Fruit Maven » spring

Mara des Bois Strawberry

Fruit Maven — Tue, 31 May 2011 21:02:11 +0000

Today I made a short trek to find Mara des Bois Strawberries at Chino Farms, the exclusive little farm stand made famous by Alice Waters. As always, the produce was stunning, the staff ridiculously snotty, and the prices exorbitant. They had peaches and nectarines but couldn’t be bothered to tell me anything more about them than that they were “white”. Clearly they did not realize I was the Fruit Maven and owe my readers a little more than a grocery store description. Would they dare describe an apple as simply “red”? I think not. I need a t-shirt that says “Farmers are Frustrating”. So I passed those up and moved on to the gorgeous trays of strawberries. Here they had a little more to offer and knew that the nickel size, long stemmed beauties were the delightful Mara des Bois. The woman could barely pronounce it and had no idea how to spell it, but being the detective that I am, I took her mumbling and turned it in to gold — pure wild, french, gold. Ok, ok. That may be an overstatement regarding my contribution to the creation of these starlets, but they are amazing and if you give me even one bit of credit for introducing them to you, then I will feel I have made a small contribution in this great world after all.

APPEARANCE 5 out of 5 stars

Perky little conical strawberry with bright red skin and a soft pinky, peach flesh

AROMA 5 out of 5 stars

Sweet and intensely complicated; I am tempted to tape one to my upper lip

TEXTURE 5 out of 5 stars

Perfect juice and melting flesh. It has the ideal luscious, dense bite that gives at the lightest pressure

TASTE 5 out of 5 stars

Slightly tart at first, then becomes sweeter as you chew it, dissolving into an intense, perfumy, strawberry delight

OVERALL 5 out of 5 stars

This is what all strawberries should taste like. This makes the grocery store strawberry taste like cardboard and the farmer’s market strawberry seem like an overpriced juice box with a stem. This is a complicated, sophisticated little starlet. You should run to find these and pay whatever the cost.

FRUIT Strawberry	PEAK Spring	PURCHASED Chino Farms
VARIETY Mara des Bois	GROWN California

Camarosa Strawberry

Fruit Maven — Fri, 13 May 2011 19:45:52 +0000

If you are tired of being seen as unoriginal, then this Camarosa Strawberry is the fruit for you!

Visited the Carlsbad Strawberry fields for some good old fashioned berry pickin’. Found this crazy little cutie in the midst of all the other standard berries and just had to share.

Delicious!

If you are in the area, do stop by:

Carlsbad Strawberry Company
Located at the corner of Cannon Road and Paseo del Norte, just east of Interstate 5 at the Cannon Road exit in Carlsbad.

APPEARANCE 5 out of 5 stars

Deep ruby red with bitty little seeds all over

AROMA 3 out of 5 stars

Fresh and sweet

TEXTURE 3.5 out of 5 stars

Juicy and perfectly dense. Just the right amount of give.

TASTE 4 out of 5 stars

Sweet with a touch of tart. The standard strawberry flavor.

OVERALL 3.88 out of 5 stars

FRUIT Strawberry	PEAK Spring	PURCHASED Carlsbad U-pick
VARIETY Camarosa	GROWN Carlsbad, CA

White Mulberry

Fruit Maven — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:08:57 +0000

If you tend toward the macabre, then this is the fruit for you!

APPEARANCE 1 out of 5 stars

Eww.

AROMA 2 out of 5 stars

Meh.

TEXTURE 4 out of 5 stars

Fine.

TASTE 4 out of 5 stars

SWEET!!! and a little more complicated than most of the black mulberries I have tried.

OVERALL 2.75 out of 5 stars

FRUIT Mulberry	PEAK Spring/Summer	PURCHASED Farmer’s Market
VARIETY White (likely Tehama)	GROWN California

Atemoya

Fruit Maven — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:03:24 +0000

If you are still hoping to find your prince by kissing a little tree frog, then this is the fruit for you!

Atemoyas, a cross between the cherimoya and the soursop, look like tumorous little forest creatures but taste like tropical flowers. Eating one is a pure delight, but so is reading about it. Take this page for example, a scientific description for all intents and purposes, but it takes the atemoya to a whole new level (for me at least, but I’m a bit nerdy that way). I don’t know about you but these kind of details just make me blush (are they seriously talking about the picture below?): delicate apex, creamy lines around the areoles, elliptical, less hairy, prominent and angular, firm, pliable, fragrant…wowza! Fruit can be very inappropriate.

APPEARANCE 2.5 out of 5 stars

Dusty green, wobbly, gnarled looking fruit with tan flesh and gorgeous black seeds.

AROMA 5 out of 5 stars

Sweet, tropical and floral. Luscious, luscious, luscious.

TEXTURE 4.5 out of 5 stars

Very slightly fibrous, slightly grainy (like a pear), yet creamy and juicy at the same time.

TASTE 5 out of 5 stars

Mix of sweet pineapple, pear, banana and strawberry.

OVERALL 4.25 out of 5 stars

Extremely delicious fruit. Just about as yummy as you can get. Atemoyas are sweet and bright and delicate. I’m not sure I can tell the difference between this and the cherimoya particularly, although I’m not tasting them side by side.

FRUIT Atemoya	PEAK Unclear (Fall – but they are at the Farmer’s Market now!)	PURCHASED Farmer’s Market
VARIETY Unknown	GROWN Rainbow, CA

Carambola

Fruit Maven — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:06:34 +0000

If you’re so healthy that you do that yoga with the heat turned up to 100 degrees and you feel guilty when you eat strawberries, then this is the fruit for you!

The Carambola, or Star Fruit, comes in tart varieties and sweet varieties. The sweet only has 4% sugar though (compared to a speckled and ripe banana, which can have up to 90% – yee haw!). So I’m thinking this so-called “fruit” really should surrender its title and just slink on over to the vegetable aisle. Perhaps it could just make friends with the rutabagas.

APPEARANCE 5 out of 5 stars

Green and yellow cylindrical fruit in the shape of a star. Lots of brown edges and bruises.

AROMA 3 out of 5 stars

Lightly lemony.

TEXTURE 4 out of 5 stars

Firm, crunchy and juicy – a bit like a firm grape.

TASTE 3 out of 5 stars

This reminds me of a slightly sweet, slightly sour, juicy, lemony bell pepper.

OVERALL 3.75 out of 5 stars

This fruit just screams pizazz the second you see it. And then you taste it…and it mumbles “meh”. On the bright side, it makes an amazing garnish and I’m sure it would liven up dessert soups and salads. But seriously, who cares about salad when you can slice these and put them on the edge of champagne glass. Oooh la la.

FRUIT Carambola	PEAK All Year	PROVIDED BY Specialty Produce
VARIETY Unknown	GROWN California

RECIPES

Pickled Carambola
Dessert Pizza with Mango, Peaches and Star Fruit