Field Report: Where the Field Meets the Table
Cooking and Tasting Seeds of Change Varieties
with Chef Jesse Ziff Cool
by Micaela Colley, Bulk Seed Representative

As a seeds-person, I am excited by the magic that occurs when farmers and chefs come together. Together, they are the vehicle that turns our hard work preserving and developing varieties into the rich experience of flavorful organic cuisine. We recently enjoyed such an experience by uniting Heirloom Organics and Green Gulch farm, two of our on-farm trial growers, with Jesse Cool, chef of Cool Eatz and Flea Street Café, to admire produce from our on-farm trials and discuss the culinary qualities of Seeds of Change varieties. We then enjoyed Jesse's preparation of two Seeds of Change summer salads, a cool melon-vinaigrette over crisp lettuce and warm sautéed onion vinaigrette over bitter greens. Four Sisters Farm, our cut-flower trial grower, beautified the day with a bouquet of Seeds of Change flowers. The public event was held at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco, California. Ferry Plaza is the city's premier farmers market; shopper's can peruse gourmet produce and products while overlooking the beautiful San Francisco Bay.

As a chef, Jesse Cool has dedicated more than thirty years to cooking with organic, local specialty produce in her restaurants; she spoke eloquently of the unique culinary qualities of Seeds of Change varieties. Summer salads are featured prominently as Jesse uses a salad mix called the "Primo Mix" in her restaurants, which was developed by Stuart Dixon of Heirloom Organics for Jesse's Cool Eatz restaurants. In Heirloom Organics' specialty salads (this year grown with primarily Seeds of Change varieties) thought is given to variety selection and consideration to the whole eating experience, the blending of flavors, and the textures and colors. Stuart changes his mixes seasonally growing varieties in their ideal cycle. This season, Heirloom Organics' Primo Mix includes Seeds of Change colorful Ruby Orach (Mountain Spinach) and Burgundy Amaranth, frilly Tres Fin Mariachere Frissee, and a hint of spicy Persian Garden Cress, along with an assortment of flavorful and beautiful lettuces including Brun d'Hiver, Red Deer Tongue, and Rouge de Grenoblouse. Heirloom Organics' Crisp Mix Salad, a mix of crispy light lettuces, features Reine des Glaces Crisphead lettuce. Reine des Glaces has a delicately serrated edge and, as a baby leaf, has a curled shape and thick texture, which gives "loft" to salad, allowing dressings to coat the leaf surfaces and keeping the salad from getting matted down by flattened leaves. The thick, juicy midrib of Reine des Glaces has a sweet, succulent flavor and texture that brings out fresh, light dressings.

While we discussed our Seeds of Change summer gourmet greens varieties, Jesse spoke passionately of the value of eating organic produce in its optimal season. She substitutes spinach in her summer salads with Ruby Orach, which is closely related, has a similar texture, but produces better in the heat. She also admired the beautiful colors and nutty flavor of Heirloom Organics summer baby amaranth mix which includes Seeds of Change Burgundy, Hopi Red Dye, and Mana de Montana Amaranths. We discussed the value of many gourmet greens selected from wild relatives, sometimes considered "weeds." Many greens draw on centuries of culinary use by diverse ethnic cultures that wild crafted them around the world. We viewed several Seeds of Change selections and improvements on such greens including a larger, more vigorous strain of purslane and beautiful, refined varieties of Amaranth developed by indigenous peoples of South America. We also viewed a variety of Lambsquarters with an intense magenta colored center called Magenta Spreen, which was selected from the wild by one of our seed growers. Jesse laughs as she recalls growing up with her Italian grandfather digging up the dandelions in their neighbor's yard and bringing them back to the kitchen. She now serves many gourmet greens with wild histories in her restaurants. A gentleman in the audience was excited to learn that we offer purslane, which his mother from China loved to cook and is sold by Four Sisters Farm at the Ferry Plaza Market.

After the carrot tasting, Jesse treated us all to two distinctly different salads made with Seeds of Change greens and minimal other ingredients. She described how great flavor comes from the produce itself and as a chef she simply adds minimal ingredients to enhance the flavor, not to mask it. She brought only a little salt and sugar; all other ingredients were purchased at the farmers market. The first salad was a light, summer Eel River melon vinaigrette over baby Reine des Glaces lettuce topped with Shingiku Chrysanthemum greens. She followed this with a stronger flavored salad of sautéed Valencia Onion vinaigrette with capers over wilted endive and chicory greens, featuring Tres Fin Mariachiere Frisee and a mix of chicories (we are trialing several new chicory varieties, so please look for them in our future new introductions). Both salads were delicious and unique. Together, their flavors crossed the breadth of the palette. Please see Jesse's Seeds of Change summer salad recipes following this newsletter and enjoy them as we did or modified with your own summer greens.

The focus of the Seeds of Change Bulk Seed Program is providing organic growers with a diversity of varieties that are beautiful, flavorful, and have unique culinary qualities as well as good agronomic traits. As we select and develop varieties with good production qualities such as disease resistance and productivity we are dedicated to not forgetting the importance of taste. In our ongoing field trials we always include flavor as an evaluation criteria. As Stuart Dixon, of Heirloom Organics puts it, "if it doesn't have flavor, what is the point?" Fortunately, the growth of local markets such as farmers markets, locally oriented restaurants, and Community Supported Agriculture allows growers to use a wider selection of varieties and provides the organic shopper a wider range of flavors to enjoy.

"A feast has been prepared for you, taste it!"
- An Italian chef in a small Italian village farm/restaurant to a friend of mine, Ed Jarvais.

Micaela Colley
Bulk Seed Field Representative, Seeds of Change