Fat, juicy red “slicers,” jewel-colored lumpy-bumpy heirlooms and sweet, pop-in-your-mouth cherry tomatoes are finally ripening in fields and gardens around the Bay Area. Delayed by this year’s cold, wet weather, tomatoes were slow to grow, then flooded in the fields. Growers replanted, giving a late start to our July-to-October season.

Now that they’re finally here, nothing beats freshly picked, sun-warmed tomatoes brought directly to the table, sliced thick and placed on fresh bread with mayonnaise and sprinkling of salt and pepper. In a word: perfection! I keep baskets full of these lovelies, all shapes, sizes and colors on my kitchen counters and chop, slice and mix them according to my mood. With my trusty stock of extra virgin olive oil, good-quality balsamic vinegar, fresh basil, garlic, parmesan, salt and pepper, I can conjure up fabulous eats in a flash.  Just think brilliant, multi-colored tomato-basil bruschetta with a glass of cool white wine, salads filled with fresh vegetables and herbs and savory tarts that become art—the possibilities are endless.

Did you know that tomatoes are native to western South America, and still grow wild in the area that we know as Peru today? It is thought that birds carried their seeds to Mexico where the Aztecs named them “Nahuatl (round and plump), and began cultivating them around 700 A.D.

Eight hundreds later, Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortéz discovered tomatoes growing in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlán (later named Mexico City). Cortéz shipped seeds home to Spain, where some Europeans feared them poisonous, due to their distant connection to the deadly nightshade family. Tomatoes were grown strictly as ornamental plants until some brave or ignorant soul sampled one, found it tasty and lived to tell about it. As their acceptance and popularity grew, tomatoes became an important ingredient in European cuisines.

We can thank early settlers for bringing tomato seeds to the New World. History tells us that President Thomas Jefferson, a master gardener, grew tomatoes at his famed Virginia estate. Today tomatoes are important crops in California and Florida.

How to select tomatoes:

When five-year old Sammy was just three, we planted a giant clay pot with winter greens that became his special garden. He learned that plants eat and drink through their hairy little roots and require lots of tender loving care to flourish. They became his “babies” and along the way Sammy learned about rain and weather, bugs and slugs and found a love of the earth growing deep inside him. So it seemed logical to bring him along with me for a morning adventure at the Garden of Eatin’ at the North Bay Children’s Center in Novato. He could explore this magical growing world that is the model for nine California schoolyard gardens while I interviewed its director, David Haskell, for my Beyond Wonderful Around the Table series.

As we stood at the garden gate a very tall man appeared and Sammy’s eyes grew large. Was this a giant that lived somewhere in the garden? Sammy soon relaxed as David flashed an infectious grin and greeted him warmly while ushering us in. Everywhere I looked, life was in motion. Brilliant spring green seedlings sat poised for planting, mature leafy greens were ready for harvesting and artichokes stood pointing skyward.

Sammy took off down the path, marveling at every detail—right down to the luscious smell of the moist, rich dirt on the garden floor. David explained that this soil is the secret to the delicious-tasting fruits and vegetables in the Garden of Eatin’. “Follow me and I’ll show you how we make it.”

Sammy climbed up the side of the large compost box to get a good look inside and immediately wondered why the top was full of oranges and raspberries. “Garbage becomes dirt?” He asked. I watched quietly as David taught him a few basics of science and the environment; of sustainability and the cycle of planting, harvesting and eating before returning the leftovers to the earth.

An enchanted Sammy picked his way along the twists and turns of a huge green vine. What could it be? Hmmm. “Beans! Look, big green beans!”

David watched and told me how the summer months are magical for the kids as they work, explore and eat the fruits and vegetables each day. “We constantly conduct taste tests with the kids: cooked vs. raw; just-harvested vs. the same things from the supermarket. There is really no comparison and the kids learn this quickly. We’re training their taste buds to make healthy choices now and throughout their adult lives. Humans are a species wired to prefer simple fresh food not the processed kind filled with high fructose syrup, sugar, salt and fat. Given a choice kids with a garden will choose a carrot before cake.”

David told how one kid “escapes” to the strawberry patch at every opportunity to gorge himself on juicy, warm, sun-ripened berries. He doesn’t realize that his red lips and chin gives him away all the time. Already, this child turns down sodas and juice. Just think how much healthier he’ll be than ones that live on processed foods.

Sammy recognized a large blackberry bush like the one we’d picked for jam last fall. I felt a rush of pride as he happily counseled David on how to identify ripe and unripe berries, proving that last year’s lesson had made a lasting impact.

David and I headed inside to get to work on our interview and discuss the role of the Garden of Eatin’ and other schoolyard gardens in raising healthy kids and combating the childhood obesity epidemic in America. Later, I found Sammy playing in a pile of dirt with a small truck from his pocket. “Does dirt come in flavors?” he asked. “If you put apples in the garbage box would it taste like apples?” Think about it, if every child grew in a garden, our country would definitely be a healthier, stronger place.

Stay tuned for my Beyond Wonderful Around the Table interview with David Haskell coming soon.

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Cherries—oh, how I love those sweet dark beauties this time of year. Eaten greedily out-of-hand or mixed into muffins and French clafoutis; better yet, flamed and spooned warm over a luscious bowl of Hagan Daz ice cream. Somehow the May-through-August season is just too short for me.

We’re especially lucky this year that the ongoing rains did not ruin the crop, but they did leave their mark. You’ll find the markets filled with cherries—big, fat perfectly round juicy ones and those known as “split” cherries, which are caused by the weather. These look like they grew, popped, split and then healed themselves. Splits taste as good as their perfect sisters but being “ugly” fetches a lower price. Split cherries are great in jam, and in cooked desserts, savory and barbecue sauces. They make good eating and are economical for those on a tight food budget.

Cherries are fairly expensive at three to five dollars a pound but will go on sale in a few weeks. The organic varieties are plentiful and run four to five dollars a pound. Be vigilant and don’t get robbed by markets and vendors charging far more. Also, roadside stands are not always the bargain they used to be. I found one selling split cherries for the same price local high-end markets were charging for premium ones. Distressing. Of course, the sweetest bargains come straight off your backyard tree or in a large, fruit-filled paper sack from a friend.

As you enjoy your cherries, know that they are one of the oldest cultivated fruits and a distant relative of peaches, plums and apricots.

Cherries originated in the southern region around the Black Sea, and their seeds were transported by birds to Europe where they flourished and became wildly popular in Rome 60 BC.  The British brought them across the ocean to America in the late 1620s. Spanish missionaries planted the first cherries in California, where they have evolved into a major crop today.

Oregon grower Seth Luelling originally grafted my favorite sweet cherries in 1875 and named them “Bing” for his Manchurian foreman. Modern Bing trees are a direct descendent of those early efforts

How to Select Sweet Cherries

For best flavor and sweetness, select cherries that are plump yet firm to the touch. Sweet cherries are best when a shiny deep garnet red to almost black color with healthy green stems Avoid bruised, cut or mushy fruit and those with brown, dried-up stems. Fresh cherries keep well in the refrigerator for two to four days, but begin softening after that.

How to Store Sweet Cherries

Place your unwashed cherries with attached stems in a paper (not plastic) bag in the coldest section of your refrigerator. Cherries absorb water through their skins and spoil quickly after washing or when stored in moisture-trapping plastic.

Remove the cherries from the refrigerator when ready to use and bring to room temperature before washing.

How to Freeze Sweet Cherries

There are several ways to freeze cherries for use throughout the year. The easiest is to place them pitted in a zip-lock bag and remove all the air before sealing. Thaw the cherries in the refrigerator and bring them to room temperature before using.

If you want perfectly round cherries for presentation, place them individually on a baking sheet and set in the freezer until frozen. Scoop them all up and proceed as directed above.

Now pardon me, two five-year olds just challenged me to a pit-spitting contest. It’s time they learned from a pro.

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Print my sweet cherry recipes for your convenience. All work well with both fresh and thawed, frozen fruit.

Cherries Jubilee—an impressive, elegant dessert that may seem complicated or fussy, but is in fact super simple. I made this at my very first dinner party when I was 20. The guests were so impressed when I lit it on fire in a silver chafing dish that they never suspected how nervous I was.

Cherry-Almond Clafouti—A warm, fragrant Sunday morning breakfast or brunch dish easily dressed up with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Cherry-Almond Muffins—these scrumptious buttermilk muffins use fresh or thawed frozen cherries and sport a crunchy almond-coconut topping. Sensational!

Come join me “Around the Table” at Beyond Wonderful, where the conversations are lively and the food is always good.

On May 3, I’m launching a series of interviews with guests on the frontlines of the food revolution in America—from small organic growers to farmers and ranchers focused on sustainable practices to artisans crafting beautiful breads, cheeses and charcuterie. You’ll meet chefs raising the bar with fresh local ingredients, and the writers and activists that inform and inspire us all.

As a food writer and publisher, I live and breathe food; it is my passion. So I’ve always appreciated the special quality of local, farm-fresh produce and lovingly handcrafted foods. Yet weaning this busy city girl off the quick conveniences of a large supermarket was slow going until I began focused research on the largely unseen world of food production in America. Books, articles and film documentaries exposed a bleak scene that is, in a word, scary.

Over the last 40 years we have evolved from a country that balanced supermarket food with local, seasonal produce and products to one almost totally dependent on prepared “quick and easy” foods and take-out for our daily sustenance. Meals come bottled, boxed and frozen, laden with sugar, salt, fat, flavor enhancers and additives. Fruits and vegetables engineered for shipping and a long shelf life arrive by air and highway year-round, but often hard and tasteless.

What happened to the human element? Where is the passion and pride in growing and creating beautiful food, and the immense, sensuous joy of eating it? I wanted to know—and to share my discoveries with my readers. “Around the Table” lets me introduce individuals making a difference in how we think about food today—how we all may eat tomorrow. Working with passion to nourish our bodies, our souls, our communities and our environment, they inspire us to evolve in the way we view food and feed our families.

First up: Karen Bianchi-Moreda, a talented artisan cheese maker and owner of the Valley Ford Cheese Company on the Sonoma-Marin border. I first became aware of Karen when our Beyond Wonderful cheese expert, Mark “The Cheese Dude” Todd called me about an amazing new cheese—Estero Gold—that he was featuring in his latest column. Its creator, he enthused, was a true find; a fourth generation dairy farmer who makes her cheese using the rich, raw milk of her prized, 100-year-old herd of Jersey cows.

Karen, I soon discovered, lives sustainability 24/7 and is involved in every aspect of caring for and tracking her herd. From breeding and birthing to growing and managing the feed and grasses that nourish the cows, she knows her “girls” by site and through the detailed records that she keeps. Her passion, intelligence and inherent “cow-sense” makes beautifully crafted cheese like Estero Gold possible.

Come join Karen and me “Around the Table” at BeyondWonderful.com on Monday, May 3 for great conversation and several of her favorite Estero Gold recipes. I’ll put a clickable announcement on the Home Page when we launch.

See you soon!

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Crab curry is at once exotic, delicious, spectacularly beautiful and simple to prepare. Seafood curries are a personal favorite, so I asked my friend Leela Manilal to share her crab recipe. She was happy to do so; especially since she’s a longtime fan of our local San Francisco Dungeness crabs, and still thrills at a visit to Fishermen’s Wharf for the just-off-the-boat delicacy. We headed to Alioto’s outdoor stand where the fishmonger cleaned and cracked several beauties that we would eat out of the shell.

As he worked, Leela confided that “Dungeness crabs are so much nicer and sweeter than those horrible little green creatures that we get in Delhi”. She told how they are shipped hundreds of miles inland from the coastal regions of Mumbai and southern India and sold live from buckets in local markets. Leela giggled and related the chaos that ensues when the little critters escape, sending shoppers scurrying as clerks attempt to recapture their wares. Being no stranger to Indian markets, I had to admit how spoiled we are in San Francisco with this beautiful wharf and the promise of a walk by the bay once we collect our tidily wrapped crabs.

Crab curry is a fairly quick, easy assembly when you prep the garlic, ginger, onions, spices, tomato, coconut milk and tamarind before beginning. With everything ready at hand, you can focus all of your attention on the fine art of creating the gravy, adding liquid bit-by-bit and tasting as you go.

Most all of the ingredients for this dish are available at good local markets. You can find ghee (a form of clarified butter) and tamarind paste (an acid much like citrus, made from the pods of the tamarind tree) at Indian grocery stores or online. Western cooks often use vegetable oil for their Indian dishes, and this is perfectly acceptable. But ghee imparts a taste and aroma not otherwise possible. Its addition is well worth a trip to the store.

Tamarind paste may give you the culinary heebie-jeebies the first time you encounter it. Twenty-five years ago, Leela handed me a jar of black, gooey mystery stuff that made me question if it was safe to eat. Be brave! Take off the lid and give it a sniff. Tamarind paste smells a little like raisins and is used extensively in Indian curries and chutneys.

Once you’re in the kitchen and things are sizzling, keep in mind what Leela taught me years ago: Adding liquids a little at a time makes all the difference in Indian cooking. Stir and let the liquid absorb the flavors and reduce before adding more. If you pour all the coconut milk or water in at once, the gravy becomes diluted and runny. Patience equals perfection.

When Leela and I made this crab curry, I was surprised that the gravy was not the usual red or golden color but a deep chocolate brown. Yummy and smooth, but not visually pretty. When plating the finished dish, fill a serving platter with hot Basmati rice then arrange the orange-tinged crab pieces on top. Spoon the gravy into the crevices and then drizzle over the top. Don’t pour it freely or everything will swim in brown. Decorate the crab curry with chopped green cilantro and lots of lime pieces for spritzing—and color contrast.

Dig in! At my table we don’t stand on formalities with crab curry. Within seconds the room fills with the sounds of breaking shells, lip smacking and moans of pleasure as we lick the scrumptious gravy off our fingers. Truth is we make absolute pigs of ourselves. During all of this, Leela looked up with crab leg in hand and said, “will you teach me how to make chocolate ganache? I want to master truffles.” I agreed and grabbed another leg. Stay tuned.

Print a copy of  Crab Curry for your convenience.

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