Harvest Festival ~ October 26 through 28

The Ferry Building Marketplace will host its fifth annual Harvest Festival from Friday, October 26 through Sunday, October 28. For information about what's happening at the Saturday farmers' market, see the events section below. Other highlights include an organic beer and wine tasting benefiting California Certified Organic Farmers on Friday evening, and a Barnyard by the Bay farm animal corral on Sunday. For more information about these events, click here.

Gourmet Wine Cellar *DATE CORRECTION* ~ November 8, 2007

Join Gourmet magazine for an evening of delicious food, noteworthy wines and creative cocktails. A portion of the event’s proceeds will benefit CUESA. Visit gourmetscoop.com for more information.

Pear Tasting ~ November 10

Cast a vote for your favorite pear! Beginning at 9:30 am on November 10, volunteer Master Gardeners from Lake County will conduct tastings of pear varieties being developed by the University of California for cultivation in local orchards. 250 people will blindly taste five different pear varieties and then fill out surveys about their preferences. Tasters' feedback will be incorporated into final decisions about which varieties will make it to market.

Saturday, October 20 ~ Market to Table events

10:30 am - Meet the producer
Minh Tsai of Hodo Soy Beanery interviewed by Life Begins @ 30 blogger Jennifer Maiser

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration & book signing
Jill Nussinow, author of The Veggie Queen: Vegetables Get the Royal Treatment

Noon - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Keith Hammerich of City College of San Francisco

Saturday, October 27 ~ Fall Harvest Festival

10 am to noon - Apple variety tasting
Taste several kinds of apples sold in the market, including heirlooms and newer cultivars
Location: South Driveway, near Eatwell Farm

10 am to 2 pm - Harvest activities
Apple cider pressing, butter churning, and wool spinning

10:30 am - Meet the farmer
Stan Devoto of Devoto Gardens interviewed by CUESA volunteer Robert Brust

11 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration
Jay Foster of Farmerbrown restaurant

11:45 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration and book signing
Louise Fong Bonham and students from Presidio Hill School demonstrate recipes from their new cookbook, What San Francisco Families Eat!

All events take place in our Dacor teaching kitchen in the arcade north of the Ferry Building's clock tower unless otherwise noted.

Owing to their ancient origins, sanguine insides, abundant seeds, and sweet-tart flavor, pomegranates hold a prominent place in religious and mythical symbolism. When you pry open a pomegranate, it is immediately clear why they have come to represent fertility: hundreds of glistening scarlet sacs (called arils), each containing a seed, nestle inside their leathery skin.

Pomegranates also symbolize death, longevity, paradise, and temptation. In Ancient Egypt, pomegranates were buried with the dead to aid in their passage to the afterlife. In Christianity, the fruits represent Christ’s suffering and resurrection. Islamic tradition orders that every single aril of a pomegranate be eaten, because one in each fruit comes from paradise. In Judaism, it is said that each pomegranate contains 613 seeds for the 613 commandments in the Torah. Buddhists regard pomegranates as one of the three blessed fruits, along with citrus and peaches. Some scholars even think that it was a pomegranate, not an apple, that enticed Eve in the Garden of Eden.

In the Greek myth of how the seasons came to be, Hades, the god of the underworld, abducts Persephone, daughter of Demeter and Zeus. Zeus retrieves his daughter, but before she leaves the underworld, Hades offers her a pomegranate. Her ingestion of three arils binds her to spend three months of every year with Hades. Demeter, the goddess of fertility, refuses to let anything grow during those months, thus creating winter.

Pomegranate trees originated in the Fertile Crescent, where they were first domesticated in ancient times and grow wild to this day. They spread throughout Africa, Asia and Europe and were brought to California by Spanish missionaries in the 1700s. Many of the missions still have pomegranates in their gardens, some of which are believed to be the original missionary plantings.

Despite their prominence in history, mythology, and Middle Eastern cuisine, pomegranates did not enjoy much reverence in the United States until recently. In a September Los Angeles Times article, Regina Schrambling makes an apt analogy: “[pomegranates] are the crabs of the produce aisle, wondrous to eat but a messy hassle to break down to extract that wondrousness.” One might well guess why the fruit languished in America’s culture of convenience. But in 2002, some fresh findings about the health benefits of pomegranates, an enormous marketing campaign, and a faster way to consume the fruit catapulted it into eminence. Pomegranate juice suddenly became a popular beverage, health food, cocktail ingredient, and even a Starbucks Frappuccino flavor. The fruit, previously utilized more as décor than food, is finally enjoying the American limelight.

At the farmers’ market, however, pomegranates have long been an autumn favorite. For those of us who love to savor and labor over our food, they are a treat indeed. Their sweet, tart, ruby-like arils make a lovely addition to salads, soups and other dishes, and their juice can be used to make sauces, dressings, and marinades. Look for heavy, cracked fruits with good color from now through December. Pomegranate juice is usually available year-round.

Click here for tips on how to extract pomegranate seeds and juice >

This is the most up-to-date information about which sellers will and won't be attending the market as of Friday, when we send this letter. If there are no changes to a seller's status, they will not be listed. To find out which farmers regularly attend each market, click here. Please understand that there are often last minute changes--it's the nature of farming!

Saturday, October 21

In/returning: Glashoff Farms, Critical Edge Knife Sharpening
Out: Far West Fungi, Bernard Ranches, Shogun Fish Co. (for the season), Capay Canyon Ranch (for the season), Knoll Farms
Last of the season for: Green Gulch Farm, Kashiwase Farms

Tuesday, October 24

In/returning: Hodo Soy Beanery
Out: Frog Hollow Farm (for the season), Bella Viva Orchards