ALBA Organics Open House 7-25-09
The open house at ALBA on Sunday was terrific. We saw a cooking demonstration, took a tour of the organic fields, and even got a special tour of the cooling warehouse (where the produce is stored prior to sale) and some greenhouses.
ALBA is a non-profit farmer education and incubator program. Students go through a months long series of classes. Graduates have an opportunity to lease, at below market rates, small plots of Alba's 110 acres. If they're successful and want to continue, they can apply for more land each year. Many of the farmers were there on Saturday, some working and others selling their produce.
The variety of produce that's grown there is extensive and really surprised us. It's far beyond the iceberg lettuce that's often associated with Salinas. We bought lots of different things to take home.
The quality was just amazing. It wasn't just clean, it almost looked like it had been polished. Produce doesn't look like this at the grocery store. They really went all out. There were tasting samples available, and the flavor was significantly better than those tired, old vegetables from the grocery store.
And then there's the food. The instructor at the cooking demonstration passed out samples of several items that she prepared using the produce that was provided by ALBA. The food at the taco trucks, and the cart, was great. I had read here on Chowhound about the hotdog stand in Salinas. They raise hotdogs to another level. In addition to tacos, one of the trucks, in a bow to the local produce, had a vegetable dish of squash, onions, tomatoes, bell pepper, and garlic. The aroma alone sold it. Free cups of hand cranked strawberry ice cream, using strawberries from the farm, were given out. And the weather was even great!
Thanks to Melanie for letting us know about this.
ALBA Organics
1700 Old Stage Road
Salinas
www.albafarmers.org
By chow_eb
on Jul 27, 2009 02:13 PM
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Pleasure to meet you finally, and thanks for posting! I was uploading photos to Twitter during my time there, here's a link to the full page (click on the images for captions and a larger rendering).
http://twitpic.com/tag/alba09upick
Could you please say more about the cooking demo by Cocina Rusa? I missed out, having to leave for another engagement. The proprietor, Elsa Ramirez-Brisson, is a Roots of Change fellow.
I've added Places links so that you can find these businesses the next time you come to town. I've gotta run now, will add more impressions of the day later. One of our pack sent his regrets from Italy saying, "It is not often that I wish I were in Salinas instead of Umbria... " I would have to say that ALBA farms in Salinas with the loncheras was indeed the place to be on Saturday.
Organic Farm-to-Taco Truck Chowdown Invitation, Saturday 7/25 11am to 4pm, Salinas
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/638788
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ALBA Agriculture & Land Based Training Association
1700 Old Stage Rd, Salinas, CA
La Cocina Rusa
8 W Gabilan St, Salinas, CA 93901
Tacos Acambaro
Grandhaven St and Williams Rd, Salinas, CA
Mariscos La Perla
624 Williams Rd, Salinas, CA 93905
Jacquez Hot Dogs
E Market St and Sanborn Road, Salinas, CA
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