Frog Hollow Peaches

[jgarner53]

I haven't bought any Frog Hollow peaches this year. From what I recall last year, I wasn't impressed -- not enough "peachy" flavor to make it worth the cost.

I've also stopped visiting the Ferry Plaza farmer's market in favor of the Alemany market where the prices are cheaper. I've been getting outstanding peaches from a vendor that has a sign saying "voted #1 in farmer's market." FWIW, after tasting the offerings at other stalls, I tend to agree, enough to make it worth $1.75/lb for these beauties.

[OnlyTheBest]

When i lived in Green Valley some time ago....there was a farmer not too far and around the bend on green valley road...that would advertise his peaches by putting a bushel of them at the entrance to the farm.

One day I was driving by...on my way in to Fairfax to do something...and there they were....the BIGGEST peaches i EVER saw in my life. They were the size of SOFTBALLS......actually even a smaller GRAPEFRUIT!

I kid you NOT! I am DEAD serious!

I hit the breaks and turned into the farm....and sure a enough....he was selling them by the bushel. So....still in TOTAL disbelief....i bought some.

The were SOOOO BIG! There were only 12 !!!! That's right... TWELVE in the whole bushel!

THATS how big they were!!!

When i brought them home and laid them out on the kitchen counter...I thought my husband was going to faint. We just sat there and looked at them...like they were alien visitors.

When we finally came to our senses and opened the first one.....it was PURE pleasure!!! Peach heaven the likes of which i have not found since.

HUGE...and fabulous too!!! WHo knew they could grow THAT big and STILL be fabulous!

I think we polished them off in 3 days as they were at the peak of ripeness. I even made a enormous peach cobler that i put into the freezer and it took several months to finish off.

I have not been back to the area for many years....but I think about it alot....and wonder if that farmer is still selling his peaches.

Frog Hollow...Pence and all the others have NOTHING on this guy.

They were maginficent!

[tanabutler]

When i lived in Green Valley some time ago....there was a farmer not too far and around the bend on green valley road...that would advertise his peaches by putting a bushel  of them at the entrance to the farm.

One day I was driving by...on my way in to Fairfax to do something...and there they were....the BIGGEST peaches i EVER saw in my life.  They were the size of SOFTBALLS......actually even a smaller GRAPEFRUIT!

I kid you NOT!  I am DEAD serious!

I hit the breaks and turned into the farm....and sure a enough....he was selling them by the bushel.  So....still in TOTAL disbelief....i bought some.

The were SOOOO BIG!  There were only  12 !!!!  That's right... TWELVE  in the whole bushel!

THATS how big they were!!!

When i brought them home and laid them out on the kitchen counter...I thought my husband was going to faint.  We just sat there and looked at them...like they were alien visitors.

When we finally came to our senses and opened the first one.....it was PURE pleasure!!!  Peach heaven the likes of which i have not found since.

HUGE...and fabulous too!!! WHo knew they could grow THAT big and STILL be fabulous!

I think we polished them off in 3 days as they were at the peak of ripeness.  I even made a enormous peach cobler that i put into the freezer and it took several months to finish off.

I have not been back to the area for many years....but I think about it alot....and wonder if that farmer is still selling his peaches.

Frog Hollow...Pence and all the others have NOTHING on this guy.

They were maginficent!

Dear OnlyTheBest,

I expected your punchline to be "they were so big and they tasted like futon stuffing!" I am laughing that there was no punchline.

Seriously. I am so used to nasty hydroponic California produce, since I've lived here off and on (mostly on) since 1977.

My second thought (because this is what I do) is to ask if they were organic (or sustainable, or pesticide-free, or something along those lines).

I will never again buy a strawberry that has pesticides. Nor a peach. They're just too delicate. I know, we all have to die of something, but still. In my years of casually strolling the farmers markets, I keep hearing that one thing, "Strawberries...have to be organic." ("Organic" to me means this: if they don't pay the California government to be certified organic, you better darn well be on first-name basis with the farmer. I buy from people who've been doing this for decades, and they now call themselves "sustainable." I can live with that.)

[Gary Soup]

The were SOOOO BIG!  There were only  12 !!!!  That's right... TWELVE  in the whole bushel!

THATS how big they were!!!

Not to be a nit-picker, but you can bet your pretty neck you were looking at a peck, not a bushel.

A Bushel and a Peck

[OnlyTheBest]

Now I think I am confused,as i remember from my childhood, my father bringing home bushels of peaches in containers the size of the ones I saw from this farmer. My grandfather was a farmer so I assume that my father knew a bushel when he saw one. He always called them bushels.

Now i will have to find out. ALl I know is that I could barely get my arms around the bushel to carry it to the car. And when i dumped it out at home on the table there we 12 HUGE monsters. Have never seen the likes of them since.

I'm in the seattle area....and if i had the time...i would drive down and search out that farmer again. But....just can't affored the trip at the moment.

Ahhhh...but the memory is as sweet as those lovely peaches.

Maybe next year.

[Carlsbad]

Isn't a bushel basket about 18 inches in diameter and about a foot tall?

[Gary Soup]

Now I think I am confused,as i remember from my childhood, my father bringing home bushels of peaches in containers the size of the ones I saw from this farmer. My grandfather was a farmer so I assume that my father knew a bushel when he saw one.  He always called them bushels.

Now i will have to find out.  ALl I know is that I could barely get my arms around the bushel to carry it to the car.  And when i dumped it out at home on the table there we 12 HUGE monsters.  Have never seen the likes of them since.

I'm in the seattle area....and if i had the time...i would drive down and search out that farmer again.  But....just can't affored the trip at the moment.

Ahhhh...but the memory is as sweet as those lovely peaches.

Maybe next year.

Well, this sent me into a tizzy of fruitless Googling. I couldn't find anything definitive on peach counts per bushels, but the largest apple sizes (3-7/8 inches in diameter) come 48 to a bushel, according to this link:

Fruit Grading

It also suggests that the top normal peach size is 3" in diameter (which should be about 113 per barrell, based on apple sizes).

However, this News Flash informed me of a farmer in Michigan who is about to enter the Guiness Book of World Records with a 25.6 oz peach described as nearly 5" in diameter. I suppose if your Oregon farmer had an inside track to some monstrous Flamin' Furies he might be able to fill a bushel basket with a dozen if he didn't top it off.

That would be a lot of peach juice drizzling down your chin!

[OnlyTheBest]

NO NO NO!!!!

This farmer is NOT in Oregon. I am in the Seattle area....this farmer i spoke of was in Green Valley....one valley over from Napa!!

He's in Northern Calif. That's why I posted it on your board.

Sorry I really can't remember where. I would have to hunt around for him. But honey...these peaches were easily 5 inches in diameter. I am not making this up....I swear this is all true. This guy was just some smiling Jack....i doubt if the record books were anything he was at all interested in. He was just growing his peaches.

I do remember that smile he had on his face though....didn't say much....just smiled.

It was almost weird.

You know...now i am starting to get crazy about all this.... I may have to force myself to make a trip back down there....whether I can afford it or not.

I wonder if his trees are done for the year.

Besides... I could do with a haul of Acme and Cheeseboard baguettes...even if they would be a little old when i got them home. Still better than stuff up here.

No REALLY stunning bread up here. Good but not FABULOUS.

[cmvnapa]

I live in that Green Valley neck of the woods - this would be out past Mangels Boulevard? It's not Rockville, right?

I can take a trip out there for kicks. I usually go to Erickson Ranch over on Cordelia Road for produce - made a ton of apricot jam in June from their Royal Blenheims.

We are addicted to the Acme herb slab bread - load it up with prosciutto, mozzarella, a few basil leaves, a just picked tomato - yum.

[secession]

If you buy Frog Hollow fruit by the 10# flat, the tariff becomes not quite as painful (OK, $2.50/lb is still pricey, but it's good fruit!). I just went in for a flat of their Flavor King pluots -- awesome!!

[OnlyTheBest]

cmvnapa....you are breaking my heart I do remember cordelia rd and all that there was. I have not lived there since 1987 and at that time the Vella cheese company had a little shop right on green valley rd before you got on to I-80. I do remember that their fresh garlic cheese was nothing short of FABULOUS with Acme or cheesboard baguettes and fresh picked tomatoes.

I really cannot remember where this farmer is....all i seem to remember is that when i went grocery shopping in Fairfax....i took the back way on on green valley rd. I remember seeing him....but i don't remember where. I only was there once for his peaches and that was it. I think his trees were finished by the time i wanted more.

Anyway...if you ever want something shipped down from seattle...i would be happy to do it for you if you would ship me some acme/cheeseboard baguettes.

Someone should start a mail order business overnighting bread from these places.

I have a big empty freezer i would love to fill up with good bread.

In fact...i have a small piece of a baguette left from when i was there in may.....and even though it has been in the freezer...it is STILL better than anything i can get here. I am nursing it along.

So....enjoy your good fortune. I love the Pc. Nothwest... but the really GREAT bread is in Calif.....and i miss it SOOOO much...EVERY day!

Edited August 16, 2004 by OnlyTheBest (log)

[secession]

Hoo boy....I well remember the fat Alaskan spot prawns loaded with roe I bought at Pike Place (as well as a mess of dirt-cheap fresh chanterelles!). If no one else is up for a reciprocal shipping deal, I might be!

[MsMelkor]

Is the produce place in Green Valley you're talking about Castaneda Brothers? I bike past it fairly regularly, but haven't yet stopped to investigate.

[OnlyTheBest]

This was a farmer that sold only peaches....nothing else so it was not a produce place and there was no sign....it was just a private road.

If it had not been for the peaches out front i would have just driven right past it.

[cmvnapa]

OnlyTheBest, I feel your pain. I had to live in SoCal for 9 months about 5 years ago and it was terrible. Awful bread, the bagels were like doughnuts, and the weight of the doughnuts made our local Buttercream doughnuts feel like healthfood.

The Rockville Vella cheese is gone - it was there up until about 2 years ago. Sometimes when I leave Napa, I drive the backroads if I know or hear that traffic will be a mess on Jamieson Canyon, and I'd stop by Vella to pick up some goodies. I think there's a chocolate store in there now - or there was for a while.

I may be coming up your way in October to visit a friend; if I do, I'll let you know and maybe I can bring some bread.

I did drive around out there yesterday, looking for a basket alongside the road, but alas, nothing. Perhaps he's still there and his season might be over? I know our tomatoes arrived very early and are just about finito.

Speaking of Frog Hollow peaches, though, I bought some at the Walnut Creek Whole Foods on Saturday and they were all right. I don't see what the fuss is all about unless what is sold to WFM and what is sold at a farmers' market would be two separate items...?

[Carlsbad]

I'm not much for doughnuts or bagles, but we get some excellent bread in the San Diego area, the best of which I think is from Bread & Cie.

[docsconz]

Last year I bought a case of Frog Hollow peaches and had them shipped to me. They were good, but not worth the price. This year I decided I would give them another shot and went whole hog with farmer Al's picks. I've been getting a case of fruit every week this summer. It has been outstanding with a different variety each week. Perhaps the difference is they give their more select fruit to their more regular customers. All I know is I am in northeastern NY, where we are having our wettest and least summery summer in a long time. The Frog Hollow Fruit has gone a long way to convincing me that it really is summer afterall. For that alone, it has been worth the price.

[OnlyTheBest]

cmvnapa....you are so right.....the whole area out there were Vella was has changed. I went thru there on my way to move up here and i didn't even recognize the area at ALL!!! I kept driving around with my jaw dropped. The quiet little area that use to be green valley was overtaken by and office park complex and a car dealer and GOD knows WHAT else!!!

I guess it had to happen sooner or later.

I know that farmer has got to still be there but the question is where is he. I will make an effort to try to find him at some point. For all i know.... I may come down to the area again to spend the winter as winters up here are long a dreary.

But...I'm not too sure about that either at the moment.

And yes.. please let me know if you come up this way.... I would gratefully pay you for any baguettes you could bring. Even day or 2 old they are better than what is here. Thanks so much for offering.

[bong]

Can't comment on the hype about Frog Hollow peaches.

I usually buy my peaches (and nectarines) from my local (Sunnyvale, CA) farmers market -- I keep sampling from all the vendors, and buy from the one whose product is the tastiest -- more often than not, that vendor turns out to be Hamlow Ranch (based in Denair in the CA Central Valley).

But this year, the peaches haven't been that great. They have been good, but not great as they were last here. Anybody knows why? The nectarines, on the other hand, have been really very good.

[Hest88]

Bong, you're right about the nectarines. I've always preferred peaches, but this year the nectarines were much better than the peaches. I may be a convert!

[docsconz]

I accept that there is hype to Frog hollow and that they are very expensive. My quest is for outstanding stone fruit grown in a sustainable fashion that I can have shipped directly to me in new York. Who out there is better for this purpose than frog Hollow? I would love to give them a try. It doesn't have to be from California, either.

[jschyun]

Bong, you're right about the nectarines. I've always preferred peaches, but this year the nectarines were much better than the peaches. I may be a convert!

Hest, have you tried the peaches at Berkeley Bowl? Specifically the mountain grown yellow peaches. I thought they were sweet, juicy and delicious, when I bought them the other week.

[Hest88]

Hest, have you tried the peaches at Berkeley Bowl? Specifically the mountain grown yellow peaches.

No, I've been picking up nectarines at Market Hall so I bypassed the

BB peaches last week. I'll be sure to grab some when I go tomorrow. Thanks for the tip! Nectarines are all well and good, but I do miss the fuzz.

[docsconz]

I'm on Farmer A's Shipping list again for the summer. So far three shipments - apricots, nectarines and peaches. All have been incredible. I used a number of the apricots to make an apricot packet from Pierre Hermes Desseerts book - wow! I have also paired some nectarines and then again peaches with local strawberries and 40y/o balsamico from Pedroni - simply some of the most delicious desserts i have ever had. Since I ws at home, i licked my bowl

Here are some photos of the nectarines and peaches:

[russ parsons]

notice the orange-ish cast to the background. i've found that's the real key to getting the sweetest fruit.