Field Report: Delivering Flavor,
The Farmer-Chef Connection
by Micaela Colley

I was recently at Incanto restaurant in San Francisco doing a tasting of tomatoes and peppers with Chef Chris Cosentino, when Andy Griffen of Mariquita Farms dropped by to deliver his fresh crop of habanero peppers. Chris gleefully sliced one open and breathed the perfume of the fresh fruit. "Smell that," he said, "first you smell the heat, but then, you get that tropical scent." Chris relished his peppers, still warm from the field, while Andy rattled off the other varieties soon to come.

Chris, a regular at the farmers market, understands his dependence on farmers like Andy who keep farming an art by choosing to grow diverse varieties that deliver flavor. As Chris and I continued our tasting, it struck me how rare that connection between chef and farmer might be. Many farmers never meet the person eating or using their product. Although taste may be important, it often is not what drives the market for boxes of uniform, mass produced fruits and vegetables delivered to supermarkets across the country. I was reminded of the important role relationships between farmers and chefs, such as Andy and Chris, play in creating a market for diverse varieties with complex flavors that would be lost in the world of uniform, shippable, produce.

At Seeds of Change, flavor is an essential quality in the varieties we choose to offer. It has always been part of the evaluation process at our Research Farm and in the fields of the farmers we work with. For years we've worked with organic farmers to evaluate the agronomic qualities of our varieties. This year we expanded our research program to include a network of chefs. Bringing our trial varieties from the farmer's field to the chef's kitchens, we are drawing on their expertise to refine our tasting criteria, crop by crop. This week Chris evaluated peppers and tomato varieties from the Seeds of Change trials grown at UC Davis.

The day before meeting Chris I had tasted tomatoes warm in the field, picked from the vine with the crew at the UC Davis Student Farm. We talked of the acid-sweet balance and chose our favorites, but tasting with Chris took the tomato evaluation to the next level. He started by smelling the tomatoes and commented that smell is part of the eating experience. He sliced them open and looked at the seed-to-flesh ratio explaining the effects of texture in the mouth and in cooking. Then, assessing flavor, he said "always try them unsalted and then salted." There are acid or sweet qualities but beyond that lie subtle flavors. Chris explained that salt sometimes brings forth those flavors, as it did with the muskiness of the Yellow Perfection. Slicing open a Pineapple tomato (very similar to our Marvel Striped) he admired the swirls of orange and red and commented on the brilliance they would bring to a plate of food. We tasted its pure sweetness and Chris described it as "a chef's dream, a safety-net tomato." He explained that with that kind of tomato you can't over-salt it; its sweetness and flavor will always come through. Chris described the Peron Sprayless as a classic hamburger tomato. It has an acid-sweet balance but neither is overwhelming, so it compliments any sandwich. It was the Red Calabash however that made him remark, "now that is what you expect a tomato to taste like from the garden!" He continued, "I like to put a plate of tomatoes like that at the front door of the restaurant where they sit in the sun releasing their aroma. It guarantees that guests will order tomatoes from the menu that night."

Chris apprenticed under Chef Mark Miller, author of The Chile Book. From that experience, Chris really knows chile peppers and how to evaluate them. We looked at several roasting, stuffing, and drying chiles from the trials, including varieties from Seeds of Change's current offerings and potential future introductions from New Mexico State University. Chris explained the uses of different types of peppers according to skin and flesh thickness and flavor. Thick skin is good for roasting and peeling, but tough for fresh eating. Thick flesh turns succulent when roasted or cooked, but can go bad when drying or smoking peppers. Chris evaluated heat by cutting them lengthwise and just touching his tongue to the heart of the pepper. He explained that your tongue will pick up on the heat quickly without having to take a full bite and becoming overwhelmed by it, so your comparisons will be more accurate. I was learning that the evaluation process is not only identifying key criteria but developing appropriate methods. By the end of our visit Chris was planning a roasted chile and fresh tomato dish for the Incanto nightly menu.

Of course the desires of the chef must be considered in light of the needs of the farmer and demands of the market. That is why we look at traits such as yield, vigor, and disease resistance in the field and consider these factors in concert with culinary qualities. However, a farmer's variety selection is also often driven by a market that demands uniformity and size in products. Uniformity of maturity and visual appearance are often emphasized in modern breeding. I was recently reminded of this when conducting a fennel trial evaluation with Phil Foster's farm, Pinnacle Organics, alongside Paula Linton of Greenleaf Produce.

We compared the Seeds of Change varieties Perfection and Zefa Fino fennel with a hybrid fennel that Phil has been growing. He used to use Zefa Fino but has been growing the hybrid because of its round shape and uniform size. Phil commented that the distributor likes the regularity of the bulbs. Paula asked us if we knew about flavor in different fennels. She commented that a friend had just returned from Italy and was complaining that you can't get fennel in the U.S. that has the deep flavor of fennel in Italian markets. Neither Phil nor I knew the answer, but Paula and I left with samples of each variety to evaluate for flavor later on. We completed the evaluation and found that all three varieties grew healthy plants and made good, marketable bulbs, but indeed the hybrid was rounder and more uniform compared with the other two varieties.

That evening Paula and I tasted the fennels and found more of a flavor difference than we'd expected. The Perfection had that strong fennel essence that Paula's friend was looking for. The Zefa Fino was mild, but still had a nice fennel flavor. However, the hybrid fennel had the least flavor and had an odd sweetness that neither of us cared for. I wondered whether the flavor had been lost in the process of breeding for shape or whether the company was developing a sweet variety for the Americanized palette. Phil, truly interested in knowing his products, called the following morning to get our feedback. We discussed the importance of promoting distinct qualities such as flavor and knowing the desires of the market. I reflected that Perfection, the most flavorful of the three, might have been overlooked if judged by shape alone.

Working with chefs like Chris, farmers like Phil, and produce specialists like Paula, not only adds discerning criteria to our variety trials but it is also developing a network to dialog about variety selection. As a seed company, we understand the benefit to all of identifying and developing varieties that fit the needs of farmers but also work for distributors and are desired by chefs and discerning customers. It is this education process and discussion that keeps diversity in our diet and flavor in simple foods.

Keep the flavor alive,

Micaela Colley
Seeds of Change Bulk Seed Field Representative


Photo captions: (1) Chris Cosentino, chef at Incanto, tastes tomatoes. (2) Tasting tomatoes freshly picked from the UC Davis fields. (3) Phil Foster and Paula Linton evaluate fennel varieties.