Farmer's Market Thursday- South Pasadena

Hoping for some afternoon sunshine in South Pass! Come on down folks. Today we will be offering a wide variety of mushrooms at the booth such as Maitake, Baby Shiitake, King Oyster, Pioppini etc.

Check out the market website for the 411.

Ramps are here!!

Ramps and Wild Leeks are the same plant, a type of wild-growing onion generally presented fresh with the green leaves attached to the small white bulb. 

Ramps and Wild Leeks are distinguished primarily by growing in different regions. Where they are found growing in the Appalachian range, they are known as Ramps. Harvest in this region typically begins around the middle of April. A few weeks later they are harvested in the Great Lakes region where they are called Wild Leeks.

We just got a fresh batch of these wonderful greens today! Come visit us at one of our farmers' markets and pick up some Ramps!

Here is a cool recipe I found. Stoked!

“Wild Leek Marmalade”

A delicious accompaniment to roasted or grilled meats, poultry and game, this sweet/sour/savory condiment is also great with sandwiches and cheese.

So who cares whether it’s called a jam, relish, marmalade or chutney – point is, it’s delicious!

Ingredients:

•                2 lb wild leek bulbs, fresh or thawed frozen

•                2 Tbsp unsalted butter

•                1 cup dry sherry

•                2 cups dark brown sugar

•                2 cups cider vinegar

•                2 tsp mustard powder

•                2 Tbsp yellow mustard seed

•                2 tsp salt

•                1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

Slice the wild leek bulbs crosswise into 1/4 inch long pieces.

Melt the butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced ramp bulbs and cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften and become a light golden brown. This should take about 15 minutes.

Fresh Blonde Morels

The morel season has begun. These wonderful Blonde Morels just arrived today. They have a wonderful intoxicating aroma & flavor that is like no other.

Blonde Morels, also known as sponge mushrooms, yellow morels, white morels etc, possess a honeycombed, hollow, cone-shaped cap ranging in size from 2 to 4 inches high (and often much larger).

Blonde morels vary in color from a rich tan to pale golden yellow and are found in both conifer and hardwood forests. This highly-prized wild mushroom ranges from the Pacific Northwest across to the Eastern Woodlands, but is best known from the lower Midwest up through the Great Lakes region, with scattered harvests from late spring into early Summer.

Esteemed by mushroom lovers, blonde morel mushrooms are renowned for their exceptional flavor and unusual texture.

Hello Monday

Gearing up for another productive week here at the farm. Thanks for all those who came out last week to support us at the farmers' markets. Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter festivities. Cheers!

Nameko Mushrooms

The Nameko is a unique looking mushroom that we cultivate here at the farm. This orange colored mushroom is super popular in Asia where it is a standard ingredient in Miso soup. The Nameko has a natural gelatin on its cap that works wonders for thickening soups and sauces. Our friends over at Gjelina, make an amazing duck sausage pizza with our Nameko mushrooms, mozzarella, and olive oil. Looks delicious, now I'm hungry...

I know some of you have been asking for Nameko recipes at the local farmers' markets so I came across this one earlier today. I am going to sample it out for dinner this week and if you find a better one, feel free to post a comment.

Miso Soup with Nameko Mushrooms

Serves 4 as a first course

Dashi is a broth made from the sea vegetable kombu, collected from the icy coastal waters of the islands of Japan. It may be purchased in Asian or natural foods stores as a dehydrated powdered broth. Traditionally, miso is made from fermented soy beans with combinations of grains. Red miso is usually made with rice. Mixed withnameko mushrooms, this soup is delicious. 3 cups water About 1 tablespoon dashi powder 3-1/2 tablespoons red miso 1/2 cup diced tofu (optional) One 7-ounce can nameko mushrooms

Heat the water in a large saucepan and add 1 tablespoondashi powder, or the amount required to make 4 cups ofdashi (see the instructions on the dashi powder container). In a small bowl, liquefy the miso with 3 to 4 tablespoons of the dashi water, then mix with the remainder of the dashiwater in the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and immediately add the tofu and the nameko mushrooms with their liquid. After a half minute or so, when the broth is heated almost to the boiling point, the soup is ready to be served. Do not overcook.

Farmers' Market Sunday- Santa Monica

Today was another SH debut in the land of farmers' markets. We are rather excited to have this opportunity to share our farm fresh mushrooms with the community in a pleasant outdoor environment. Today we setup shop off of Main street in old town Santa Monica for their Sunday market. We also unveiled the new banner (thanks Kristen)! Our market booth is coming along and will be evolving in the coming weeks.

Our farm selection that we offered included some of our favorite varieties that we cultivate (King Oyster, Maitake, Abalone, Clamshells) as well as our seasonal wild foraged mushrooms (Yellow foot chanterelles and Black trumpets) and our seasonal wild greens (sea beans). Thanks for the warm welcome from the Santa Monica community. We appreciate the support and are looking forward to the market season.

Farmers' Market Thursday- South Pasadena

Today we made our debut at the South Pasadena Farmers' Market located in the historic Mission street district. Big hugs and thanks out to Greta Dunlop (market manager) for welcoming us into the market family. The wonderful afternoon sunshine really brought out the crowds. I was surprised to meet so many folks who are just as passionate about mushrooms as we are. The kids just love our mushroom stickers, make sure to ask for some when you stop by the booth.

Our captain of the ship, Matt Parker knows all the 411. If you have questions, he has the answers.

Farmers' Market Friday- Redondo Beach

The SH fam bam will be posted up at the Riviera Village farmers' market today from 3-7pm. I just picked some gems from the farmhouse, excited to show them off. We will have a variety of fresh mushrooms for sale today. Stop by and support your local neighborhood farmer. And don't' forget to ask for some stickers!

Spago

In 1982, Wolfgang Puck opened the doors of Spago, his flagship restaurant. The word Spago literally translates as a piece of string or spaghetti. The menu offers a variety of fish and meats with Italian and Asian influences. What Spago does, it does rather well which is likely the reason it has survived for 29 years. Spago has been part of the SH family since day one. The chefs are currently fans of our Maitake and Black Trumpet mushrooms, shown in the photo below. Next time you find yourself wandering around Rodeo Drive and are completely famished after a long day of shopping, roll into Spago for a glass of wine and a bite or two.

In Foraging We Trust

To be honest, before I started working here at the farm I had never heard of the term "foraging" so I had to do my homework and quickly figured it all out. Foraging is simply the act of looking or searching for food or provisions. Thank you Jesus for the World Wide Web. Apparently foraging is quite a skill and there is definitely an art to doing it well. I asked some of our foragers in Central California to send me a video from the field while they are on the hunt but I am still waiting on the media. So instead check out this Youtube of this friendly dude foraging chanterelles. Our yellow chanterelles are currently out of season but we sure do miss them.