Today was Day 1 of Slow Food Nation in San Francisco, and what a busy day it was! I had lots of great conversations with interested people, and reconnected with people that I haven't seen in a while. We served a sample of Brown Rice Peach Crisp, which everyone loved! Come early Saturday if you want a shot at tasting it before we run out. If you miss out, not to fear, because you can make it at home--the recipe is below.
Come visit with us--we're booth number 6 in the marketplace at the SF Civic Center.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
New Post on Culinate.com
I finally got around to writing another post for Culinate.com in preparation for Slow Food Nation this weekend in San Francisco. Here it is below, and here's a link to their site.
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A Sense of Place
We’re rice farmers, and as I mentioned in my last post here on Culinate, we’re unusual among rice farmers in that we direct-market our organic brown rice at farmers’ markets. We’re up to nine farmers’ markets a week now, and this week, we’ll also be selling rice in the Marketplace at Slow Food Nation in San Francisco.
The rice we grow is called Calrose, a high-quality, medium-grain rice unique to California. It’s the variety that grows best in our soil and climate. But it’s also the most common variety grown in California. So what qualifies our farm for recognition at Slow Food Nation?
Quite simply, we do a better job of growing tasty rice than others do.
The biggest difference between our rice and others you may have tried is the taste. Many of our first-time customers are surprised simply to discover that rice has any flavor at all!
The key is that we let our rice fully mature on the plant, which leads to a more complex flavor. It’s nutty but sweet, able to stand up to the most flavorful dishes on your plate or even to become the centerpiece of a meal.
People often ask if we grow jasmine or basmati rice, both aromatic long-grain rices. The answer is that we could grow them, and many in California do. But the jasmine we would grow would be inferior to our Calrose, and bear little resemblance to the jasmine that comes from Thailand, where the variety originated.
Jasmine rice responds best to the climate, soil, and farming methods of Thailand, where it attains its full flavor and aroma.
Another reason for us to not grow jasmine is that that variety was developed through the efforts of many successive generations of Thai farmers. Jasmine is their genetic heritage, and growing it in California feels wrong — like stealing something precious.
Visiting with Thai rice farmers, as well as hosting them on our farm, convinced us that we should stick with what we do well, and let them do what they do well.
This is another of Slow Food’s principles: Food has a story, which should not be taken out of context.
If you’ll be in San Francisco this Labor Day weekend, come see our booth at the Civic Center. I’ll be there all day on Friday, and helping out the rest of the weekend.
--------------------------------------------
A Sense of Place
We’re rice farmers, and as I mentioned in my last post here on Culinate, we’re unusual among rice farmers in that we direct-market our organic brown rice at farmers’ markets. We’re up to nine farmers’ markets a week now, and this week, we’ll also be selling rice in the Marketplace at Slow Food Nation in San Francisco.
The rice we grow is called Calrose, a high-quality, medium-grain rice unique to California. It’s the variety that grows best in our soil and climate. But it’s also the most common variety grown in California. So what qualifies our farm for recognition at Slow Food Nation?
Quite simply, we do a better job of growing tasty rice than others do.
The biggest difference between our rice and others you may have tried is the taste. Many of our first-time customers are surprised simply to discover that rice has any flavor at all!
The key is that we let our rice fully mature on the plant, which leads to a more complex flavor. It’s nutty but sweet, able to stand up to the most flavorful dishes on your plate or even to become the centerpiece of a meal.
People often ask if we grow jasmine or basmati rice, both aromatic long-grain rices. The answer is that we could grow them, and many in California do. But the jasmine we would grow would be inferior to our Calrose, and bear little resemblance to the jasmine that comes from Thailand, where the variety originated.
Jasmine rice responds best to the climate, soil, and farming methods of Thailand, where it attains its full flavor and aroma.
Another reason for us to not grow jasmine is that that variety was developed through the efforts of many successive generations of Thai farmers. Jasmine is their genetic heritage, and growing it in California feels wrong — like stealing something precious.
Visiting with Thai rice farmers, as well as hosting them on our farm, convinced us that we should stick with what we do well, and let them do what they do well.
This is another of Slow Food’s principles: Food has a story, which should not be taken out of context.
If you’ll be in San Francisco this Labor Day weekend, come see our booth at the Civic Center. I’ll be there all day on Friday, and helping out the rest of the weekend.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Brown rice peach crisp
Today's sample dish at the Chico Farmers Market was a big hit!
ROOTS CATERING BROWN RICE PEACH CRISP
Ingredients:
• 2 Cups cooked Massa Organics Brown Rice
• 2 Cups fresh peach (sliced)
• ½ Cup brown sugar (divided)
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger (grated)
• ½ c. whole wheat or regular flour
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. cloves
• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds
Directions:
1. Combine rice, peaches and ¼ c. brown sugar and ginger.
2. Pour into a 9x9 buttered pan
3. Combine flour, remaining ¼ c. brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
4. Cut in butter.
5. Sprinkle mixture over rice
6. Sprinkle nuts on top
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes
ROOTS CATERING BROWN RICE PEACH CRISP
Ingredients:
• 2 Cups cooked Massa Organics Brown Rice
• 2 Cups fresh peach (sliced)
• ½ Cup brown sugar (divided)
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger (grated)
• ½ c. whole wheat or regular flour
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. cloves
• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup toasted slivered almonds
Directions:
1. Combine rice, peaches and ¼ c. brown sugar and ginger.
2. Pour into a 9x9 buttered pan
3. Combine flour, remaining ¼ c. brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
4. Cut in butter.
5. Sprinkle mixture over rice
6. Sprinkle nuts on top
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes
Friday, August 1, 2008
Almond Harvest has begun!
A few years ago, rice prices were extremely low, and we decided we needed to diversify our crops and marketing. That led to planting 30 acres of organic almonds, as well as direct marketing our rice. Four years after planting, we're harvesting our first crop of almonds! Our trees are small, so we're hand harvesting by knocking the nuts off of the trees onto tarps. The nuts are loaded into a cart and then spread out at the edge of the field to dry in the sun for about 10 days. The next step is to take them to a processor that will remove the hull and shell. The photos below show the kids out there doing the jobs, but in reality we had a very hard working crew do most of it!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Rising from the ashes...
As you might remember, we lost half of our wheat crop to a fire in June. We harvested the other half, had it cleaned and bagged, and today, nine months of work came together for us in two loaves of sourdough bread! Our friend Dave Miller of Miller's Bakehouse in Yankee Hill, CA ground some of our wheat to flour and baked some bread with it. It is so much fun to taste great bread made with wheat that you planted, tended and harvested.
Look for wheat to appear at our farmers market booths soon, as well as on our website. And maybe if I can convince Dave to grind it for us, we'll have flour too!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
How to cook brown rice
We've had a couple requests for basic cooking instructions, and really, I should have posted them here long ago. I'll cover several methods, and you can choose which one you like.
1. Directions on package: Rinse rice and drain. Combine 2 parts water with one part rice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and cover. Cook approximately 45 minutes or until all water is absorbed. Let stand for a few minutes, then fluff with fork and serve. **This method works best with small amounts of rice (a cup or two). For larger amounts of rice, you might like to drop the water down to 1 3/4 parts water to 1 part rice. In our rice cooker, we use less water than 2:1.
2. The finger method: Rinse rice and drain. Place desired amount of rice in saucepan and add water. The correct amount of water is reached when you touch the rice with the tip of your index finger, and the water level rises to your first knuckle. I'm told this is the method people in Japan use. *This method seems accurate for almost any quantity of rice, at least for my fingers! Also works well in our rice cooker.
3. The Saveur Magazine method: When Saveur featured our rice in the May 2008 issue, they kindly included this unique method, which many of our customers have described as an epiphany in cooking brown rice. Here it is, adapted from the Saveur website:
1 cup Massa Organics brown rice
Kosher salt, to taste
1. Rinse rice in a strainer under cold running water for 30 seconds. Bring 12 cups water to a boil in a large pot with a tight-fitting lid over high heat. Add the rice, stir it once, and boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Pour the rice into a strainer over the sink.
2. Let the rice drain for 10 seconds, then return it to the pot, off the heat. Cover the pot and set it aside to allow the rice to steam for 10 minutes. Uncover the rice, fluff with a fork, and season with salt.
This recipe was first published in Saveur in Issue #111
1. Directions on package: Rinse rice and drain. Combine 2 parts water with one part rice in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and cover. Cook approximately 45 minutes or until all water is absorbed. Let stand for a few minutes, then fluff with fork and serve. **This method works best with small amounts of rice (a cup or two). For larger amounts of rice, you might like to drop the water down to 1 3/4 parts water to 1 part rice. In our rice cooker, we use less water than 2:1.
2. The finger method: Rinse rice and drain. Place desired amount of rice in saucepan and add water. The correct amount of water is reached when you touch the rice with the tip of your index finger, and the water level rises to your first knuckle. I'm told this is the method people in Japan use. *This method seems accurate for almost any quantity of rice, at least for my fingers! Also works well in our rice cooker.
3. The Saveur Magazine method: When Saveur featured our rice in the May 2008 issue, they kindly included this unique method, which many of our customers have described as an epiphany in cooking brown rice. Here it is, adapted from the Saveur website:
1 cup Massa Organics brown rice
Kosher salt, to taste
1. Rinse rice in a strainer under cold running water for 30 seconds. Bring 12 cups water to a boil in a large pot with a tight-fitting lid over high heat. Add the rice, stir it once, and boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Pour the rice into a strainer over the sink.
2. Let the rice drain for 10 seconds, then return it to the pot, off the heat. Cover the pot and set it aside to allow the rice to steam for 10 minutes. Uncover the rice, fluff with a fork, and season with salt.
This recipe was first published in Saveur in Issue #111
Sunday, July 13, 2008
First Post on Culinate.com
In preparation for Slow Food Nation, held in San Francisco over Labor Day weekend, I've been asked to guest blog for Culinate on the basics of rice farming. My first post went up this week, and with permission from my Culinate editor, here it is (but please also visit their site!).
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Rice dream
What rice farming is really like
By Greg Massa
July 10, 2008
Most people in the U.S. don’t realize it, but rice is the most important food crop in the world.
Two-thirds of the world’s population (more than 4 billion people) eat rice every day, and for too many people, a bowl of rice will be their only meal. Global rice production totals more than 400 million tons, much of it consumed within just a few miles of where it was grown.
The exception to this local consumption of rice is the United States, where half of the crop is exported and the largest purchaser of rice is Anhauser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser beer.
U.S. rice is a globally traded commodity, and most rice farmers have no idea what happens to their rice once it leaves their fields. The grains get commingled with rice from other farmers, with no thought as to whose rice might actually taste good.
As a commodity, rice prices tend to be so low that farmers make just enough to keep farming another year. With little profit and no connection to people who actually eat rice, it is a very unsatisfying way to farm.
This is the world of rice farming that I have known since I was a kid. I’m the fourth generation of my family to grow rice in California — a 92-year-long string of rice crops. The system of rice growing and marketing that I grew up with turned me off of farming, and my wife, Raquel, and I actually worked as tropical biologists in Costa Rica for about five years before returning to the farm.
What drew us back were the opportunities for hands-on conservation and social work that farming provided. We are converting more and more of our family’s farm to organic farming methods, while also raising our five children (all were adopted, three of them from foster care).
The biggest change we have made in the way our farm operates is to actually take responsibility for the marketing as well as the production of our crop. This is a highly unusual thing for a commodity farmer to do. Most farmers do well with production but let large grain corporations handle the marketing; the farmers end up taking whatever price they’re offered for their crops. This is not a strategy for staying in business long-term, so for the last two years, we’ve been direct-marketing our organic brown rice through farmers’ markets, restaurants, schools, and hospitals.
As far as I know, we are the only rice farmers in the country to sell rice at farmers’ markets. The monetary return is better, but the most positive aspect of the way we market is the connection that our farm now has to our community in northern California. Where once we had no idea whether our rice ended up in a can of beer or got put on a ship headed for Japan, we now have people calling our cell phones asking for tips on the best way to cook our rice.
It is a powerful experience the first time someone tells you their kids loved the rice they had for dinner last night, and that yours is the only rice they will buy from now on.
Direct marketing has been a powerful tool for us. We are now free to focus our efforts on growing great-tasting rice, rather than just high yields. Our kids have a more tangible understanding of what we do, and are proud that their pictures adorn our packaging. And in true Slow Food tradition, we have connected our customers to a previously anonymous food.
---------------------------------
Rice dream
What rice farming is really like
By Greg Massa
July 10, 2008
Most people in the U.S. don’t realize it, but rice is the most important food crop in the world.
Two-thirds of the world’s population (more than 4 billion people) eat rice every day, and for too many people, a bowl of rice will be their only meal. Global rice production totals more than 400 million tons, much of it consumed within just a few miles of where it was grown.
The exception to this local consumption of rice is the United States, where half of the crop is exported and the largest purchaser of rice is Anhauser-Busch, the maker of Budweiser beer.
U.S. rice is a globally traded commodity, and most rice farmers have no idea what happens to their rice once it leaves their fields. The grains get commingled with rice from other farmers, with no thought as to whose rice might actually taste good.
As a commodity, rice prices tend to be so low that farmers make just enough to keep farming another year. With little profit and no connection to people who actually eat rice, it is a very unsatisfying way to farm.
This is the world of rice farming that I have known since I was a kid. I’m the fourth generation of my family to grow rice in California — a 92-year-long string of rice crops. The system of rice growing and marketing that I grew up with turned me off of farming, and my wife, Raquel, and I actually worked as tropical biologists in Costa Rica for about five years before returning to the farm.
What drew us back were the opportunities for hands-on conservation and social work that farming provided. We are converting more and more of our family’s farm to organic farming methods, while also raising our five children (all were adopted, three of them from foster care).
The biggest change we have made in the way our farm operates is to actually take responsibility for the marketing as well as the production of our crop. This is a highly unusual thing for a commodity farmer to do. Most farmers do well with production but let large grain corporations handle the marketing; the farmers end up taking whatever price they’re offered for their crops. This is not a strategy for staying in business long-term, so for the last two years, we’ve been direct-marketing our organic brown rice through farmers’ markets, restaurants, schools, and hospitals.
As far as I know, we are the only rice farmers in the country to sell rice at farmers’ markets. The monetary return is better, but the most positive aspect of the way we market is the connection that our farm now has to our community in northern California. Where once we had no idea whether our rice ended up in a can of beer or got put on a ship headed for Japan, we now have people calling our cell phones asking for tips on the best way to cook our rice.
It is a powerful experience the first time someone tells you their kids loved the rice they had for dinner last night, and that yours is the only rice they will buy from now on.
Direct marketing has been a powerful tool for us. We are now free to focus our efforts on growing great-tasting rice, rather than just high yields. Our kids have a more tangible understanding of what we do, and are proud that their pictures adorn our packaging. And in true Slow Food tradition, we have connected our customers to a previously anonymous food.
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