To learn how to use and combine the flavors of herbs, you must become familiar with them. And the best way to do this? Use your nose. Smell them individually and in combination. Take a pinch of one and smell it. Then add a pinch of another and smell it. Add something else and smell...Read More

Spring with its longer days and more daylight mean that hens are beginning their egg production cycle. Full egg production, generally an egg per day for each chicken, is in summer. Mother Nature has been rough on California this year with colder and wetter weather, so it’s been a slow start for ‘the girls.’ The...Read More

Without a doubt, asparagus is one of the harbingers of spring at the farmers’ markets. And these nutritious spears can be cooked in numerous ways — grilled, roasted, steamed, or sauteed. Add them to pasta or salads, or enjoy them as an appetizer. When selecting asparagus, check the bottom of the bunch to see that...Read More

Whether you call it ‘stock’ or the trendier term ‘bone broth’ — healthy and flavorful soups start with a nutrient and mineral-rich base of good stock. Bone-based stocks provide calcium, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, phosphorous, and other trace minerals. Stock can be made with leftover bones from dinners or you can purchase bony parts of chicken,...Read More

The Meyer lemon owes its presence in the U.S. to a USDA agricultural explorer named Frank Meyer, who discovered it in 1908 during one of his expeditions to Asia to collect new plant species. Among the 2,500 plants he introduced to the U.S. was the unusual thin-skinned, lemon-mandarin orange cross, which became the Meyer lemon,...Read More

Everyone enjoys a great piece of pie, especially at Thanksgiving, and it is easily one of America’s favorite desserts. However, the bane of most cooks is making the pie crust! While it’s easy and convenient to turn to store-bought, pre-rolled pie crust, nothing comes close to a homemade, buttery, flaky pie crust. If you’re a...Read More

Cornbread is an all-American bread, tracing its humble roots back to the days of the early settlers. When the first colonists arrived in North America, wheat flour was unavailable and they had to turn to local resources to make their bread. Corn was one of the first crops to be grown by the Native Americans,...Read More

The Aptos Farmers Market at Cabrillo College has launched a new Cookbook Exchange program. While the “leave-a-book, take-a-book” concept is nothing new (in fact, philanthropist Andrew Carnegie is credited with the concept of a book exchange movement at the turn of the last century), we hope that our Cookbook Exchange will serve as a place...Read More

I was a latecomer to the galette. Not quite a pie, and not quite a tart, this open-face pastry consists of a pie crust pastry, a layer of fruit, with the edges of the crust folded roughly around the filling. As a classically trained pastry chef, it didn’t appeal to my sensibilities. I’m convinced most...Read More

Fresh jujubes (pronounced joo-joob) are stone fruits about the size of small dates with a spongy texture and mild apple flavor. The taste ranges from mildly sweet-tart to sweet. Under-ripe fruit can taste chalky or floury, but jujubes gradually become sweeter as they mature. Despite their thick skin, the skin is edible, albeit a bit...Read More