Hot Shots - August 5, 2022

Hot Shots - August 5, 2022
Severin R-B Danieli

Hello all,

Busy week, busy weekend - August has arrived with a bang!

This past weekend started with a quick ferry ride over to Bowen Island, settling in at Alderwood Farm, and having our pup greet the two dogs, one donkey, a few emu, a few chickens, a few roosters and I think a few more animals that we didn't even see!

When we first arrived at Alderwood, we were welcomed by Jules & Cornelius, the owners and operators of the establishment. Jules and I got to talking about food (shocker!), and I realized the apples and oranges that she was placing in our breakfast basket were from Discovery! Some navel and valencia oranges, as well as some delicious and crunchy ambrosia apples. Jonathan and Cornelius also got to chatting, and, shocker, started talking about Italy! Turns out, Cornelius spent about 12 years in Florence and they had lots to talk about. We had a crazy travel day in Florence during our time in Italy... but I'll save that for another day.

Our weekend consisted of hanging with a donkey, fresh coffee with cream, chocolate croissants, a swim in the ocean and a lake, and some penne pomodoro pasta on the sunny deck. Basically, a perfect weekend.

Peaches! Local peaches!

And just in time, as I recently stumbled upon, and when I say stumbled upon I mean I was 100% a target for an ad, a recipe from Half Baked Harvest for a good ol' fashioned peach cobbler. Here is the link, I will be making this recipe as soon as it gets a little bit cooler outside... yum.

These peaches come in a variety of sizes, which include: 54/56ct and 60/64ct from Secrest Organics. Any size of peach you choose, the flavour will impress.

Characterized by an array of colour, from pinks to oranges, yellows and reds with fuzzy skin, the peach is one of the best stone fruits around.

Green peppers.

These peppers often are forgotten or undervalued, when placed next to their vibrantly coloured brothers and sisters, but local green peppers from Secrest in 25# cases do have an edge.

Bell peppers originated in Mexico, Central and South America, and green bell peppers are actually the most popular type of pepper in the USA. Who knew?! Certainly not me.

Peppers received their name of 'pepper' by none other than Christopher Columbus himself when he brought this plant back to Europe, and the mild pepper cultivar was developed in the 1920's in Hungary. The largest producers of bell peppers is China, followed closely by Mexico, Turkey, Indonesia and the USA.

Rainier cherries.

Every single year these cherries are one of our staffs favourite. These literally just came through the door from Just-a-Mere Farm, in the Creston Valley in BC, and are so. damn. good.

The flavour stopped me in my tracks, and a coworker of mind stopped beside me and asked if I was okay. Clearly I looked a bit taken off guard, but that is what a really good organic local Rainier cherry will do to ya!

Just-a-Mere Farm has a nice description of this variety of cherry:

"Rainier cherries are candy sweet and delicate with a yellow colour and red blush. We have an entire block of Rainier cherry trees on our farm. Rainier cherries are highly sought after and considered a premium blush cherry to consumers"

This farm is owned and operated by Danny and Miranda Turner, and has been producing delicious fruits and veggies since 2011 on their 14 acres of certified organic farmland.

Fava beans.

These beans are grown at Snow Farms, a certified organic farm in Delta, which is run by Harvie and Susan Snow as well as their daughter Meaghan and son Trevor. A true family farm since 1995.

Fava beans are large beans, with 2 to 7 beans per pod. These beans are some of the oldest recorded, with ties back to prehistoric times.

Recipes include:
Sautéed Fava Beans with Garlic Green Onions and Basil
Mexican Fava Bean Soup (Sopa de Habas)
Egyptian Fava Beans (Foul Mudammas)
Grilled Fava Beans with Mint, Lemon Zest and Sumac

A versatile prehistoric bean, what's not to love?

Plums.

Available in both red and black 28# volume fill cases, these plums come to us from California and Homegrown Farms.

Since 1988, John and Cindy France have represented over 100 different farmers throughout California and Oregon. The production land of all of these farms are over 7,000 acres.

Plums come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colours, and I was lucky enough to grow up with a plum tree in my back yard - next to our sour cherry tree! These plums were yellow, perfectly bite sized, and a scrumptious summer snack.

Either baked into a tart, cobbler, cake or for something savoury - a chutney you could spread onto a cracker.

Gold kiwis!

These kiwis have smooth, paper thin, light brown skin, and golden flesh. Their taste is tropical and sweet, with hints of pineapple and mango.

Kiwis come from China, and made their way over to New Zealand during the 20th century, all thanks to a teacher by the name of Isabel Fraser, who brought kiwi seeds with her from China in 1904. Over 4,000 hectares of gold kiwis are in production, and the biggest producer of kiwis is …. drum roll please … Italy! This countries fertile soil and temperate climate, typical of many southern and coastal regions of Italy, let kiwi fruit thrive.

Thanks for reading along everyone! I hope you learned something new or exciting about a hot shots veggie or fruit. For myself, I was reminded of how truly delicious Rainier cherries are and that Italy is the biggest kiwi producer.

This weekend, we'll be heading to the Sunshine Coast, as we have a friend visiting us from Italy and we want to take her on a ferry and show her some more of our beautiful coastline.

Have a lovely weekend, dear reader, and I will talk to you all next week!

Big love,
Severin R-B Danieli