Loading ...We were excited about the quality and variety of stone fruits and berries that we were able to offer on our menu last week, so Jay and I repeated the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market expedition this week. This time we went armed with a bit more experience and a better idea of the quantities we need to buy so that everyone in our community can more fully appreciate the bounty.
We came back with a car FULL of great fruit. Peaches (Lehman farms, Fitzgerald’s, Reiger Farms), nectarines (Tenerelli Orchards), plums and pluots (Pritchett Orchards, Fitzgerald’s), cherries (Lapins this week, from Tenerelli), red raspberries and marrionberries (Pudwill’s Berries), and blueberries (7th Heaven, up in Big Sur).
A few of the varietals are different from last week- we especially enjoyed the Santa Rosa plum, which is new this week, from Jim at Pritchett Orchards in Visalia. It’s juicy and sweet, with a stronger finish than the plumcot grown on the same farm. It’s interesting to eat them side-by-side, in part because it’s easier to appreciate the softer apricot-influenced finish in the plumcot this way. If you find yourself confused, look for the plum’s slightly spotted skin. The difference in peaches is enjoyable, too- the Virgin Blush white peach from Fitzgerald’s is very sweet and sort of floral, especially when eaten side-by-side with the June Lady peach from Reiger, which is more acidic and less sweet.
On the way back home, we stopped off at a tiny little place in Newport Beach tucked away at the end of a short dock on the Back Bay called Pearson’s Port. This is little mom and pop shop, the walls of which are lined by live tanks. They sell prawns in the spring and summer and crabs in the fall and winter, when each is in season. They also have a small selection of fish-some locally caught, some frozen and shipped. All in all, it’s a great find, especially if you’re looking for very fresh and local seafood.
These spot prawns are trapped in the Newport Trench, which is a 600-1000 foot deep trench in the ocean floor off the coast, and sold alive. Prawns like this are only found in deep waters- typically in deep canyons or in cracks in the continental shelf off the west coast, by California and Alaska. They’re called spot prawns because of the spots they have on each side. (Technically, they’re a type of shrimp, but there’s nothing shrimpy about them so everyone calls them prawns.) We came home with somewhere close to 60…
we’ll see how long they last