Originally published May 2024 in the Napa Valley Register
By: Carine Hines
One of my best friends is what I would call a “fruit slinger”. She and her partner started a mixed fruit box distribution business in the Bay Area, Fruitqueen, that does an incredible job of finding and sharing some of the most unique and delicious fruit in California. Even though they created a profitable business, I truly believe the only reason they started Fruitqueen is for their deep love of fruit, and the farmers that grow it.
And while this may seem like a promotion for Fruitqueen, I am mostly sharing the story as an example of how much humans do in the name of fruit! Be it Fruitqueen searching for the most unique and sweet fruit in California, Sun Tracker Farm harvesting tens of thousands of pounds in melons at the peak of summer, Stony Point Farm picking berries all spring, or any number of fruit vendors at the Napa Farmers Market, some of us make a career out of growing and selling fruit just because we love it so very much, and want to share it with everyone.
May is coming to a close, and while we only have love and thanks for our incredible selection of winter fruit in California (I’m looking at you citrus season), we all know that nothing compares to a California summer fruit season. Before we embark on a few months of fructose and glucose bliss, with a smattering of vitamins and fiber, let’s ponder all we will taste this year.
With May came the start of berry season… strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc. Because of California's magical central coast, we will keep strawberries in our market baskets well into the fall while its more effervescent cousins will come and go throughout the summer. Botanical side note, did you know that of the berries named above, only blueberries are a true berry? Most “berries” are actually an aggregate of many fruit, and for strawberries, the edible part is not even true “fruit” tissue!
May also ends with our most dramatic fruit yet, the cherry. With its deep red flesh, and flowering in the most precarious time of year, the cherry either comes marching in with something to day, or it barely drops by. As June rolls in we will see one of summer’s true superstars, the apricot. Is there anything that compares to these ombre balls of beauty when their aroma hits your nose right before their flavor hits your tongue? Smooth and grainy, tart and sweet, with an unparalleled “little something” that can only be the taste and smell of an apricot.
Following closely behind apricots is the peach, plum, and nectarine, with each their own flavor to inspire our memories of that time we eat that one fruit in that one place. For me it’s a tropical nectarine straight off a friend’s tree, or the tart plum jam I make for my breakfast toast throughout the winter, or my grandmother peeling and slicing peaches for me as a girl. Botanical side note, “stone fruit” are actually called drupes, and all come from the Rose family. In fact, the hard outer shell of a stone fruit pit is actually part of the “fruit” tissue and the little “nut” in the middle is the seed.
If you’re lucky, in June we will also see the rise of my favorite karpos goddess, the melon. Like no other fruit, she comes in all shapes, colors, flavors, and aromas to match every person’s texture and taste bud profile. And yes, she is a “she”. What other fruit encompasses all it means to be a woman, with her beauty, curves, inner abundance, and ability to make every eater feel that she hears them, she knows what they need, and she will inspire in them joy and love. I am here to tell you, if a melon has not made you feel this way before, you are eating the wrong melons.
By July and August it’s watermelon time, and thank goodness for that. It’s no wonder the watermelon is a symbol of resistance, for no other fruit can fight the relentless tyranny of a blazing summer day. Watermelon comes in to assuage our thirst and satisfy our deepest need to eat a whole plateful of fruit without going into fructose overload. As a watermelon grower myself, I can tell you THE best way to eat a watermelon is after you spent several hours tapping them, checking their ground spots, clipping them, and picking them up in 110 + degree heat. When a hot watermelon straight out of the field is cracked open with your bare hands and eaten with juice running down your face, that is the definition of “refreshment”. Botanical side note, melons and watermelons are called pepo fruit, as are their sister the cucumber, and are characterized by their leathery outer skin.
As summer winds down we will see many other fruit friends bless our plates. The mythical fig and pomegranate, whose flavors exudes the history of humans and our anthropologic ties to fruit. Grapes, who represent the true bounty of our community. Apples, whose diversity in flavor, texture, and uses puts every other fruit to shame (especially when you have Devoto Orchards in your neighborhood). And so many more.
To be a human is to eat, and to eat with passion, memory, and hope for the future. Fruit like no other food was made for our pleasure. In its simplest form, unadorned by anything but its ripeness, fruit can bring all these emotions and more. So as we set off on the journey of summer, and all the unknowns it will bring, let us always remember that there will at least be fruit to eat.