Felicia Friesema

It may take a 4.4 earthquake to get you up out of bed these days, but what daylight savings time taketh away, it also giveth back to our local nighttime midweek farmers markets. It's one of the palpable signs of spring in Los Angeles. The later sunsets mean more people......

Marco Polo was once charged with a singular mission on his Silk Road journeys: bring back to Europe a rhubarb plant from China that could be grown on European ground. At the time, rhubarb was fetching prices well above that of other Silk Road imports like cinnamon and even opium......

There is at least one very good reason to love El Niño-drenched years. Yes, the heavy rains can wreak havok on everything from strawberries to greens, but one great by-product of repeated deluges is a finicky wild crop that thwarts efforts at cultivation and to this day is still foraged......

When a plant can trace its culinary history back to ancient Greece, you can probably assume that the story of its journey to the present is a windy, and occasionally perilous path. We see them piled on tables like long-handled green scepters with hand written signs that say "3 for......

Bloomsdale spinach is probably the only leafy green that can be considered even remotely sexy -- the heavily ruffled top leaves act like a billowy skirt, concealing long crunchy stems that connect in a bright pink nexus at the base of the plant. And thankfully, most vendors harvest the plants......

The appearance of young, green garlic at the markets marks a seasonal shift in southern California, indicating that spring is finally here. Tender and aromatic, green garlic is sold like leeks (it looks like them, too), with the leafy fronds still attached. Left in the ground, the bulb will eventually......

The many inches of rain we've received these past few weeks, and perhaps especially this past weekend, have wreaked havoc on a not-a-few crops. Fennel has never been muddier and requires some pretty extensive rinsing before putting it into your mouth. The same for leeks and other grounded crops like......

California was initially built on two things: the Gold Rush and citrus. And this month the granddaddy of all citrus - the pomelo - rolls in and takes over whatever space it can. It's pretty giant - its genus/species names are citrus grandis and citrus maximus after all. And currently,......

Of the traditional winter fruits of California, the cherimoya is increasingly sharing space in the fruit bowl. While generally considered a native of Central and South America, the cherimoya exemplifies the sometimes spoiled spirit of a native Californian - it likes cool weather, but not too cool. Warm weather, too,......

The turnip's reputation has risen, and more often fallen with the fortunes of the societies that grow it. In good times, it gets elbowed out to make way for more posh roots, like parsnips and celeriac. Funny how forced frugality reminds folks that cheap doesn't necessarily imply worthless or crude......