From nearly year-round strawberries to fall blueberries, the Central Coast is rewriting the calendar for fresh fruit. There was a time when berries seemed to arrive with spring and disappear almost as quickly as they came. Strawberries meant spring, blueberries meant early summer, and by autumn we had moved on to apples, pears, and persimmons....Read More

Before you toss those apple peels and cores into the compost bin, consider giving them one more job. Fall baking and preserving can generate an astonishing amount of fruit scraps. Apple pies, crisps, applesauce, pear desserts, preserves, and poached fruit all leave behind perfectly useful peels and cores — exactly what you need for a...Read More

Just when you think summer stone fruit season is winding down, some of the most distinctive plums of the year begin arriving at the farmers market. Late summer and early fall bring a changing cast of varieties—some deep purple and richly sweet, others ruby-red inside, and still others green-gold even when perfectly ripe. It’s a...Read More

Some recipes earn a place in our kitchens not because they are sophisticated or complicated, but simply because we love them. This apple crisp comes from the very first cookbook I ever bought as a eleven year old: Betty Crocker’s Cook Book for Boys and Girls. It was a simple recipe then, and all these...Read More

If you think sous vide cooking is mainly about producing a perfectly medium-rare steak, think again. A precision-controlled water bath is one of the most versatile tools in the kitchen. It can gently cook poultry, fish, meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit, custards, and cheesecakes; incubate homemade yogurt; and handle other foods and kitchen projects where accurate...Read More

Quince may be one of the most intriguing fruits at the farmers market. Golden yellow, wonderfully fragrant, and shaped a little like a cross between an apple and a pear, quince has been cultivated for thousands of years. It appears in ancient mythology, wedding traditions, and kitchens throughout Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East....Read More

Discover practical ways to turn coffee grounds, eggshells, food scraps, rinse water, and even a thrift-store colander into useful resources for a healthier, more sustainable garden.Read More

Few fruits deliver as much aroma and flavor in such a small package as passionfruit. Beneath its sometimes wrinkled purple or golden skin is a fragrant, jewel-like pulp filled with crunchy edible seeds. The flavor is unmistakably tropical—bright, tart, floral, citrusy, and sweet all at once. Even a spoonful can transform a bowl of yogurt,...Read More

Got tomatoes? Of course you do. By late summer, gardens, farmers markets, and kitchen counters seem to be overflowing with them. We turn tomatoes into sauce, salsa, salads, soups, and sandwiches—but dessert? Why not? Tomatoes are fruit, after all. In this old-fashioned style of spice cake, ripe tomatoes provide much the same magic that zucchini...Read More

There is something about a truly ripe tomato that makes you stop and pay attention. Juicy, fragrant, sun-warmed, and full of flavor, late-summer tomatoes bear very little resemblance to the pale, firm tomatoes found in supermarkets during the rest of the year. And here on the Central Coast, some of the very best tomatoes arrive...Read More