Fruit Tastings
Fruit Tastings in Northern California:
Watch here for upcoming tastings
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Mulberry and Early Stone Fruit Tasting !
Invitation to the CRFG from the good people at the Wolfskill fruit and nut variety collection (USDA ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository, Davis):
“We are planning a mulberry and stone fruit tasting at Wolfskill on
Saturday, June, 7 at 10am”
4334 Putah Creek Rd. Winters CA 95694
Please consider carpooling, and don’t be late. They will start on time, and you don’t want to miss the introductions and opening remarks.
We are usually addressed by the researchers and field technicians who manage this vast collection of fruit and nut varieties. In the past June tastings, there have been several varieties of mulberries (sometimes dried too) and assorted early stone fruit to sample. Sometimes we are also asked to rate the fruit quality, so they may continue to collect information for the extensive cultivar data base they are maintaining and constantly improving.
Read more about their important work on their website:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=53-06-20-00
Take good notes and photos to share your favorites with others, in addition for your own ‘wish list’.
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Berry Tasting in Visalia,
June 14
Bravo Lake Botanical Garden,
400 E. Naranjo Blvd. in Woodlake.
Also see the Andy’s Orchard website for their summer stonefruit tasting schedule:
http://andysorchard.com/cart/index.php?_a=viewDoc&page=orchard
Andy’s Orchard Summer Fruit Tasting Calendar 2014
| Summer Fruit Tasting Schedule 2014 | Each event includes a fruit tasting, tour, & harvest walk. The following events are currently planned: | |
| Sunday, June 15th (Father’s Day) | Over 30 of varieties cherries plus other stone fruits. Special guest: Tim Stanley, author of The Last of the Prune Pickers, will be present to sign books and discuss the history of the Santa Clara Valley. | |
| Saturday, June 28th | Late cherries, apricots and other stone fruits. | |
| Sunday, July 6th | Many apricots, some cherries, peaches, nectarines and plums. | |
| Saturday, July 26th | Late apricots, early peaches, nectarines and plums. | |
| Sunday, August 10th | Many peaches, nectarines, plums and pluots. Often as many as 60 different varieties. | |
| All fruit tastings begin at 10:00 AM |
Note: Events are $15 per person. Seniors are $12 per person. Children under 12 are free. Please check ahead to confirm dates, which are subject to change. For groups of four or less no reservations are required. For groups of five or more, please call ahead and let us know the number in your group and the date you plan to attend (group discount for 20 or more people). Private tours can be arranged for groups of 100 or more. All fruit picked during the harvest walks will be charged by the pound. No pets, please.* These events are subject to the weather and the availability of fruit on the day of the event. | |
Plan your tasting seasons-
here are some of the past year’s tastings:
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Pomegranate and Persimmon Tasting
Wolfskill Experimental Farm, Winters CA
Nov 2, 10 am to Noon
Description Some 20 varieties of pomegranates and several varieties of persimmons will be introduced and tasted. Thanks to John Preece, Jeff Moersfelder, and Jenny Smith of the Davis National Clonal Germplasm Repository, USDA Agricultural Research Service.
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Ruth Bancroft Gardens 1500 Bancroft Road in Walnut Creek, CA
Cactus Fruit Tasting Tour
Saturday, October 19, 2013
1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
$20 General Admission; $12 Members
When most people think of harvesting fruit, prickly pear cacti do not typically come to mind. With intimidating spines and stubborn glochids, the tasty fruit often gets bypassed for easier fare. The Garden has an abundance of fruit-producing plants which we will sample on this special tour including palm fruit, dragon fruit, and other unique cactus fruits. Additionally, Mrs. Bancroft will let us sample some of the fruit from her private garden including her pineapple guava and a strawberry tree. Join us to figure out which is your favorite and to have a tasty tour at The Ruth Bancroft Garden. Pre-registration is required for this tour, please call the Garden Office at (925)944-9352 to register for this event.
http://www.ruthbancroftgarden.org/rbgarden/pages/GardenWorkshop.html#fruittasting
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October 19th
Wilder Ranch State Park: Heritage Harvest Festival
Monterey Chapter California Rare Fruit Growers
Apple Tasting
Amid the harvest festival will be an apple tasting of over 50 varieties of apples to taste and rate. Which are your favorites? Which will be your new discoveries?
Celebrate! The harvest is in! See tractor, draft horse and living history demonstrations, listen to music, make crafts, and participate in harvest-time activities.
Wilder Ranch State Park is located 2 miles north of Santa Cruz on the coast side of Highway 1 at 1401 Coast Road Santa Cruz, CA 95060. This event is appropriate for all ages. Day-use parking fee is $10. More information is available at (831) 426-0505.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/Events/EventDetail.aspx?id=4061
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Home Orchard Society Event:
2013 All About Fruit Show
Saturday & Sunday, October 19th & 20th
10am to 4pm
Clackamas County Fairgrounds, Canby, Oregon
It’s that time again. The famous All About Fruit Show offers you the opportunity to taste hundreds of apples and pears and kiwis and plums and grapes plus many unusual fruits you’ve probably never hear of. The display is awe inspiring, only surpassed by the countless tastes that will be crossing your palate.
Always helpful, the folks manning our “Information Table” are there to try and answer all of the questions that have been plaguing you about your fruiting endeavors. They are a great resource on everything from pollination to fertilization.
Do you need to add some new fruit trees to your yard, but can’t wait until next spring to graft? We will have over a hundred one-year-old trees for sale. There is a wide selection of apples and pears, so come prepared to buy.
One Green World, a local nursery, will have a booth packed with unusual and exotic fruit trees proven to grow in the northwest. Everything from columnar apples to lemons and limes will be offered for sale, so be sure to check them out. New this year, OGW will also be hosting a tasting table for the processed products they make from their unusual fruits!
Not to forget the edibles, our caterer will have sandwiches and soups and fresh baked goodies so you don’t have to go out for lunch – it will be all right there.
There will be speakers both Saturday and Sunday. Check our website to see who is talking about what on which day. Cider pressing will take place on the back porch with free samples.
All-in-all — a fun event; good food to eat, interesting things to learn, hundreds of fruit to sample and friendly fruit growers willing to share experiences. Put October 19th & 20th on your calendar and forward this to a friend.
The latest info, speaker schedules, as well as directions can be found at:
www.homeorchardsociety.org/aafs/
Admission:
Members: Adults $4, Family $8
Non-Members: Adults $6, Family $10
Become a member at the show, and get in free!
Free Parking
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Apple and Pear Tasting
Sunday Oct. 20 at 1:30
Burbank Goldridge Farm Sebastopol
40+ varieties of apples and several pears to taste, thanks to Redwood CRFG!
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Lindcove Research and Extension Center, Exeter CA
Citrus Fruit Display and Tasting: for Homeowners
December 15, 2012
During the Citrus Fruit Display day, you can see and taste more than 100 citrus varieties that are grown at Lindcove.
http://ucanr.edu/sites/lindcove/?calitem=128118&g=21558
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Summer Stone Fruit Tours and Tastings at
Andy’s Orchard, Morgan Hill
often times offering 30 to 50 varieties of stone fruit at each tasting!
http://andysorchard.com/cart/index.php?_a=viewDoc&page=orchard
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Fruit Tastings hosted by the USDA National Clonal Germplasm Repository at Davis,
Held at the Wolfskill Experimental Farm, Winters-
Past tastings:
Saturday, December 17th , 2011 at 10am, The very first kiwifruit tasting at Wolfskill !
November 3, 2012- Pomegranates and Persimmons, begins at 10am
September 7th 2013- Figs and Grapes;
June 22, 2013 Mulberries, and Prunus spp;
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Local CRFG Chapter Tastings,
Monterey, Santa Clara, Golden Gate, Redwood Empire, Sacramento, Mendocino, all hold local tastings- Contact each chapter for details.
http://www.crfg.org/local/chapters/ca_montb.html
Citrus tour and field tasting for Monterey Chapter CRFG members only:
Gene Lester, Corralitos,
Collection of over 200 citrus varieties, early March. Contact the Monterey Chapter CRFG to join and attend.
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Apple Tasting- Hosted by the Monterey Chapter CRFG
Wilder Ranch State Park Harvest Festival, just North of Santa Cruz
October 20, 2012
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Garin Park Apple Festival
Sept 7th, 2013
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Autumn at Filoli Festival
Typically tasting Grapes, Pears and Apples
Saturday, September 29, 2012
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Cactus and Palm Fruit Tasting
Ruth Bancroft Gardens, Walnut Creek
Saturday October 20 2012
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Four Winds Growers
BLUEBERRY TASTING EVENT
JUNE 29th, 11:00 AM
At Mountain Feed and Farm Supply in
Ben Lomond 855.696.8226http://www.mountainfeed.com/
https://www.facebook.com/events/388592001246974/
Tweets from Four Winds say they are sending their fantastic fruit enthusiast Ed Lavio (formerly with Dave Wilson Nursery) to be there with these blueberry varieties:
Pink Lemonade, Misty, Jubilee, Oneal, Sharpblue, Sunshine blue, maybe others!
Berry berry good!
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Organic Stone Fruit Jubilee
Near Fresno
June 22, 2013
4:00 – 8:30 PM
(tasting begins at 5:00 PM)
Adult Admission $5
Children under 12 Free
Mokichi Okada Association’s Oasis Garden
5790 N, Indianola Avenue
Clovis, CA 93619
Taste sixty varieties of peaches, plums, pluots, nectarines and apricots from a dozen local certified farms. Also enjoy artisan foods, farm tours, workshops, music and kid’s craft corner.
http://www.eco-farm.org/programs/heartland_project/organic_stone_fruit_jubilee/
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Farmers Markets, Farmers often offer tastings/samples
Retailers featuring in-store fruit samples:
Berkeley Bowl, Monterey Market, Whole Foods
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Garin Apple Festival |
||
| Date: | September 7, 2013 | |
| Time: | 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM | |
| Location: | Garin Regional Park Map it 1320 Garin Avenue Hayward, CA |
|
| Garin is home to an antique apple orchard with varieties of apples you won’t find anywhere else – except at the Apple Festival! Try your hand at hand-cranking ice cream or pressing apple cider and then taste the “fruit” of your labor. Music, dancing, crafts, and old-fashioned games make this event fun for the whole family!Free event. Parking $5. | ||
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Fig and Grape tasting
Saturday, Sept 7
10am to Noon-
get there by 10am to hear the introductory talks!
Wolfskill Experimental Farm, 4334 Putah Creek Rd, Winters, CA 95694
We will sample several selections chosen out of some 300 fig http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=12146 and 4,000 grape http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=12254 varietals in USDA Davis Fruit and Nut collection http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=53-06-20-00.
Meet the researchers who maintain the collection, and taste a small sample of some of the vast fruit diversity they maintain. If we are well mannered, we may get to also visit the fig collection block in the field.
Thanks to United States Dept of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Clonal Germplasm Repository, Davis Fruit and Nut Collection lead researcher John Preece, fig curator Howard Garrison, and grape curator Bernie Prins.
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not in Nor Cal, but perfect for pawpaw people:
The 15th Annual Ohio Pawpaw Festival
http://www.ohiopawpawfest.com/
The 15th Annual Ohio Pawpaw Festival
September 13-15, 2013.
Lake Snowden in Albany, Ohio
3 days of Pawpaw music, food, contests, art, history, education, sustainable living workshops and activities for the kids!
Hours
Friday: 4 pm – midnight
Saturday: 10 am – midnight
Sunday: 10 am – 4 pm
- Pawpaw eating contest and tastings!
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http://www.filoli.org/special-events-and-exhibits/autumn-festival.html
Autumn at Filoli Festival
Filoli Estate, 86 Cañada Road, Woodside, California 94062
Saturday, September 28, 2013, 10:00 am – 3:30 pm
Make your reservations beginning Monday, August 19 at 9:00 am, see below-
Join us on Saturday, September 28 for a fun–filled day of entertainment, crafts, and fruit tasting as Filoli presents its annual family–friendly Autumn at Filoli Festival.
Autumn brings to mind the changing of the seasons. The abundant fruit that has been growing during the long summer days in Filoli’s historic Gentlemen’s Orchard is ripening and ready to be harvested and savored. The Visitor and Education Center will host fruit tasting and sampling all day. Docent–led tours of Filoli’s Orchard will be given throughout the day. Learn more about the many varieties of apples, pears, table grapes, and other heritage fruit trees that will be showing off their abundance. Nature Education docents will be on hand to lead hikes through Filoli’s natural beauty and surrounding woodlands. The Garden will still be active in its display of blooming dahlias, colorful copperbeach trees and hedge, textural knot garden, burgundy smoke bush and hundreds of roses putting on a late–season show.
More on “The Fruit of Filoli”: http://www.filoli.org/downloads/garden/gardeners-reference-sheets/fruit-at-filoli.pdf
Event Tickets: Make your reservations beginning Monday, August 19 at 9:00 am. Advance purchase highly recommended. (Please order before noon on Friday, September 27.)
$20 Adult member
$25 Adult non–member
$5 Child (ages 5 to 17)
Free for children ages 4 and younger.
https://tickets.filoli.org/FiloliPub/ticketing_checkout.aspx
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Cornucopia Food Forest Gardens 
