Royal Blenheims and the start of stone fruit season------

Happy May!

I like that May is a little pause before all the stone fruit arrives. I have seen the beginnings of cherries at the market, but I know that they won't be in their full flavour until 3/4's of the way into the month and I can enjoy them alone before the rush of plums, apricots, peaches, pluots, plumcots, and nectarines come. Who needs a lover during stone fruit season?

Living in Northern California means that no matter how many seats are in the restaurant I might be working in, I can't make enough splendid edible ideas or see and smell and taste all the varietals of stone fruit there are.

But we  aren't there yet. No. It's only May 1st. We are in the whispering stage, a quiet warning for all to ween ourselves from citrus, eat baskets of strawberries still warm from the farmer's market stand, {a strawberry refrigerated loses it's sun- infused je ne sais quois,} and get that nervous like a blind date funny feeling before tasting our first of the season cherries.

Simultaneously apricots arrive. Cherries get to the market first, as apricots need to be perfect before being turned out. Like a debutante, the apricots are primped and a grand show is made of their arrival.

Or maybe it's that the perfect Apricot is shielded from an unappreciative public. So shielded that it's made it onto the endangered fruit list.

The Royal Blenheim apricot is delicate, exquisite, shy and now endangered. It is the apricot essence of apricotness. Liquid languid musky oily perfume elusive slow kiss on the back of your neck. The soft fur baby bird down that is barely visible on the skin of the apricot is your first touch and its sticky trail on your wrist and fingers, your last.

Because the dried apricot is the way apricot growers can make the most from their crop, the cheap Turkish dried apricot: a clear, rubbery, tasteless, embarrassing stand-in for something that might resemble a fruit that grew on a tree, has taken over the market, rendering the California grown Blenheim hidden from and/or expensive beyond the sight and reach of most mortals.

In the winter, when most chefs who love working with fruit that was recently living and picked ripe, dried fruit and nuts are relied on heavily. Dried apricots deliver color, flavour and acid, not often found in something passed through an unbearably hot chamber and then stored in plastic bags in cardboard boxes in warehouses. I love that with a little re-constitution, a dried apricot puree can pack a vibrant punch in ones mouth. One only need use a dash to create a wondrous surprise with meat, pastry, ice cream, cake or salad.

On May 14th The Baker's Dozen will hold its Third Annual Royal Blenheim Apricot Summit. We will convene at a ranch, eat BBQ and taste loads of treats made with this doyenne of stone fruits. We went the first year just for fun and were struck by what the very few farmers who are still growing this complex fruit said to us about the dwindling orchards and their struggles in a cut throat market where how well the fruit ships unripe is it's best selling point.

If you have never had an apricot that struck your fancy or seduced you, you probably have never had a Royal Blenheim at the height of her season. If you are in a part of the world whose climate is neither friendly towards this ancient fruit, {they don't ship well}, nor allows for its production, I suggest ordering June Taylor's apricot conserve or The Apple Farm's apricot jam. The Apple Farm adds the noyeau, the internal kernel of the apricot pit, {all stone fruit has this-- it is the "almond-like" seed that reminds you all these fruits were once the bitter almond's kin}, as this enhances the well rounded flavour of the fruit. With stone fruit the leaves, the fruit and the noyau all produce aroma and flavour. A peach sorbet made with poaching liquid enhanced with the leaves and cracked stones can be intoxicating just because the source of the perfumes is mysterious.

Never one to be afraid of being corny or sentimental I would like to encourage you to think about how you shop for, feed your family and friends with, educate and learn from those around you about seasonal and local eating. It can begin with starting a rapport with your butcher, produce person, seafood buyer or even one farmer at your farmer's market. I engage waiters at restaurants because I know/hope that they will go back to the kitchen with my questions and therefore start a conversation about a point I inquired about. Food is delicious and political. As easy as it sounds in this complicated world, we vote with our dollar and our mouths. Restaurants serve raspberries and asparagus in winter because many of us order and eat it.

This early summer I hope that you can become newly acquainted with or have a short lived but intense love affair with a fruit that makes me happy I've waited for her all year, the Royal Blenheim apricot.

Comments

[john]

I discovered last year that a version of Tarte Tatin can be made with Royal Blenheims, and it's a knockout. They are juicier than apples, which means that once you invert the tart onto a plate (so the pastry is on the bottom) it will start to absorb juices and lose its crispness. It will still taste terrific, however. But if you serve the whole thing immediately after inverting, it's just amazing. (It's important, by the way, to let it cool to room temp before inverting, so the juices will thicken--otherwise you risk a scalding, runny mess.)

I'm not a serious cherry fan myself but Hamada Family stand at the Ferry Building had Brooks yesterday and Peggy (who loves cherries) says they're fine.

Finally, the Bella Viva folks

http://www.bellaviva.com/

have dried apricots and other fruit that aren't rubbery and flavorless. Their white nectarines are fantastic and I used their dried tart apricots to make Lekvar (combine with water, heat until mushy, pass through food mill) which is a great filling for crepes and is the traditional filling between the layers of Sachertorte.

[Fatemeh]

Yummy post, Shuna.

I can't bring myself to eat early cherries - I prefer them later in the season.

Today, though, we picked up a few "aprium" fruits - an apricot/plum hybrid. They are amazingly delicious & juicy, and have the unmistakable "twang" of plums. Yum.

[Dr. Biggles]

MmmMMmm, cherry season. Was considering going out to pick our own.

http://www.pickyourown.org/CA.htm

Cherries are our friend.

Biggles

[shuna]

Fatemeh,

apriums already?! amazing. Yeah, I don't trust the early cherries, not enough sun yet. But your comment is proof that early varietals have just gotten earlier!

Shuna

[shuna]

John,

One of the nicest things about apricot Tate Tatin is that once inverted there is a god- made tiny inverted place to rest your ice cream! Next time you make this take the time to make fresh Verbena icecream, the two go exquisitely together!

Shuna

[john]

Verbena! What a good idea--thanks. Yeah, I do sometimes serve it with vanilla but home made verbena, I'll definitely try this. The ice cream maker tub is sitting in the freezer as we speak, waiting for the weather to get just a bit warmer.

[Fatemeh]

I really shouldn't read your blog before lunchtime... I'm seriously salivating at the thought of apricot tarte tatin with verbena ice cream.

Lawdy.

[shuna]

John,

The most aromatic Verbena can be found at Knoll farms on Sat at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market. It's quite nice for tisane or used to make beurre noisette...just be careful--it needs to be used that day or one day later, or dry it in a "once hot" oven overnight.

Shuna

[Julie]

I just returned from New York with a dark chocolate bar filled will a soft apricot caramel center in anticipation of apricot season (doesn't taste at all like caramel, which is what I hoped). Mmmmm, stone fruit! Yummy post, as always. In case you want to check it out, the chocolates are divine, and they sell them in SF. http://chocolatmoderne.com/

[chronicler]

Shuna, fortunately two of my high school years were spent in an area of SoCal that grew apricots for Kern preserves company. There were ranches all over this wonderful area. Most of the fruit ended up in jam, but a lot of the blenheims were dried. I spent two summers pitting apricots and laying them for drying. $1 for a 4x8 foot tray ready to dry! I gained my appreciation for the food world in those fields! Thank you for the look back.