We often share tips for choosing the freshest, most flavorful produce at the farmers market. But caring for that beautiful food once you bring it home is just as important. With apples abundant in fall, a little storage know-how can help preserve their crunch and flavor—and give you more time to enjoy the harvest. Even...Read More

Just when apples, pears, winter squash, and pumpkins begin taking over the farmers market, there’s one last taste of summer tucked among the fall produce: fresh California-grown blackberries. Along the Central Coast, our mild climate allows local growers to stretch blackberry season well beyond the height of summer. Some varieties naturally ripen later, while newer...Read More

If you’ve ever walked past a basket of fresh guavas at the farmers market and wondered exactly what to do with them, you’re not alone. Their heady, tropical fragrance may be familiar, but fresh guavas are still something of a mystery to many home cooks. That’s a good reason to take some home. Fresh guavas...Read More

Fresh chestnuts are one of fall’s fleeting pleasures—and they’ve arrived at the farmers market. Find locally grown chestnuts now at Minazzoli Farms, but don’t wait too long. Their season is short! There is something wonderfully old-fashioned about a basket of glossy brown chestnuts. Long before they became immortalized in holiday songs, chestnuts were an important...Read More

Here on the Central Coast, the gardening season doesn’t necessarily end when summer does. Fall may be one of the best times to begin. We are extraordinarily fortunate to live in one of the most abundant agricultural regions in the country. Week after week, our local farmers bring us beautiful lettuces and greens, apples and...Read More

For generations, potatoes were one of the great workhorses of the kitchen: inexpensive, filling, easy to store, and endlessly adaptable. Somewhere along the way, though, the humble potato acquired a complicated reputation. It became associated with carbohydrates, blood sugar spikes, weight gain, and—perhaps most unfairly—with the nutritional baggage of French fries, chips, loaded baked potatoes,...Read More

It’s one of those kitchen instructions many of us follow without thinking: scrub the potato, grab a fork, and prick it all over before baking. We’ve been told the holes allow steam to escape—and, more dramatically, keep the potato from exploding in the oven. But is poking a baked potato really necessary? Not necessarily. While...Read More

Does a pastured egg offer more nutrition? Possibly—but the difference depends less on the label than on how the hens are actually raised and fed. Eggs from hens with meaningful access to pasture may contain higher levels of certain nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, and the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. Some studies have...Read More

Sage is a fragrant perennial that is beautiful, easy to grow, delicious in every season—and one of the most fascinating herbs in the kitchen. Its earthy, woodsy aroma instantly brings to mind roast turkey, stuffing, browned butter, and holiday gatherings. But limiting sage to just a few weeks each year is like bringing out your...Read More

Walk through a farmers market, browse a food magazine, or spend a few minutes online reading about food and farming, and you’ll likely encounter the term regenerative agriculture. For some people, it’s the future of farming. For others, it’s just another agricultural buzzword. So what does it actually mean? The answer is surprisingly simple. At...Read More