Welcome to Lily Belli on Food, a weekly food-focused newsletter from Lookout’s food and drink correspondent, Lily Belli. Keep reading for the latest local food news for Santa Cruz County – plus a few fun odds and ends from my own life and around the web.
… When a newsletter from longstanding family winery Beauregard Vineyards hit my inbox last week advertising a white zinfandel, I did a double-take. “Yes, seriously,” was written in bold letters. They weren’t kidding around.
Why was this acclaimed winery producing a style that’s synonymous with … well … bad wine? I drove up to Beauregard’s cabinlike tasting room in Bonny Doon to check it out.
The nearly clear white wine that winemaker Ryan Beauregard poured into my glass a few days later was not what I expected. It was neither cloyingly sweet and flabby, like many cheap bottles of white zin, nor like the earthy, richly layered red zinfandel that Beauregard regularly releases from the same estate fruit grown at Beauregard Ranch in Bonny Doon. This white zin was very pale and clear, with zippy acidity, white nectarine on the nose and Granny Smith apple on the palate. It’s a lovely wine for sipping and would be excellent with some hard cheeses or food – and on sale at $20 a bottle, it’s worth exploring.
So, why did Beauregard decide to make this wine? Ryan admitted to me that it was partly to grab people’s attention – and it worked. About a third of the total five-barrel batch sold within a few days to other curious buyers. He also wanted to challenge drinkers’ perceptions. “It’s a real kickin’ dog,” said Beauregard of the style, “but who says it has to be?”
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… Can farmers use steam instead of pesticides to fumigate strawberries? Five berry farms in the Pajaro Valley are participating in a pilot program funded by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation to see if injecting super-hot steam into the soil can reduce harmful plant pathogens, weed seeds and soil-borne pests.
The idea is in the research stage, Santa Cruz County Agriculture Commissioner David Sanford told Lookout South County correspondent Tania Ortiz, and is a “positive development” as the county explores alternative farming techniques that don’t use chemical fumigants, especially near schools. Here’s the story.
Want more info? The ag commission is hosting two community outreach meetings. The first is scheduled for Aug. 18 at 5:30 p.m. in the Greg Caput Community Room at the South County Government Center at 500 Westridge Dr. in Watsonville.
… A pandemic-era regulation that allowed small craft distilleries to mail alcohol to customers’ doorsteps is likely to end by Dec. 31. Groups representing California’s wine industry, Teamsters union truck drivers and corporate alcohol wholesalers and distributors criticised the legislation, and successfully lobbied against a law that would have made the temporary rule permanent.
Craft distillers spent a fraction as much on state politics, and told CalMatters that spending from the opposition, particularly from corporate liquor distributors, appears to have paid off.
“They went directly to legislators’ offices and basically torpedoed any effort we came up with,” said Cris Steller, acting executive director of the California Distillers Association and the owner of Amador and Dry Diggings Distillery in El Dorado Hills. Read the story here on Lookout.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
I gathered three outstanding summer meals in the latest installment of my monthly column, the Best Things I Ate. Luna’s Borikén Bites, which opened in May in Abbott Square in downtown Santa Cruz, offers vibrant Puerto Rican dishes made by chef Ali Luna, with a menu full of the flavors of slow-cooked pork, crispy tostones, ripe plantains and seasoned rice and beans.
It’s also all about the tomato right now, and there are two places that know how to celebrate summer’s most luscious fruit. The BLT at Other Brother Beer Co. in Aptos has it all – heirloom tomato, salty bacon, crisp lettuces and creamy aioli – on a soft bun, perfect with a cold pint. At Pretty Good Advice’s original Soquel location, find fried green tomatoes served with spicy remoulade that are the perfect snack for hot days. Read the full story here.
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
The Scotts Valley Art, Wine & Beer Festival returns this weekend at Skypark in Scotts Valley. The event runs Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the Cops N Rodders Car Show, and on “Dog Day Sunday” from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be more than 100 local artists, live entertainment and plenty of food vendors, wineries and craft breweries. The event is free to enter. Purchase tasting tickets for alcohol and a festival glass starting at $31.
LIFE WITH THE BELLIS
Just in case your kitchen counter is also overflowing with deep red orbs of various sizes, I want to remind you that you can freeze tomatoes whole. Life is busy, and sometimes slow-simmering tomato sauce for hours à la Nonna is not possible, nor is labor-intensive canning, and my belly can only hold so much tomato salad, tomato on toast, tomato sauce …. (A few years ago, I literally Googled “Is it possible to eat too many tomatoes?” The answer is no, thank goodness.)
If that’s you, here’s how to clear off your counter. Rinse and dry your tomatoes, pluck off the stems or core them if they’re big, and place them in a single layer on a cookie tray. Place it flat in your freezer until they’re solid as rocks, put them in hefty freezer bags and pull them out for soup or sauce whenever you’re ready. It’s probably not what Nonna would do, but it works!
FOOD NEWS WORTH READING
➤ Taylor Farms, the California-based agriculture company behind the cyclospora outbreak that has sickened thousands, issued a recall of prepared foods containing jalapeños due to salmonella contamination. Food products containing the contaminated peppers were distributed to Whole Foods, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart and other retailers in 20 states. (NBC News)
➤ “Tony,” a biopic about the early years of the late Anthony Bourdain, hit theaters recently and is getting good reviews. In Eater, food writer Bettina Makalintal said that what made the film compelling was “that it dares to let Bourdain be unlikeable, slowly teasing out our sympathy.” Bourdain famously described himself in his 20s as a “spoiled, miserable, narcissistic, self-destructive and thoughtless young lout, badly in need of a good ass-kicking.” I can’t wait to see it. (Eater)