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Sweet,
Petite and Good to Eat: The Ojai Pixie Tangerine
From Maple Bars to Macaroons: A Profile
of Ojai Native, Caitlin Alissa Williams, of Miette Cakes
Being Here Now
SWEET,
PETITE AND GOOD TO EAT:
The Ojai Pixie Tangerine
By Steve
Fields
Agriculture
in the Ojai Valley is in a constant state of change. It may
not look that way with stately orchards that seem to stand
for generations. And the change may not come fast, because
decisions made today may not literally bear fruit for years.
But change happens.
One of
today's "big" changes is the increase in production
of specialty citrus fruit, with a special emphasis on the
Pixie tangerine, a diminutive mandarin 1 to 3 inches in diameter.
A group of local growers have come together in an informal
way to guide the explosive growth for the good of all of the
farmers.
"This year we will pick about 500,000 pounds of Pixies,"
says Tony Thacher, one of the founding members of the Ojai
Valley Pixie Growers Association, "and that will grow
10 times before you know it."
That kind
of growth can be difficult to manage for the most sophisticated
operation. And while Valencia oranges and Hass avocados still
dominate local agriculture, how the market for Pixies develops
will have a significant impact on Ojai's agricultural economy
for years to come.
There
are hundreds of varieties of mandarins in existence, but only
a few dozen are sold commercially. The Pixie was destined
to the long list of also-ran backyard varieties when a small
group of growers, led by Tony Thacher and Jim Churchill, decided
that the little, easy-to-peel, seedless, and quite tasty fruits
might be marketable.
The Pixie
was originally developed by Howard B. Frost at the University
of California Citrus Research Center in Riverside in 1927.
After additional development, it was released for commercial
trials, which included Ojai's Friends Ranch, in 1965.
The trial
results were not rosy. The trees took longer to mature than
other varieties, the fruit on young trees was highly variable
and, once mature, the trees had a strong tendency to bear
fruit heavily one year and lightly the next. Other varieties
seemed to have much better commercial appeal.
But, as
it turns out, the Pixies finally have found their niche. Pixies
grown in Ojai develop a uniquely appealing taste that has
won over food aficionados throughout the country. As a late
season variety (ripening in March or April) that can hold
on the trees for months, Pixies are one of a very few varieties
of fresh fruit available in springtime.
About
5 years ago, a small group of local growers decided it would
be helpful for them to gather on a regular basis and share
their problems and successes. As a result, the Ojai Valley
Pixie Growers Association was born-well, sort of. According
to several key members, the association, (which meets the
third Thursday of each month for breakfast at a local restaurant),
is still informal and often more social than business-like.
They are
in the process of creating a more formal organization, but
it isn't clear what form or structure they will end with.
The organization
has already achieved a few significant accomplishments, especially
in marketing. They developed beautiful shipping boxes and
bags and last year introduced the slogan: "Sweet, Petite,
and Good to Eat: Ojai Valley Pixie Tangerines."
Prior
to last season, the growth of the Pixie market had primarily
been spurred by word-of-mouth, and sampling at key farmers'
markets in Southern California. Last year, the association
decided to make a big push into the Bay Area through a public
relations campaign and sampling efforts at key specialty grocery
stores. The effort paid off with quick sell-outs at all of
the stores.
Now the
question turns to the future. There are currently 75 acres
of more than 19,000 trees planted, a large portion of them
in the last 5 years. To date, there has always been more demand
than supply. But with supply expected to grow significantly
as the trees mature, the association's main goal is to continue
to grow demand. A key aspect of that is to communicate that
the Pixies from Ojai are unique and special.
The first
point of difference stressed by the growers is that Ojai's
unique climate seems to be perfect for the Pixie. The summer's
warm days and relatively cool nights, followed by cool but
not freezing winters, combine to develop fruit that are sweeter
and juicier than Pixies grown in the Central Valley or other
areas.
The growers also point out that all of the fruit is grown
by family farmers who put a great deal of care into their
production. The members of the association share their cultural
techniques, including best methods for pruning, fertilizing,
watering, etc. All of the fruit that is sold wholesale is
picked at the peak of ripeness and then packed and shipped
within a day or two, so that it arrives at stores as close
to farmers' market freshness as possible.
But as
the supply of Pixies dramatically increases, the association
has several hurdles to overcome. Who will market the fruit?
How will it be picked and packed? And how will quality be
assured?
To date,
the association has had a bit of a divide and conquer structure.
Each member seemed to have a natural market, such as a set
of farmers' markets, specific local outlets or specialty produce
wholesalers. Everyone has respected these existing relationships.
This is quite different than the way the king of citrus, the
Valencia orange, is marketed. Nearly all Valencias that are
sold, (except those sold by local growers at farmers' markets),
go through the Sunkist organization, a co-op over 110 years
old that was created to manage the packing, shipping and marketing
of citrus.
Local
growers are not keen on creating an organization like Sunkist
because they fear that they would lose control of their destiny.
Instead, growers are working on alternative means of distribution,
including going directly to the end consumer through Internet
sales. Plans are afoot to sell Pixies directly from the Ojai
Valley Pixie Growers website and possibly at a "storefront"
on Amazon.com. There is also talk of expanding the promotional
push further up the West Coast into the Portland and Seattle
areas.
And even
with output growing 10-fold, the growers don't seem to be
concerned about supply getting ahead of demand. They point
out that compared to European consumers, Americans are just
getting on the tangerine bandwagon. And even at the higher
production levels, there still may not be enough to supply
major supermarket chains.
Currently
all of the Pixies shipped are packed at either Thacher's Friends
Ranch packing plant on Hwy 33 or Mike Shore's operation in
Santa Paula. The key growers seem to agree that these aging
facilities are not big enough or efficient enough to handle
the huge increase in volume expected.
The association
is looking at alternatives including utilizing capacity at
Sunkist plants in the Santa Clara River Valley that may be
shut down as a result of the drop of Valencia production throughout
Ventura County.
One last
challenge that faces any organization as it grows is maintaining
consisten quality. For the Pixie growers, this is also complicated
due to there being over 20 growers who come from vastly different
backgrounds and levels of experience.
But above
all, maintaining and building upon the Ojai Pixie quality
reputation seems to be the mantra of the growers organization.
They believe that if everyone continues to produce fruit that
generates enthusiasm among consumers, they will all be successful.
(Editor's
note: If you would like more information about the Ojai
Valley Pixie Growers Association, go to their website, pixietangerine.com
or call Jim Churchill at (805) 646-4212).
FROM
MAPLE BARS TO MACAROONS:
A Profile of Ojai Native, Caitlin Alissa Williams, of Miette
Cakes
By Bobby
Houston
Caitlin
Alissa Williams began her professional career in pastry at
Kelly's French Pastry in Santa Cruz, California. Though her
career took a detour into the technology sector, Caitlin always
hoped to return to baking. When she met Meg Ray at the San
Francisco Farmer's Market, they established a rapport that
led to an apprenticeship and ultimately a partnership at Miette.
Since then, Caitlin's eye for cake decorating and vivid enthusiasm
for all things pastry have become an essential force of vitality
at Miette. (www.miettecakes.com)
Q:
You grew up in Ojai, went to Nordhoff, probably had sticky
buns from Bill Baker's! What do you remember about the food
in your hometown?
A: You
know, my biggest sweet memories of Ojai are from Ojai Donut
shop (the one behind the arcade on Matilija). Weekly trips
for maple bars pretty much shaped my impression of donuts
and sweets in general. It wasn't until I went to college in
Santa Cruz and worked at Kelly's French Pastry that I became
aware of fancy desserts. This and my growing love for the
painter Wayne Thiebaud.
Q:
What does "Miette" mean? How did you come up with
that name?
A: Miette
means, "little crumb" in French. The company was
started (and named) by my business partner, Meg Ray. There
is a pretty fascinating story behind the way I came to meet
her and why "Miette" is a pretty special name. You
see, it was Thanksgiving 2 years ago and I was having a mid-20's
crisis, unhappy with my job (a dotcom where I was miserable)
and all I wanted to do was make cakes in the style of Wayne
Thiebaud. I had visited a few culinary academies and decided
that I couldn't afford to go and realized that the only way
I was going to be able to make it happen was to find someone
who would take me on as an apprentice. So, this Thanksgiving
weekend I had rented the movie "City of the Lost Children"
and fell in love with the name of the main character...Miette
and wrote it down for future use/reference. The Tuesday after
Thanksgiving I went to my usual Tuesday farmers market at
Justin Hermann plaza in San Francisco and there was this lady
with the most perfect little cakes, with the most perfect
little pink business cards and a company called Miette. I
just stumbled over and blurted out "you have my dream
job". So, a few days later I emailed her asking if she
needed some free work from a girl who loved the aesthetic
of cakes. Meg had just started the little cake business 3
months earlier and was happy to have me come in the kitchen
to make marzipan flowers for her. So, I apprenticed for a
little over a year while still working my other job when we
finally decided to become official business partners and I
was able to quit my "day job".
Q:
Tell us about your world now... You have a bakery in Oakland,
and a store there? Plus a darling pink and brown shop in the
Ferry Building, very Parisian?
A: We
have a commercial bakery above a health food store in Oakland.
We spent our first two years selling at farmer's markets in
Berkeley and San Francisco and now we're solely selling in
our little pink and brown shop in the Ferry Building. Meg
has always been very inspired by the French tradition of baking
where I think I bring a slightly more traditional American
take on cakes. We end up with a very coherent-very Miette-style
of desserts.
Q:
What are your favorite things to bake? Any amazing tips or
shortcuts? Or, is baking about NOT taking the shortcuts? Teach
me!
A: Ooh,
amazing tips or shortcuts? We often say the Miette way is
usually the slowest, most labor-intensive way of doing anything.
We have learned to be a lot more efficient in the kitchen,
but everything still takes forever.
My two
favorite time saving tips are microplane fruit zesters (but
watch those fingers) and when separating eggs, just use your
fingers rather than the flip flop in eggshells. My motto in
the bakery is "what would Henry Ford do?" I like
to try to optimize my productivity by doing as much assembly
line thinking as possible. I'm not sure how helpful this is
for the home baker, but when you're making 2500 Parisian macaroons
in one day you can really see the brilliance of the assembly
line.
Q:
What do you think about the way Americans eat now? Go ahead,
get political!
A: It's
amazing the comments we get from passers by. People really
like to remind us how we're making them fat and tempting them
with something so horrible for them. It makes me sad to realize
how clueless people can be about the food they put in their
bodies. While we do use butter with a very high butterfat
(Straus Family Creamery - around 85%), I don't believe that
our cakes aren't part of a nutritious diet. We use almost
all-organic ingredients (exception being an amazing chocolate
made here in Berkeley, Scharffenberger) and we would never
use preservatives or saturated fats.
It's a
little hard for me to comment on America in general since
my whole life seems to revolve in this Farmer's Market/Ferry
Building community where local organic produce is the norm.
Q:
If you were going to come back to Ojai and 'wow' us with some
local recipes, what might they be?
A: We
have a gingerbread that makes people weak in the knees. It's
made by boiling a dark stout (guineas or a local alternative
- we like Bison Brewery's chocolate stout made in Berkeley)
and molasses. It's moist, chewy and a little caramel-y and
we top it with cream cheese. Since Ojai is known for it's
pixie mandarins, I might like to make a pixie mandarin velvet
cake made with egg whites, it's an amazing as a base for other
seasonal fruit.
Q:
My personal crusade: is there any real practical use for loquats?
What about persimmons?
A: Oh
man, I don't think I can help you there! We tried some persimmon
recipes last year that weren't my favorite. They are some
truly hard things to work with. What about a persimmon cream
tart? Loquat/persimmon upside down cake? I'll have to think
about it!
Q:
Let's talk about Wayne Thiebaud! You have a story about his
cake paintings....
A: I had
always admired one of his paintings in the permanent collection
of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. They had a retrospective
at the Legion of Honor a few years back which changed my life.
I fell so in love with his paintings that I declared then
and there that I would be a cake decorator some day.
Q:
What are the hours of a baker? What are the greatest rewards/greatest
pitfalls?
A: For
the past six weeks since the store has opened, I've been working
90-100 hour weeks. Since Saturday is our biggest day of the
week, Meg and I usually end up working Friday 4am-2am and
then sleeping for two hours before heading to the shop to
sell to our adoring public. The greatest thing I could ever
imagine is to be doing something that makes me so happy. It's
just the tiny things like being able to paint your store pink
and to have a giant pink sign with a cake on it. It makes
me happier than anything I've ever done in my life. Greatest
pitfalls would be the strain on the rest of my life-my friends
and family are supremely supportive but it's still really
hard to be so deeply consumed in work.
Q:
How is it running your own business? Are you dealing with
bankers and the Mafia and teamsters...or slackers and barristas
and Starbucks dropouts...or what?
A: You
always hear that employees are the hardest part of owning
your own business. It's totally true! I'm learning that you
couldn't ever expect anyone to care as much or have the same
work ethic as you do. I'm learning to both delegate and not
rely on anyone all at the same time!
Q: How can Ojai foodies get a taste of your goodies? And
speaking of FedEx, what kind of baked goods travel well? What
kind of baked goods must be eaten warm or not at all?
A: We
have all these big intentions of having ecommerce on our website
(www.miettecakes.com) but that has gone on the back burner
since the store is so all-consuming. Eventually!
The traditional
pound cakes and sturdier cookies (like our lavender shortbread
and chocolate sables) travel really well. I usually end up
bringing a cake or two with me when I come down to Ojai to
visit, so I've learned that even things like pumpkin cheesecake
make it in one piece! One of my favorite things to eat warm
is our peach upside down cake (in the summer) served warm
and a'la mode. So American! So delicious!
Q:
Tell us your strongest opinions on anything at all-childbirth,
astrology, Dubya, SUV's, wheatgrass?
A: No
Hummers, everyone should go hybrid!
Editor's
Note: Edible Ojai would like to thank Nathan Larramendy,
one of Caitlin's former Nordhoff High School classmates and
owner of Ojai's Nathan Larramendy Gallery, for suggesting
we profile Caitlin for this issue.
BEING
HERE NOW
By Jane
Handel
We take
so many things for granted nowadays, seldom questioning where
our food comes from much less what its genesis and history
might have been. Citrus, for instance, has been part of the
quotidian reality in this country for so long that it's hard
to imagine that it isn't indigenous. Although the orange has
an ancient history, it arrived in Florida with the Spanish
conquistadors a mere 400 years ago. Grapefruits were only
invented in the late 19th century, and Meyer lemons were brought
here from China by a man named Frank Meyer in 1908. We now
have so many varieties of tangerines available, and even the
exotic citron, or Buddha's Hand, is grown locally.
I have
several varieties of citrus growing in my garden, but many
of the trees are still in their infancy and their yield is
small. Outside my office window, however, grows a mature navel
orange tree. Its branches fill the window's frame and only
small patches of sky peek through the dense foliage. It gives
me an intense visual pleasure, and of course I also love picking
the ripe fruit for eating on the spot, or making juice, or
giving them by the basketful to friends who are unfortunate
to live where oranges do not grow in their backyard. But recently,
this tree has, quite literally, taken on a new life.
A couple
of days before our most recent Thanksgiving, I woke up early
one morning to find a turkey wandering around my yard. I was
completely enchanted by the timely appearance of such a creature
and even moreso when it made itself right at home and spent
the day hanging out with my chickens. After looking at some
pictures in my Murray McMurray Hatchery catalogue, I determined
that it was probably a female Rio Grande wild turkey that
had been domesticated because she was unafraid of me or my
other animals. Charmed by her though I was, I was not prepared
to assume responsibility for the care of yet another animal
and decided to see if I could find someone who would give
her a good home. I called Wachter's Hay and Grain store and
spoke with their resident animal expert, Jordan Crow, who
told me they were putting together a new petting zoo on the
premises that very day and, coincidentally, were looking for
a turkey. We made a date for him to come the following morning
to fetch her.
However,
as dusk descended, the turkey began to wander around the yard
in an agitated state looking for a place to roost for the
night and refused to be corralled into the chicken house.
After first experimenting with the top of my truck, she finally
ended up high in a tree that borders my property. Realizing
that she might not be around in the morning, I quickly called
Jordan again to give him an update. We decided to play it
by ear (often a wise decision), and sure enough, the next
morning there she was traipsing about like she owned the place.
Jordan came over as planned and, after giving me many reassurances
that she would never end up as someone's meal, he took her
away. She is now a permanent resident at Wachter's, has two
turkey companions in her pen and seems quite happy. But this
is not the end of the story.
That same
night, I went to have dinner with a couple of friends and
returned a little after dark. I went directly to my chicken's
house to lock them up for the night and found that one of
the three was missing. I frantically searched the entire yard
with a flashlight, but couldn't find her anywhere. Early the
next morning, I went out to look again. As I was walking beneath
my orange tree, a slight noise or movement made me look up.
And there was the missing hen, calmly eyeing me from her perch.
She promptly hopped down and ran off to join her pals. That
night, as soon as the light began to fade, she headed for
the orange tree. But this time I was ready. As soon as she
was settled and much to her annoyance, I gently lifted her
off and carried her to the chicken house. The next night it
was the same routine. By the third night, since this feisty
little hen seemed bound and determined to claim the orange
tree as her new roosting place, and my reprogramming efforts
wear clearly a failure, I decided to let her be.
Clearly,
this particular chicken had observed the turkey in its pursuit
of a roosting place in a tree, and got a bee in her bonnet
about it. She's always been very independent and I just recently
learned that this is quite characteristic of her breed. Now,
when I look out my office window in the evening or the early
morning, there she is-her little black and white spotted self
pluckily and very contentedly sitting on one of the branches,
surrounded by green foliage and bright orange globes.
Recently,
my five-year-old son, Hudson, for whom so many things are
brand new and not to be taken for granted, had his first glass
of water with a squeeze of Meyer lemon juice. He immediately
got a radiant grin on his face and exclaimed, "It's sweet!"
Then he proceeded to do a gleeful dance at the dinner table
while guzzling the remainder of this new taste treat. As I
observed Hudson's pleasure in this simple thing, I became
acutely aware, as I often am these days, of just how "sweet"
life can be. Children, insisting as they do that we live in
the moment, also remind us that it takes very little to give
one a deep and abiding sense of joie de vivre.
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