Tommy Atkins is the most prolific mango variety overall, a seedling of Haden that first fruited in 1940 in Florida. Red blushed, succulent, rich deep flavor, and a floral/piney scent are highlights of this cultivar. Even though there are less fibrous, more flavorful mango varieties, growers worldwide have embraced the Tommy Atkins for its exceptional productivity and disease resistance, shelf-life, transportability, size, and appealing color. Currently coming in from Peru, this is our basic mango. As they come more into their season, ripeness will improve.

An alternate, just in from Mexico is the Ataulfo (or, Manila), a flat, canary yellow variety originally from the Philippines. They possess a silken, near creamy texture, a nectared, spicy-sweet flavor and a small seed, which translates to a good yield per fruit.

Mangos are a cashew family member, related to the pistachio, Peruvian pepper tree, and poison ivy (!). Botanically the fruit is a drupe, consisting of an outer skin, a fleshy edible portion, and a stone enclosing a single seed. Varieties range in size from 2 to 10 inches and from 4 ounces to 5 pounds in weight.

Mangiferi indica, or “an Indian plant bearing mangos”, date back over 5,000 years to the Hindo-Burma region of India. Wild, indigenous varieties are also found in Malaysia. Chinese history traces mangos to about 645 B.C. One of the most cultivated fruits of the tropical world, many cultures use its fruit and leaves for floral decorations at weddings, public celebrations and religious ceremonies.

A mango salsa (with any combination of avocado, cucumber, peppers, chiles, shallot, lime/lemon/orange juice, ginger, mint, cilantro) is perfect with shrimp, crab, fish, pork or poultry. Beverage-wise, options include lassi, frappes, daiquiris, martinis, and spritzers. For dessert, consider a mango strudel with banana and pistachio, a mango sour cream crumb cake, or a mango cobbler, ice cream, or cheesecake. Whip up a macadamia nut brittle and a caramel sauce for the ultimate mango split. Try green mangos in a slaw, or pickle them, or make chutney. Interesting note about pickling: as green mangos were often pickled, other pickled fruits came to be called “mangos”. By the 18th century, the word “mango” also became a verb meaning “to pickle”.

Like a black dress or blue suit, Belgian endive is perfect for almost any occasion at any time of year. It has a unique, two-tiered growing process. First the chicory is grown outside for about 5 months. The plant tops are then cut off (used for cattle fodder or green manure) and the large roots are harvested and placed in cold storage.  As needed, the roots are then placed in a highly specialized controlled atmosphere building for forced growing in the dark for about one month. We’ve taken the tour, just down the road in Rio Vista, and it is an amazing process to see. Because of this controlled growth, Belgian Endive is available year round. We’ve worked with Rich Collins at California Vegetable Specialties for over 28 years. (Read on for an interview with him.)

A chicory family member, related to radicchio, escarole and curly endive, Belgian Endive, or Witloof (white leaf) originally popped up from overwintering chicory roots in a root cellar. Imagine the delight in discovering crispy, crunchy fresh nubbins in the dead of winter in Belgium. Here’s the back story as gleaned from California Vegetable Specialties website, www.endive.com:

History
Endive — The Accidental Vegetable
: In 1830, Jan Lammers returned from the Belgian War of Independence to his farm near Brussels, where he had stored chicory roots in his cellar while he was away, intending to dry and roast them and use as a coffee substitute. But his chicory roots, resting for months in the dark, damp environment, had achieved a different result. They had sprouted small white leaves. Curious, he tried the leaves and found them to be tender, moist, and crunchy, with a pleasant, slightly bitter taste. Thus, a new vegetable was discovered — endive.

White Gold: 
It took a while before cultivation was refined enough to grow the vegetable commercially. Legend has it that endive took the world by storm when introduced in Paris in 1872, quickly becoming so popular that it was nicknamed “white gold.”

Georganne Brennan has a delicious recipe for Belgian endive and watercress with smoked trout, featuring a warm shallot/tarragon dressing in The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook.  In The Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook, Alice Waters proffers a Belgian endive risotto recipe with Taleggio and Walnuts. Braised, steamed or boiled, endive pairs perfectly finished with cream, or with a shalloty sauce Meuniere, or Mornay. Most any configuration of ham and cheese play well with Belgian endive. Raw, try pairing with slivers of fennel and red pepper and a dipping sauce, from a green goddess, Russian, or Anchovy. 

Marion Morash in her Victory Garden cookbook stuffs a breast of veal with a Belgian endive and ham stuffing.  She also has an “extra easy” chicken and endive recipe in which chicken thighs, Belgian endive, and whole shallots are baked with butter, salt and pepper, sealed tightly. Ah, Belgian endive, we love you: always in season, and incredibly versatile!

3 Food Questions

Weekly interview with local chefs, cheese mongers and farmers

Rich Collins

California Vegetable Specialties, Inc.

www.endive.com
Founded: 1983
Working with GreenLeaf since 1984
Specialties: Belgian endive, white and red

Earliest Food Memory:
Bologna. I was 3 or 4, standing in front of the deli counter at Corti Brothers market with my mom. This big, burly white jacketed Italian guy with glasses offered me a slice of bologna. I loved it. It was a very kind gesture, and good marketing, too.

Why Farming?
Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a farmer. I remember driving by Farmer’s Insurance Company when I was 5 or 6, and thinking, “Wow, there must be farmers in there!” My parents, 4th generation San Franciscans, had encyclopedias for us, and the sections on farming were just about worn out. Growing up we had a one acre market vegetable garden, but I needed additional funds as I was entering UC Davis’ Agricultural program. At 18 I became a dishwasher at Restaurant LaSalle in Sacramento. Great place, eclectic staff, from a Ugandan chef to a Swiss maître d’ and a pastry chef with a Ph.D. At a VIP birthday party the chef/owner braised Belgian endive. He said, “This is what you should grow, it sells for $4.00 per pound and no one is growing it in the U.S.”  The next day I went to my seed supplier and asked for endive. He gave me curly endive seeds. I explained I wanted Belgian endive, and in 1978, with one seed packet, I grew my first crop of roots, forcing them in lard cans. I stuck the roots in my 3×5 foot closet, and got about 20 pathetic, anemic sprouts. I served them in a salad to my family to underwhelming praise. I was determined, though, and after college I went to Europe to learn how to grow Belgian endive properly. I knew I needed a niche to succeed in farming, and I found it. People said I could not do it, and in fact, Rebel Farms was our original name. It’s worked out pretty well in the end.

Favorite Belgian endive recipe?
So many! Last night I pan seared halved spears in olive oil, then braised in chicken stock with a touch of nutmeg. Once soft, I grated Parmesan on to finish with the pan covered. Also, any salad combination with mache and/or arugula. I use rice vinegar, shallot, sunflower oil and a touch of Dijon mustard to dress. Adding matchstick apples, chunks of pears, or segmented citrus is always delicious – something sweet to balance the slight natural bitterness of Belgian endive.

Biggest challenge?
Ignorance. Not stupidity. The lack of consumer awareness is our biggest competitor. Many people don’t know what endive is. Over 30 years later, we are still answering this litany of questions: “What is it, how do you grow it, what’s it taste like, how do you cook it, and how do you pronounce it?” 

Farm to Table

Inspiration from local chefs

Gloria Ciccarone
The Huntington Hotel, Big Four Restaurant
www.huntingtonhotel.com
Working with GreenLeaf since 1980

Earliest food memories?
Packing basil leaves in oil with my grandmom. I also remember making stuffed breast of veal when I was 8 years old with my father in our family restaurant, the Avalon Inn, in Bethel, Connecticut. I cut my finger on the slicer when I was 11 one busy Saturday night, and my mother patched me up in the pantry to get through service.

Favorite ways to use Belgian endive?
Beyond using it as a gorgeous garnish, we marinate halved red Belgian endive in an aged sherry vinaigrette, grill briefly for a slight char, then finish in the oven with a really good Mountain Gorgonzola.

Favorite spring vegetables?
Artichokes, #1 favorite.  I love to make a ragout of fennel, favas, spring carrots and onion. Melt it all together, finish with chervil and use it as a bed for a nice piece of fish.

Biggest challenge?
Keeping staff fresh and excited, and the customers happy at the same time. Also, making my hair look good every day – a challenge in a kitchen!

This week’s tidbit: Play with Your Food

Why did GreenLeaf pioneer the Toybox Series over 20 years ago?  (First with organic cherry tomatoes, then mixed heirloom tomatoes, baby carrots, eggplant, peppers, chiles, wine grapes).

To get you the most, and best, varieties packed in a user-friendly quantity. The farmers we work with select the seasons peak heirlooms, with pride of growership apparent. The Toybox Series is also of great support to the creative backbone of the produce world, local small-scale family farmers.  It encourages them to plant an ever-more diverse mix because they know we’re working with them to market and sell their prime fare to a growing, appreciative audience – you!  One key to success in a very competitive market is to distinguish your food and menus with peak season produce. Use the best to achieve excellence, recognition and repeat customers.  This is why, for over 35 years, we have worked with the best growers and suppliers. Our aim is to help Chefs and Farmers grow.

Menu Inspiration of the Week: Green Garlic

While we’ve got one month until official spring and barring meteorological catastrophe it looks like an early landing this year. Our stalwart partners Rick and Kristie Knoll say the dry, cold winter in Brentwood bodes well for bumper crops of stone fruit. It also means a later start for them on their unparalleled green garlic, known by many as THE green garlic.  “We’re a bit behind seasonal norm this year. Our green garlic was frozen to the ground for six weeks, and needs another couple weeks until we really get going on harvest”, said Rick. We will augment from Capay.

The chicory family is large and diverse.  Chicorium intybus, a group of perennial cultivated plants, developed from wild chicory. In old England the wild plant was called succory. In Italian and French, the moniker was barbe de capuchin and barbe di cappuccino, translating to “Capuchin monk’s beard”. Wild chicory was used as a vegetable and salad green in classical Greece and Rome, harvested young to avoid the bitterness found in more mature plants. Cultivation commenced in the 1600’s and today there are hundreds of permutations including Puntarelle, or “little points”, Sugarloaf, many radicchios including Tardivo, Variegata and Castle Franco. A large rooted variety was developed in Holland in the mid 1800’s, dried, ground and used as an alternate to coffee, which was just gaining popularity and which was quite expensive. To this day this ground chicory finds itself blended with coffee and consumed in France, Spain, and New Orleans in particular. Then there’s Witloof (white leaf), which we know in it’s sprouted form, Belgian Endive, born from harvested roots and cultivated in the dark. Chicory takes many forms, from broad and narrow leaved varieties to loose leaves to fully headed types. C. endivia is a kissing cousin to chicory, and includes Curly Endive, Escarole, and Frisee.

There’s chicory, and then there’s County Line Harvest’s mixed chicories, an enticing mix of 4-8 heirloom varieties commingling in one 5-pound, chef-friendly case. Most all of David’s chicories end up in salads.
Their bracing bitterness is usually balanced with something sweet, one or several ingredients including,  citrus, apples, pears, peppers, roasted beets, parsnips, yams, sweet potatoes, rutabaga, or either black Spanish or Watermelon radish. Also, a cheese and/or toasted nut for complimentary concord and texture play well in the salad bowl, and another protein shows up often, a favorite being bacon or pancetta with or without some of the fat used in the dressing. Cooking mellows chicory. A long, slow, vinegary braise creates a lush, soft, mellow dish, perfect finished with some combo of lemon juice, red chile flakes, garlic and oil. Talk about comfort food!

3 Food Questions

Weekly interview with local chefs, cheese mongers and farmers

David Retsky
County Line Farms, Petaluma, Thermal
Founded April 1st, 2000, no fooling!
Working with GreenLeaf since: 2000
Specialties: Baby mixed and Little Gem lettuces, chicory mix, baby beets, Tokyo turnips

Earliest Food Memory: Processed ham, American cheese and Miracle Whip on Wonder Bread.  I can still taste that sandwich. How’s that for local and seasonal?!

Why Farming? Find me something else that stimulates my mind and body as much as farming and I’ll change careers.

Favorite mixed chicory recipe? If it were date night, my signature salad. Shredded mixed chicories with a medium boiled farm egg, Point Reyes Blue, and a simple vinaigrette. I’ll eat this for breakfast.

Biggest challenge?  Making payroll every week. Farming is not for the faint of heart. It’s an endeavor; I feel like I’m raising a baby, really a toddler now.  It’s very time consuming, especially with properties north and south now.

Farm to Table

Inspiration from local chefs

Gerald Hirigoyen
Piperade
Working with GreenLeaf since: 1985 (San Tropez)

Earliest food memory?
As a child, going to my Uncle’s farm, milking cows, boiling the milk and getting to eat the cream on top. I also loved duck confit.

Currently serving:
Mixed chicory salad fresh tarragon, chives, parsley, roasted “perfect blonde” almonds from Yuba City, dressed with a pear vinaigrette.

Favorite winter vegetable?
Brussels sprouts, home grown broccoli, and my kids love parsnips.

Biggest challenges?
To stay fresh, current, and as I get older to keep up my energy. I’m exercising a lot and eating a lot of vegetables to stay fired up.  I am so slim!

This week’s tidbit: Grooving with Growers

GOne potato, two potato….

French Fingerling Potatoes – Florence Fabricant in The Great Potato Book says: “One of the newer varieties in the rapidly expanding fingerling category is called the French fingerling, in a nod to the ancestry of the seed stock. It’s a plump elongated oval with a smooth red skin and light yellow flesh mottled and streaked with a hint of red that has a silky texture and a rich flavor with a hint of mineral. The starch content is medium to low, making it a lovely candidate to incorporate whole in recipes that give it a chance to absorb a sauce without falling apart.”   Other fingerling varieties on hand include Red Thumb, Ruby Crescent, the new all red Amarosa, Banana, and purple Peruvian.

Mixed Marbles (a red, Banana fingering, and purple mélange) are lovely, and from T&D Willey Farms choose from both baby red and Yukon Golds, German Butterballs.

Last spud note: WA Yukon Gold season is winding down; market firming. Nascent CA crop is quality challenged, especially on AA size; an annual occurrence.

Celery root, or celeriac, in its present form dates back to the early 1600’s, when larger roots were developed from the wild plant. This knobby root is a different plant from celery proper. Its rustic look belies it’s subtle, delicious flavor. In prime season August through March, celery root is adaptable to many uses, raw or cooked. Once peeled, store in acidulated water to preserve its creamy ivory color. Beyond classic Remoulade, take a crack at a Waldorfian blend with apples, walnuts and celery, chicken or turkey optional. Try a toothsome mixed root slaw with colorful purple kohlrabi, scarlet turnips, or rainbow carrots in the mix. A creamy, smooth celery root puree is perfect for your winter plates, and a lush soup hits the spot in cold weather, with or without Jerusalem artichokes. Paired with long cooked meats, a rich mixed gratin with celery root, potatoes and yams is enticing. Janet Fletcher, in her book, Fresh From the Farmers’ Market, has a great recipe for steamed mussels with celery root and aioli. Georganne Brennan makes a colorful, interesting blood orange and celery root salad  beautiful served over mache, frisee or Belgian endive. Mixed beet and celery root vinaigrette has appeal. Some chefs parboil ½ inch slices, dry, flour, egg, coat in Panko or buttery bread crumbs and deep fry to delectable effect. Diced celeriac mixed with duxelles is a pleasing addition to baked, stuffed mushroom caps. Bake a wintry leek, potato and celery root tarte tatin. Alternate layers of browned turkey cutlets with sautéed onion, cooked celery root slices, and slather on a Mornay sauce before baking.  Or simply boil wedges ‘til tender, drain, and dress with brown butter and shallots.

3 Food Questions

Weekly interview with local chefs, cheese mongers and farmers

Christine Coke

Coke Farms, San Juan Bautista, San Benito County

Founded in 1982
Working with GreenLeaf since: 1984
Specialties: Celery root, braising mix, baby beets, Meyer lemons, lettuce

Earliest Food Memory: Liver- the one I hate the most, liver and spinach. I was a skinny, anemic baby and my mother thought that was what I needed. On a sweeter note, Mashed carrots, oh, and chocolate!

Why Farming: Fun, never boring, and I learn new stuff every day.

Favorite Celery Root recipe?  Celery root remoulade.  I’m Swiss, and it’s a deli staple back home. When I got here there was none, and when Dale asked to marry me I told him he would have to grow lots of celery root. He agreed, and it’s one of our staples. I use lots of lemon juice, and sometimes walnut oil.

Biggest challenge?  Wearing so many hats. Beyond all that’s entailed in growing, mastering human resources, accounting, sales, prioritizing, and balancing it all with personal life.

Farm to Table

Inspiration from local chefs

Roland Passot
La Folie, Left Bank Group
Working with GreenLeaf since: 1987

Earliest food memory?
Boiled pig ears and tails, salted, with mustard.  A childhood memory from summers at my Grandfather’s huge garden, in Sainte-Chamond. We’d be up with the sun, snack on the pig parts, then weed, play and plant. He had a long stick with a can on one end to pick ripe apricots. It was the best fruit I’ve ever tasted.

Currently serving:
Celery root panna cotta with smoked duck tongue, served with duck breast.

Favorite winter vegetables?
Musquee du Provence/Fairytale Squash, and Parsnips

Biggest challenges?
To find, keep and encourage good employees to create a good experience for our diners. To stay on top of industry trends, and to be inspired.

This week’s tidbit: Grooving with Growers

What’s the story on GreenLeaf Truck signs and how do I get one?

In 2000 an advertising company asked to “rent” space, offering $750.00/month per truck side to promote bottled iced tea. $1,500.00/month times twenty trucks (now 40 ) was enticing. We decided against it, but realized the value of the space. The idea formed to support and promote our valuable customers who purchase a majority of their produce, dairy and cheese from us by putting up a quote from a review.  Adding to the fun, we also run food related quotes, such as “The cow is of the bovine ilk. One end is moo, the other milk”  by Ogden Nash.  Interested?  Just give your Sales Rep a call to discuss.

It is commonly held that Janet Keiller of Dundee, Scotland, was the inventor of the modern-day marmalade. Keiller ran a sweets and preserves shop, and it is rumored her son James came upon a shipment of sour oranges that he couldn’t sell. A batch of orange marmalade was concocted, and the rest, as they say, is history. Dundee Marmalade is one of the most well-known examples of marmalade on the market.

One need not rely on the classic Seville orange to achieve a glorious marmalade. With winter being the time for citrus, consider some tasty alternatives like a Meyer lemon marmalade, or perhaps blood orange. Grapefruit makes a particularly zesty preserve, or you can mix and match your citrus for more flavor, like a Meyer Lemon and Moro Blood Orange marmalade. Floral, tangy and complex, with gorgeous pink to deep-red color, this is a wonderful extension of the classic marmalade tradition. And not just for the breakfast table, marmalades make excellent additions to marinades, fillings for pastry and glazes for cakes. Other options include Mandarinquats, Buddha’s Hand and Bergamot.

For breakfast, craft a Meyer lemon marmalade or a rich, buttery curd for spreading over scones, and serve fat wedges with smoked salmon and bagels. For dinner, dredge paper thin slices of Meyer and fry along with your frito misto – and add a touch of juice and zest to the dipping sauce. Serve alongside plump sardines and shaved fennel for a bright winter salad. And combine with melted butter and drizzle over roasted root vegetables, Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes. Meyer lemons are superb with salmon–roasted, poached or grilled. And preserved Meyer lemons add an intriguing twist to the classic Moroccan chicken with olives dish.

For dessert, creamy Meyer ice cream creates a nice balance between luscious and tart-sweet. Serve alone or in a semifreddo or bombe glacée. Sorbet is a natural too. Pound cakes and short cakes also benefit from a shower of finely minced zest in the batter or glaze.

For cocktail hour, create simple syrups with plenty of Meyer lemon zest for flavoring cocktails and sweetening tea. A well-crafted Meyer Lemon Drop is a house favorite!

GreenLeaf stocks fresh Meyer lemons (local organic Meyers whenever possible) along with frozen puree, too. Call us today for your order!

What’s a chef to do? In addition to Apples, Pears, Chocolate and Nuts, and a pantry full of in-season Citrus fruit, look to the pantry and freezer. We have high quality Blackberry, Blueberry, Cranberry, Raspberry and Strawberry frozen purees in 30-ounce re-sealable jars (which conveniently fit bar pours). There are also Individually Quick Frozen Strawberries, whole or sliced, Blackberries and Blueberries, in 30-pound cases, plus Cranberries and Raspberries in 10-pound cases. Last are frozen Huckleberries, sold per pound, plus 30-pound tubs of pitted Montmorency cherries in sugar syrup.. But wait, there’s more! Along with a host of other dried fruit, we stock dried Strawberries, Blueberries and Cranberries.

These alternates to fresh berries often provide better flavor and value in winter. Check out all of your options on your price/product list, at www.greenleafsf.com. If you’re not already set up for online product/price viewing (and ordering, if you choose), just give Customer Service a call and they will set you up … it’s easy! If you’re not familiar with our website, once signed up there are many useful tools there for your use. You may view your order history, run usage reports over a set time period, and view pending, placed orders. Information is power–check it out if you haven’t already!

Trifles are commonly recognized as having arisen from the Renaissance period in England. Layered desserts, they began as thickened cream flavored with liquor and spices, and evolved eventually to compositions of cake or pastry soaked in liquor, flavored custards and creams, and fruit or nuts.

Puddings and trifles need not be overly dense, or exceedingly sweet, to honor the spirit of the original recipes. Consider a steamed persimmon pudding, or an orange pudding studded with jewel-like cranberries. Or perhaps a gingerbread pudding, served with orange-scented hard sauce. For your trifles, go with layers of chocolate sponge, chestnut cream, and dark chocolate mousse. Or go light with white sponge soaked in Meyer lemon syrup, lemon custard and pistachios.

GreenLeaf has all the essentials for these classic holiday desserts: Dried fruit, citrus zests, spices, heavy cream, butter and fine chocolate. Create a stunning centerpiece dessert for your holiday menus, and call us today for all your supplies!