Fruit Porn (recipe inside!)

Here's a peek at some of the sexy local fruit from our Saturday farmers market.

These beauties, the best of our local figs, are the mostly widely anticipated fruit at my house. They come from Rick Knoll's Tairwa' Farm (a phoneticization of the French terroir, which loosely translates as "a sense of place") in Brentwood. The large purplish ones are Brown Turkey figs (N's favorite) and the small green ones are Adriatic figs (my favorite, mainly because I love the colorful contrast between the chartreuse skin and the red flesh, but they both taste similar). Both are scarlet on the inside and absolutely bursting with juice.

These lovelies with the color of a tequila sunrise (when was the last time you had one of those?) are called pluots. They're a cross between, as you may have guessed, a plum and an apricot. Steven Kashiwase, my favorite stone fruit farmer (peaches, nectarines, plums and pluots), grows them in Winton. This variety, which I find the most satisfying of all the pluots, is aptly called Flavor King. When eaten raw, the succulent fruit more closely resembles a sweet-tart plum. Its apricotness pushes to the forefront when it is cooked into a gorgeous galette or preserves (click "continue" below for an easy recipe for pluot preserves).

Our final bombshell is also of mixed parentage. This bunch of Bronx grapes, from Lagier Ranches in Escalon, is a cross between the flavorful purple Concord grape and the rather dull Thompson seedless variety. What you end up with is better than the sum of the parts. The Concord lends a tinge of its amethyst color, its floral perfume and its quintessential grapey flavor (I can't think of any better way to describe its almost artificial tasting flavor, the taste of the Welch's Concord grape jelly you had smeared on your peanut butter sandwich when you were a kid). The Thompson was clearly chosen to result in a seedless progeny, but it also adds its characteristic shade of jade green.

Flavor King Pluot Preserves

6 pounds ripe but firm Flavor King pluots (if substitute plums, may need additional 1/4 c sugar)
2 c sugar
2 T fresh lemon juice

Quarter pluots, leaving skin on and discarding pits. Toss in a large bowl with sugar. Let stand at room temperature 4 hours or refrigerate, covered, overnight.

Pour the mixture into a large nonreactive shallow pan, add the lemon juice, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, for about 30 minutes.

Remove a spoonful of jam to a chilled saucer and place in the freezer for a few minutes. Test to see if the jam holds together. Taste for sweetness and add additional sugar if needed. If too liquidy, cook few minutes longer and repeat test.

Ladle into hot sterilized 1/2 pint (8 oz.) jars and seal with new lids. Process in a hot-water bath for 5 minutes. See here and here for complete recommendations on canning.

Comments

[Jennifer]

Okay, that first photo is killing me. Tair'wa Farm's figs are one of the things I miss the most about San Francisco (moved east last summer.) I'd almost forgotten until now. Luckily, I've been able to enjoy a pluot or two this summer but the figs...boy do I miss those.

[cheap ferry ticket]

Despite being unnatural, I still prefer fruits of the seedless variety.