Edible Santa Barbara Winter 2009 by Edible Santa Barbara

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SANTA BARBARA

Celebrating the Food Culture of Santa Barbara County

Our commitment to supporting

For more than 25 years, we’ve sought out the best selection of local products from the communities where we do business. We work closely with local farmers and producers because buying locally helps to preserve our connection to food, reduce fossil fuel consumption, and support the local economy. We’re thrilled to be supporting the local farmers and growers here in your own backyard.

santa barbara local

Our guidelines for using the term SANTA BARBARA LOCAL mean the product is GROWN OR PRODUCED IN SANTA BARBARA COUNTY. We offer the highest quality products from your own backyard.

tri-county local

Our guidelines for using the term TRI-COUNTY LOCAL mean the product is GROWN OR PRODUCED IN THE TRICOUNTY AREA: Santa Barbara County, Ventura County and San Luis Obispo County.

california local

Our guidelines for using the term LOCAL mean the product has traveled less than SEVEN HOURS FROM THE FARM TO OUR STORES. Supporting LOCAL is always in season!

Our Quality Standards

We carefully evaluate each and every product we sell. We feature foods free from artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats. We are passionate about great tasting foods and the pleasure of sharing it with others. We are committed to foods that are fresh, wholesome and safe to eat. We seek out and promote organically grown foods. We provide food and nutritional products that support health and well-being.

edible SANTA BARBARA winter

THOUGHT

Last October I had the pleasure of eating local food for the Eat Local Challenge that we sponsored in conjunction with the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market and the monthlong food festival epicure.sb. And it really was more of a pleasure than a challenge as I chomped my way through fantastic local foods that are grown, harvested or produced within this county. Awareness-building was what I was after and, although I have no statistics on how many people participated, I felt like there was a good deal of buzz about the subject. More and more people are questioning where their food comes from, whether out of environmental concerns, health concerns or even from an economic standpoint. After all, the more we support locally produced foods and local businesses, the better off our local economy will be. That said, it’s also about quality and flavor. And that seems to be where Santa Barbara county really excels.

During the challenge, I never felt deprived—though I did have to give up some things or make compromises. I gave up my favorite Greek yogurt and never quite managed to make my own yogurt, but I’m still working on it. I chose locally roasted coffee, since it’s not grown here… yet. And I found tea imported by local Ojai company Zhena’s Gypsy Tea that is not only fair trade but is grown beyond organically in a biodynamic manner. It was finding new products that made the challenge interesting to me, and I plan to continue my new habits.

For more about “Eating (and Cheating) Local,” read Janice Cook Knight’s article in this issue. On the subject of fair trade, chocolate is an interesting ingredient to research, as we find out in Nancy Oster’s feature story on chocolate. We also find out how easy and satisfying it is to make homemade pasta from Carol Penn-Romine. A report from Samuel Fromartz on the Alaskan salmon fishery will make you feel good about eating this readily available and delicious salmon. Pascale Beale-Groom explores comforting stews from around the world. This issue celebrates the comforts of winter. Whether it’s popping some bubbly for the winter holidays and Valentine’s Day or planting bare root fruit trees, there is a certain vibe that you can only get when there is a slight chill to the air. Enjoy Winter!

Krista Harris, Editor

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SANTA BARBARA

RECIPE EDITOR

Nancy Oster

COPY EDITOR

Doug Adrianson

DESIGNER

Steven Brown

WEB DESIGN

Mary Ogle

Contributors

Becky Green Aaronson

Jeff Aaronson

Pascale Beale-Groom

Joan S. Bolton

Maria Diaz

Samuel Fromartz

Janice Cook Knight

Laura Lindsey

Diane Murphy

Nancy Oster

Carol Penn-Romine

Andy Romine

Maya Schoop-Rutten

Cover Photograph

Carole Topalian

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Working Side by Side for 34 Vintages, Thekla and Richard Sanford Have Produced Celebrated Wines From the Santa Rita Hills.

Their Newest Venture, Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards, Constitutes the Culmination of a Lifetime’s Experience Crafting Food Friendly Wines.

Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards is Committed to Organic Farming, Sustainable Agricultural Methods, And Environmentally Friendly Commerce.

All of our estate vineyards are certified organic by CCOF. Nature & Agriculture in Sustainable Harmony

7250 Santa Rosa Rd. Buellton, CA 805 688-9090

Tasting Room Open Daily 11:00am – 4:30pm www.almarosawinery.com

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edible Notables

New Location for East Beach Wine Company

The location has changed, but the name remains the same. The new downtown digs of East Beach Wine Company are quite impressive. Located in the very charming La Arcada Court, they are in the corner spot by the fountain. They have the same great selection of wines, and they even have wine locker capability in a temperature-controlled basement. The mezzanine level is perfect to enjoy some wine by the glass or during one of their popular Friday wine tastings. The new location offers a lot more parking in the structures nearby, and they are happy to transport wine case purchases to your car with a hand truck.

Hours are Monday through Saturday 11am–7pm; 1114 State St. #24; 805 899-1535; eastbeachwine.com

casual foods along with wine and cocktails in the courtyard, patio or by the fireplace in the bar. The wine store and tasting room will offer Margerum wines, Cimarone wines and a number of other handcrafted, high-quality wines. They also have a private dining room for corporate or private events.

Hours are: Restaurant: Sunday through Thursday 5:30–9:30pm; Friday and Saturday 5–10pm; Wine Cask Bar/Café: open daily 11am–11pm; 813 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara; 805 966-9436; winecask.com

Bin 2860 International Wine Shop Opens in Los Olivos

The brand new Bin 2860 is located at Fess Parker Wine Country Inn & Spa. It has a wide selection of international and local wines and offers a tasting counter and wine classes.

Hours are Monday through Thursday 11am–7pm; Friday and Saturday 11am–8 pm; Sunday 11am–7pm; 2860 Grand Ave., Los Olivos; 805 688-7788; bin2860.com

Avant Tapas and Wine Opens in Buellton

Located at the Terravant Wine Company’s production facility in Buellton, the newly opened Avant Tapas and Wine is a stylish combination of tasting room and tapas restaurant. Over 30 vintners produce their wine at Terravant, so the tasting bar offers selections from these vintners or you can do your own self-guided tasting using their cutting-edge dispensers. Tastes range from 75 cents to $3 each and you can choose from a taste, a half or a full glass of wine. And to pair with your wine, they offer a wide range of cold and hot tapas as well as gourmet pizzas and desserts. They also offer special wine paired tasting menus.

35 Industrial Way, Buellton; 805 686-9400; avantwines.com

New Ownership for The Liquor & Wine Grotto in Montecito

Brian Brunello, a Montecito native and former private winemaker, and Jason Herrick, Santa Barbara native and experienced liquor retailer, have teamed up to usher in a new era in the three-decadeold history of The Liquor & Wine Grotto. The new owners will expand their selection of exceptional wines with an emphasis on local wineries. In addition to in-store personal service, they plan to enhance their offerings by doing tastings and deliveries and by providing beverage services for weddings and special events.

Hours are Monday through Thursday 10am–9pm; Friday and Saturday 10am–10pm; Sunday 10am–8pm; 1271 Coast Village Rd., Montecito; 805 969-5939; montecitovino.com

vertical TASTING

An anonymous source once said that “there are four basic food groups: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate and chocolate truffles.” In the spirit of that quote we tasted four handmade gourmet chocolate truffles from Jessica Foster Confections that cover all four food groups.

White Chocolate Lavender

Interior: White chocolate infused with fresh lavender flowers

Exterior: Dark chocolate coating rolled in lavender scented sugar

Source: Local lavender from the farmers market

Delicate and exquisite, a box of these along with a potted lavender plant would be the perfect gift for a gardener.

Milk Chocolate Honey-Almond

Interior: Milk chocolate flavored with honey

Exterior: Dark chocolate coating rolled in toasted almonds

Source: Wildflower honey from San Marcos Farms

Rich, creamy and dreamy, this chocolate has universal appeal with its smooth combination of flavors.

Dark Chocolate Orange

Interior: Dark chocolate flavored with orange zest and orange blossom oil

Exterior: Dark chocolate coating rolled in orange scented sugar

Source: Oranges from Earthtrine Farms and the farmers market

Sweet and tart, with hints of bitterness, the nuances of orange and dark chocolate can’t help but appeal to the sophisticated chocolate lover.

Dark Chocolate Coffee

Interior: Dark chocolate infused with Kenyan coffee beans

Exterior: Dark chocolate coating rolled in cocoa

Source: Locally roasted coffee from Green Star Coffee

Complex and earthy, there is something about coffee and chocolate that are a perfect pair, and these make a delectable ending to any meal and an excellent hostess gift.

Jessica Foster chocolates can be found at Lazy Acres, Chocolate Maya and are also available on her website at jessicafosterconfections.com.

Season in

Almonds (harvested Aug/Sept)

Apples (harvested July–Oct)

Artichokes

Arugula

Avocados

Bay leaf

Beans, dried

Beets

Bok choy

Broccoli

Brussels sprouts

Cabbage

Carrots

Cauliflower

Celery

Chard

Cherimoya

Chiles (various)

Cilantro

Collards

Dandelion

Dates (harvested Sept/Oct)

Dill

Fennel

Garlic (harvested May/June)

Grapefruit

Honey

Kale

Kiwi

Leeks

Lemons

Lettuce

Limes

Mustard greens

Onions, green bunching

Onions, bulb (harvested May/June)

Oranges, blood, navel, Valencia

Parsley

Peas, snap

Pistachios (harvested Sept/Oct)

Potatoes (harvested May/June)

Radishes

Raisins (harvested Sept/Oct)

Rosemary

Sage

Spinach

Sprouts and legumes

Squash, winter (hard) (harvested July/Oct)

Strawberries

Sweet potatoes (harvested Aug/Sept)

Tangerines/Mandarins

Tomatoes, hothouse

Turnips

Walnuts (harvested Sept/Oct)

Yams (harvested Aug/Sept)

Also available year-round

Fresh Flowers

Potted Plants/Herbs

Local Cheese

(full selection of certified organic goatand cow-milk cheeses, butters, curds, yogurts and spreads)

Local Meat

(antibiotic-free chicken, duck, Cornish game hens, grass-fed/hormone-free beef and pork)

Local Seafood

(Santa Barbara Channel seafood seasonal harvest includes mussels, oysters, squid, urchin, sardine, anchovy, crab, lobster, halibut and rockfish)

Locally Produced Breads, Pies and Preserves

(bread produced from wheat grown in Santa Ynez; pies and preserves)

Recipes seasonal

Citrus Fruits

Orange and Date Salad

Makes 4 servings

This can be served either as a salad or as a dessert.

4 large oranges, blood, navel or Valencia

6 honey dates (or other soft variety of date)

2 ounces soft goat cheese

1 teaspoon apple bouquet vinegar or other type of fruit vinegar

1 teaspoon local wildflower honey

2 tablespoons walnut oil

Salt

Freshly ground nutmeg or pepper

Cut the ends off the oranges and then slice the peel off so that no white pith is remaining. Slice the oranges crosswise into rounds and arrange on a platter. Remove the pits from the dates, cut into quarters and scatter them over the orange slices. Crumble the goat cheese on top.

Mix together the vinegar and honey and whisk in the walnut oil; add a little salt to taste. Drizzle over the salad and add freshly ground nutmeg or pepper to taste.

Dried Beans

White Beans with Spinach and Shrimp

Makes 4 servings

You really have to use fresh local shrimp for this dish. They are available from the Gorgita family at the Tuesday and Saturday Santa Barbara farmers markets and at the Santa Barbara Fish Market. If shrimp are not available or if you would like to make the dish vegetarian or vegan, you can leave them out.

3⁄ 4 cup dried white beans, soaked overnight

1 onion, halved

4–5 sage leaves or a couple sprigs of rosemary

3 cloves garlic, peeled

12–14 ounces (or 1 bag) of spinach

(remove stems if they are large and slice the spinach)

Salt and pepper, to taste

Olive oil, to taste

1 1⁄ 2 –2 pounds fresh whole Santa Barbara shrimp

Drain the beans and place in a large heavy pot. Add fresh cold water to cover. Add the onion halves and whole garlic clove along with the sage leaves or rosemary. Bring to a boil and then simmer over low heat for 1 hour, or until soft.

Drain and remove the onion and garlic, if desired. Add some olive oil to the pot you cooked the beans in and add the spinach and a liberal sprinkling of salt. Cook over medium heat just until spinach is wilted. Add the beans back to the pot and add more olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Meanwhile in a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the shrimp for just 3 minutes. Drain, remove heads and shells. This can be done several hours or a day ahead of time. Refrigerate the shrimp until needed. Just before serving reheat them by sautéing them briefly in a skillet with some olive oil.

Spoon the beans onto plates or wide shallow bowls and divide the shrimp evenly amongst the dishes and place on top. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and some additional coarse salt and freshly ground pepper.

Cauliflower

Cauliflower and Walnut Pasta

Makes 4 servings

Without the pasta, this makes a good vegetable side dish and without the prosciutto, it makes a delicious vegetarian or vegan dish. However you make it, do seek out the chipotle cocoa walnuts from Rancho La Vina, they add an extremely flavorful note to this dish. If you can’t find them, use toasted walnuts and add some red pepper flakes and some cocoa nibs or a sprinkling of cocoa powder.

3⁄ 4 cup penne pasta (or other pasta shape)

1 head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces

Olive oil or walnut oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1⁄ 2 cup walnuts, preferably chipotle cocoa walnuts, coarsely chopped

1⁄ 4 cup Italian parsley, chopped

1–2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto or 1⁄ 4 cup pitted and chopped green olives

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Walnut oil, for garnish

In a large pot of boiling water, cook the pasta according to package directions or until al dente. Drain and reserve a cup of the cooking water.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium-high heat, sauté the cauliflower in some olive or walnut oil. If you use walnut oil, keep the heat on medium. After a couple minutes, add a little salt, turn down the heat and cover. Cook an additional 7–10 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender and a little browned. If the pan gets too dry, add a little pasta water. When the pasta and the cauliflower are done, add the drained pasta to the pan of cauliflower, along with the garlic, walnuts, parsley and prosciutto (or olives). Toss to combine and add just enough of the reserved pasta cooking water to moisten it and give it a sauce consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with a little walnut oil drizzled on top.

Walnuts

Santa Barbara County is fortunate to have an exceptional walnut oil producer—La Nogalera Walnut Oil. Using walnuts from three area ranches—Hibbits Ranch, Rancho La Vina and Edalatpour Ranch—the oil is made in a traditional French manner, roasting the nut to enhance the flavor before pressing.

You can find La Nogalera Walnut Oil at many area gourmet markets as well as at several of the weekly farmers markets. In addition to the oil, at the farmers markets Rancho La Vina sells fresh walnuts—raw, toasted, smoked, spiced or seasoned with a chipotle-cocoa blend.

Walnuts are harvested in the fall and the walnuts and walnut oil are available year-round, but they particularly enhance some of the winter recipes that we’ve featured in this issue. In general you can use walnut oil the same way you would use extra-virgin olive oil. It is delicious on salads and drizzled over a variety of dishes as a finishing oil. You can also bake and cook with it; just keep the temperature under 400° or on a medium to low flame on the stovetop.

Above: Christopher Schubert from Rancho La Vina.

eat local challenge EATING (AND CHEATING) LOCALLY

by Janice Cook Knight

October 2009 was the month to take the “Eat Local Challenge,” sponsored by the Santa Barbara Farmers Market and Edible Santa Barbara, in conjunction with epicure.sb. I had done this before, two years ago. What would it be like to take the challenge again?

During my first local eating experiment I had just finished reading two inspiring books: Plenty by Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. These authors had decided to source most of their food within a 100-mile radius, and they kept it up for a full year. If they could do it, in far more challenging climates (British Columbia and Virginia), I figured I could survive a month in Santa Barbara. I would try to eat most of my foods within a 100-mile radius as well (although I made a few notable exceptions—more on that later).

That first time, especially at the beginning, I found the challenge just that: challenging. I would reach for my bottle of olive oil on the counter and realize it was from Italy, not California. Sliced turkey from Trader Joe’s, which we normally stock in our refrigerator and had become a staple of our teen children, turned out to be a Midwestern product even though the company that produced it was in San Francisco (I called the company to find out). Parmesan cheese was put on hold for the month, as were goat cheeses from France, frozen shrimp from Thailand and (gasp) most prepared and packaged products, including ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard and pickle relish.

I began to shop from our farmers markets even more earnestly than usual, bringing home meats, dairy products, Santa Ynez bread and fresh pasta made from locally grown wheat, nuts, dried fruits, walnut and olive oils and seafood, besides the usual fruits and veggies. It changed the way I shop for the better. By the second week, I was in the swing of things. I made jam from fresh strawberries and sweetened it with honey. I started saving bones from the local chickens we ate and cooked that up into chicken stock I could keep in my freezer to make soup.

I also decided that anything at our farmers market was fair game, even if the producer came from several hundred miles away, and several do. In those cases they are bringing in foods our farmers don’t produce locally—such as cheeses and butter, certain nuts, dates, etc. And I made exceptions for tea, coffee, spices, salt and (of course) chocolate.

In many ways, this second time around was easy. I already keep local foods in my pantry and freezer most of the time. I had made tomato sauce and pesto in August and frozen it for the months ahead. I know where to get a few local packaged foods, like Lundberg Farm’s rice, rice pasta and crackers, all grown in California. I had already done most of the research. And, we are lucky to have such great local wines.

In other ways, I was more lax. That’s where the “cheating” starts to come in. Since I already eat so many local foods (and we grow quite a lot at home too—fruits and herbs year-round, plus summer crops like tomatoes and squash) I felt justified in the occasional cheat. I’d sneak some rye crackers because I was tired of rice (they are made in Sweden—yikes) and they were already in my pantry.

I didn’t worry about things like ketchup and mayo this time, because they make up such a small part of our diet.

Attempting to eat locally sure raises your awareness about food: Where it comes from, how much it costs to produce and what’s in season at any given moment are all good topics for consideration and discussion.

I still find the quality of local food startlingly good, even after all these years of farmers markets. The freshly dried beans available from farmer Tom Shepherd (garbanzos, limas, pinquitos and small white beans) were amazingly good, their texture far better than the canned variety so often used for convenience. Because they were grown in this season, they are more tender and flavorful than most other dried beans.

Is eating locally cost-effective? In one way I saved money, because I wasn’t buying many packaged products. No boxes of cereal, frozen pizzas or waffles, canned anything, potato chips, candy (except a dark chocolate bar or two), drinks. Products at the farmers market don’t necessarily cost less, however, than produce sold at your supermarket. Small farmers do not have access to the government subsidies available to the large industrial and factory farms, so their products might actually cost you more. Still, most fruits and vegetables are quite reasonable, and their fresh taste and quality are unsurpassed. But the meats at farmers markets will set you back. Beef and lamb and even chickens can cost two to three times more per pound than supermarket meats, though the cost is similar to organic meat prices from a natural food store.

Which brings me to my biggest cheat. I stopped by Whole Foods, late on a Sunday afternoon. My husband and I had just returned from out of town. It was raining. We had a hankering for Irish stew, a simple comforting dish made with lamb shoulder chops. Perhaps, I thought, Whole Foods will have some local lamb?

But it was not to be. Their lamb was from New Zealand, far outside my local comfort zone. Interestingly, it was only $5.99 per pound. Much of the lamb in the United States comes from New Zealand and Australia, though Whitefoot Meats on Milpas carries Colorado lamb. While I would have preferred to buy at least domestic lamb, if not local, I knew the other store would be closed. If I had only planned ahead, I could have kept some local lamb chops in my freezer. Of course, I could have bought something else that evening—they probably had a California-grown chicken; or we could have made something vegetarian—but we didn’t! We bought the New Zealand lamb, cooked it up with local vegetables, and enjoyed it, though I chewed rather more thoughtfully than usual.

Clearly, the local challenge requires planning. You can’t always stop off for lunch somewhere and know that your meal is going to be made from local foods, though some (mostly high-end) restaurants do offer that in Santa Barbara. You need to make it to the farmers markets on the days they are open and ask questions at the grocery stores. I shop at Mesa Produce, which stocks mostly local items. Lazy Acres, Whole Foods, Gelson’s, Isla Vista Food Co-Op and Tri-County Produce have lots of local produce. Trader Joe’s and Alta-Dena Dairy in Southern California have some fairly local products. The Santa Barbara Fish Market at the harbor always has local fish. All of these businesses are happy to tell you about their foods and where they come from.

I like having farms nearby, and I love knowing the people who grow my food. Local food is fresh, which is a big part of why it tastes so good.

8 Markets, 6 Days a Week

Sundays

Camino Real Marketplace In Goleta at Storke & Hollister 10:00am – 2:00pm

Tuesdays

Old Town Santa Barbara

500 & 600 Blocks of State Street 3:00pm – 6:30pm

Wednesdays

Solvang Village

Copenhagen Drive & 1st Street

3:00pm – 6:30pm

Harding Elementary School 1625 Robbins Street 3:00pm – 6:30pm

Thursdays Goleta

Calle Real Center – 5700 Calle Real 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

Janice Cook Knight is the author of Follow Your Heart’s Vegetarian Soup Cookbook and The Follow Your Heart Cookbook: Recipes from the Vegetarian Restaurant. She has taught cooking for over 25 years, and currently teaches a cookbook writing workshop. She lives in Santa Barbara with her family.

Winter edible books

Reading and Gifts

Cookbooks make wonderful gifts for yourself and others. We found five books from authors with local connections, plus a CD that you can listen to while reading all winter long.

A Menu for All Seasons: Autumn

(Olive Tree)

By Pascale Beale-Groom

Foreword by Clifford A. Wright

72 pages, hardback: $29.95

Number of recipes: 39; 8 menus

Autumn, the third book in Pascale Beale-Groom’s Menu for All Seasons series, offers harvest recipes guaranteed to warm your hearth and heart as the days cool down and you prepare for holiday feasts. Recipes like Lavender and Honey Roasted Cornish Game Hens, Pomegranate Salad or Golden Phyllo Apple and Pear Pie are explained in simple clear steps and shown in luscious photographic detail. Pascale provides a cooking schedule for each of her eight menus as well as reflections on the origins of her recipes and featured ingredients. This is the kind of cookbook you buy as a gift for a friend and also end up adding to your own bookshelf.

50 Great Pasta Sauces

(Andrews McMeel)

By Pamela Sheldon Johns

112 pages, hardback: $14.95

Number of recipes: 55

Cookbook writer Pamela Sheldon

Johns is a former Santa Barbara resident and cooking teacher. Pamela now lives in Tuscany where she teaches Italian cooking, produces olive oil and runs a bed and breakfast. Who better to turn to for a variety of sauce ideas for quick meals using fresh or dried pasta? How about an Orange-Caper Sauce or a Garlic Shrimp and Wine Sauce? Sheldon’s vegetable, dairy, meat and seafood sauces cover everything from Classic Tomato Sauce to a more exotic White Truffle Butter Sauce.

Be sure to read the introduction, About Italian Sauces, for some useful tips on how to adapt these sauces to use the pasta and fresh ingredients you have on hand. Simple recipes for pasta dough and homemade stocks are included in the appendix. This tiny cookbook and a package of pasta would make a lovely holiday hostess gift.

Love Soup

(W. W. Norton & Co.)

By Anna Thomas

528 pages, softback: $22.95

Number of recipes: 160

Well-known as author of The Vegetarian Epicure (1972), Ojai resident Anna Thomas favors “simple, vibrant foods made from fresh local ingredients.” Soup is the quick satisfying answer to what to do with a shopping basket full of winter vegetables from the local farmers market or your CSA share.

Anna’s new cookbook, Love Soup, begins with fall and winter soups such as Chard and Yam Soup or Persimmon Soup with Tamari-Toasted Walnuts. All recipes are vegetarian and many are vegan. Spring and summer soups include options like Fresh Fava Bean and Sweet Pea Soup or Smoky Eggplant Soup with Mint and Pine Nuts. The final section includes recipes for breads, condiments and spreads, salads and desserts.

Avid cookbook readers will appreciate Anna’s personal stories, cooking and shopping tips, menu suggestions and really creative flavor combinations. Combine this cookbook with a couple of farmers market cash tokens for a thoughtful gift that helps support local farmers (and a local cookbook writer).

Organic Gangster

Spencer the Gardener

Released October 2009

Available from iTunes and CD Baby: $12.97 CD, $9.99 download; 12 Songs

From the catchy mantra “don’t eat genetically modified food” of the first song to the lyrical and mesmerizing “Worm Girl” and capping off with the whimsical “The Gobble Song,” this CD takes us beyond a typical kids’ album. It’s the sustainable food movement brought to life with enough humor, rhythm and meaning that both kids and parents will enjoy listening to it and humming the tunes later. Music is a powerful force, and what Spencer the Gardener has actually done with this album is give us a way to inspire our next generation—the generation that matters most in finding the solutions to our environmental crisis.

Cooking from the Hip

(Houghton Mifflin)

Cat Cora with Ann Krueger Spivack

256 pages, hardback: $30 Number of recipes: 94 menus

Cooking from the hip means “using what’s on hand and not being afraid to substitute ingredients.” The next time you think about ordering a pizza, Cat Cora wants you to pick up this book first. You just might find what you need for a quick dinner using what you already have in your kitchen.

Cooking from the Hip is divided into five sections. Fast recipes can be on the table in 30 minutes, Easy recipes incorporate items like day-old baguettes, frozen miniature phyllo shells or canned coconut milk—recipes that can be made in parts to fit into a busy day. Fun recipes are designed for group cooking with family and friends. Phenomenal recipes provide simple ways to make elegant menu items with first-class ingredients. Good to Know contains basic stock recipes and condiments to have in your refrigerator or freezer for last-minute meals. Trust me, the pizza deliveryman doesn’t want you to buy this book.

Pizza & Wine

(Gibbs Smith)

By Leonardo Curti and James O. Fraioli

176 pages, softback: $19.99

Number of recipes: 57 menus

Chef Leonardo Curti of Trattoria Grappolo in Santa Ynez shares a collection of his pizza recipes paired with California wines. Not your average pizzas, his recipes include Roasted Potato with White Truffle Oil pizza; Alaskan King Crab with Corn and Chives pizza; and Basil, Parmesan, and Prosciutto Calzone.

All pizza variations use the same easy-to-make dough with instructions for baking in a wood-fired oven or in a conventional oven. Stunning images of pizzas baked in wood-burning ovens, fresh ingredients and Italian hospitality inspire the reader and elevate the art of pizza making. Paired wines include many local wines such as Alexander & Wayne Pinot Grigio, made with grapes from the Los Alamos Valley—a light, fruity wine that pairs well with the Zucchini Bloom with Parmesan and Ricotta pizza. In the final chapter, Chef Curti shares his favorite dessert recipes such as Zuccotto, a rum and cognac hazelnut cake filled with chocolate and whipped cream. Pair this cookbook with a couple of local wines for an upscale holiday gift.

HOW TO READ A RECIPE

by Nancy Oster

Iused to be intimidated by recipes that included items I didn’t recognize or recipes that required a lot of steps. But eventually I learned to see recipes in a different way. A recipe is a collection of ingredients and flavors put together in a specific way so that the item I am making will look and taste exactly like the item made by the person who wrote the recipe … we hope.

Now when I read a recipe, I look at the essence of the recipe:

• Types of ingredients

• Texture of the finished product

• Flavor combinations

For example, I think “this is a meat dish with a flavorful sauce served over a cooked starch” or “this is a tea bread made with a mashed/grated fruit or vegetable and nuts.”

A recipe is a guideline, not a set of constraints. If the recipe calls for sweet potatoes but I have a winter squash in the pantry, I wouldn’t hesitate to use the squash. If I am out of buttermilk, I use yogurt or milk with a little vinegar. If the recipe uses walnuts but I think I’d like pecans better, I use pecans. If I have fresh, seasonal apples or pears, I might use them in a recipe that calls for nectarines or plums. If my guests don’t like goat’s milk cheese, I will substitute whole milk feta or cream cheese. I feel comfortable adjusting a recipe to my own tastes and incorporating seasonal ingredients when I have them available fresh from the garden or market.

When I make substitutions, I look at the critical proportions needed to retain the texture of the original dish. In the meat dish it would be total amount of sauce to meat and the amount

of liquid to whatever thickens the sauce. For the tea bread, I would look at the sugar, butter/oil, flour, liquid and rising agent ratios to ensure that I maintained the desired texture. I would avoid replacing an acidic ingredient with a non-acidic ingredient without adjusting the baking soda. I might add a bit more sugar if I replaced a grated apple with a grated zucchini … or not, if the batter was already very sweet. I’d pay attention to the juiciness of the fruit or vegetable replacement to avoid large changes in the liquid-to-dry ingredient proportions. Small differences are fine (a batter should remain a batter, not become a dough).

I especially love to play with flavor combinations. Often I’ll steal an interesting flavor combination from one recipe to use in another. For example, strawberries go well with asparagus and cardamom is lovely with carrots. Herbs and spices can be added or removed from most recipes without changing the texture. So if you feel creative, go for it. Try a little added spice or flavoring in a small spoonful if you are hesitant to put it right into the whole batch.

As for the steps, a long complicated step is usually a simple step with a series of tips on how to perform it. I look for the simple step and highlight that. I like to gather together the measured ingredients and tools needed for each step before I begin to assemble the recipe (called mise en place in culinary school). That makes it feel much less complicated when I put it all together, and I’m less likely to make a measuring error if I just focus on measuring the ingredients first.

Remember: Just because what you prepare isn’t exactly the same as the original recipe doesn’t mean it won’t be good. In fact it may end up being even better suited to your own tastes and those of your family and friends. Best and worst case is it will be memorable.

Nancy Oster is an avid cook who seldom makes the same thing the same way twice. Most of the time her substitutions work. When they don’t, she relies on her dog, Amber, to help her hide the evidence.

EDIBLE GARDEN BARE-ROOT EDIBLES

by Joan S. Bolton

What to Grow

Bare-root season encompasses a broad range of edibles. Vegetables include artichokes and asparagus. Berries run the gamut, from sweet strawberries to raspberries and blackberries. Then there are the deciduous fruit trees, which to me are the most remarkable of all. Plant a barren, seemingly lifeless stick in the ground, and within several years, you’ll have a tree that bears apples, nectarines, peaches, plums or some other glorious sun-kissed fruit.

The Basics

Regardless of which bare-root edibles you choose, there are a few steps you should take.

When possible, buy locally so that you can inspect the roots. At the nursery, the plants should be stored in moist sand, sawdust or loose organic material. Pull them out gently, one by one, and select those bearing roots that are plump, moist, firm and radiate in an even pattern from the stem. The nursery should pack your selections with a handful of that moist, loose material and wrap the bundle in paper or plastic for the ride home.

Ideally, you would have prepared the holes or bed prior to your trip to the nursery. However, it’s often hard to know in advance what you’ll get. And any good intentions to limit yourself may fly out the window if you find something exciting and new.

Most of the year, the roots of our edibles need to be immersed in fresh, fertile soil. The nurturing earth provides sustenance, moisture and protection.

However, a number of perennial and permanent crops go dormant over winter. With their life cycles shut down, it’s remarkably easy to lift them—while they’re young—out of the soil, strip their roots bare, then propagate, transport and transplant them without even the teeniest bit of dirt still clinging to their naked roots.

The window of opportunity for planting these bare-root crops—just like the more familiar bare-root roses—is late December through mid-February.

If you can’t plant right away, store your bare-root plants for a few days in the shade, out of the wind. Keep the packing material moist. Absolutely do not let those roots dry out. However, note that while some folks soak their bare-root roses overnight in a bucket before planting, that’s not critical with bare-root edibles.

Also, because bare-root fruits and vegetables are long-term crops, you only have one chance to do the soil prep right. Be sure to follow all planting instructions for your particular edible.

Then plan to add fresh mulch at least once a year. You won’t be able to till the soil once the plants are in the ground, so future nutrients will have to work their way down from the top. Use well-aged, fine-textured compost or other organic material, or apply earthworm castings, mild doses of fish emulsion or kelp, weekly drenches of compost tea, or some other natural, slowrelease product.

Random Specifics

A thriving patch of asparagus will reward you with up to 20 years of slender, succulent spears. Avoid the East Coast, purple-tinged varieties, such as Jersey Giant and Mary Washington, which have been bred for hot, humid summers and severe, cold winters. Instead, look for UC 157, a hybrid from UC Davis, which was created for mild California.

Also, be sure to trench and mound the soil for the ghostly gray roots as instructed. While the steps may seem tedious, they’ll ensure the long-term viability of your patch.

Ants love artichokes. Take preventive measures to keep them out of your plants, such as setting out ant stakes.

Snails, sow bugs and slugs adore strawberries. Hand-pick the pests, or use a natural control like Sluggo. Mulch with straw to keep the berries off the soil, where they may rot even as they ripen, if the soil stays wet. Look for day-neutral or ever-bearing types, which flower and fruit throughout the year.

Cane berries fruit on last year’s wood or this year’s wood. Know which type you’re buying, so you don’t inadvertently trim off your crop. Choose an assortment to extend the harvest. For example, I’m currently growing two types of raspberries—Willamette, a summer-bearer that produces all at once; and Fall Gold and Autumn Bliss, both fall-bearers that produce large crops in fall, followed by smaller crops in spring.

Success with deciduous fruit trees starts with selecting the right variety. That decision is predicated on chill hours, which is the number of hours that the temperature drops below 45 degrees from November through February. Most stone and pome fruit trees require at least 800 hours and flourish in regions with cold winters, where they go deadly dormant, then spring back to life and produce properly.

Santa Ynez averages around 1,000 chill hours and the choices are many. However, Santa Barbara ranges from fewer than 100 chill hours to something over 200. So on the coast, it’s vital to check the hours first. But in general, 250 to 300 chill hours is OK. Anna, Beverly Hills and Dorsett Golden apples are old standbys. Apricots are next to impossible, although if you must plant one, try Gold Kist. Desert Delight and Panamint nectarines, along with Bonanza, May Pride and Tropic Snow peaches, are tasty. And Santa Rosa plums have produced prolifically here for just about forever.

If you want to find out what varieties of fruit trees grow well in your particular microclimate, you can connect with your neighboring gardeners at a Santa Barbara Food Not Lawns Neighborhood Exchange. It’s a great place to ask questions and share information about what grows well in your backyard and how to turn over part of your yard into a fruitful and productive garden. People bring everything from veggies and fruits to baked goods and recipes to garden wisdom and friendship. Everyone is welcome to attend any and all exchanges. The goal of the grassroots organization Food Not Lawns is to promote urban sustainability by encouraging people to grow food.

To find an exchange go to their website at sbfoodnotlawns.org

Joan S. Bolton is a freelance writer, garden coach and garden designer who confesses to a lifelong love affair with plants. She and her husband, Tom, have filled their four-acre property in western Goleta with natives and other colorful, water-conserving plants. They also maintain avocado, citrus and fruit trees and grow vegetables and herbs year-round. www.SantaBarbaraGardens.com.

LETTER FROM ALASKA: COPPER RIVER’S SALMON FISHERY

by Samuel Fromartz

Steaming out of the harbor in Cordova, Alaska, on a salmon fishing boat one rainy morning in July, I was struck by the scenery. No, not by distant mountains shrouded in mist, nor by the sea otters playfully swimming beside us, nor by the empty and pristine coastline as we pushed out into the Prince William Sound.

All of it was stunning, but what really struck me was the vibrancy of the place: Hundreds of working salmon fishing boats, a halfdozen fish processors along the shore, and the town itself, which lived off the rich salmon harvest. From June through September, the fish swim back from the open sea towards their spawning

grounds along the 300-mile-long Copper River. They are at their maximum weight, having spent at least a year at sea, and right then, right before the fish enter the river, the boats are waiting.

Bill Webber, at the helm of the gillnet boat I was on, the Gulkana, had been fishing commercially since he was a boy. Now in his 50s, he had branched out into boat building, marine engineering and, most recently, selling salmon direct from his boat (via email and satellite phone). A third-generation fisherman, he made a good enough living during the four months of the salmon fishing season to spend a few weeks each winter sailing in the Caribbean.

Cordova

Dan Nichols with King Salmon.

Riding out of the harbor that day, I realized: This is probably what East Coast fishing towns looked like a century ago, before the fish were gone and the harbors gave way to yachts and vacation homes.

In Cordova, there was hardly a tourist in town, no yachts moored at dock. Most of the people were seasonal workers from as far away as Latvia (the anglers over at the Reluctant Fisherman Inn an exception). Fish were everywhere: at greasy spoons that fried thick chunks of halibut, at the brick oven pizzeria in the back of a trailer that had sockeye salmon pizza, at the Baja fish taco stand in a converted school bus and in the commercial smokers redolent of salmon and alder wood. The bulk of the fish, though, were flown out by jet or shipped frozen down to the lower 48 and to Japan, China, even Eastern Europe.

The fishermen needed those distant markets as much as their customers wanted these king, sockeye and coho fillets. Salmon was at the heart of the town’s prosperity, even its existence. Take the fish away and the town would vanish.

This downward spiral, of course, has occurred many times, in many fishing towns. As fish are over-harvested, the fisherman, the harbors and local cultures disappear. A scientific report a few years back caused a stir by predicting that the seas would be fished out by 2048, if current trends continued. It had already happened in many fishing grounds in the northern hemisphere. Now it was accelerating in the south, where foreign industrial trawlers plied the coastlines of weakly governed, even corrupt countries.

So what had gone right in a place like Cordova? Why were the salmon still running in Alaska?

Bill told me a story. His father, a fisherman, had started him fishing early because that’s what the family did. Everyone in this town fished or had a relative who did. When Bill got his own boat at age 11, he was running out into the Prince William Sound and setting nets by himself.

His father knew regulations were coming that would eventually freeze the number of boats, so he wanted to be sure his son could be grandfathered in before those rules took effect. “The writing was on the wall,” Bill told me. “He wanted to make sure I would have a boat.”

Now, licenses in this fishery sell for more than $100,000, since the number of boats is capped. But the value of these licenses fluctuates with the state of the fishery. If the yearly catch dwindles, their value falls. During a good year, they rise. After the Exxon Valdez ran aground north of here in 1989, spilling 11 million gallons of oil, the price of licenses plummeted to $10,000. “Fisherman went bankrupt. There were a lot of divorces,” Bill said. One of their nearby herring fisheries is still closed.

Handcrafted ales that reflect the unique character of Santa Barbara

But here’s the key to this entire system: When it became a state in 1959, Alaska had decided to manage the fishery for sustainability. Gov. Sarah Palin might be a fiery Republican, but Alaska’s biggest employer—the fishing industry—benefits from strict regulations. By freezing the number of boats, regulating gear and managing the fish population, the government protected the fishery. Fishing regulations became a grand experiment in social engineering, protecting the fish, the fisherman and the fishing towns.

Alaska took these steps because it saw what would happen in their absence.

Unregulated fishing nets set at the mouths of rivers sent the fish population plummeting in the 1950s. Once they were banned with statehood, Alaska soon faced bigger and more efficient trawlers. By the 1970s, the fishery was in crisis again. That’s when state moved to limit the number and size of boats. Bill remembers this too, when the catch was a fraction of the levels today. It took years to rebuild, but the fish did come back.

But it wasn’t just regulations. Scientists played a key role, too, tasked by the state to figure a sustainable number of fish to catch.

State fisheries biologists do this by targeting the number of fish they want to see going upstream to spawn. The figure is called the “escapement,” derived from “escape.”

If they don’t see enough fish in the river, they know the boats are catching too many. The salmon population will eventually drop, threatening reproduction and eventually the fishery.

To make this assessment, the scientists look at the daily commercial catch. They also run aerial surveys from planes, counting schools of fish in the river. And they rely on sonar strategically placed 60 miles upriver to count the fish making the journey. On the day I visited the sonar station, at a breathtaking location near Miles glacier, 658,174 fish had made it upstream so far that year. Not bad, considering it was only July and they’re aiming for 550,000 to 750,000 fish for the entire season.

“The runs have stabilized considerably,” Glenn Hollowell, a state biologist who manages these assessments, told me. “A good run used to be 300,000 fish. Now it’s 1.4 million.”

To keep the numbers up, the scientists have the power to close the fishery. This can happen relatively frequently during the season, for as long as a few weeks at a time. When I rode out of the harbor on Bill’s boat, the fishery had just reopened after a 48-hour closure.

“It’s a tough job,” said Bert Lewis, another biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Managing the escapement combines science with the kind of policy decisions that literally affect your next-door neighbor. He had gotten calls on his cell phone from fisherman at 6 in the morning, lobbying for fishing to open in a particular spot.

“You take the calls, because it’s a small town and everyone knows each other,” he said. “But the decisions on whether to open or close the fishery have to be based on science.”

Mike Mahoney picking fish.

This is a tough dance—for the fisherman, for the scientists—since long-term decisions have short-term implications. In some global fisheries, the science is routinely ignored or watered down in favor of the industry with disastrous consequences. The collapse of Atlantic bluefin tuna is only the most recent example of a badly managed fishery.

But there are also encouraging signs that ocean conservation groups, governments and fishermen are coming up with measures to protect the fish, even if it usually means dwindling numbers of boats. The scientists who predicted a global collapse in fisheries recently followed up with another study showing that regulations help restore fish populations.

Take cod, which has been famously depleted on the Eastern seaboard. Recently, cod fishermen in New England voted for a system of quotas, which gives them ownership share of a much smaller catch. The idea is that with an ownership incentive, the fishermen will keep their catch within boundaries. As the overall population rises, the value of their catch share will increase too.

A similar system was recently put into place with red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico, whose population had dropped by 97 percent. The Gulf fleet was cut, but those who remain now have a long-term incentive to rebuild the fishery—because they own it. The toughest part in this system, though, is dividing up the catch shares and preventing a few rich boats from buying them all up, but that sort of outcome can be prevented by smart regulations.

Before a quota system was put into place with Alaskan halibut, the fishing season had lasted for as little as one day. Boats raced out to sea to catch as many fish as they could but then the fish rotted because processors couldn’t handle the one-day glut. Now, with a catch quota in place, the fisherman can fish for a whole season, as long as they don’t exceed their share. “It’s a much better system,” Michael Poole, another Cordova fisherman, told me. “Before, boats went out without regard to the weather and guys were getting killed.” Ownership regulations also kept big boats from buying up the shares of smaller boats.

While ownership quotas aren’t in place with salmon—the fishery relies on the periodic closures instead—the boat licenses serve a similar purpose. Protect the long-term viability of the fishery by limiting boats and the value of the licenses will rise.

On the day we went out, Bill set his net and came up with a shiny coho salmon. We later grilled the fish and yes, it was delicious— Copper River Salmon at its best. Here, in Alaska, the fisherman and the fish really do have a chance.

Samuel Fromartz, the author of Organic Inc., blogs at ChewsWise.com, where you can see a video of the Copper River fishery..

Handcrafted and sustainably grown wines full of character and integrity, since 1973.

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CHOCOLATE FROM CACAO BEAN TO CONFECTION

by Nancy Oster

PHOTOGRAPHY

MAYA SCHOOP-RUTTEN

Remote cacao bean plantations in Chuao, Venezuela, can only be reached by boat.

“As a child growing up in Switzerland, I never thought about where the chocolate I ate came from,” says Maya Schoop-Rutten, owner of Chocolate Maya in Santa Barbara. “I grew up in Geneva by the lake, near a beautiful forest where I was free to ride my bike, run around, build stick houses, and go fishing, sledding and skiing. I ate chocolate with my breakfast every day and grew strong bones because of it. In Europe chocolate is part of our diet. We go to the butcher, the fromagerie, the wine shop and the chocolaterie. There is a chocolate shop every couple of blocks.”

In Maya’s family home, chocolate was kept in a beautiful pine green armoire. Its three doors were colorfully decorated with delicate flowers painted by her mother. Two shelves in the armoire were reserved for chocolate. “Every night after dinner we would open the magic door and choose some chocolates.”

That green armoire now sits in Maya’s living room. “The magic door still provides some amazing chocolates, from many different regions of the world,” Maya says. However, her son Helek and daughter Ila know firsthand about where the chocolate they eat comes from, an important issue to all of them.

Ripe Trinitario cacao pods growing on a tree in the San Jose de Rio region of Venezuela.

Chocolate Around the World

After working about 10 years as a cook on boats that traveled the globe, Maya landed in Santa Barbara and opened the Comeback Café. For the next 12 years, she served daily breakfast and lunch to locals and visitors.

But Maya missed European chocolate. She says, “I was going to Europe every year to fill my suitcase with chocolate. After one summer trip to Europe, it just clicked. I decided to sell the Comeback Cafe and open a chocolate shop in Santa Barbara, so I could share this wonderful food with everybody!”

In 2007, she opened Chocolate Maya. Chocolate bars from around the world line one wall of her shop. The front counter is filled with truffles from France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and the United States. A few particularly delicious truffles are her original creations, skillfully made by an expert candy making mentor, using high quality chocolate carefully balanced with other fresh ingredients. “Chocolate is a delicate confection that needs to be handled with a lot of love and care,” she says.

Noting the range of flavors for chocolate grown in different areas of the world, Maya realized she wanted to know more about the process of making chocolate—how the beans grow and what influences their flavors.

“How many people know where chocolate really comes from?” she asks. She points out that an excellent cheese does not begin with the cheese maker, it begins with the cow. Artisans in Switzerland, Belgium and France make chocolates, but they don’t grow the beans.

Cacao Beans

Cacao trees (Theobroma cacao) are like grapevines, affected by the weather, the region and the soil. But cacao trees only grow within a latitudinal band 22 degrees above and 22 degrees below the equator (not in Switzerland, Belgium or France). For healthy growth and maximum yield, they need 80 inches of year-round moisture, protection from strong winds, a minimum temperature of 65°, high humidity and shade.

Tiny midge flies related to no-see-ums pollinate the flowers, which grow right on the trunk and older limbs of the tree. These flowers don’t attract bees, so trees in humid, moldy rainforest environments (where the midges breed) yield the best harvests.

The cacao tree originated in the Amazon region of South America at least a couple thousand years ago. During the Aztec period, cacao beans were a highly prized form of currency. The cost of a tomato was one bean, three beans for an avocado and 100 to 150 beans for a turkey.

The first cacao tree variety was probably the criollo, which is considered the most aromatic and flavorful, but least hardy. It has been largely replaced by the less delicate forastero variety (about 80 percent of commercial beans). About 10 percent of beans grown today are the trinitario variety, a cross between the forastero and the criollo.

The chocolate I grew up eating is quite different from the chocolate Maya sells. Large chocolate companies buy from multiple sources, creating blends of beans for flavor and cost-effectiveness. Some chocolates have some of the cocoa butter removed and replaced with other less expensive oils.

Maya’s chocolate is pure and clean tasting, with the origin of the beans listed on the wrapper and no cocoa butter substitutes. Maya recommends trying bars made with a single variety or all from one region or plantation, so you can compare the flavors.

Cacao Harvest

Maya says, “How can you eat, love and sell a product without knowing the roots of it? It became obvious to me that I had to travel to the source.”

To learn more about the farmers and how they harvest cacao beans, Maya has visited cacao farms in Guatemala, Venezuela, Java, Bali and Cuba. Her children have met the farmers and seen cacao pods hanging from the trees and beans drying in the sun.

Her first voyage in search the cacao harvest was to Venezuela. “We visited Chuao, a beautiful mystical farm, far away from the big towns. We took a small boat to a remote beach, hiked a well-kept trail and arrived in heaven. The essence of fermenting cacao beans was inebriating,” she says. “I was jet-lagged, very tired. One of the farmers gave me a couple of freshly dried cacao beans and told me to eat them. An incredible boost of energy took over my whole body. Before I knew it I’d climbed to the top of a nearby hill for a magnificent view of this fabulous country. I felt like Superwoman!”

Maya spent 10 days in Venezuela visiting cacao farms in Chuao and Rio Chico. She says, “We found out how hard people work to keep their trees healthy and saw how they pick, ferment and dry the beans.” She adds, “About a third of the world cacao crop is lost each year to disease.”

A healthy cacao tree yields about 20 pods yearly per tree. Maya has helped pick the colorful yellow, orange, red, green and purple pods, cut them open and scooped out the bitter seeds, which are embedded in a sweet pulp. Each pod weighs about a pound and produces 20 to 40 seeds—enough to make two dark chocolate bars.

Three

Top to bottom: An 11-inch-long Forastero cacao pod in Java, Indonesia. Fresh cacao seeds surrounded by a sweet juicy white pulp. Dried cacao beans in Chuao, Venezuela—considered some of the finest beans in the world.

stages of drying: Fresh beans encased in white pulp. Light brown beans after fermentation and drying. Dark brown roasted beans ready to process into chocolate.

The next step is fermentation. Maya explains, “The fermentation and drying processes are extremely important to create quality chocolate. Different regions have different methods and of course they all have secrets!” The longer the fermentation (six to eight days), the better the aroma. The fermented seeds are then sun-dried for one or two weeks, to prevent mold during storage and shipping. She adds, “Fermenting and drying artificially accelerates the process for quick exportation, but produces a mediocre chocolate.”

Roasting and grinding is done after the beans leave the farm. Cacao beans are sold as a commodity, usually passing through one or two middlemen before they are delivered to factories where they are turned into cocoa powder or bars of chocolate.

Chocolate Bars

Maya’s biggest surprise came when she asked the farmers about what happens to the beans after they leave their farms. Few farmers had ever seen a chocolate bar. “In Indonesia they could only tell me that they’d heard that the beans travel to a place with high mountains and are put into funny-shaped boxes.” Maya watched as they tasted chocolate bars she had brought along with her. “The look on their faces was one of curiosity and amazement,” she says. They were familiar with cacao as a drink but not as a confection.

Cacao drinks are found throughout the regions where the beans are grown. In Mayan and Aztec culture, cacao beans were roasted and stone ground into a paste that was heated with water and often mixed with ground corn, chili peppers and other available spices. Sometimes honey was added. Returning South American explorers and missionaries took cacao beans home and introduced them to their fellow Europeans as a sweetened drink.

In the 1800s European cocoa enthusiasts eventually discovered a way to extract the cocoa butter from the paste to make a powder that dissolved easily and didn’t form cocoa butter lumps as it cooled. The extracted cocoa butter was sold to confectioners who developed the chocolate bar by adding a portion of the cocoa butter back into the sweetened cocoa mass.

These cacao farmers were not familiar with chocolate confections for several reasons. Chocolate bars quickly lose their gloss and snap when exposed to the warmer temperatures of the tropics, so storage is a problem. But the primary reason is that most cacao farmers can’t afford luxury items like chocolate confections.

Support for Cacao Farmers

In her travels Maya finds the atmosphere on the cacao farms varies widely. She says, “Cacao farming is hard work, I have visited small farms where everybody was humming, chanting or whistling as they picked cacao pods from the trees. And I have visited large cocoa plantations where nobody was smiling. They were dressed in ragged clothing and dragging their feet in the jungle soil with very little to show for their hard work.”

Cacao production has a long history of slavery and child labor. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2009 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, both child labor and forced labor are still practiced on some cacao plantations in Ivory Coast and Nigeria. The use of child labor has also been documented on some plantations in Cameroon, Ghana and Guinea.

While controversy rages on this topic, people like Maya SchoopRutten are working passionately to encourage consumers to support the fair treatment of cacao farmers around the world. “When I’m in the shop, I always think of them all working— picking the pods, and I want to the general public to understand that we all have a choice. We can choose to buy our chocolate from companies that pay the farmers fair trade prices for their beans.”

Big Tree Farms in Bali is one example. Maya says, “Big Tree Farms teaches the small grower the best way to process their beans. Then they buy the nicely fermented beans from the growers at a fair price.”

Maya isn’t working alone locally in her campaign to support cacao farmers. Tom Neuhaus, founder of Project Hope and Fairness and co-owner of Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates in San Luis Obispo, raises money to personally take needed equipment to small cacao farms in Ghana and Ivory Coast. Understanding the economic

A farmworker at the Kalikempi cacao plantation in Java, Indonesia.

A farmer dries his beans on the street in Ocumar, Venezuela.

pressures that lead to child and forced labor, he explains, “Our intentions are to treat the illness of poverty rather than merely to certify chocolate as abusive-child-labor-free.”

Maya also talks about her friend Jason Vishnefske of Santa Barbara Chocolate Company, who sources his chocolate directly from Peru, Ghana and Cameroon to ensure that the farmers receive the highest fair market price, then ships the beans to Europe or San Francisco for high-quality processing into the chocolate he uses for his confections and for sale to other confectioners.

While the Fair Trade certification is one way to identify ethical business practices, not all small farms or cooperatives can afford certification, so the Fair Trade sticker is not the only way to choose your chocolate. Maya says, “Read labels, look for the origin of the chocolate. Go beyond the label and learn about the company that makes the chocolate.” Maya’s goal is to bridge the gap between the cacao bean grower and the consumer. So next time you’re in her shop, point to a chocolate bar and ask her about it.

ChocolateHow to Taste

Eating and discussing chocolate is a great way to spend a cool wintry evening. Brew up a pot of green tea to sip between samples to clear your palate. Chocolate tasting is a lot like wine tasting, except you won’t need a designated driver.

Single origin means all the beans come from one area, no blends. The character of a chocolate bar reflects where the beans are grown, how they are handled and processed and the skill of the confectioner. Choose dark chocolate bars with no added flavorings like lavender or chili.

Select four different bars to taste and compare. Read the labels. Most artisan bars will list a country of origin for the beans and the percentage of cocoa solids in the bar. The remaining ingredients should be cocoa butter, sugar and sometimes lecithin and vanilla. Taste the darkest (highest percentage) chocolate first.

LOOK: Is the surface shiny or dull? It should be slightly shiny. Colors range from a deep dark brown to a reddish brown depending on type of beans and roasting methods. Does the surface have white streaks or a grayish film? This means it is out of temper (the cocoa butter is no longer properly crystallized). Heat during storage can cause this. If it’s really badly out of temper, it will be crumbly. Return the bar or save it for use in baking, not tasting.

Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates

Tom Neuhaus and Joanne Currie

1445 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401

805 544-7759

sweetearthchocolates.com

Project Hope and Fairness

Tom Neuhaus

805 597-7213

info@projecthopeandfairness.org http://projecthopeandfairness.org

Tom’s African trip blog: sweetearthchocolates.blogspot.com

Santa Barbara Chocolate Company

Jason Vishnefske santabarbarachocolate.com 888 812-6262

Formal chocolate tastings are available locally at:

Chocolate Maya

Maya Schoop-Rutten 15 West Gutierrez St. Santa Barbara 805 965-5956 chocolatemaya.com

Chocolats du CaliBressan

4193 Carpinteria Ave., Suite 4 Carpinteria 805 684-6900

LISTEN: Does the bar break cleanly with a crisp brittle snap? That is the sign of a well-tempered chocolate. Break off a 1⁄ 2-inch-square piece for each person.

SMELL: Rub the surface of the chocolate square with your thumb to release its aroma. Cup your hand around the chocolate as you smell it. Does it have a floral, fruity, pungent, nutty, earthy or spicy fragrance with hints of tobacco, coffee, herbs, caramel or another familiar essence? Chocolate readily absorbs the odors of organic materials it is exposed to during growth, processing and storage, which add to its individual character.

TOUCH: Chocolate should begin to melt on your fingers (at body temperature). Chocolates that melt at a higher temperature often include hydrogenated vegetable oil replacements for part or all of the cocoa butter. Fine chocolate only uses cocoa butter. Rub your fingers on the melting chocolate to feel the silky smooth texture. It should not feel gritty.

TASTE: Put the chocolate onto your tongue, press it against the roof of your mouth and let it begin to melt. Breathe in through your mouth. Chew a little and let the chocolate continue to melt in your mouth. Note changes in flavor, how the flavor moves through your mouth and how long the flavor persists. You may experience a range of flavors—spicy, nutty, earthy, fruity and floral. Sometimes you will identify more specific flavors like plum, citrus, mushroom, caramel, wine, cherry or rose.

SAVOR: Run your tongue along the roof of your mouth to get the full mouthfeel. The texture of the melting chocolate can be smooth, creamy, velvety, gritty, powdery, chalky or grainy.

TASTING TIPS: Don’t forget to take sips of tea between samples. Don’t wear perfume to a tasting as it can affect your taste perception as well as that of your companions.

You can use these same techniques to taste milk chocolate, white chocolate and flavored truffles.

Nancy Oster is a baker, cook and food writer who especially enjoys writing articles on subjects where the research requires tasting.

LIQUID ASSETS A WHOLE LATTE LOVE

by Becky Green Aaronson

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFFREY AARONSON

Picasso. Van Gogh. Kandinsky. Pollock. Each poured his heart onto the canvas, and each became a master in the art world. Otis and Montañez? Well, neither may be famous, but both are masters in their own right, even though their creations will never mingle with the Mona Lisa.

You see, Andy Otis and Martín Montañez are masters of latte art

Their creations, which comprise an array of intricate flowers, hearts, leaves and abstract patterns, are found atop the silky foam lattes at Jeannine’s American Bakery & Restaurant.

Latte art springs to life when an image or design is poured or etched into the “canvas” (steamed foam) of an espresso drink. Often this is achieved with nothing more than a barista’s steady

hand pouring the steamed milk out of the pitcher, in what is called a “free pour.” Other times, the barista draws or etches details with a toothpick or pointed instrument. Depending on the drink, the design can also be embellished with chocolate drizzles, which add an extra splash of pizzazz.

Martín Montañez, a 12-year employee of Jeannine’s, says it’s all about timing and practice. That, and steaming the perfect milk. Considering this talented barista makes 200–300 drinks a day, he’s obviously had plenty of practice. And it shows in his signature heart and flower designs.

Watching Montañez in action is like watching a graceful conductor. While pulling the perfect shot of espresso, he steams

the milk to the exact temperature and consistency—“It must be ‘liquidy’ with no bubbles, almost like shaving cream.” Then he fine-tunes the froth and finally pours the design with precision artistry. This is while also making sure he achieves the right balance of crema and flavor, as he never wants to compromise the taste of his drink for its beauty.

Making an exquisite cup of espresso is an art form in itself; latte art takes it to a whole new level. Baristas only master this craft if they have a deep and abiding appreciation for espresso and a love of creating art.

In this age of corporate coffeehouse chains and our need for speed in everything we do—from instant messaging to drivethru espresso bars—it’s refreshing to see the time, attention and creativity poured into each espresso drink at Jeannine’s.

“Latte art springs to life when an image or design is poured or etched into the “canvas” (steamed foam) of an espresso drink.”

Andy Otis, Montañez’s young understudy who happens to be the grandson of owners Eleanor and Gordon Hardey, enjoys seeing customers’ faces light up when one of his artistic creations arrives at their table. He’s best known for his leaves and also his dazzling abstract crosshatch pattern. “It’s all about making our customers happy,” Otis says as he flashes his easy smile.

It’s this kind of pride that also inspires both baristas to come up with new designs, and to push each other to see who can make the most visually interesting patterns. Their creative inspiration comes from their own imaginations, of course, but also from each other and sometimes even their customers.

One time a little boy came in with a Horton Hears a Who stuffed animal, which inspired one of the baristas to make an elephant design in his mom’s latte. Seasons and holidays can also stir the creative spirit—everything from pumpkins and bunnies to suns and trees.

Jeannine’s logo “Coffee with a Heart” says it all—literally and figuratively. Order any espresso drink, and you will find a whole latte love poured into your cup. And don’t be surprised if you find a signature heart right on top too.

Becky Green Aaronson is an award-winning writer who lives with her husband and daughter in Santa Barbara. In between sipping double-lattes and writing magazine articles, she's working on two books.

ENDLESS PASTABILITIES

by Carol Penn-Romine

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDY ROMINE

One April Fool’s Day in the 1950s, the BBC ran a story on the pasta harvest in Switzerland—a bumper crop, it reported, due to a mild winter and the disappearance of the dreaded spaghetti weevil. (Thanks to YouTube, you can still find this gem of a prank if you go to the site and search for “spaghetti harvest.”)

Ah, if only you could drift down to the farmers market and buy some freshly harvested pasta. Or step out your back door and pick some from the pasta tree your home’s previous owner so lovingly planted and tended over the years, until you stood next to a real estate agent in the yard one day and said, “I must have this house. It has a mature pasta tree!”

Making fresh pasta is only slightly more involved than picking it would be. And fresh pasta has its bonuses: It’s far better than the boxed stuff, it’s fun to make in a group and it allows almost endless creativity. Whether you have a snazzy pasta-making attachment for your monolithic stand mixer, a hand-crank pasta maker or a rolling pin and a knife, you can turn out fresh pasta with very few ingredients and very little time and effort. And when you’ve gone to the trouble of making a lovely pasta sauce, why would you pour it over dry, store-bought noodles that taste no better than the box in which they came? Who knows how long that box has been sitting in storage, on the shelf or in the pantry? Fresh pasta has both flavor and texture on its side.

Getting Down to Business

All-purpose flour works best for making basic pasta dough and for those doughs that call for a combination of regular flour and another flour, like whole wheat, semolina or chestnut. Bread flour contains more protein than all-purpose, so kneading dough made with bread flour builds more gluten, which gives bread great structure but makes pasta too tough. By the way, if you’ve picked up a bag of 00 flour in an Italian market and want to know what to do with it, just use it like you would all-purpose flour (Italian 0 flour is the equivalent of bread flour).

Set the eggs out 30 minutes before you mix the dough. The ingredients incorporate much more easily when the eggs aren’t too cold.

Sift flour(s) and salt into a mound on a cutting board. Make a well in the mound with your fingers and into the well put the egg and the oil. Using a fork, begin stirring the wet ingredients, gradually drawing in the surrounding flour and mixing, until it becomes thick enough to abandon the fork and continue by hand. Knead it just until the dough comes together, adding water by the teaspoonful. Too much water will make the dough gummy, which will clog the pasta maker and cause you to use bad language. Wrap the dough in a sheet of plastic wrap and park it in the fridge for 30 minutes or so, to allow the dry ingredients to absorb the wet. While your dough gets ready for its debut, you can enjoy a glass of wine and a few antipasti, or put the finishing touches on the sauce. Be sure the water is boiling when you begin rolling and cutting the dough. This way it won’t dry out or glue itself into a mass while the water heats.

When it comes to rolling out and cutting the pasta, follow the instructions that came with your pasta maker. If you want a different size and shape than your maker can cut it, fold the sheets of pasta into sections about four inches long and cut the width of noodle you need with a knife. Or use those sheets to make ravioli or lasagna.

Matching the Right Pasta with the Right Accompaniment

If you’re in the mood for pasta with pesto or maybe just a little olive oil and a grating of fresh ParmigianoReggiano, then you’ll want to use angel hair, spaghetti or vermicelli, which are too delicate for heavy sauces.

Wider, flatter noodles like fettuccine and linguine work well with creamy sauces.

Even wider noodles like tagliatelle and pappardelle and textured noodles can accommodate chunky sauces just fine.

All those types of noodles that look like little shells, bowties and radiators (that one is actually called radiatori!) are made to catch the sauce in their nooks and crannies.

After you’ve rolled out and cut the pasta, you’re practically ready to tuck the napkin into your collar. Fresh pasta takes almost no time to cook, so be sure your sauce is made and everyone is about to gather. Within a couple of minutes of that fresh pasta hitting the boiling water, it will be ready to eat.

Add salt to the pasta water to boost the flavor in preparation for the sauce, but don’t add oil to the water. Oil makes the pasta slippery and prevents the sauce from adhering. The same thing will happen if you rinse it after cooking. The starch on the pasta gives it traction.

Regarding the old throw-it-against-the-wall-to-see-if-it’s-done trick: Your mouth knows when the pasta is cooked sufficiently better than the wall does. So whether you’re making fresh pasta or boiling a box of the dried stuff, fish a piece out of the pot and sample it yourself to see if it’s cooked to your liking.

As with most activities, making pasta becomes faster and easier, and the results better, through practice. The basic ingredients—a little flour, salt, oil and egg—cost so little that if you botch the first few attempts, it’s no big deal. Once you’ve learned to make a nice batch of pasta, you’ll find yourself turning up your nose at the dried, boxed stuff. And by then you’ll have become such a pro at making your own pasta that you’ll be able to do it without a second thought.

Pasta by the Handful

These recipes are for modest portions. Each will yield enough pasta for two entrées. It’s easy to do the math from here, doubling or tripling the amounts for a family or dinner party. If you have four people for dinner, get two people to make a handful of dough each. Then those who didn’t make the dough can roll it out and cut it.

BASIC PASTA DOUGH

This is a good everyday pasta dough. If you want to make it a wholewheat dough, use ½ cup each of all-purpose and whole-wheat flours. Cooking time for this dough is about 2 minutes; for whole wheat about 2½ to 3 minutes.

1 cup all-purpose flour

A pinch of salt

1 egg

1 teaspoon oil

Water as needed (about 11⁄ 4 to 11⁄ 2 teaspoons; for whole wheat about 3 teaspoons)

SEMOLINA PASTA DOUGH

Semolina is made of durum wheat, which is a hard, protein-rich wheat. In spite of its increased heft, it requires no more time to cook than basic pasta dough, about 2 minutes. Semolina yields a more durable dough without being chewy. It’s good for making stuffed pasta, like ravioli and tortellini.

1⁄ 2 cup all-purpose flour

1⁄ 2 cup semolina

A pinch of salt

1 egg

1 teaspoon oil

Water as needed (about 3 to 4 teaspoons)

PISTACHIO PASTA DOUGH

1⁄ 2 cup all-purpose flour

1⁄ 2 cup pistachio flour (available from Santa Barbara Pistachio)

A pinch of salt

1 egg

Water as needed (about 3 to 4 teaspoons)

CHESTNUT PASTA DOUGH

You can find chestnut flour at any Italian market. It makes a rich entrée component but can still surprise with its dessert possibilities. Pasta made from chestnut flour is good simply tossed with browned butter and topped with a grating of fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano and a few fried fresh sage leaves. Or for a lightly sweet dessert, poach fresh pear slices in a little sweet white wine, melt in a little unsalted butter and pour it over a plate of chestnut pasta. Garnish with some crumbled blue cheese and a light dusting of black pepper. (As you can see, it’s possible to whip up a pasta dish with few precise measurements!) Chestnut pasta will cook in about 2 to 2½ minutes.

1⁄ 2 cup all-purpose flour

1⁄ 2 cup chestnut flour

A pinch of salt

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

(No oil or water is needed—if you do happen to need a bit more liquid, add water a tiny bit at a time.)

LAMINATING PASTA DOUGH

One way to make a lovely pasta with a great wow! factor is to laminate it—that is, to press fresh herbs or edible flowers in between two sheets of pasta so that they are inside the pasta. To do this, lay a fresh sheet of pasta on a flat surface and arrange on it fresh herbs or edible flowers that you’ve washed and carefully patted dry. If the flowers are too thick, pick off the petals and arrange them on the dough. Lay another sheet of fresh pasta over the first and press firmly all over with your hands, to be sure your lovely “sandwich” doesn’t fall apart when you pick it up. Then roll it through the pasta maker to fuse the two sheets of dough with your lovely design of flowers and herbs inside. Then you can cut it into ravioli squares or rounds or make broad, colorful noodles. This is pasta you want to show off, so keep the add-ons light, just some olive oil and Parmigiano-Reggiano or a little pesto.

A SEASONAL STEW

by Pascale Beale-Groom

The renowned French chefs Jean and Pierre Troisgros once said “Cooking should be a carefully balanced reflection of all the good things of the earth.” They may well have been describing stew, which is essentially a great melting pot of flavors extracted over a period of time. If ever there was a dish that reflected “all the good things of the earth” and of the season, this is it. Stews are to winter what salads are to summer. They are in essence rib-sticking, heartwarming and satisfying.

They have also been around for a very long time. There is evidence that these types of dishes have existed since the advent of clay pottery. Archeologists have found cooking vessels, called ting, dating back 8,000 years in Hebei Province in China. These three-legged, robust pots were used to cook stews and soups. The ancient Chinese stew called keng was cooked in such vessels, which were also made of bronze. The cooking methods used at the time

are recorded in texts surviving from the Zhou dynasty (1050–249 BC). Stews, it seems, are universal for all cultures have records of them in their culinary pantheons in one form or another.

Literature, ancient cookbooks and historical texts are steaming with ragouts and stews. In Apicius’s cookbook De Re Coquinaria, written 2,000 years ago, he describes a stew called minutal marinum (a seafood ragout) in which the fish is cooked with wine, herbs, olive oil and vegetables. The recipe is remarkably similar to dishes found along the coast of France and Italy today. Taillevant has many recipes in his book Le Viandier, printed in 1395, for all manner of ragouts and stews, from crayfish to perch and hare to veal.

The references are not limited to cookbooks. Cervantes wrote of the esteemed Spanish stew olla podrida in Don Quixote in 1605, where Sancho Panza salivates over a cauldron of the simmering ragout. Lord Byron wrote about Irish stew in The Devils Drive in 1814 and Shakespeare speaks of pottages in his plays.

Mrs. Beeton, in her marvelous tome on household management from 1890, wrote that this type of French cookery “is an essentially slow process by which the natural flavors of the substances are extracted by gentle means”—a quote Carlo Petrini,

NANCY

OSTER

Pascale Beale-Groom.

founder of the Slow Food Movement, has obviously taken to heart. Frustrated by the proliferation of fast-food restaurants in Italy in the mid-1980s, and in particular by the proposed opening of a McDonald’s near the Spanish Steps in Rome in 1989, he created a movement that champions the growth, use and enjoyment of local, sustainable and seasonal food. It enthusiastically promotes a slower pace of life, hence its snail logo, and embraces all manner of dishes that evolve over time. Stews are a prime example. His philosophy has attracted a great many followers. There are now over 100,000 members in over 132 countries, including a convivium in Santa Barbara.

There is something about stews that appears to make a lasting impression. As you circle the globe during winter months, the aromatic tendrils emanating from long-simmering pots will tantalize your olfactory senses. Saunter over France and some of the best-known dishes of the country’s culinary repertoire will no doubt tempt you; the aromatic boeuf bourguignon is the prime example. But linger a little longer in the countryside and you may well be seduced by a Provencal daube or a pot au feu or even bouillabaise, the great fish stew from Marseille.

Europe is awash in slow cooking—think of the robust osso buco from Italy or Hungarian goulash, for example, which dates back to the ninth century and the Magyar shepherds of the region. Further east still, as the frigid air settles over the Russian steppes you may well encounter zharkoye, a beef and parsnip stew topped with sour cream. Hover over the great cuisines of China and India and you will find simmering, aromatic dishes such as fragrant cumin-laced curries or the anise-flavored Chinese beef stew, thick with soy sauce and sugar. Cross the Pacific and the history of the Americas is rich in ragouts. A birria in Mexico, a charquican in Chile, the Brunswick stew in Virginia and burgoo from Kentucky or, a dish that brings us back to the cuisine of Provence, a gumbo from Louisiana—which was originally based on bouillabaisse

Whatever your culinary preferences the guiding principal is always the same: Take the best, freshest ingredients you can find (preferably local), prepare them with care and, in the case of a stew, nurture them over the course of a few hours to capture their essence. If preparing a meat stew, do not let the stew boil, as this will dry out the texture of the meat and it will get tough. Let it gently simmer and you will be rewarded with a moist, fragrant dish.

Although she was writing about Provence, Elizabeth David could well have been speaking of the Central Coast and of Santa Barbara in particular as she penned “Here in London it is an effort of will to believe in the existence of such a place at all. But now and again the vision of golden tiles on a round southern roof or of some warm, stony, herb-scented hillside will arise out of my kitchen pots with the smell of a piece of orange peel scenting a beef stew.” What could be more delicious on a winter’s day?

Duck Ragout

This duck stew is a slowly braised red wine ragout. It is a delicious, fragrant dish that is prepared over a day or two. The pieces of duck marinate overnight, giving them time to absorb the acidity and fruit of the wine, the sweetness of the shallots and root vegetables and the essence of the juniper berries. Afterwards, they are pan-seared to a deeply golden color and then reunited with the marinade and slipped into the oven to braise until tender. This dish was inspired by a good friend of mine who is as passionate about food as I am. We have spent many hours concocting different dishes together, including one Christmas where we spent days making puddings. This dish is perfect for the holidays as there is something festive about marinating duck and the subsequent luscious result.

Makes 8 servings

FOR THE MARINADE

8 duck legs

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

6 shallots, peeled and quartered

1⁄ 2 bunch green onions, end trimmed and then cut into ½-inch pieces

1 medium onion, peeled and sliced

8 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half

3 medium carrots, peeled, trimmed and thinly sliced

3 stalks celery, peeled, trimmed and cut into 1-inch-thick slices

1-inch piece ginger, peeled and diced

20 black peppercorns, crushed

1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

10 juniper berries

Zest of 3 oranges, then quarter the whole oranges

2 bottles red wine (Use a dry red, but don’t stint on the wine. If you use cheap wine, your dish will reflect it.)

(continued on next page)

TO MARINATE THE DUCK

Cut off and discard as much of the fat as you can. Season the duck legs with salt and pepper and place them into a large ovenproof dish, or large pan with a lid. It needs to hold all the duck, vegetables and the wine.

Scatter the vegetables, herbs and zest over the duck and pour over the red wine. Squeeze the juice out of the orange quarters into the pan and then add in the orange pieces themselves. Cover the pan and marinate the duck overnight in the refrigerator. If you have a chance, turn the duck in the marinade once or twice.

TO COOK THE RAGOUT

1 pound boiling onions, blanched in boiling water for 2 minutes, peeled and then set aside

1 ounce butter

1 pound small brown mushrooms or shitakes, ends trimmed off, then quartered

Salt and pepper

Three hours before dinner, preheat the oven to 350°.

Lift the duck meat out of the marinade and dry the pieces thoroughly between layers of paper towels.

Bring the marinade, along with its vegetables and spices, to a simmer. Keep the marinade over low heat whilst you brown the duck.

Heat a large heavy-bottomed skillet or griddle over high heat. Place the duck, skin side down, on the pan. Sear for 2–3 minutes so that the skin is nicely browned. Turn and cook for 2 minutes more and then place the seared duck legs back in the now-warmed marinade.

Place the dish in the center for the oven and roast for 1½ hours. Add the prepared boiling onions, stir the ragout, turning the duck and return to the oven for another hour.

When the duck is almost ready (after 2½ hours) prepare the mushrooms. Place a little butter into a heavy-bottomed skillet, placed over medium-high heat. Add in the mushrooms, a little salt and pepper and sauté them until they are just golden. This will only take a minute or two. Add the sautéed mushrooms to the duck ragout and stir to combine. Cook for a further 30 minutes, giving you a total cooking time of 3 hours.

Serve with steamed little potatoes, mashed potatoes or rice—something to soak up all the delicious sauce. Sprinkle with some finely chopped chives.

Note: This dish is even better the following day, so once cooked it can be refrigerated, then re-heated slowly in the same dish.

Monique Fay’s Succulent “Slow Food” Beef Shank Stew

This winter stew epitomizes everything that I love about this season. The house fills with delicious smells as it simmers slowly on the stove. This is one of my mother’s specialties; a recipe handed down by a family friend that she has crafted to her own over time. It is a perfect dish for a chilly, blustery day.

Makes 8 servings

Olive oil

1 red onion, finely chopped

6 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

2-inch piece of garlic, peeled and chopped

6 pieces beef shank (preferably local grass-fed beef)

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

3 cloves per beef shank

6 Roma tomatoes, chopped

2 pinches sugar

4–6 cups vegetable stock

1 pound organic carrots, peeled and chopped

Pour some olive oil into a large roasting pan (the pan should just hold the beef shanks in a single layer) and add in the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook over medium-high heat until lightly browned, 5–6 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the onion mixture and set aside in a small bowl. Raise the temperature in the roasting pan and add in the shanks. Cook over high heat until well browned on all sides— this takes at least 5 minutes per side. Add salt and pepper during the browning process.

Reduce the heat and then add in the chopped tomatoes, cloves, the onion mixture that had been set aside, sugar and enough vegetable stock to barely cover the shanks. Bring the stock to a strong simmer.

As soon as the stock comes to a strong simmer, reduce the heat to low and cover, leaving a small gap for the steam to escape, and cook for 4 hours. During the cooking time you need to turn the pieces over—usually once an hour. At this point you should be able to cut the meat with a spoon.

Add in the carrots and cook for a further hour. After an hour turn off the heat and let the stew “rest” for at least an hour more.

Before reheating the stew, skim the surface of any fats that have risen up. Reheat very slowly—this will take about 20 minutes.

Serve in warmed plates with steamed new potatoes and/or warm bread.

Winter Root Vegetable Tagine

Makes 8 servings

3 red onions, peeled and sliced

Olive oil

1 tablespoon Ras al Hanout

1 pound yellow carrots, peeled and sliced lengthwise

1 pound red carrots, peeled and sliced lengthwise

1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into slices

1 bunch beets, peeled and cut into slices

2–3 leeks, peeled, washed carefully and cut into 2-inch pieces

3 sprigs fresh thyme

Lemon zest and the same lemon quartered

Coarse sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Pour a little olive oil into a medium-sized saucepan and add the sliced red onion. Cook for 2–3 minutes and then add in the Ras al Hanout. Stir well and continue cooking over low heat for 15 minutes so that the onions are very soft and slightly caramelized.

Place all the onion mixture in the bottom of a tagine. Place all the sliced vegetables on top of the onions. Drizzle with some olive oil, add the thyme, lemon zest and lemon quarters and sprinkle with some coarse sea salt. Cover with the tagine lid and place in the middle of the oven.

Cook for 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place directly on the dinner table. Be careful when you remove the lid as some steam will be released. Serve onto warmed dinner plates—be sure to get some of each of the vegetables, especially the onions at the bottom of the dish.

Serve with the onion and chive yogurt (see recipe below).

Onion and Chive Yogurt

8 ounces Greek yogurt

3 green onions, finely chopped

1 bunch chives, finely chopped

Zest of 1 lemon

Place all of the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Serve alongside the vegetables. Marcona almonds and pieces of feta are also delicious with this dish.

Alphabet Stew

“The beautiful and the good are identical but the fleeting impressions created by the work of a cook or a musician disperse even as they are being experienced. Raphael’s painting The Transfiguration is immortal, but Carême’s Ragout de truffes à la parisienne lasts while it is being eaten, just as roses that last as long as their fragrance can be enjoyed.”

So wrote Lucien Tendret, the great-nephew of Brillat-Savarin, 150 years ago. His thoughts could apply to all the dishes in the list below, which shows just how universal these aromatic creations can be.

A is for Atzem Pilafi — Greece

B is for Baeckeoffe — Alsace

C is for Charquican — Chile

D is for Dinuguan — Philippians

E is for Estoufade — France

F is for Fozelek — Hungary

G is for Ghormeh Sabzi — Iran

H is for Hasenpfeffer — Germany

I is for Irish Stew — Ireland

J is for Jjigea — Korea

K is for Kikkinisto — Greece

L is for Locro — Andes

M is for Merchando — Philippines

N is for Nikujaga — Japan

O is for Olla Pedrida — Spain

P is for Potjiekos — South Africa

Q is for Qursan — Arabia

R is for Ragu d’Anitra con Castagne — Lombardy

S is for Sancocho — Caribbean

T is for Tharid — Arabia

U is for Ulang Sa Gata — Philippines

V is for Verza Affogata — Italy

W is for Waterzooi — Belgium

X is for Xinjiang — China

Y is for Yakhnat al-Bamiya — Lebanon

Z is for Zarzuela de Mariscos — Catalan

NANCY OSTER

WHAT THE KIDS ARE EATING

by Maria Diaz

My most cherished childhood memories are those in the kitchen with my mother. The elasticity of the dough ropes as I twisted them into soft pretzels. The pop and sizzle of the cooking oil while flipping homemade doughnuts. But nothing compares to our annual holiday baking extravaganza.

My Mom is the rock star of Christmas cookies. To this day, my oldest friends and their families still ask about my Mom’s cookies, claiming they were the best they have ever had. And my mother is still making Christmas cookies. She always claims she’s making less than the year before. However, upon arriving at my childhood home after my annual trek to the Midwest, the old upright piano is still piled high with cookie tins.

I know my mother does not realize the profound impact she made on my life and my chosen career just by taking the time and having the patience to allow me assist her in the kitchen. My thanks go out to my Mom, for being the inspiration that led me to a profession that allows me to share and experiment daily with the most important ingredient of all: love.

I personally guarantee smiles and happy memories of your own with one of my all-time favorites.

Chocolate-Covered Cherry Cookies

Makes 48

11⁄ 2 cups all-purpose flour

1⁄ 2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1⁄ 4 teaspoon salt

1⁄ 4 teaspoon baking powder

1⁄ 4 teaspoon baking soda

1⁄ 2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg

11⁄ 2 teaspoons vanilla

1 10-ounce jar maraschino or preserved cherries

6 ounces semisweet chocolate

1⁄ 2 cup sweetened condensed milk

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In a mixer, cream together softened butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla. Beat well. Gradually add flour mixture to creamed mixture until well blended. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on a lined cookie sheet. With your thumb, gently press down the center of each ball. Reserving the juice, drain maraschino cherries. Place one cherry in the center of each cookie. In a small saucepan, combine baking chocolate, sweetened condensed milk and 4 teaspoons of reserved cherry juice. Spread a small spoonful of chocolate frosting over each cherry. If frosting begins to seize, add more cherry juice. Once every cookie has been covered, bake for 10 minutes at 350 º

Maria Diaz received her culinary certification from the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City and holds a Nutrition Consultant certification from the Global College of Natural Medicine.

Maraschino Cherries

The Shirley Temple mocktail, chocolate-covered maraschino cherries, cookies and cakes with bright red and green cherries … lots of kids grow up loving maraschino cherries. But many adults find them off-putting, to say the least. But is there an alternative? Originally maraschino cherries were an imported variety of Italian cherry called the marasca, which was preserved in a liquor made from the cherries called maraschino liqueur. Right before Prohibition, maraschino cherries began to be made from Oregon cherries preserved in a brine and then dyed, sweetened and flavored with imitation almond extract.

Today some people make their own maraschino cherries (just Google “homemade maraschino cherries”) or you can substitute brandied cherries. There is also a cult following for Amarena Fabbri Wild Cherries in Syrup, which are imported from Italy and sold in a decorative ceramic crock.

WHAT THE GROWNUPS ARE DRINKING

by Diane Murphy & Laura Lindsey

’Tis the season … for holiday parties … and holiday cheer. Thus, we set out to find the sparklers and the finishers to do your parties proud. Along the way we sampled some tasty morsels to help you navigate the buffet table with the right glass in hand. And, so we begin …

2005 Mandolina Sparkling Wine Metodo

Classico Bianco di Bianco

Los Alamos Vineyard ($28)

Dry and extremely light, this wine is an amazing chameleon that takes on the flavors of the food it’s paired with, sweeter with strawberries and more savory with pancetta. A blend of Muscat Canelli and Chenin Blanc, this was determined to be our brunch wine. Available at Lazy Acres and Tri-County Produce.

2005 Lucas & Lewellen Sparkling Brut Wine

Méthode Champenoise

Los Alamos Vineyard ($28)

The group declared this the perfect toasting wine. Dry but fruity and very effervescent, it stands on its own without needing food to pair it with. That said, it stood up to even the strongest cheeses and salamis, so once the toast is over, you can refill your glass and

make the rounds of the hors d’oeuvres. A blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and comparable to Veuve Clicquot but with a more reasonable price tag, this is a wine for all seasons, equally good by the pool or fireplace. Available at The Wine Grotto, Lazy Acres and Tri-County Produce.

2008 Flying Goat Cellars Sparkling Brut

Rosé Goat Bubbles

Solomon Hills Vineyard ($32)

A pretty wine, from the pink color to the red wax topper, but it’s not all about looks. Made from 100 percent Pinot Noir grapes, this sparkler, like all Pinots, delivers on the flavors and is born to go with food. Palate-cleansing bubbles and an aroma of passion fruit gave way to an unexpected dry taste on the palate. Respectful of hearty flavors, the stronger or spicier the food, the better it tastes. The group decided this was the wine to drink with dinner, even those who had not ever thought of sparkling wine that way before. The ultimate compliment, though, came from a male taster who declared that it was robust enough for beer drinkers in the catchy phrase, “Real men drink pink!” Available at Vino Divino, Metropulos Fine Foods, El Rancho Market and Los Olivos Grocery.

2007 Buttonwood Late Harvest Semillon

Santa Ynez Valley ($20)

Another pleasant surprise was the sparkle to this dessert wine, a slight effervescence when chilled. Deep and delicious, it had a woodsy bouquet with flavors of anise and cocoa. A true dessert wine, it paired beautifully with both chocolate and berries. Available at the winery.

2008 Huber Hafen Dornfelder Dessert Wine

Santa Rita Hills ($30)

This is dessert in a glass! Incredible deep purple ink color with an aroma of caramel, it’s velvety and rich and sweet enough to satisfy your dessert craving all on its own. We did pair it with chocolate, biscotti and camembert, all of which worked, and we were dying to pour it over ice cream for something truly decadent (another day …). This port-like beauty was a fitting finale to our holiday tasting. Available at the winery and the new Avant Tasting Room in Buellton.

As you gather family and friends to celebrate the special occasions this holiday season, please raise your glass in toasting the success of Edible Santa Barbara in its inaugural year. We hope you will continue to join us in our exploration of Santa Barbara County’s bountiful beverages in the years to come. Have a safe and wonderful holiday season. Until next time, cheers!

Diane Murphy and Laura Lindsey are the co-owners of Classic Vines, specializing in distribution and online sales of small-production wines. Visit classicvines.com.

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ALONG

edible Communities

edible Source Guide

a compact listing of all of our advertisers with the details of their businesses.

BREWERIES

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 from 4–6pm, Friday from 4–8pm, Saturday from 1–4pm. Telegraph beer is available at many restaurants and grocery stores in Santa Barbara County and throughout California. telegraphbrewing.com

CATERERS AND CHEFS

Fresh Foods

Private chef, cooking classes and catering by Kim Schiffer. 805 455-9713; kimschiffer.com

New West Catering

Uniting the artistry of fine restaurant dining 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

World Cuisine Express

World Cuisine Express provides healthy gourmet food delivered to you. Their entrees are fresh-cooked to order, never frozen. They also specialize in personalized dietary preferences for diabetic, low-carb and low-fat regimes. Chef Harold J. Welch. Cell: 805 403-7100 and Fax/ Telephone: 805 969-5270; worldcuisineexpress.com

FARMERS MARKETS

Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market

Eight markets, six days a week. See schedule on page 13. 805 962-5354; sbfarmersmarket.org

FARMS AND CSA PROGRAMS

Dey Dey’s Best Beef Ever

Local grassfed beef. Never any hormones, antibiotics or corn. Available at the following farmers markets: Sunday in Goleta (10am–2pm), Wednesday in Solvang (2:30–6pm) or directly from DeyDey (also known as Farmer John). He can be reached at 805 570-9000 or by email at BLDEGL@LIVE.COM

John Givens Farm

John Givens started John Givens Farm in the Goleta Valley under the “Something Good” label in 1980. Their produce is USDA Certified Organic and is raised on their farm locations in Santa Barbara County on 180 acres in 12 locations. Contact them by phone to join their CSA program. 805 964-4477.

SB Veggies/Avalon Farms

Weekly basket of fresh produce (free of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers). Produce baskets are available for pick up at the farm in Santa Barbara: 999 Veronica Springs Rd., Mondays 4–5:30pm. 805 680-1218; sbveggies.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. 6701 Casitas Pass Rd. Carpinteria; shepherdfarmscsa.com

FISH MARKETS

Santa Barbara Fish Market

Focusing on providing the community with the local fishermen’s fresh, daily harvest. Member of the Santa Barbara Sustainable Seafood Program. Located right at the harbor at 117 Harbor Way, Santa Barbara. 805 965-9564; sbfish.com

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

Sweet Earth Organic Chocolate

Providing organic, fair trade chocolate and truffles to retailers, grocery buyers, bakers, chefs and the general public. 1491 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo; 805 544-7759; sweetearthchocolates.com. Also visit projecthopeandfairness. org to find out more about helping cocoa farmers.

GROCERY STORES

Isla Vista Food Co-op

A community-owned food co-op highly regarded for its sustainable business practices and high-quality foods. Highlighting local, organic, fair-trade, shade-grown, farmer-owned, vegan, vegetarian, kosher, raw, gluten-free all-around sustainable ways of being. Open daily 8am–11pm. 6575 Seville Rd., Isla Vista. 805 968-1401; islavistafoodcoop.blogspot.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

Los Olivos Grocery

A small country store that offers the best gourmet and specialty foods as well as the basics of everyday life. Stop in for European style hearth breads, artisan cheeses from around the world, charcuterie, local and rare wines and the freshest locally grown and organic produce. 2621 W. Highway 154, Santa Ynez. 805 688-5115; losolivosgrocery.com

Whole Foods

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. 7am–10pm. 3761 State St., Santa Barbara, 805 837-6959; wholefoodsmarket.com

HOTELS AND SPAS

Ojai Valley Inn & Spa

The orchards, ranches and farms of the Ojai Valley yield the finest seasonal food the earth has to offer. Inspired by this rich, regional harvest, our chefs have mastered locally derived cuisine. 905 Country Club Rd., Ojai. 805 646-1111; ojairesort.com

LANDSCAPING AND GARDEN SERVICES

Worm Girl

Compost worm bin sales, bin set-up/consultation, casting harvest, troubleshooting, educational demonstrations, monthly service. 805 815-7233; wormgirl.org

LOCAL ORGANIC PRODUCE DELIVERY

Plow to Porch Organics, Inc.

Delivering a weekly box of delicious organic produce picked fresh from local farms. Local organic extras include honey, eggs, olive oils, pies and quiches, meals, as well as local sustainable seafood, organic fair trade coffees... and more. Delivered to your doorstep, school, business or designated drop-off spot. Joyfully serving Ventura, Carpinteria, Montecito, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Santa Ynez, Solvang and Buellton. plowtoporch.com

RESTAURANTS

Backyard Bowls

Santa Barbara’s newest breakfast and lunch spot featuring Acai Bowls—bowls of a thick smoothie made from acai, an antioxidant berry, topped with fresh fruit, granola and other toppings. They also offer oatmeal, yogurt, smoothies and more. 331 Motor Way (next to the city lot on State and Gutierrez streets), Monday–Friday 7am–6pm, Sat–Sun 8am–6pm. 805 845-5379; backyardbowls.com

Full of Life Flatbread Restaurant

On weekends the production space becomes a restaurant and a menu is offered based almost entirely on what is grown locally and in season. Open Fri, Sat 5–10pm and Sun 4–8pm. 225 West Bell St., Los Alamos. 805 344-4400; fulloflifefoods.com

Sojourner Cafe

Serving unique dishes created with wholesome natural ingredients for over 30 years. They purchase organic produce from local growers and carry local wines and beers. Open daily 11am–11pm., Sunday 11am–10pm. Lunch, dinner, weekend brunch. 134 E. Cañon Perdido St., Santa Barbara. 805 965-7922; sojournercafe.com

The Hitching Post II

From Santa Maria-style BBQ to contemporary cuisine such as smoked duck breast, ostrich, home-made soups and outstanding pastries and the “best” french fries in Southern California. They also offer their own world class Hartley Ostini Hitching Post Wines. Open daily except major holidays. Cocktails/wine tasting at 4pm Monday–Friday, 3pm Saturday–Sunday, dinners only, from 5–9:30pm Monday–Friday, 4–9:30pm Saturday–Sunday. 406 E. Highway 246, Buellton. 805 688-0676; hitchingpost2.com

SPECIALTY RETAILERS

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 through Friday 10am–6pm. Saturday 8am–6pm. Closed Sundays. 825 Santa Barbara St., Santa Barbara. 805 965-0318; cestcheese.com

Montecito Country Kitchen

Montecito Country Kitchen is Santa Barbara’s unique Mediterranean-flavored cooking school and online culinary boutique. From delicious classes showcasing the seasonal produce of local farmers markets to an enticing line of cookbooks, herbs, spices, exotic salts, olive oils and more, Montecito Country Kitchen brings you the essence of cooking in California. mckcuisine.com

OstrichLand USA

A unique ostrich and emu gift shop with fresh ostrich and emu eggs and frozen ostrich meat. You can also visit and feed the ostriches and emus. 610 East Highway 246 in Buellton. Daily 10am–5pm. 805 686-9696; ostrichlandusa.com

This Little Piggy Wears Cotton

Piggy is organic! The very best in high-quality merchandise for newborns to age 14, including specialty children’s clothing, accessories, toys and books. Located in Santa Barbara at Paseo Nuevo, in Montecito at 1470 East Valley Rd. Also located in Berkeley, Phoenix, Newport Beach and Santa Monica. littlepiggy.com

TOURS AND TRAVEL

GrapeHops

Wine, beer and food adventures in Italy, Spain and beyond. Explore the microbrew scene in Piedmont and Lombardy in Italy; experience the wonderful wine and extraordinary beauty of Galicia in northwest Spain; eat and drink your way through Venice, Italy. Visit grapehops.com or call 866 335-3397 for tour dates in 2010.

COOKING TOURS

Spanish Cooking Adventure with Chef Kim Schiffer

Learn to cook and fall in love with Spanish cuisine and experience Granada and the hilltowns of Andalucia. April 29–May 7 and October 21–28. Visit kimschiffer.com for more information.

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

Buttonwood Farm Winery

In 1968 Betty Williams came to Buttonwood, creating a life that found expression through a connection with the land. The 39-acre vineyard, started in 1983, 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. Open 11am–5pm daily. 805 688-3032; buttonwoodwinery.com

Roblar Winery & Cooking School

At Roblar, they understand that food and wine are inseparable. Come by their beautiful tasting room for a sampling of current releases, a delicious lunch on the shaded patio or join them for a lavish Sunday brunch, and don’t forget to ask about their calendar of cooking classes. Open for tasting Saturday–Sunday 10am–5pm, Monday–Friday 11am–5pm. 3010 Roblar Ave., Santa Ynez. 805 686-2603; roblarwinery.com

Zaca Mesa Winery and Vineyards

Zaca Mesa is a Santa Ynez Valley estate winery dedicated to Rhone varieties. Since 1972, they have hand crafted 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

edible Events

Additional events and updates can be found at ediblesantabarbara.com.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20

Tamale Making Party to Benefit Food from the Heart

This fun holiday event will combine demonstration, hands-on and degustation of fresh-made tamales. All proceeds will be donated to Food from the Heart, a local nonprofit group that delivers healthy meals to persons who are under hospice care or temporarily disabled. info@marketforays.com

FEBRUARY 4–14

The 25th Santa Barbara International Film Festival Visit sbfilmfestival.org for complete listing of screenings and special events.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26

Home-Scale Permaculture: Evening Talk— An Introduction to Permaulture Design with David White, PhD

6:30–9:30pm; Santa Barbara City College

Permaculture seeks to meet basic human needs while regenerating and sustaining natural systems. It is a design system rooted firmly in applied ecology, proven sustainable practices, and protracted observation of living systems that holds great promise as a solution to our environmental crises. David White will discuss what makes permaculture design unique, and his 20 years of bringing permaculture into classrooms and their curriculum, and his community of Ojai. Tuition: $12. For more information and to register, see sbcc. augusoft.net

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27

Home-Scale Permaculture: Transforming a Residential Lot with the Design Techniques of Permaculture

10am–3pm; Santa Barbara City College

Learn about permaculture while transforming your yard into a beautiful and productive landscape that mimics nature and provides you and your family with an edible landscape. Permaculture design techniques of Zones, Guilds, Stacking Functions, Mulching, Rainwater Harvesting and more will be discussed. A morning in the classroom, then afternoon at the SBCC Lifescape Gardens, practicing valuable techniques to take home. Tuition: $20. Instructor Green. For more information and to register, see sbcc.augusoft.net

SATURDAY, MARCH 20

Easy & Fresh Seafood

9:30am–3:30pm, Wake Center

Love fish but don’t know how to prepare it? Or are you concerned about the possible pollution in fish these days? We will discuss the best and cleanest seafood to eat, where to purchase it and the best way to prepare it. How does wild compare with farmed? Recipes will be prepared from what is available in the market at the time of the class and guaranteed to be delicious. Materials: $20. Instructor Landry. For more information and to register, see sbcc.augusoft.net

SAVE THE DATE

Taste of the Nation

The annual Taste of the Nation in Santa Barbara is scheduled for Sunday, May 23 at the Montecito Country Club. Visit the Share Our Strength website at taste.strength.org for more details.

SPIRITLAND BISTRO BYOB WINE DINNERS

Bring a bottle of the theme wine to share and enjoy a gourmet organic 4-course dinner and speaker. 6:30–9:30pm. Cost is $49 including tax and tip. Seating is limited, advance reservations by credit card are required. See their website at spiritlandbistro.com for more info. Upcoming themes are:

January 27: Spanish Reds

Louisa Lindquist (Verdad Winery)

February 24: Super Tuscan Blends

Peter Stolpman (Stolpman Vineyards)

March 24: Syrah from the Americas

Peter Work (Ampelos Cellars)

March 31: Syrah from the Americas (second session)

Bob & Ethan Lindquist (Qupe Wine Cellars & Ethan Wines)

Share your best green recipe using local and sustainable ingredients and win lunch hosted by Thekla and Richard Sanford at Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards. Entry deadline is January 31st. See their website at almarosawinery.com for more details or email RecipeContest@almarosawinery.com

NEW FARMERS MARKET

Harding Elementary School

Wednesdays, 3–6:30pm; 1625 Robbins St.

The latest addition to our wonderful farmers markets is on Wednesdays from 3–6:30pm at Harding Elementary School. For more info visit sbfarmersmarket.org.

CONTINUING EDUCATION CLASSESS

For dates, times and to register, see sbcc.augusoft.net

Cooking Fresh, Winter to Spring

Make nutritious winter dinners, using the beautiful products unique to Santa Barbara. In each session we will create a three course meal and discuss the techniques and materials specific to each menu. This hands-on class is designed to build your cooking confidence and skill level. Fees vary according to the number of hours each class section meets, $85–$75. Instructor Molony.

Simple,

Sensational, Seasonal Cooking for Winter

Cooking with the seasons means eating what mother nature intended at the peak of its freshness. This 8-week course is for both beginners and accomplished homecooks. Materials: $80. Instructor Hollander.

Warming Winter Stews

Hearty, but not heavy, wonderful stews featuring organic chicken, beef and seafood meal-in-one stews. Californiastyle dishes will please the whole family. Two-week course. Materials: $20. Instructor Landry.

Organic Gardening: Mastering the Techniques

Learn gardening the natural way. Grow your own fresh vegetables—organic, healthful and plentiful. Topics will include: organic fertilizers, composting made easy, building good soil, pest control, container gardening and culinary gardens. Eight weeks. Materials: $5. Instructor Ebner.

Edible and Medicinal Plants

Learn the wild plants of the Santa Barbara area together with their edible medicinal and survival properties and their historic uses in a series of easy-to-moderate Saturday morning hikes. First class will meet at the Wake center, all other class meetings will meet at the trailheads designated by the instructor. Nine weeks. Instructor Reinhart.

ALMA ROSA RECIPE CONTEST

THE LAST BITE

Richard and

Thekla

(OR SHALL WE SAY SIP?)

Sanford of Alma Rosa Winery and Vineyards

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROE ANNE WHITE

There are nuances and stories behind every sip of Alma Rosa wine. Richard and Thekla Sanford have been a source of inspiration in Santa Barbara County for decades as they continue to grow and produce wines of extraordinary flavor and integrity. In 1970 Richard came to the Santa Ynez Valley, specifically the Santa Rita Hills area, after determining that it had just the right geography and climate to grow the Burgundian varietals he was interested in. First as Sanford & Benedict, then Sanford Winery and now with Alma Rosa, the Sanfords continue to impress us all with their high standards for quality wines, organic farming and sustainable agriculture.

It was Thekla who was the inspiration for organic farming, and they planted the first organic vineyard in Santa Barbara County in the early 1980s. And the area that Richard so carefully researched was recognized as the accredited American Viticultural Area Sta. Rita Hills in 2001. Their vineyards are located on an original Mexican land grant, Rancho Santa Rosa. In Spanish alma means soul, so they deliberately and poetically chose the name Alma Rosa to reflect the soul of the land. As environmental heroes and makers of world-class wines, their commitment to the natural world and spirit of the land impart meaning to each sip of their wine.