RECIPES: Vanilla Port Poached Pears with Blue Cheese and Walnuts, Baked Pears with Caramel Sauce, Honey Pear Bran Muffins, Raisin Pear Pie, Stilton Cheese Gateaux with Onion Pear Relish, and Spinach Pear Salad with Maple and Brown Mustard Vinaigrette

Pears are one of the world’s most alluring fruits with its voluptuous contour and buttery textured flesh. A perfectly ripe, luscious pear is without peer as a sweet pleasure of Fall. This ancient fruit captured the praise of the well-known Greek poet, Homer (8th century B.C.), who referred to pears as a “gift of the gods.” The Romans developed over 50 varieties of pears and introduced the cultivated pear to Europe. The California Bartlett is an ancestor of a pear originating in Berkshire, England from the 17^th century. California grown pears include Bartlett, Bosc, Sekel, Comice, Starkrimson (red pears), D’Anjou, Forelle, and Packhams.

RECIPES: Real Southern Cornbread, Boston Brown Bread, Anadama Bread, La Beth's Vanilla Cornbread, Texas Cornmeal Muffins with Jalapeno, and Sweet Cornbread Muffins

Cornbread is an all-American bread, tracing its humble roots back to the days of the early settlers. When the first colonists arrived in North America, wheat flour was unavailable and they had to turn to local resources to make their breads. Corn was one of the first crops to be grown by the Native Americans, and ground corn had long been used for cooking. The settlers soon learned how to fashion breads from the meal ground from corn. And the rest is history – baked cornbread, hoecake, corn pone, johnnycakes, hushpuppies – all began here.

RECIPES: How to Seed a Pomegranate, Pan Toasted Brie with Pomegranate Raspberry Sauce, Turkey Cutlets with Roasted Fennel and Pomegrante Glaze, Dried Cranberries and Walnuts Spinach Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette, Guacamole Chamacuero, How to Make Pomegrate Molasses, Pomegranate Salsa, Spinach Salad with Persimmon and Pomegranate Seeds, Chicken Pomegranate, Rack of Lamb Marinated in Pomegranate Juiice,  Persian Lamb

The name "pomegranate" derives from Latin pomum (‘apple’) and granatus (‘seeded’). Jewish scholars believe that the pomegranate was the original “forbidden fruit” of the Garden of Eden. The pomegranate has been a prominent symbol in many religions and cultures since Biblical times, when Moses promised his followers that they would find the fruit in the Promised Land, to the 18th century, when Spanish sailors introduced it to the southern United States. Cultivated since ancient times, the pomegranate is native to the region from Iran to northern India. The pomegranate is now cultivated widely in California and Arizona for juice production.

RECIPES: Delicata Squash and Apple Sauté, Onion and Apple Cider Soup with Blue Cheese Croutons, Classic Apple Crisp, Pork Chops with Apples and Cream, Wine Briased Cabbage with Apples and Chestnuts, Apple Butter

Did you know that the Pajaro Valley used to be the apple capital of the United States in the early part of this century? I read one account of an apple packer in 1894 that shipped roughly 6.5 million pounds from the Pajaro train station to the east coast alone! Just one fact I discovered, as I looked deeper into our area’s wonderful selection of apples available now on the Central Coast.