Hues, Blues and Pears in Haikus

It’s transition time: the time of year when all of a sudden you look up and notice that the light is waking you up before your alarm clock and evening is stretching longer with warm and pleasant hues. There is that anticipatory feeling of change on the horizon – and while it isn’t as palpable as the 5th-grade evolution from maroon Sears Toughskins into 6th-grade denim Levi’s – it is real and changing. Strawberries and blueberries are coming on now, and peaches and nectarines will start to trickle in over the next few weeks with very early varieties. Berries are sweet while stone fruit (those fruits like peaches and nectarines with pits in the middle) will build in taste as the sunlight coaxes sugar into the fruit over the next month. We make a very deliberate effort to find as much regional fruit as is available based upon where your office is located.

West Coast: On the west coast, we are buying organic blueberries from Sandra in the Santa Barbara region. Here she is with her dog Noodles.
Sandra’s blueberries are so sweet that all the hip birds in California migrate to Santa Barbara to try and eat her crop. Luckily, their journey is to no avail. Sandra protects her blueberries from the birds by netting nearly all of her land. (Hipsters fly home but watch out for the cool cats.) The photo below is a shot Dan (our buyer) took of her rows of blueberries and the netting that stretches over each row. She admits that it is a significant effort, but we think that it pays off both in taste and quality.
East Coast: Blueberries on the east coast are coming to us out of Florida, although some of the organic blues are coming from other regions. We are looking forward to New Jersey blueberries, but that season won’t start in full until June. Erin M (who buys on the east coast) is continuing to work with our friends at Subarashii Kudamono in Coopersberg, Pennsylvania, who have produced a wonderful, sweet and chewy, caramel colored dried Asian pear. You’ve got to respect any farm that has a Haiku on its website: “Peaceful and Serene, the orchard’s quiet beauty; I serve to my guests.” As Erin M says: “Cool man, cool.” (Two snaps all around.) You can check out their website here.
We have expanded our postings of the fruit mixes on our website.

Have a question about what fruit you’ve picked from the FruitGuys crate? Go to our In This Week’s Mix page.

Enjoy and be fruitful! – Chris Mittelstaedt chiefbanana@fruitguys.com