Fall Harvest 2015

Arts, Education & Entertainment AUTUMN FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL September 11–13 at Northstar California Resort, 5001 Northstar Dr, Truckee, CA. 880.GO.NORTH, northstarcalifornia.com EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT Parklands and trails ideal for healthful recreation and environmental education. ebparks.org EMERYVILLE CELEBRATION OF THE ARTS 29th annual exhibition runs October 3–25. EmeryArts.org FOOD CRAFT INSTITUTE Eat Real…

READ, TASTE, & COOK Guittard Chocolate Cookbook For nearly 150 years, America’s oldest continuously family-run chocolate company has been making artisan chocolate for home bakers, pastry chefs, and confectioners. Now, Amy Guittard, the company’s marketing director and great-great-granddaughter of Guittard Chocolate Company founder Etienne Guittard, shares the story of the Guittard family and friends, their work,…

EDITOR’S MIXING BOWL EDIBLE EVENTS SIDE DISH Yumé Boshi Alameda Point Collaborative Ten years in print! SEVEN STARS OF SUMMER ROASTED BAY NUTS BAKING WITH BUGS THE NEW WEST OAKLAND FARM PARK FARMER/ SERVER/ COOK COCKTAIL LORE & HISTORIC BARS THE GROWLERS’ ARMS WHAT’S IN SEASON SOURCE GUIDE GUIDE TO GOOD EATS RECIPES Persian Duck in…

By Jessica Prentice Jessica Prentice, Maggie Gosselin, and Sarah Klein created the Local Foods Wheel to help us all enjoy the freshest, tastiest, and most ecologically sound food choices month by month. Here are seven of Jessica’s seasonal favorites illustrated by Sarah Klein (sarahklein.com) with coloring by Maggie Gosselin. You can learn more about the…

by Barbara Kobsar  Illustration by Patricia Robinson Choosing produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. August Gravenstein, an heirloom apple that’s a favorite for cooking and eating, ushers in the season, and if you’re lucky, you may be able to find a few at your local farmers’ market. As…

FARMER/SERVER/COOK Sunol AgPark Growers Have Strong Kitchen Ties Continuing our year-long series about relationships between local farms and restaurants BY SARAH HENRY | PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT PETERSON Culinary chops can make for better crops. So say farmers with cooking and serving backgrounds who toil in the soil under relentless sun on the urban-rural edge of…

Edible East Bay celebrates ten years in print. (And online, too!) We offer our warmest thanks to all the writers, artists, and photographers who contribute to this effort, as well as to the subscribers and advertisers who make it all possible! Of special note are our charter advertisers: Clover Stornetta Farms, Ecology Center, Monterey Market,…

Jamnation It all started when Gillian Reynolds wanted a way to share the bold and intense flavors of California fruits with her family in New York City. With the help of her brother and collaborator Christopher Reynolds, she created Jamnation, a line of jams featuring creative flavor combinations like Blenheim apricot and almond essence (Apricot…

A century or so ago, the Tri-Valley area (Amador, Livermore, and San Ramon valleys) was home to one of the largest hops farms in the world. Today, it boasts a beer trail of dizzying proportions, with 16 local taprooms and microbreweries to visit. Emmy Kasten, vice president of marketing for Visit Tri-Valley, says the idea…

DEPARTMENT OF DROUGHT ADAPTATION It comes down to eating bugs STORY, PHOTOS, AND RECIPE BY MELISSA FAIRCHILD CLARK As this readership possesses the inherently open-minded nature of an innovative society, and this writer is vehemently against bait-and-switch, allow me to be entirely transparent: I’m here to talk about eating bugs. On purpose. For a purpose.…

ABOUT OUR COVER PHOTOGRAPHER If you’re a regular reader of Edible East Bay and the name David Gans rings a bell, it may be because he’s contributed numerous articles and photos, was interviewed in our Harvest 2008 issue by Mary Tilson, host of KPFA’s America’s Back Forty, and is a familiar performer at Oakland’s Grand…

Japanese-style umeboshi made in Berkeley By Kristina Sepetys  Photos by Charlotte Peale If you’ve spent any time looking around the shelves at Monterey Market, the Local Butcher, Berkeley Bowl, Three Stone Hearth, or online at Good Eggs, you may have noticed some pretty jars with very simple calligraphed white labels reading “ume boshi.” Filled with…

Interview by Anna Mindess | Illustration by Lila Volkas Two widely respected East Bay entrepreneurs are celebrating ten-year milestones in the food and publishing worlds. Cheryl Angelina Koehler marks a decade as editor and publisher of Edible East Bay, and Dianne Jacob celebrates the 10-year anniversary of Will Write for Food (known to many as…

There’s a new kind of CSA box in town—the cosmetically challenged kind. “We’re trying to create the first major consumer brand around ugly produce in America,” says Imperfect cofounder Ben Simon. His business launches this month with deliveries of great-tasting fruit and veggies that aren’t quite mainstream in size, shape, or color to locations in…

Share your garden’s bounty and come home with someone else’s at these free weekly crop swaps. Some swaps encourage trading gardening tools and materials, recipes, baked goods, and tips on getting more involved in your community. Arrive on time for the best selection. Mondays, 6:30–7:30pm Berkeley Ohlone Greenway Sacramento & Delaware sts Tuesdays, 6:30–7:30pm Albany…

A SAVORY PUZZLE Finding clues in the pastry at the Growlers’ Arms BY CHERYL ANGELINA KOEHLER PHOTOGRAPHY BY STACY VENTURA Think of a word that means “dog,” “pork pie,” and “refillable beer jug.” The answer can be found in Oakland’s quiet Glenview neighborhood. Look at the sign above the archway into the Mediterranean-style turret on…

BY JILLIAN LAUREL STEINBERGER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY CARMEN SILVA It’s a new chapter in an organization’s life: After enduring the rigors of farming on borrowed land since 2001, City Slicker Farms is turning yet another blighted lot in West Oakland into a lush food oasis—but this time on its own land. The lack of land…

HOME BASE At Alameda Point Collaborative, farming helps to break the cycle of homelessness By Rachel Trachten | Photos by Lindsay Dobbs “I never wanted to be a farmer; that was hard work,” says Vincent Figueroa, who came to farming relatively late in life. The 56-year-old self-described former drug addict arrived at Alameda Point Collaborative…