Food headlines: Haitian rum, a death in the family and hide your Fritos

Headlines from today's L.A. Times

-- Reporting from Port-au-Prince: Since Haiti's founding, its important institutions have had foreshortened lives: The presidential palace has been burned down twice and again lies in ruins. Thirty-two rulers have been toppled. One leader was thrown out, returned and was sent packing again. U.S. troops ran the country for nearly two decades, left, came back and left again. Over the last century and a half, though, against considerable odds, one national institution has survived intact -- Rhum Barbancourt.

-- William "Bill" Binder, who for years ran Philippe's, the Los Angeles eating institution famous for its sawdust-covered floors and trademark French dip sandwiches, has died. He was 94.

-- Farm Aid: Meet the volunteers of the Santa Monica farmers market.

-- Hide your Fritos. First Lady Michelle Obama might be coming for them. Just joking. The White House officially launched its fight against childhood obesity Tuesday morning, and a task force that will help bolster Obama's national public awareness campaign. "I love burgers and fries, and I love ice cream and cake, and so do most kids," the first lady told Robin Roberts on ABC News' "Good Morning America." "We're not talking about a lifestyle that excludes all that...The question is how do we help people balance that out..." OK, we can live with that.

-- Edible art: Fallen Fruit teams with LACMA to encourage fellowship surrounding food.

-- Rene Lynch
On Twitter @renelynch

Photo: Haitian sugar cane growers have been hard hit by the Jan. 12 earthquake, as have Barbancourt's own workers. One-fifth of the rum maker's employees were left homeless. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Colicchio and Batali to produce 'Hungry in America' documentary

Filmmakers Lori Silverbush and Kristi Jacobson are currently in production on the film "Hungry in America," exploring why so many people in our country go without food, and what can be done about it. The film is co-produced by Silverbush's husband, "Top Chef" judge Tom Colicchio, along with another well-known culinary superstar, Mario Batali.

"In a country as wealthy as ours, it's amazing that so many people are going without. Forty-nine million people experience hunger in this nation, 17 million of which are children," Silverbush asserts. "The effect on the productivity of our society is extremely negative. And it's largely due to mismanagement of resources rather than scarcity."

Read more about the documentary (and guess where the film's kickoff event will be): 

Now you can try the citrus family's 'caviar'

This year, for the first time, you don't have to be a scientist or an Australian to taste citrus caviar from legendary finger limes: A small harvest from commercial plantings in California has started to show up at local markets and restaurants.

The finger lime is very different from other citrus, somewhat resembling a gherkin, elongated and up to 3 inches in length. Its skin is thin and can range from purplish or greenish black, the most typical color, to light green or rusty red. When the fruit is cut in half, the juice vesicles, which are under pressure, ooze out as if erupting from a mini-volcano. Unlike the tender, tear-drop-shaped juice sacs in standard citrus, the translucent, greenish-white or pinkish vesicles in finger limes are round and firm, and pop on the tongue like caviar, releasing a flavor that combines lemon and lime with green and herbaceous notes. The rind oil is also quite aromatic, and contains isomenthone, which is common in mint but rare in citrus.

Read more here, in David Karp's weekly Market Watch report:

Photo credit: David Karp

 

Santa Clarita farmers market: almonds, Princess raisins, citrus and more

The Santa Clarita farmers market offers experienced management, a good mix of quality local growers, and plenty of parking. It took some time after its establishment in 1993 to catch on, but the numbers of shoppers and vendors have steadily increased, and it's really flourishing now. It's our featured market of the week. Read more here in David Karp's Market Watch column:

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Photo caption: A shopper at the Santa Clarita farmers market. Photo credit: David Karp / For The Times

Why we love L.A.: fresh strawberries in December

Elsewhere in the country, it's frosty and freezing. After all, it's December.

But in L.A.? We're still reaching for our sunscreen and enjoying freshly grown Gaviota strawberries, above, courtesy of Harry's Berries in Oxnard.

Admittedly, strawberries are unusual this time of year. Just chalk it up to one more reason we put up with the traffic to live here. Check out this photo gallery of the luscious fruits and vegetables on sale recently at the Hollywood farmer's market.

If you're lucky, you can also find them at your local market.

If you live in L.A., that is.

--Rene Lynch

On Twitter @renelynch

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At the Santa Monica Pico farmers market: Kiwis, dates, Fuyu persimmons and more

The Santa Monica Pico farmers market on Saturdays has a lower profile than the big Wednesday venue on Arizona, but it's an excellent market in its own right. It's in an attractive location, the recently renovated Virginia Park, and it's substantial in size, with 35 produce vendors and seven prepared food stalls. Most important, Ted Galvan, who has managed the market since its establishment in 1992, vets the farmers to make sure they actually grow what they sell. Many managers don't bother or don't have the time to conduct farm inspections, but Galvan -- whose family used to own a local chain of Mexican restaurants named Hacienda Galvan -- has visited virtually all of his growers.

Eighty-seven-year-old Harry Nicholas, resplendent in a purple fedora with a faux leopard band, has started to bring Hayward kiwifruit, the standard green-fleshed variety, from his 5-acre planting in Orange Cove, which he picked two weeks ago. He placed the fruits in storage, then briefly treated them with ethylene gas and left them in a warm room for a day to ripen, he said, so they're ready to eat straight out of the tray. Kiwis store well and Nicholas will have them into April, but they're at their sprightliest right now. Nicholas, who also sells at the Santa Monica Wednesday and Beverly Hills markets, displays regular oval-shaped fruits, while some other vendors are selling misshapen packinghouse culls, which don't taste any different, but are not supposed to be sold under state farmers market regulations. Read more here:

-- David Karp

Photo credit: David Karp / For The Times

Medfly quarantine affects Santa Monica farmers markets and others

A recent find of a Mediterranean fruit fly in Santa Monica has caused state authorities to declare a quarantine that has started to affect vendors and customers at 10 farmers markets in that city and adjacent areas – just in time for the pre-Thanksgiving rush.

Armando Garcia, whose family grows citrus, avocados and other fruits in De Luz, in northern San Diego County, and who sells at the Santa Monica farmers market, found out about the new regulations on Tuesday at a meeting for farmers organized by county, state and federal authorities.

As he related while setting up his stand early Wednesday morning, he was told that he could continue to bring fruit from his farm to the market, but if it were displayed openly, where fruit flies could attack it – as almost all vendors have done up to this point – he could not bring the fruit back to his farm but would have to donate or destroy it. Fruit that is protected from flies because it is within a closed truck will be exempt from this requirement, as will be fruit that has been exposed only while being handled briefly and actively, so that flies cannot settle.

Vendors will be asked to cover their produce with insect-proof screening, but that fruit cannot be brought back to the farm, said Anthony Jackson, domestic program coordinator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Growing and eating it all on the family farm

When Greg Nauta of Rocky Canyon Farm kills a cow, he gets two tri-tips. That’s doesn’t put him in a good position to sell to customers looking for tri-tip in quantity, so he needs people willing to cook all the other parts of the animal.

Fortunately, chefs such as Ben Ford of Ford’s Filling Station in Culver City are interested in doing just that.

They, along with farmer Phil McGrath and moderator Evan Kleiman, talked Thursday night on a panel at the Santa Monica Library called “Eating the Whole Farm,” about a revivial of “nose to tail” farming and cooking practices.

Ford said he is buying whole rabbits, deer and pigs for his restaurant, adding that doing so gives him and his staff a new “reverence” for food animals.

McGrath noted that eating seasonably requires people to try new foods, to adapt to what's available, and that people are coming around to that idea.

“I remember back in the day when nobody would buy a beet. People were afraid of beets,” said Kleiman, host of the KCRW show “Good Food” and chef-owner of Angeli Caffe on Melrose.

Market Watch: Mexican limes, Arkansas Black apples and Autumn Lady peaches

 

Just-picked peaches in November?

It seems preposterous, but Tenerelli Farms of Littlerock just started selling their Autumn Ladys, making them probably the latest peaches in the Northern Hemisphere. Surprisingly, it's a good peach, not mealy like many late varieties. Read more about peaches, strawberry guavas (above), limes and more at David Karp's weekly Market Watch column:

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Photo caption: Strawberry guavas. Photo credit: David Karp / For the Times

Eggs as fresh as possible for those who don't want to get (too) dirty

My mom grew up on a farm and had to collect eggs every morning before school. She hated it, and never let us kids forget how hard she'd worked in her own childhood. So the fad for getting chickens in urban backyards has made me smile.

Today, we saw a post on Tasting Table Everywhere, however, that offers the best of both worlds: cute coops and fresh eggs. The Chicken Eglu from a British company called Omlet is a chicken condo that houses two to four birds -- a bigger structure houses up to 10.

We talked with James Tuthill at Omlet in Oxford, England. He and three other students at the Royal College of Art in London came up with the chicken houses as a school project and then decided to turn it  into a business. They've been operating in the U.S., out of Iowa, for a few years, he says.

"It's just taking off in the States," he says, in part because "more people got more interested in where their food is coming from."

The Times found some chicken owners in L.A. recently.

Tuthill has two chickens at home.

"They lay well, they're nice and friendly," he says.

For its customers, the company provides a guide to owning chickens. Tuthill says taking care of them is easy.

"You don't need to talk them," he says. Just feed them, clean their homes and collect the eggs. "The more time you spend with them, the friendlier they become."

Photo courtesy of Omlet