How sweet it is!

Last night as we were buttoning everything up, we tasted our Santa Rosa Plums and knew these luscious fruit were ready for our customers to enjoy. So, we are harvesting them now and these are the first batch in the cool room.

Chef Jennifer Vascotto has whipped up this delicious cultured buttermilk ice cream cone and included our organic soy-free eggs. Sweeeet! Her recipe is below:

Cultured Buttermilk Ice Cream
Makes 3 pints
Ingredients
2 cups heavy whipping cream
8 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2 cups cultured buttermilk
1 cup crème fraîche
2 lemons, zested
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 vanilla bean, scraped
Steps
Add heavy cream and vanilla bean (scrapings and pod) to a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl.
Gradually whisk  (slowly temper) hot cream into yolk mixture.
Return to the saucepan and stir constantly over medium-low heat until custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes. Do not boil.
Cool custard to room temperature. This is crucial or your ice cream will look curdled.
When cooled, whisk in buttermilk, crème fraîche, lemon zest, and salt.
Chill custard until cold.
Process custard in ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Transfer ice cream to containers and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.

Orinda Books’s customers and staff watched the England-Croatia World Cup semi-final on a big screen at the store. Since England was having its best World Cup success in almost 30 years, we thought the occasion called for strawberries and cream. So, we contributed our organic Mara des Bois Strawberries and Pat Rudebusch made whipped cream. Maria Roden and the other Anglophiles enjoyed the surprise treat and England’s first goal, but that was about it. Although England was not a winner on this day, Maria certainly is. She was named Orinda Business Person of the Year by the Orinda Chamber of Commerce. The award is well-deserved. Congratulations Maria!

Our organic Pea, Lemon Basil, Nasturtium, Bulls Blood Beet and Scarlet Frills Mustard Microgreens are shown on top. Some of our sweet organic Petite Posies are on the bottom left. On the right is an order of organic Mara des Bois Strawberries, Green Garlic, Soy-free Blue Eggs and an organic seasonal floral bouquet that includes Buddleia, various Hydrangeas and Pincushions.