Market Growers > From the Field > Field Report: Where the Field Meets the Table

Field Report: Where the Field Meets the Table

As a seeds-person I am excited by the magic that occurs when farmers and chefs come 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 uniting Heirloom Organics and Green Gulch farm, two of our on-farm trial growers, with Jesse Cool, chef of Cool Eatz food 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, the city's premier farmers market where gourmet produce and products are available to peruse while overlooking the beautiful San Francisco Bay.

As a chef, Jesse Cool has dedicated over 30 years to cooking with organic, local, specialty produce in her restaurants and 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 considering the whole eating experience, a blending of flavors, 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 de Glace Crisphead lettuce which has a delicately serrated edge and as a baby leaf has a curled shape and thick texture that gives "loft" to salad which allows dressings to coat the leaf surfaces and keeps the salad from getting matted down by flattened leaves. The thick, juicy midrib of Reine de Glaces has a sweet, succulent flavor and texture that brings out fresh, light dressings.

As 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, beautiful, refined varieties of Amaranth developed by indigenous peoples of South America, and a variety of Lambsquarters with 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.

A tasting of Seeds of Change carrot varieties, including Scarlet Nantes, Kurota Chantenay, and Red Core Chantenay was enjoyed by all. Most of us grew up eating the long straight (Imperator-type) carrots out of the bag from the supermarket, but Carrot varieties each have their own unique flavors and fresh carrots are an entirely different culinary experience than supermarket carrots. Participants were each given an evaluation form and asked to write one word describing the flavor of each variety. Supermarket carrots were included for comparison and were noted by participants as "soapy, bitter, and flavorless", while the Scarlet Nantes was most commonly described as "sweet". Participants commented that the Red Core had a "stronger" carrot flavor and the Kurota was "flavorful" and the "juiciest" of all.

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 only brought a little salt and sugar and all other ingredients were purchased at the farmers market. The first was a light, summer Eel River melon vinaigrette over baby Reine de 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, look for them in our future new introductions). Both salads were delicious, unique and 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 at home.

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 like 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 Consumer 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 who spoke to my friend Ed Jarvais in a small Italian village farm/restaurant.

Micaela Colley
Bulk Seed Field Representative, Seeds of Change

Photo captions: 1) Jesse Cool at Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. 2) Jesse Cool and Micaela Colley with audience at Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. 3) Peter Miller serving food at Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. 4) Zizi Vlaun helps Jesse Cool cool at Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. 4) Heirloom Organics stand at Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market.