Subject:

Felicia Friesema

  • Blogs

    May 6, 2013

    What's In Season at the Farmers Market: Early Cherries Seasonal Forecast

    Steinbeck once opined that summer's warmth -- or for our purposes, fruit -- wouldn't achieve its sweetness without the cold of winter. Truth is revealed in the harvests; without a decent chill time and hibernation, stone fruit trees don't yield their best. Last year's first cherry harvests were am ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 25, 2013

    What's In Season at the Farmers Market: Winter Citrus Update

    There has been a collective holding of the breath among California citrus growers following the hard frost we experienced a couple of weeks ago. Frost damage to leafy greens and tender vegetables is immediately apparent, but citrus frost damage is disguised and delayed. It's a nail biting waiting ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 4, 2012

    What's In Season at the Farmers Markets: Basil Early Stone Fruit

    The big news on the tables this week was the arrival of not one, but two favored stone fruits -- Spring Snow white peaches at Boujikian Farms at the Hollywood market on Sunday and the first cherries from Murray Family Farms at the Wednesday Santa Monica market. The cherries will be here through Jun ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 30, 2012

    What's In Season at the Farmers Markets: Green Garlic Baby Goats

    Two things immediately signal spring at the Hollywood Farmers Market: Julian Pearce of Soledad Goats begins trotting out the newest -- sometimes only days old -- baby goats in a blatantly crafty emotional sales tactic (and it works beautifully), and the potent scent of soft and vulnerable green garl ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 22, 2012

    Top 5 Sustainable Food Sacrifices for Lent

    The King cake's been cut. And if there were beads involved, tuck them away. Remember, Fat Tuesday exists only because it is in balanced juxtaposition with the 40 days of Lent -- a time set aside for guilt, contemplation, fasting, sacrifice and service, depending on your flavor of spiritual commitme ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 15, 2012

    Buy This Now: Apple Wood From Ha's Apple Farm

    It's that lateral-management time of year. But unless you're an apple or pear farmer, this is about as important to you as doing your taxes early. All you need to know is that proper lateral management ensures efficient fruit production, focusing a tree's energy where it counts -- building strong li ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 10, 2012

    Top 5 Crops NOT in Season at the Farmers Markets

    Felicia FriesemaPlums. Not in season.​Farmers markets are locavore magnets, true. And we have these absurdly expansive seasons complete with weather-defying microclimates tucked into coastal hillsides. They're like little agricultural Brigadoons, weaving their misty trickery to bring us yea ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 9, 2012

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Moro, Tarocco and Sanguinelli Blood Oranges

    You can time the passing of winter in Southern California by watching the citrus timeline at your local market. December starts us off with small tangerines and mandarins, just in time for a holiday table, weather permitting. Then in January, you make room in the market bag for gravid pomelos and p ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 1, 2012

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: California-Grown Truffles, No Violence Required

    Somewhere in a back alley outside of Paris, $30,000 worth of black European truffles is changing hands. Asking the seller about the truffles' origins could send them packing to another less inquisitive buyer, so the buyer ponies up quietly and hauls off the heavily perfumed, cloth-lined crate while ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 31, 2012

    Top 5 Local Farmer-Made Jams and Preserves

    Felicia Friesema​Farmers markets and the vendors who populate them with table bending piles of bumper crops and hard-to-find seasonal produce rarely sell every last item before it's time to collapse the pop up tents and head home. Portlandian pickle jokes aside, what do farmers do with all th ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 17, 2011

    What's In Season at the Farmers Markets: Your Thanksgiving Herb Shopping List

    Felicia FriesemaRosemary from Kenter Canyon Farms ​Thanksgiving isn't so much an eating holiday as it is a shopping holiday. Ask any of the farmers market vendors you frequent. But fresh green herbs are sometimes a sad afterthought on party menus. A shame really. Some thoughtful local farme ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 11, 2011

    5 Local Farmers Who are Doing it Right

    Felicia FriesemaThe Hollywood market earlier this year.​After reading Beth Barrett's piece about farmers markets this week, it might be tempting to hang up the locavore hat and head out for an angsty and cathartic mouthful at the local McDonald's. We're envisioning an army of market goers as ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 4, 2011

    What's In Season at the Farmers Markets: Sugar Cane Making Your Own Sugar From Zombie Survivalist Max Brooks

    Felicia FriesemaBlack sugar cane from Central Valley Farmers (Fresno) at the Hollywood market.​It's not often we get to advocate eating sugar in this column. Often, it's the opposite: fruits and veggies. But sugar cane is finally in season, the last big seasonal sweet bomb before we hit the bi ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 28, 2011

    What's In Season at the Farmers Markets: California Grown Jicama

    Felicia FriesemaJicama from Yang Farms at the Hollywood market.​It has one of our favorite species names. Pachyrhizus erosus (erotic root elephant?), or the jicama which comes from the Aztec Nahuatl word xicamatl, is an ancient native root vegetable from Mexico, but it is very common in much o ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 26, 2011

    Top 5 Halloween Pumpkins from Your Local Farmers Markets

    Felicia FriesemaOne of many pumpkin displays at the Hollywood market.​Second only to fireworks and the old Victorian tradition of lighting actual candles in a dead pine tree (the stuff of California nightmares), the Halloween jack-o'-lantern tops the list for ways to make your local fire depar ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 5, 2011

    What's In Season at the Farmers Markets: Early Season Pomegranates Primer from Anissa Helou

    Felicia Friesema'Wonderful' pomegranate from Burkart Organics at the Hollywood market.​ The early season pomegranates, piled high in crates like gigantic jewel-toned berries, have arrived at the local markets. Several vendors -- Mark Boujikian Farms, K&K Ranch, Walker Farms, Burkart Organics, ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 22, 2011

    What's In Season at the Farmers Markets: Bartlett Pears Quince from Tulare County

    Felicia FriesemaPears from Ha's Apple Farm at the Pasadena market.​ You can count on the arrival of Bartlett pears to signal the official end of summer, at least in Southern California. This year, they showed up just one week prior to the autumnal equinox; non-fall weather aside, it is nice t ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 8, 2011

    What's In Season at the Farmers Markets: Fresh Purple Hull Pink Eyed Peas Cannelinis Coming

    Felicia FriesemaPurple Hull Pink-Eyed peas at Weiser Farms booth at the Hollywood market.​ Fresh field peas, like the Black-Eyed and prehaps more interestingly, the Purple Hull Pink Eyed pea, debuted at the markets a couple of weeks ago. Black-Eyed and Pink-Eyed peas are a favorite holiday foo ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 28, 2011

    What's In Season at the Farmers Markets: Kyoho and Red Flame Grapes A Request For Bronx

    Felicia FriesemaKyoho grapes are now available at Ha's Apple Farm.​ Cherries are to the start of summer as grapes are to the end of it. Yes, we're still in July, but this is when we start to see the seasonal harvests switch gears into later-bearing crops. This past week we noted -- in part b ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 21, 2011

    What's In Season at the Farmers Markets: Bitter Melon

    Felicia FriesemaVietnamese bitter melon.​ It wasn't that long ago that the only place you could get good, freshly harvested bitter melon was as the local Asian grocer, or someone's backyard. Bitter melon, a lumpy-skinned cucurbit related to cucumbers and pumpkins, is a Southeast Asian summer ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 8, 2011

    Double Take: Humane Society Partners with United Egg Producers for Chicken Welfare

    Felicia FriesemaEggs from Kendor Farms at the Hollywood market.​ In a surprisingly unprecedented move, the nation's largest egg farming cooperative, representing, according to their website, "95% of of all the nation's egg-laying hens," has partnered with the Humane Society of the United State ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 7, 2011

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Green Thai Eggplant at Yang Farms

    Felicia FriesemaGreen Thai eggplant from Yang Farms ​ Yang Farms out of Fresno is a year-round vendor at the Hollywood Farmers Market, offering a wide variety of greens and vegetables. We love their yu choi and baby bok choi and we spied a really early crop of kabocha on their tables recently ... More >>

  • Blogs

    June 2, 2011

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Morels Cherry Crop in Danger

    Felicia FriesemaMorels from Clearwater Farms at the Hollywood market.​ If you are an Angeleno with a love for morels, you have two options. You can either creep through the misty, moss covered forests of northern California (think hobbits at the break of dawn) to zero in on a treasured morel ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 27, 2011

    Altadena Urban Farmers Market: This Sunday, Maybe No Longer

    Felicia FriesemaTomato and garlic jams at the Altadena Urban Farmers Market​ So what is the best farmers market in L.A.? The answer depends on what's most important to you in a market: variety, number of organic vendors, quality of the bakers, sense of community, distance the farms have to tra ... More >>

  • Blogs

    May 12, 2011

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Sour Plums and Tarocco Blood Oranges

    Felicia FriesemaSour plums from Mark Boujikian Farms at the Hollywood market.​ The sour plum is a typical Californian in that it's from somewhere else (Asia, specifically) and has been adapted to fit the likes of Los Angeles' multicultural mix. It's also one of the first stone fruits we see at ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 20, 2011

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Strawberries

    Felicia FriesemaAlbion strawberries at the Pasadena market​ This is the year of strawberries. Last year, farmers were scrambling to pick not-quite-right fruit ahead of torrential downpours courtesy of El Niño. The pickings were heavily white-shouldered and disappointing. This year if you d ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 19, 2011

    Self Preservation: The Jam Session a Strawberry Rhubarb Jam Recipe

    Felicia FriesemaStrawberry, rhubarb, sugar, and lemon juice hit the jam pot.​ We spent the first part of the 2011 Master Food Preserver class at the UC Cooperative Extension getting our heads enmeshed in food safety issues finishing off two days of lectures with a simple safe canning demo: tan ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 7, 2011

    Self Preservation: Master Food Preservers Confront Food Safety Issues

    Felicia FriesemaMaster Food Preserver Ernest Miller teaches about jar inspection at the UC Cooperative Extension​ Ernest Miller, Executive Chef at Farmer's Kitchen and Master Food Preserver (MFP) Instructor for the UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) (also we love that their website is ucanr.org), ... More >>

  • Blogs

    April 6, 2011

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Green Garlic

    Felicia FriesemaGreen garlic at the Pasadena Farmers Market last Saturday​ Green garlic is young and soft, lacking the papery cured skin that keeps the cloves of end-of-season garlic from getting nicked or exposed. That's pretty key here. The thing which gives garlic its potency is allicin, a ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 17, 2011

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Beets Twitter and 99 Cent Chef Recipes

    Felicia FriesemaGolden and red beets from Tutti Frutti Farms ​ Last week gave us a big blooming harbinger of springtime. But we admit we're still getting in touch with our roots. Luckily we're not being forced into a mad panicky rush, because beets are generally available all the time (a vis ... More >>

  • Blogs

    March 10, 2011

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Spring Artichokes A Recipe for Ricardo Zarate's Grilled Baby Artichokes

    Felicia FriesemaArtichokes from Tutti Frutti Farms at the Hollywood market.​ We're hard-pressed to think of a more primal springtime food than the artichoke. Favas, maybe, with their gravid bean-filled pods, which showed up this week at the Hollywood market (Valdivia Farms). But after a wint ... More >>

  • Blogs

    February 17, 2011

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Pea Tendrils

    Felicia FriesemaPea tendrils from McGrath Family Farms at the Hollywood market.​ Most of the winter greens at the markets are the sturdy, cold-loving varieties that can take a firm hand on the stove: leathery kales and chards, crispy cabbages, tightly bound Brussels sprouts. But as the chill ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 25, 2011

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Piles of Winter Citrus

    Felicia FriesemaKishu tangerines next to Meyer lemons at the Hollywood Farmers Market.​ During the later summer months, the mountains of peaches and plums at market stalls were heavy enough to deeply bow wood-topped tables, in part thanks to some pretty great rains during the previous springt ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 20, 2011

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Wild Mushrooms

    Felicia Friesema Giant Live Oak Chantarelles at Tutti Frutti's farm stand at the Hollywood market.​ During the summer, our local scrubby oak groves are covered with water-starved, crispy yellow field grasses. But thanks to the recent deluge we're now seeing Live Oak Chanterelles at several fa ... More >>

  • Blogs

    January 13, 2011

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Winter Fennel

    Felicia Friesema​ Summertime is to warm basil and heirloom tomatoes as wintertime is to fennel and oranges. But there's so much more. If you find young and slender fennel bulbs, braise them whole. If you have larger, bulbous (and slightly tougher) bulbs, slice up and carmelize like an onion ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 8, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Controversy and Winter Squash

    Felicia FriesemaThe Hollywood Farmers Market as seen from the LA Film School's parking lot.​ It's been a scary week for farmers markets in Los Angeles. The stalemate between the LA Film School and the Hollywood Farmers Market is testing the fortitude of local communities, who may or may not ... More >>

  • Blogs

    December 1, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Watermelon Radish

    Felicia FriesemaShinrimei radish at Weiser Family Farms, Hollywood market​ Just when you thought you could finally toss the Uggs (so aptly named) for good, the local weather starts making upstate New York look balmy. Cold, mittenless hands or no, this is actually some prime winter vegetable ... More >>

  • Blogs

    November 8, 2010

    More Deli at Moore's Deli

    Felicia FriesemaMoore's rare roast beef on ciabatta with arugula and house made aoli.​ Little Flower Candy Company owners Christine and Robert Moore have been dreaming a little bigger these days. Inspired by Robert's parents' 1947 San Francisco sandwich spot of the same name, they opened Moor ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 29, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Uncured Olives

    Felicia FriesemaTehachapi-grown, raw Manzanillos at Walker Farms booth in Pasadena​ Local olive growers, or even farmers with just a few remnant olive trees here and there (they've been growing here since the 1800s), are banking on the do-it-yourself vibe in the local food movement (Artisinal ... More >>

  • Blogs

    October 11, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Reed Avocados

    Felicia FriesemaReed avocados from Rancho Santa Cecilia at the Hollywood market​ On a trip to Los Angeles earlier this year, before all the Red O brouhaha and even before Red O itself, Rick Bayless tweeted his amazement at seeing so many different avocado varieties available at the farmers ma ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 30, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Barhi Dates

    Felicia FriesemaKhalal stage Barhi dates at the Davall Dates stand in Pasadena.​ It's been a challenging season, with a long cool summer that decided to make up for lost time at the end, when record heat in L.A. and elsewhere managed to wreak havoc on not a few crops, depriving Silver Lakes Fa ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 8, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Raw Peanuts

    Felicia Friesema​ The demand for fresh, raw peanuts in the shell used to come largely from displaced southerners from both the U.S. and Vietnam, where boiled peanuts (or dau phon) are a treasured snack. East of the Mississippi, the annual peanut harvests prompt celebrations similar to Ventur ... More >>

  • Blogs

    September 1, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Fall Apples

    Flickr/beyondramenGravenstein apples​ Hawk-eyed market-goers started spotting the first signs of fall this past week. And while Southern California isn't a hotbed of apple fever -- it simply doesn't get cold enough for trees that need a solid chill-induced hibernation in the winter -- LA does ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 11, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Purslane

    Felicia FriesemaPurslane, also called Verdolagas.​ August is often one of the favorite, and thus most crowded, months at the farmers markets. Tables are bowing under the weight of mountains of stone fruits, tomatoes, and corn; from one end to the other, you can sample a complete rainbow of ye ... More >>

  • Blogs

    August 4, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: California Grapes

    Felicia FriesemaKyoho grapes​ California grape farmers have been tapping their toes and eying the calendar. It seems the entire agricultural season got knocked back a couple of weeks thanks to the persistent cold weather that wouldn't let go at the end of spring. Early grape varieties just s ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 27, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Ivory Gaya Melon

    Felicia Friesema​ The first time Ivory Gaya melons showed up at local markets, it was alongside another semi-new arrival, the Kyoho grape, which by the way comes into season this week. But when asked what the melon was named, the vendor would shrug and say only, "Japanese melon." That offhan ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 21, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Green Walnuts

    Felicia FriesemaGreen walnuts at K & K Ranch​ The green walnut was featured as an exciting "new" import at this year's Fancy Food Show in New York. While it is a little hard to come by, the entirely edible (but really sour) green walnut is hardly new. Sixteenth century Englishmen and women w ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 15, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Eggplant

    Felicia FriesemaBlack Beauty eggplants at Weiser Family Farms​ In the category of vegetables that are actually fruits (a berry to be more precise), the eggplant, originally only small, white, and egg-shaped (hence the name), has evolved over hundreds of years to include several colors, shapes, ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 7, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Wood Ear Mushrooms

    Felicia FriesemaWood Ear mushrooms at the Pasadena Farmers Market​ Lili Baltazar, the "queen of greens" at ABC Rhubarb Farms, started offering mushrooms at her stand a few years ago, filling in a gaping mushroom hole at the Pasadena market and giving mushroom vendors at other markets something ... More >>

  • Blogs

    July 1, 2010

    What's in Season at the Farmers Markets: Hot Chiles

    Felicia Friesema​ There's an old legend that says in order to achieve truly hot chile peppers, you must plant them when you are angry. Following that line of thought, we suppose recent good news about water allotments for the state's farmers might be blamed for blunting a potentially piquant ... More >>

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