BEST KEPT SECRET FOR LOCALS ONLY!

Remember when you were young and would eat a peach and it was so juicy, sweet and ripe that the juice would run down your chin? My grandmother (and Mary’s) had a Cling Peach tree in her front yard that had peaches with that thick fuzzy skin that we would wash off and then eat, skin and all. It was juicy and crunchy…not like a freestone style peach but more like an apple. You can’t buy fresh Cling peaches in the grocery stores but I have found a resource for one of my favorite peaches….as well as 8 other peach varieties and plums, apricots, nectarines, pluots, stone fruits. AND, they are better than any stone fruit you can buy at any Farmer’s Market.

We just drove over to pick up some fruit this past weekend. He had two varieties of peaches, kumquats, raspberries and loganberries. The yellow peaches were very good but the small ones were pretty tasteless (so I made a pie with them). I should have asked him, since he was there. He said that the cherry crop this year is really bad because there wasn’t a good freeze this past winter. I’ve noticed that to be the case even at the cherry fruit stands in Gilroy! The Ruby Cherries are better than the Bings this year.

If you are familiar with Cosentino Market on Bascom then you’ll recognize the name on the mailbox next to this little known orchard. One of the Cosentino brothers is retired and has a home with about acre+ next to his house. This little acre is crammed with stone fruit trees and every morning, Phillip drives his quad around and harvests his trees for you. He only picks the ripe fruit and will pick twice a day in the high season. Don’t buy a lot because the fruit is so ripe that it will rot in a few days. Just buy what you think you can eat in 2 days, preserve or make into a yummy pie.

A woman who grew up in San Jose told us about this place. This fruit stand is in the middle of suburbia. You will think my directions are a mistake because you are not in the country but in the ‘Hood. He sells his fruit on the honor system so if no one is at the stand, you just pick out what you want and put the money in slot by the side of the stand. Can you believe this kind of stand exists in Silicon Valley? Especially after CJ Olsen’s little stand disappeared in Sunnyvale…their replacement store just isn’t the same. We used to go up to the Olsen house and knock on the door to buy boxes of dried slab apricots that are so juicy that it was hard to believe the ‘cots were dried. Mrs. Olsen would get a box out of the refrigerator on the porch….mmmm, the memories of those ‘cots…

Am I driving you crazy with suspense about this mysterious fruit stand? J&P Farm, known to locals since 1945! 4977 Carter Avenue, San Jose. They sell fruit from May – October but May was pretty slim pickings this year. In addition to stone fruits, he sells pears, bush berries, apples, persimmons, grapes, kumquats and more.

Go to: www.localharvest.org/farms/M3690 to get a list of what fruits are available when at his stand.

How to get there? Drive south on Highway 85. Take the Camden Avenue exit. At the signal light, turn left on Camden. Drive to the first signal light, Merrill Drive, and make a u-turn. At Petri Street, turn right. Drive to the “T” and turn left on Carter Avenue. Drive to the end of Carter and you’ll see a tiny fruit stand on the left side of the street. Just remember, don’t buy a lot! Just come back every few days if you want more. You’ll be hooked, as I am, and won’t be able to eat fruit from any other source.

This is as close to “Grow and Buy Local” you can get!

And, now that Trader Joe’s makes fabulous, frozen, pre-formed round pie crusts (made with butter!), there is no excuse for not making fresh fruit pies! I’ve already made an apricot pie and, as I just mentioned earlier, a peach pie! I make mini-pies so Bill and I don't turn into butter balls.

Start drooling!