Nearing the end of the season for those wonderful cara cara oranges. This’ll probably be the last fresh taste of cara cara juice for 2017…
8 Likes
My oldest loves Strawberry Pie Season at Marie Callender’s
Double Cream Blueberry - Creamy vanilla custard, sour cream, blueberries & hint of apples
It got a little mangled. I doubt this compares to Apple Pan’s Boysenberry, but they use sweet, tiny blueberries perfect for pie and I’m a sucker for custard.
6 Likes
Mulberries are here!!! Persian mulberry and white mulberry are now in season, and available as part of dessert after your main meal at Shunji Japanese Cuisine. For those unfamiliar with this fruit, they are incredibly naturally sweet and delectable. The right time to enjoy these berries is quite short - Try’em while they’re still around!
8 Likes
Arnett also at Mar Vista FM on Sundays. Agree about the staff, super friendly, happy to give tips on the fruit. Yvette at Mar Vista is super quick and efficient, but always manages to point out how to best store and how long to wait for optimum quality of the fruit you buy.
2 Likes
Meyer Lemon Eton Mess
Tunnel of meringue, oozing lemon curd on top of whipped crème fraiche, dotted with moist morsels of pound cake, cherry compote and sprinkled with almond crumbles.
. It was wonderful. Shhh… I actually had it in April.
Commerson
788 S. La Brea
Mid-City
7 Likes
Cherries from my favorite street fruit guy. His fruit is always so ripe and flavorful.
A quart-cup overflowing with cherries for $5, and they are great.
[Edit to add: My photo isn’t that great, so the cherries look pale. They are actually a rich red, and perfectly ripe.]
Corner of Rose Avenue and Penmar.
Penmar Park, Venice
6 Likes
#Animal
Getting my 5 servings of fruits and vegetables in.
avocado
kumquat
blood orange
strawberry
cherimoya
10 Likes
Mother’s Day is mañana so I went to the SM FM on Arizona this AM (what would I do without Ms?). Got there before 9AM and Harry’s was already almost out of Seascapes. I’m not surprised as Harry’s has pulled back on the amount offered on this variety, and I did see people already walking out of the market, holding whole flats of their strawbs - restaurant folk, obsessed eaters, Mom’s Day preppers, etc.
Harry’s strawbs typically are all great. I think if they offered only one variety, that variety - what ever it might be - would be embraced as a great strawberry. But depending on the time of year, it’s not unusual to see four varieties offered.
The Gaviota variety is the current crowd pleaser, as its sweeter, low acid flavor is favored over the slightly more tart, faint honeysuckle profile of the Seascape - the variety that Harry’s has always been known for.
Mara Des Bois is a somewhat precious variety. Sold in small clamshells, it is extremely flavorful and fragrant. Its strawberry flavor is so intense, it seems almost artificial, reminiscent of strawberry candy. Doing a little reading on this variety, it was developed in France, and is reputed to have the highest levels of esters of all everbearing varieties.
A fourth variety is available - I don’t recall the name, but compared to the other varieties, I personally found it to be sort of bland. As we progress through the season, things may change.
Blueberries used to be a somewhat rare and pricy berry in SoCal. Now, one can get a two-pound clamshell at Costco for the same price as what would buy you a handful of berries decades ago.
These commodity-level berries are being sourced from all over the Western hemisphere, almost year around. Blueberries are now commercially grown even in SoCal as well. While commercially grown commodity varieties can be pretty good at times, they typically leave one wanting for more flavors of a proper blueberry.
Walking the FM this morning, I noticed Chas Organic Blueberries of Oxnard. The blueberries appeared visually perfect. A little on the larger side for a blueberry, they were plump, mature and completely blue with a nice patina.
These berries have a nice subtle sweetness, just a little tart and slightly tannic - a really nice blueberry. I thought these were more than worthy enough to mix in with Harry’s Gaviotas. I garnished these with some elderberry liqueur and some mint.
We enjoyed the mixed berry salad with some goodies from Rose Cafe.
Get the bread pudding.
13 Likes
Nice report @bulavinaka. 
The 4th variety we tried last season (in the fruits section ;)), was the Viva Patricia. What a wonderful blend you created yesterday. Thanks for sharing.
2 Likes
The gratuitous harry’s berries shot. Already a line at 830 this morning.
gaviota and viva patricia
The patrica’s tasted slightly sweeter than the gaviotas.
7 Likes
But which has the more intense strawberry flavor?
Hi -
[quote=“PorkyBelly, post:17, topic:5622”]
Animal
[/quote]Lovely pictures!
1 Like
Hi -
[quote=“bulavinaka, post:18, topic:5622”]
I thought these were more than worthy enough to mix in with Harry’s Gaviotas. I garnished these with some elderberry liqueur and some mint
[/quote]Wonderful. Nice report!
After further investigation, I recant my previous statement. the gaviotas are juicier, sweeter, and more strawberry-y.
6 Likes
That’s pretty much what I thought. But I only had one strawberry to compare, so who knows.
The Mara des Bois were for dessert tonight. I had three clamshells and mixed it with a basket of Seascapes. I have to say that I was kind of underwhelmed, as the super strawberry-ness of the Mara des Bois didn’t come through. I did taste a few as I was coring them, and they were fine. Maybe it’s because I mixed it with the Seascapes. Anyway, the strawberries were still awesome.
7 Likes
Looks delish. What’s a clam shell?
Those plastic containers used mostly for to-go orders. The containers are hinged on one side, roughly resembling a clamshell.
Hey -
What do you know. Those plastic containers I’ve been buying fruit in, washing and re-using all these years are not just called those “plastic containers”. I guess they do resemble a clamshell. Thanks!
1 Like
Hi -
[quote=“attran99, post:9, topic:5622”]
I will say that I had the best bananas I’ve ever had in Barbados and St. Lucia
[/quote]I have Bajan cousins (technically their grandparents were Bajan). We’ve been going to Barbados since we were kids. All islanders think their island has the best stuff: water, sand, music, fruit. They’ll be happy to hear what you have to say about the bananas. I’ll leave out the St. Lucia part .
Great vacay btw. I’m jealous!
1 Like