lemonade, which is maybe not a bad idea. But the reality is that Abbott Ranch produces on a scale that exceeds local demand. So, we need a larger market, replete with wholesalers, packinghouses, quarantines, national and even international distribution, more paperwork and certifications than you can shake a stick at, the cost of diesel, you name it. In that market, we get whatever we can get. Some years are good, but for every good year there are a string of years where we just break even or even lose out at the end.
About five years ago the California avocado industry had its largest production year on record—over 600 million pounds of fruit. If you combine that with the stuff from Mexico and Chile, it was a billion-pound year. Sounds great, right? No, everyone was downright depressed, except for maybe Vons and Albertson’s. With a total glut on the market, prices spiraled down in the early spring and stayed there all year, hovering between 30 and 40 cents a pound. Some growers just let the fruit drop to the ground and rot. They couldn’t afford to pay for the picking, let alone trucking, refrigeration and all the rest.
On the other hand, last year was a very light year for the entire state and even Mexico. Demand outstripped supply and prices headed toward $2 a pound. So, that’s a market fluctuation of 500% in five years!
The crazy thing is that this is typical. I know first-hand that the lemon market is even worse. Just in the last six months prices have fluctuated from $7 a box to over $40. And the big citrus packinghouses won’t even pay you until the season is over and they have figured out their own costs. Growers get whatever is left over.
So, let’s put this in perspective: A farmer plants a tree, in this case an avocado tree. For the first five years you have to weed and water and mulch and help the little tree along, without any production in return. Years 5 to 10 the little tree starts producing, just a little. From year 10 on you start hitting good production. You are able to cover your costs, and somewhere in there you are supposed to break even. Then after all that work and water and labor, you are expected to throw your hard-won produce into a market that can, in any given year, fluctuate well over 100%. Are we crazy? Who in their right mind would do that? You can see why I prefer the farmers markets. What is crazy is that through thick and thin—when you average it all out, and if you’re pretty frugal—you can do OK. Abbott Ranch has been growing basically the same crops for almost a century—that’s not bad. I may not have faith in those volatile commodity markets, but I do have faith in this land of ours here in Santa Barbara County. Markets can swing all over but there are some fundamental reasons why this can still work.
First of all, as you may or may not know, the south coast of Santa Barbara County is one of the great growing regions in the world for subtropical fruit like avocados and citrus—there are only a
handful of places where these trees can thrive, and we’re living in one of them. Santa Barbara is a geographic niche; it’s as good for agriculture as it is for tourism.
Second, the crops we grow are perishable. You might think it’s counterproductive for a farmer to want a perishable crop. Well, in these days of international markets, we have to compete with imports. The longer an avocado or lemon stays in the truck, the worse it tastes. That’s a fact. And that’s fine with me. Imports from Argentina can be a month old or even older by the time they make it into your kitchen and into your stomach. No wonder California produce tastes so much better.
Third, food is fun, and food is culture. It’s as much a part of our culture as art or music or the movies we watch. And the culture of food is based on what grows right around us—what grows locally or even in our backyard. And I’d say that the American food culture is still in its infancy. There are still people who don’t know what an avocado is. I’ve met some people who ask if they are supposed to boil it or put it in the oven. That, to me, sounds like a growing market.
Fourth, we happen to have access to an awesome local food community. We can grow on a decent sized scale and move a lot of it locally. I wouldn’t be doing what I do if it weren’t for a strong, local base of supporters who give lifeblood to small and medium farmers through the farmers markets, CSAs, restaurants and a network of businesses who go out of their way to source the best freshest food available.
So, when it comes to the next century of farming for Abbott Ranch, over all I am optimistic. It’s certainly going to be tough. Things only get more expensive. The cost of land is out of reach. Water is barely affordable. There’s going to be more paperwork in the future. There are just a lot of negatives.
But we keep doing it. Here’s why:
• We farm because we like to eat good food.
• We farm because of this community, which supports us.
• We farm because we love being able to tell people where their food came from, how we grew it and the best ways to eat it.
• We farm for a different community, too—a community of farmers, where we can trade experiences, ideas and support one another.
• We farm because we like hard work—the tangible proof of what you can do in a day can be incredibly satisfying.
• We farm for discovery—to try out something new every year.
I live for early mornings, when the plants are fresh and my back is fresh. I farm because it’s in my blood, and because if I didn’t farm I would still find a way to do it.
Robert Abbott is an environmentalist, an artist and a farmer who is active in the community. He lives and farms in Carpinteria at Hilltop and Canyon Farms/Abbott Ranch with his wife, Tessa, daughter Edie and soon-to-arrive baby #2.
EDIBLE EVENTS IN OCTOBER
epicure.sb
A Month to Savor Santa Barbara
Throughout October, Santa Barbara will feature a monthlong foodie festival with diverse epicurean offerings sure to sate your appetite! This month will showcase regional cuisine, libations and culture. For more information and a detailed listing of events go to epicuresb.com
WEDNESDAY
OCTOBER 5
IncrEDIBLE DESIGN
5:30–8pm, The Upham Hotel, 1404 De La Vina St., Santa Barbara
A delicious panel discussion on the nexus of design, food, community and sustainability. Presented by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Santa Barbara. Featuring the co-founders of Edible Communities, the publishers of Edible Santa Barbara, Mohawk Papers and more. santabarbara.aiga.org
FRIDAY–SUNDAY OCTOBER 7–9
California Avocado Festival
Fri 11am–10pm, Sat 10am–9pm, Sun 10am–6pm; Downtown Carpinteria Enjoy food, music, entertainment, visit the kids’ block party, browse the arts and crafts district, learn a little something at the Avocado Expo Tent and witness the world’s largest vat of guacamole. Free admission; avofest.com
THURSDAY OCTOBER 13
Speakeasy & Stills: Prohibition in Santa Barbara
5:30pm; Santa Barbara Historical Museum, 136 East De La Guerra St. Lecture followed by a “scandalous” reception complete with wine and whiskey tasting. Call for details 805 966-1601; santabarbaramuseum.com
THURSDAY OCTOBER 6
First Thursday
5–8pm, various locations downtown Santa Barbara; The Book Den, 15 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara First Thursday is an evening of art and culture in Downtown Santa Barbara. The Book Den will be featuring a discussion and book signing of Edible: A Celebration of Local Foods with Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian
SATURDAY OCTOBER 8
Harbor and Seafood Festival
10am–5pm; Santa Barbara Harbor, Santa Barbara
This annual benefit showcases a plethora of delectable regional seafood specialties, in addition to cooking demonstrations, interactive maritime education, unique children’s activities, boat rides, live music and much more. Free; harborfestival.org
Eat Local Challenge Eat Local for the Next 31 Days
As part of epicure.sb, the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market and Edible Santa Barbara magazine are co-sponsoring an Eat Local Challenge for Santa Barbara during the month of October. For more info, go to the Google Group: groups. google.com/group/sb-eat-local-challenge.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 1
SOL Food Festival
10am–6pm; Plaza Vera Cruz (across the street from the Saturday Farmers Market), Santa Barbara Celebrating Sustainable, Organic and Local food. Enjoy a variety of workshops, demonstrations, children’s activities, SOL food, beer and wine. Free; visit solfoodfestival.com for more info.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 7
Bernat Winemaker Dinner 6pm, Los Olivos Caféand Wine Merchant, 2879 Grand Ave., Los Olivos Join the owners Sam and Shawnda Marmorstein for a 5-course winemaker dinner with Chef Chris Joslyn. The estate Syrah and Nebbiolo come from their certified organic 4 acre vineyard in Los Olivos, a mile from the Café. $95, reservations: 805 688-7265 x214 or matthew@buysantabarbarawine.com
FRIDAY OCTOBER 14
The Home Gourmet: Baking Technique Class “Autumn Fruit” 12:30–2pm; Whole Foods Market, 3761 State St., Santa Barbara Baking demonstration using autumn’s flavorful fruits, such as organic pears, figs and apples. Space is limited, 805-837-6959; wholefoodsmarket.com
SATURDAY
OCTOBER
8
Celebration of Harvest 1–4pm; Rancho Sisquoc Winery: 6600 Foxen Canyon Rd. Santa Barbara County vintners showcase their latest wines along with local restaurants, caterers and specialty food purveyors, while live music will fill the air on the beautiful grounds of Rancho Sisquoc Winery. $65; 805 688-0881; sbcountywines.com
SATURDAY OCTOBER 15
Paint Jam Parties & Simply Pies Present: Pies & Paint
10:30am–3pm; 5392 Hollister Ave., Santa Barbara
Experience “Paint Jam,” a free-flowing expressive way to get behind an easle and paint on canvas, plus, taste and enjoy homemade pies. Space is limited, reservations required 805 448-6873.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 15
Santa Barbara Beer Festival
Noon–4pm; Elings Park, 1298 Las Positas Rd., Santa Barbara
Multiple breweries represented, microbreweries, home brewed beer clubs, a selection of fine cigars, delicious food and live music. $45-$55, no one under 21. Contact sbbeerfestival.com or Eling’s Park office for tickets.
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 19
Wine & Chocolate Pairing Classes
5pm & 6pm; Margerum Wine Company, 813 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara Winemaker Doug Margerum will join Jessica Foster and together they will guide you through an extensive flight of Margerum wines and chocolate truffles. For tickets visit margerumwinecompany. com/events.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 15
Cooking in the Vineyard
3–6pm; Bernat Family Vineyard
Experience a relaxing afternoon with delicious food and wine in Los Olivos at the organic Bernat Family Vineyard with owners Sam and Shawnda Marmorstein. Cooking demo by Chef Chris Joslyn using the local produce on the farm. $50. Limited space, to make reservations call 805 688-7265 x214 or email matthew@ buysantabarbarawine.com
SATURDAY OCTOBER 15
Urban Homesteading: Processing Chickens From Yard to Skillet
9am–5pm; Fairview Gardens, 98 N. Fairview Ave., Goleta For serious urban homesteaders who want more than eggs. Each person will receive a live chicken and leave with their own ready-to-cook bird by the end of the class. Call to sign-up 805 967-7369; fairviewgardens.org
SATURDAY OCTOBER 15
Sensational Seafood at the Ty Warner Sea Center
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 26
California Pinot Noir with Longoria Wines
6:30–9:30pm; Spiritland Bistro, 230 E. Victoria St., Santa Barbara Longtime local winemaker Rick Longoria will showcase his fabulous Pinots and chat with guests between courses. Guest chefs from Village Modern Foods will design a 4-course all-organic gourmet dinner, using locally sourced food. spiritlandbistro.com
FRIDAY
OCTOBER 28
The Home Gourmet: Cooking Technique Class “Root Vegetables”
5:30–7pm; Whole Foods Market, 3761 State St., Santa Barbara Learn the basic technique of roasting and grilling root vegetables and using fresh locally grown herbs to compliment their earthy flavor. Space is limited, 805-837-6959; wholefoodsmarket.com
SATURDAY OCTOBER 22
Isla Vista Co-op Country Fair
11am–4pm; 6575 Seville Rd., Isla Vista Free family-friendly foodie event. This annual fair celebrating local and sustainable food is not to be missed. 805 968-1401; for more information visit islavistafoodcoop.blogspot.com.
6pm; 211 Stearns Wharf, Santa Barbara Experience ocean-friendly seafood, wine tasting and sunset ocean views. Meet local chefs and fishermen who are leading the way to a more sustainable future. Enjoy live cooking demonstrations and learn tasty new recipes. For more info 805 962-2526 x101; sbnature.org
SATURDAY OCTOBER 29
Olive Oil & Vinegar For Life
12–4pm; Global Gardens, 477 Alamo Pintado Ave., Los Olivos Olive oil and vinegar tastings from Southern California’s most awardwinning olive oil producer. Book signing for Olive Oil & Vinegar For Life: Delicious Recipes for Healthy Caliterranean Living by Global Gardens’ owner Theo Stephan. 805 693-1600; globalgardensonline.com
Celebration of Harvest
Saturday Oct. 8th
Rancho Sisquoc Winery
Santa Maria 1- 4 pm
• Over 100 Member Wineries
• The Finest Cuisine Focusing On Local Produce
• Live, Jazz Music
• Rex Pickett Book Signing
• Tranquil Country Setting
edible Events
For updates and more details on these and other events, visit ediblesantabarbara.com
ONGOING EVENTS
Third Wednesdays in Solvang
Over 60 stores, restaurants, wine tasting room and professional offices offer specials every third Wednesday in Solvang. During the Solvang Wine Walk from 3–7pm you can enjoy tasting at 5 places of your choice for $20/person. solvang3rdwednesday.com
First Thursday in Santa Barbara
5–8pm; downtown Carpinteria
First Thursday is an award-winning program highlighting downtown arts, culture and entertainment on the first Thursday of every month. All First Thursday attractions are free, celebrating art and culture in downtown Santa Barbara and featuring attractions such as art openings, live music, artists’ receptions, lectures, wine tastings and hands-on activities. santabarbaradowntown.com
First Friday in Carpinteria
5–8pm; downtown Carpinteria
Enjoy live entertainment, food and drink at various locations on Linden and Carpinteria Ave. carpcofc.com/Visitors/first_friday.html
Market Forays Cooking Class
8am–3:30pm, Saturdays; Santa Barbara
Hands-on cooking classes for small groups begin with a guided shopping tour of the fishermen’s and farmers market. Recipes are fresh, seasonal and suited to home chefs. A shared meal paired with wines follows the class. All levels welcome. 805 259-7229; marketforays.com
In the Valley Menu
5pm, Tuesdays; The Los Olivos Café, 2879 Grand Ave., Los Olivos
Los Olivos Café prepares a special 3-course locals-only menu that highlights local farmers, wines and cuisine. Call 805 688-7265 to find out this week’s menu or join the Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café on Facebook to see the weekly updates.
Tuesday Farmers Market Foodie Stroll with Chef Greg Murphy
3:15–7:15pm, Tuesdays; Bouchon Santa Barbara, 9 W. Victoria St.
Join Chef Greg Murphy of bouchon Santa Barbara for an informative tour of the farmers market followed by dinner at bouchon. Reservations essential, $65 includes food and wine; tax and gratuity are additional. 805 730-1160; bouchonsantabarbara.com
Chef’s Counter—Three-Course Farmers Market Dinner with Local Wine Pairings
5:30–9pm, Monday–Thursday; the Wine Cask; 813 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara
Chef Brandon Hughes explores his passion for ingredient-driven cuisine with you and explains the thought behind each dish of this local farmers market-inspired three-course menu as he serves it. $65 includes food and wine; tax and gratuity are additional. 805 966-9463; winecask.com
Four-Course Chef’s Tasting Menu with Wine Pairing at Seagrass Restaurant
Seagrass, 30 E. Ortega St., Santa Barbara
Join Chef Robért Perez for a surprise tasting menu paired with Santa Barbara County wines. $75 per person. 805 963-1012; seagrassrestaurant.com
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6
Empty Bowls Santa Barbara
Three seatings: 11am, noon and 1pm. Rockwood Woman’s Club
A benefit for the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, in an effort to make an immediate difference in our community, through the art of pottery and the power of people learning to feed each other. 805 969-1820; emptybowlssantabarbara.com
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 16
Dr. Andrew Weil: Spontaneous Happiness and Why Our Health Matters 8pm; Arlington Theatre
Dr. Andrew Weil is the author of six New York Times bestselling books and author of a monthly column in Prevention Magazine. Weil’s pioneering spirit and infectious passion have changed the practice of medicine and made him a leading resource for healthy living. Tickets are $38–$53 and $23 for UCSB students. artsandlectures.sa.ucsb.edu
edible Source Guide
The Edible Source Guide is a compact listing of all of our advertisers with a description of what they do and the details of their businesses. Please visit these advertisers to pick up your free copy of Edible Santa Barbara and let them know how much you appreciate their support of Edible Santa Barbara.
BREWERIES AND DISTILLERIES
Firestone Walker Brewing Company
Out of the vineyards of California’s Central Coast, the Firestone Walker Brewing Company has grown to become an authentic regional craft brewery. We integrate traditional brewing discipline, a fascination with wooden barrels and a passion for the craft to create some of the most awarded Pale Ales in the world. firestonebeer.com
Telegraph Brewing Company
Handcrafting unique American ales that embrace the heritage of California’s early brewing pioneers and use as many locally grown ingredients as possible. Visit the tasting room Thursday 4–6pm, Friday 4–8pm, Saturday 2–6pm. Telegraph beer is available at many restaurants and grocery stores in Santa Barbara County and throughout California. telegraphbrewing.com
St-Germain Liqueur
St-Germain is the first liqueur in the world created in the artisanal French manner from freshly handpicked elderflower blossoms. To find out more, visit their website at stgermain.fr
CATERERS AND CHEFS
New West Catering
Uniting the artistry of fine restaurant cuisine with the versatility of full-service catering, New West Catering is your unparalleled choice for special events in the Santa Barbara County wine country and beyond. 805 688-0991; newwestcatering.com
COMMERCIAL KITCHEN SPACE
Goodland Kitchen
Goodland Kitchen, located in downtown Goleta, rents the use of its licensed and insured facility on an hourly basis to local food producers and re-packagers. It is also available as a teaching venue and for special event food processing. 805 845-4300; goodlandkitchen.com
FARMERS MARKETS
Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market
Eight markets, six days a week. See schedule on page 15. 805 962-5354; sbfarmersmarket.org
FARMS AND RANCHES
Rancho San Julian Beef
Rancho San Julian Beef produces high quality beef from cattle raised humanely and healthfully on an agriculturally sustainable ranch in Santa Barbara County. Available at the following farmers markets: Saturday in Santa Barbara 8:30am–12:30pm, Tuesday in Santa Barbara 3–6:30pm and Friday in Montecito 8–11:30am as well as on their website rsjbeef.com
Shepherd Farms
Organic since 1973, Shepherd Farms brings produce from the farm directly to your plate. Join the CSA program, or visit them at the farmers market or at the farm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday 1–5pm and Saturday 11am–3pm. 6701 Casitas Pass Rd., Carpinteria; shepherdfarmscsa.com
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Saturday October 1st 10am–6pm
Plaza Vera Cruz Park
130 E. Cota Street, Santa Barbara
(Across the street from the Saturday Farmers Market)
CELEBRATING Sustainable Organic
Local Food
Get connected to the growing Food Community! Enjoy Gardening and Cooking Demos, Hands On Workshops, the Indy Foodie Awards, the SOL Food Chef Competition, Kid’s Activities, Live Animals, Food Art, Music, Delicious SOL Food and Local Beer and Wine.
Growing a Brighter Food Future
&
FOOD PRODUCTS
Full of Life Flatbread All Natural Pizza
Each of their frozen line of artisan flatbread pizzas is handmade by their bakers in small batches. Almost all of their ingredients are sourced local from growers and artisans, which reduces food-miles, helps the environment and ensures high quality. Available at grocery and natural food stores throughout the country. fulloflifefoods.com
Joëlle Olive Oil
Joëlle Olive Oil offers a full line of fresh, cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil estate grown in California. Award winning in international competitions, all of their oils are unfiltered, extra virgin, and date-stamped for year of production. joelleoil.com
North Valley Farms Chévre
This small family farm utilizes sustainable farming methods and produces award winning handcrafted fresh and aged goat cheeses using only the milk produced by their pastured goat herd. Order online at northvalleyfarms.com
Simply Pies
Simply Pies specializes in delicious organic pies, potpies, quiches and cheesecakes that are handcrafted with fresh, local organic ingredients. Vegan, gluten free and sugar free options. Open Tuesday–Saturday 7am–5:30pm; Saturday 10am–5:30pm. 5392 Hollister Ave., Santa Barbara. 805 845-2200; Email: orders@simplypiessb.com; simplypiessb.com
GROCERY STORES & PRODUCE DELIVERY
Isla Vista Food Co-op
A community-owned food co-op open to the public and highly regarded for its sustainable business practices and high-quality foods. Highlighting tri-county local, organic, fair-trade, farmer-owned, vegan, vegetarian, kosher, raw, gluten-free and all-around sustainable ways of being. Open daily 8am–10pm. 6575 Seville Rd., Isla Vista. 805 968-1401; islavistafood.coop
Lassen’s Natural Foods & Vitamins
Lassen’s has been providing the finest natural foods and supplements for 40 years and now has 9 stores in California. In Goleta at 5154 Hollister and in Santa Maria at 1790 S. Broadway. Mon–Sat 9am–8pm; lassens.com
Lazy Acres
Santa Barbara’s best source for wholesome, natural and organic foods and products with real people dedicated to providing unmatched personal service. Monday–Saturday, 7am–11pm, Sunday 7am–10pm. 302 Meigs Rd., Santa Barbara, 805 564-4410; lazyacres.com
New Frontiers Natural Marketplace
New Frontiers Natural Marketplace is a full service natural foods grocery store and deli. Located in Solvang at 1984 Old Mission Dr. (corner of Alamo Pintado and Mission Dr.) Call 805 693-1746 for hours and additional information. They are also located in San Luis Obispo at 1531 Froom Ranch Way (on Los Osos Valley Rd. near Home Depot).
Plow to Porch Organics
Local organic/pesticide free/chemical free and all natural produce delivery service and organic market. The market carries a wide array of seasonal and local produce, meat and food products and is located at 3204 State St., Santa Barbara. Open Monday–Friday 10am–7pm. 805 895-7171; plowtoporch.com
Whole Foods Market
Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market, a leader in the natural and organic foods industry and America’s first national certified organic grocer, was named “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store” in 2008 by Health magazine. 3761 State St., Santa Barbara, 805 837-6959; wholefoodsmarket.com
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
American Riviera Bank
Offering a local and sustainable approach to banking. The founders of American Riviera Bank are a carefully selected group of successful, prominent, experienced and influential community and business leaders who understand the unique needs of the Santa Barbara community. Lobby hours Monday–Thursday 8am–5pm, Friday 8am–6pm. 1033 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara. 805 965-5942. americanrivierabank.com
Rabobank
Rabobank is a valued financial partner for thousands of individuals, businesses, farmers and ranchers, food and agribusiness companies and other select institutions in many California communities, meeting the financial needs of local families, businesses and organizations with great banking products and personalized service. rabobankamerica.com
Modern Organic Design
Modern Organic Design is a boutique architectural firm specializing in residential, small commercial and tenant improvement projects. Contact Travis B. Colburn, A.I.A., at 805 259-4067 for a free consultation or visit modernorganicdesign.net for more information.
RESTAURANTS
See our Edible Dining Guide on page 46.
SPECIALTY RETAILERS
The Book Den
The Book Den has a comprehensive selection of both used and new books as well as periodicals and is conveniently located downtown. Monday–Saturday 10am–6pm, Sunday noon–5pm. 15 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara; 805 962 3321; bookden.com
Chocolate Maya
Chocolate Maya scours the world for pure, luscious chocolates and offers incredible savory bars, truffles, bonbons and gift baskets as well as a wide choice of organic and fair trade chocolate products. Monday–Friday 11am–6pm, Saturday 10am–4pm. 15 W. Gutierrez St., Santa Barbara. 805 965-5956; chocolatemaya.com
C’est Cheese
C’est Cheese is your local source for the finest cheeses and artisanal foods. In addition to cheese, they offer a host of gourmet foods such as salamis, fine cured hams, olive oils and vinegars, wines, handmade chocolates, catering services, gift baskets and picnic coolers. Monday–Friday 10am–6pm. Saturday 8am–6pm. Closed Sundays. 825 Santa Barbara St., Santa Barbara. 805 965-0318; cestcheese.com
Global Gardens
Global Gardens uses only the freshest of organic or natural, pesticide-free ingredients to make their exclusive line of extra virgin olive oils, fruit vinegars, appetizer spreads, glazes, savory snacks and confections. Open daily 11am–5pm. 2477 Alamo Pintado Ave., Los Olivos. 805 693-1600; oliverevolution.com
Grapeseed Company
The Grapeseed Company creates eco-friendly spa and skincare handcrafted from a byproduct of wine plus antioxidant rich local and organic botanicals. Tuesday-Saturday 10:30am–5:30pm; Sunday noon–5pm. 201 West Carrillo St., Santa Barbara 805 456-3655; thegrapeseedcompany.com
Here’s the Scoop
Here’s the Scoop offers the finest gelato and sorbet made fresh daily from local farms and farmers market fruit. They specialize in seasonal flavors as well as traditional Italian flavors. 1187 Coast Village Rd., Montecito. 805 969-7020; heresthescoop@cox.net
WINERIES AND WINE RETAILERS
Alma Rosa
With certified organic vineyards in the Sta. Rita Hills, Alma Rosa focuses on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, as well as Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir-Vin Gris. All wines are food friendly with the high acid and extraordinary balance for which Richard Sanford’s wines have been known since 1976. Open 11am–4:30pm daily. 7250 Santa Rosa Rd., Buellton. 805 688-9090; almarosawinery.com
Avant Tapas and Wine
Avant Tapas and Wine is the tasting room for over 30 vintners producing their wine at the Terravant Wine Company’s state-of-the-art production facility, in Santa Barbara County. Open for tasting Monday, Thursday and Sunday 11am–8pm, Friday–Saturday 11am–10pm. 35 Industrial Way, Buellton. 805 686-9400; avantwines.com
BiN 2860 International Wine Shop
With both local and international wines available, BiN 2860 at Fess Parker Wine Country Inn & Spa has one of the best wine selections in the Santa Ynez Valley. 2860 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. 800 446-2455, 805 688-7788; bin2860.com
Buttonwood Farm Winery
In 1968 Betty Williams came to Buttonwood, creating a life that found expression through a connection with the land. The vineyard now has 33,000 vines with a mix of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Marsanne, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Syrah. Visit the tasting room at 1500 Alamo Pintado Rd., Solvang. Open 11am–5pm daily. 805 688-3032; buttonwoodwinery.com
Cambria Estate Winery
Located on the Santa Maria Bench, Cambria Winery specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Visit the tasting room daily 10am–5pm. 5475 Chardonnay Lane, Santa Maria; 805 938-7318; cambriawines.com
Foxen Winery & Vineyard
Bill Wathen and Dick Doré have been making wine together since 1985, when they founded Foxen Winery & Vineyard at the historic Rancho Tinaquaic in northern Santa Barbara County. Visit the two tasting rooms at 7200 and 7600 Foxen Canyon Rd., Santa Maria. Open daily 11am–4pm. 805 937-4251; foxenvineyard.com
Kenneth Volk Vineyards
Proprietor Ken Volk has been making Santa Barbara and Central Coast wines for more than a quarter century. He is known for crafting world-class wines, particularly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Their tasting room is open daily 10:30am–4:30pm. 5230 Tepusquet Rd., Santa Maria. 805 938-7896; volkwines.com
Longoria Wines
Longoria Wines is a small family owned winery producing acclaimed artisanal wines from some of the finest vineyards in Santa Barbara County. Visit their tasting room in Los Olivos at 2935 Grand Ave., daily 11am–4:30pm or in the Lompoc Wine Ghetto at 1700 Industrial Way, unit A, Saturday and Sunday 11am–4:30pm. longoriawine.com
Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Cafe
The Wine Merchant specializes in premium California wines with a focus on highlighting the Central Coast. They feature Bernat Wines which are estate grown and made by owner Sam Marmorstein. In addition they carry a line of signature gourmet products. Open daily 11:30am–8:30pm. 2879 Grand Ave., Los Olivos. 805 688-7265; losolivoscafe.com
Oreana Winery & Marketplace
Oreana Winery & Marketplace is a tasting room, wine shop, gourmet gift market and fully-functional winery housed in a historic tire shop. From their small batches of Pinot Noir to their sizable red table wine, Oreana has a wine for everyone. Open daily 11am–5pm. 205 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara. 805 962-5857; oreanawinery.com
Valley Vino Wine Bar & Merchant
Newly opened in Solvang, this wine bar features outstanding wines by local winemakers and beer on tap. 1557 Mission Dr., Solvang; valleyvinowinebar.com
Qupé
Qupé is dedicated to producing handcrafted Rhône varietals and Chardonnay from California’s Central Coast. They employ traditional winemaking techniques to make wines that are true to type and speak of their vineyard sources. Their tasting room is open daily 11am–5pm. 2963 Grand Ave., Suite B, Los Olivos. 805 686-4200; qupe.com
Riverbench Vineyard & Winery
Since 1973 Riverbench has produced some of Santa Barbara County’s finest Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. With their initial harvest in 2006, they have now begun producing their own wines with winemaker Chuck Ortman. Tasting room is open 10am–4pm daily. 6020 Foxen Canyon Rd., Santa Maria. 805 937-8340; riverbench.com
Roblar Winery and Vineyards
The spirit of easygoing hospitality is central to Roblar’s philosophy. Come by for a taste of their current releases, browse the gift shop and deli, or stay for lunch. Open for tasting Saturday–Sunday 10am–5pm, Monday–Friday 11am–4pm. 3010 Roblar Ave., Santa Ynez. 805 686-2603; roblarwinery.com
Tessa Marie Wines
Sangiovese is the cornerstone of winemaker Tessa Marie’s efforts, but she has recently expanded her portfolio to include several new varieties in her all Italian lineup. The tasting room is open Thursday–Monday 11:30am–5pm and is located at 2901 Grand Ave. Suite C, Los Olivos. 805 688-6081; www.tessamariewines.com
Wandering Dog
Wandering Dog Wine Bar offers the most interesting and delicious wines from artisan producers along the Central Coast, as well as from around the world. Sample one of their tasting flights or create your own from the nearly 50 wines available by the glass every day. Monday–Thursday 1pm–8ish, Friday–Saturday 11am–10ish; Sunday 11am–8ish. 1539 C Mission Dr., Solvang. 805 686-9126; wanderingdogwinebar.com
The Winehound
The award-winning Winehound features the world’s best wines—from the everyday to a luxury cuvée—all top dogs, no mutts. Open 11am–7pm Monday through Saturday, noon–6pm Sunday. 1221 Chapala St., Santa Barbara. 805 845-5247; thewinehound.com
Zaca Mesa Winery & Vineyards
Zaca Mesa is a Santa Ynez Valley estate winery dedicated to Rhone varieties. Since 1972, they have handcrafted wines from grapes grown in their vineyards to express their distinct character and genuine quality. Open daily 10am–4pm. 6905 Foxen Canyon Rd., Los Olivos. 805 688-9339 ext. 308; zacamesa.com
THE LAST BITE
WWOOF
World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms
hat started in England in 1971 as a way to link volunteers with organic farms has grown and spread worldwide. You’ll now hear references to “wwoofing” and “wwoofers” when people talk about a way to travel and learn about organic farming.
Here’s how it works: Wwoofers generally exchange half a day’s labor for meals, accommodations and education. The length of a farm stay is determined by the volunteer and the host— varying from a few days to a whole season. The program is open to anyone 18 years or older, regardless of experience. Host farms must be organic, though not necessarily USDA certified. Any farm, community or garden project that is willing
to host and accommodate volunteers can participate in the program. There are currently over 1,400 farms participating in WWOOF-USA and over 200 of them are in California.
At Shepherd Farms, wwoofers are an important part of the operation, providing help on a variety of projects and fulfilling owner Tom Shepherd’s mission of helping and educating people about organic farming.
To learn more about becoming a wwoofer or becoming a host farm, visit wwoofusa.org and for more information about organizations in other countries, visit wwoof.org. For more information about Shepherd Farms, visit shepherdfarmscsa.com.
64 | EDIBLE SANTA BARBARA FALL 2011
Pictured above are the current crop of wwoofers at Shepherd Farms, from left: Josh Constantine, James Guida, Becca McCurdy, Sam Donnell and Richard Rappaport.
