Cooleeney...Cool

It is very lucky to be able to travel and see and taste what other cultures produce, but some of us don't have that luxury. KerryGold Butter and Dubliner Cheddar cheese have made a favorable impression in America and we are fortunate to be able to find them in more and more stores. They are a clear indication of the quality of Irish dairy products. I have wished for many years that we could import their milk, since it has been the very best I have ever tasted. Now after a trip to Ireland last year, I can add Cooleeney cheese to that wish list. It must be the Irish answer to brie or camembert as it is creamy, rich and unctuous, so very buttery on the tongue.

www.cooleeney.com

The Spice Shop

This British culinary institution started because the woman who owns it was looking for extra income to complete grad school. Her weekend spice stall turned into an international business, the shop now sells its products all over Great Britain and Ireland and exports all over the world. This photo was taken in a small gourmet grocery store in Westport Ireland, but more about that later. Upon entering the small, postage stamp sized store in London just blocks from the Portobello Road antiques market, I was stunned at the amount and variety of spices that lined the tall shelving. With insufficient time to really shop I grabbed a few packages and made my way back to the hotel, with plans for a more thorough visit the next time I go to London. I would highly recommend a visit to the store or a purchase over the Internet.

www.thespiceshop.co.uk

1 Blenheim Crescent
London, W11,
United Kingdom
+44 20 7221 4448

San Francisco Civic Center Farmer's Market

While there are many cross over vendors at all 3 of the major farmer's markets in San Francisco, Civic Center has a larger Asian presence and influence with a broader selection of Asian foods including fish and even live poultry. Some of the vendors sell very good quality produce, and some sell, what appears to my personal aesthetics to be, inferior quality produce, yet every stand has clients making purchases. I probably edit more photos at this market than at Alemany or Ferry Plaza, due to a less formal approach by the vendors in setting up their "wares", yet some are very engaged in their activity and set up their stands in such a way, I believe they are true works of art. I only wish I could take credit for the arrangement in my photo shown here.

Except for the smoked fish vendors at Ferry Plaza and Alemany Farmers' Markets, there is no other fish being sold at our outdoor markets unless you come here to Civic Center. the selection changes from week to week with some staples like tuna, prawns, smelt, and large squid. I've only seen the green lipped mussels once in 3 months.

It isn't hard to identify the catfish, but without signs, it's a guessing game for some of the fish being sold here. Admittedly, seeing the fish frozen and thawing out in the sun poses a few concerns about food safety at this stand, but it's still tempting to purchase something when the prices are better than what you'd pay at a supermarket.

If you click on the 1st photo you'll see about 20 people standing in line. The 2nd photo shows the back side of a live chicken being held by its legs so it can be shoved into a paper bag that will be stapled closed. Is this legal? Seems like animal cruelty to me, and yet there is a large market for these birds. So are these birds being adopted or will they be home slaughtered? It seems "a chicken in every pot" comes in a bag at Civic Center.

The market also has vendors selling garden plants, dairy products, mushrooms, honey, preserves, bakery goods and flowers. There are many more items that grace this market along with vendors selling prepared foods, although not as many as at the other major San Francisco markets. These photos show a bit of the diversity.

After having made a point of going to the markets for several consecutive months, there is one trend that has caught my attention and that is price increases. They fluctuate as does the freshness and quality of the produce. The $4 flats of eggs are now $5 several months later and 5# of almonds went from $12 last November to $15 last month. I inquired about that change and the vendor told me that when the product becomes more scarce at the end of the season, the prices go up. Fair enough.

Wednesdays and Sundays on Market St between 7th and 8th

I Hate To Keep Talking About Chocolate.....

Yes, I'd much prefer to be eating it, but alas, my stash from our last trip is long gone and but a memory. The Swiss really do excel at making chocolate and there are many more vendors than we are exposed to here in the U.S. While it would not have been impossible to consume chocolate every day of our 1 1/2 week trip to Switzerland, I did manage to limit myself to less than 11 bars. My two favorites are shown in the photograph. While looking for a website for Suchard, it became apparent that the company may no longer exist, although the name is still being used. It was originally a Swiss company and seems to have been sold to Tobler, then got picked up by Kraft Foods and in many cases is being identified with Belgian chocolates rather than Swiss. Since it is my habit to only try regional food items on vacation I'm sure the milk chocolate bar I ate was at the very least made in Switzerland. It, like so many other milk chocolates was rich and sweet and easy to savor.

The Camille Bloch filled chocolate bar was outstanding and like no other chocolate bar I have eaten. The caramel mousse was light as a feather and not overly sweet; the sweetness was left to the chocolate enveloping it. Most certainly I will try more of this fine chocolate whenever I'm lucky enough to find it again. The website informs me that it may be as close as Quebec!

http://www.camillebloch.ch/index.php/en

Switzerland..Dairy Good

It must be clear to most people who travel that Switzerland is a great country for chocolates and cheese, both utilizing milk from cows grazing on alpine pastures. I knew that going in, bit it never occurred to me that the Swiss also make phenomenal yogurt. As is evidenced by the above photo, the flavors are exotic and very imaginative. The chocolate and coconut combination is a natural, but I've never seen that at home, nor have I ever seen or tasted a citrus/exotic fruit blend like the Lychee/Pomelo blend. Both of these flavors were fresh and delicious. The Mango/Guava would please the entire southern hemisphere. Since Hirz brand is a Nestle product, one can only hope they might consider distributing it in the States. Our tastes have become more sophisticated than to settle for only Swiss Miss Cocoa, Quick, and Nestle Crunch bars, especially since we now know about Banana Split yogurt!

A New Meaning for "Hot Chocolate"

Lindt, the international Swiss chocolate manufacturer is selling this semi sweet chocolate in Italy. I've tasted chocolate with chili peppers in Italy before and have liked it. That heat hitting the back of one's throat is remarkable, slightly surprising, and just enough of a kick to allow the flavors to linger in your mouth for a few seconds more. If you get a chance try one of these products, please do. I may have to try to make a hybrid version at home, since I can't seem to find this product in stores locally. At the very least I am hoping to recreate a chocolate torte with chili that I ate at Al Mascaron in Venice. The Vosges brand of chocolate that is available locally has a few bars with chili peppers included, but their heat is mild in comparison to the European chocolates. Still, no one can compete with their bacon chocolate.

Country Cheese

Tucked away mid block on Hopkins St, in the middle of Berkeley's "gourmet ghetto" is a small store with an amazing collection of high quality products. Country Cheese is not just a cheese store. I stumbled upon it as I walked between Monterey Market where I purchased dirt cheap produce and Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, where I intended to adopt some tomato plants for my garden.

Cheese, teas, coffees, spices, chocolates, condiments and much more pack this small 3 aisle store. It has become a most valuable resource for finishing salts because their prices are excellent. Fume De Sel is the most expensive at $60 per pound, but who needs a pound? At $3.75 per ounce it's affordable to everyone. The Salish alder smoked salt is one of my favorites of the smoked salt group and is priced lower here than anywhere I have seen it on the Internet. At $12 per pound they are giving it away. For texture it's difficult to resist the black lava salt with it's square, concave crystals.

Besides the 3 salts listed above, they also sell Murray River pink salt from Australia, one of the most popular finishing salts of all, as well as Hawaiian Alea salt. But we can't stop at the salt... the cheese selection is commendable, but fairly small for a store that has cheese in its name. I did expect more. the selection is nice and many were perfectly ripe and ready for immediate use, a big plus in my estimation.

This small purveyor of comestibles also had a very broad range of exceptional chocolates including Vosges of the bacon/chocolate, wasabi/chocolate, pink peppercorn/lemon chocolate fame. It's worth a trip there just to see what boutique chocolates are currently on the market. One Easter, instead of a dessert, I supplied my guests with a tasting of Vosges chocolates and we all had a wonderful time guessing the ingredients.

(510) 526-1333
1578 Hopkins St

Berkeley CA 94707

If You Like Habanero Heat But Hate the Process...

The first time I handled a Habanero pepper became my last time. I knew I had to be careful using it because of its excessive number of Scoville units and the potential for not only burning my eyes, but my skin as well. I gingerly washed it and then sliced the sides after cutting off the top. I dared not remove the seeds from it for fear of the damage it might do to me. Fortunately for me, I was merely infusing the Habanero flavor into vodka, so all I had to do was place it into the bottle and toss it after 30 - 45 minutes. Since I had forced the Habanero into the bottle with a chopstick I would not be able to retrieve it. After the infusion I drained the vodka from the bottle and tossed the bottle into the garbage can. Not so bad, I had thought, until disposing of another Habanero that hadn't been used. It went down the garbage disposal, and when I turned it on the entire kitchen seemed like a chemical war zone. I started coughing and my eyes burned from the fumes. I vowed never again to use a Habanero in cooking, even though I did enjoy its fruity heat.

Delight struck me as I looked at the Sciabica Olive Oil website recently and discovered that they had added a new flavor to their fine line of extra virgin olive oils. It was Habanero! On my very next trip to Ferry Plaza I bought a small bottle and tried it as soon as I returned home. Knowing that the heat would be too strong for me, I cut it with an unflavored olive oil and it was perfect. The heat will sneak up on you and catch you in the back of the throat much more intensely than a fine Tuscan olive oil, but it is wonderful. If you like intense heat drizzle this straight onto your food, but if you're a tenderfoot (or mouth) then tame the heat with a 5 to 1 ratio of unflavored olive oil. What a great way to avoid using a fresh pepper, but still getting the fresh flavor and heat.

http://www.sciabica.com/magento/

Alemany, the Grandfather of SF Farmers' Markets

Not knowing the exact history of this market, its year of origin is unknown to me, but my grandparents bought produce here in at least the late 1950's. It predates all other open air markets in the city in recent memory. After visiting many of the other markets, I can say with certainty that Alemany is one of the largest and one of the best. Prices are lower than Ferry Plaza because vendors who trade at both places have admitted to saving their best quality produce for the rarefied atmosphere of FPFM. The quality of the produce here is generally better than that being sold at Civic Center, but it varies from vendor to vendor, so this assessment can turn on a dime, or the date when visiting the markets. All in all, the produce at Alemany is plentiful and reasonably priced.


The selection of fruits and vegetables is broad and items other than fresh produce are also in great supply. For example, there are extra virgin olive oils from 2 and sometimes 3 vendors, honey, beeswax candles; duck, chicken and quail eggs, handmade soaps, bakery goods; Indian and Afghani condiments, spreads and flat breads; and vendors selling prepared foods. In Spring you may also find a vendor selling seedlings for your own home grown produce.


Exotic fruits like cherimoya can be found and although they are not grown locally, it's nice to have someone willing to drive them up from Southern California. Ordinary fruits like Granny Smith apples, citrus, grapes, peaches, plums and berries are carried in season, but some have been put in cold storage too, such as the grapes I saw in January. It's a good idea to ask if you want truly seasonal produce.


I've also seen Fava Beans in January, but discovered that they had been grown locally in a greenhouse. Most other vegetables are truly seasonal and ethnically diverse from Asian eggplants, mustard greens and melons to Italian specialties like cardoons, artichokes, and flat leaf parsley


As is evidenced by the photographs, this is a very colorful market and it is impossible for me to shop there without my camera. The lower right photo is of the most colorful walnuts I have ever seen. The skins of this nutmeat are reddish burgundy and the flavor is classic walnut. They are on the top of my grocery list when they appear again at Alemany Farmers' Market. Nash's Olive Oils set up the next photo for me. Besides the oils, they also sell cured olives by the pint and have agreed to sell me raw olives in November, so that I might try my hand at salt curing them. You meet the nicest people at the markets.

100 Alemany Blvd
San Francisco CA 94110-6221
Phone: (415) 647-9423