Ripe Figs in the South Bay/Peninsula??

[jlally]

Are there still ripe figs available in the South Bay /Peninsula?If so - where? I'm tasked with fig , yogurt and pepper cress salad for dinner with friends
And what is pepper cress, anyways?
Thanks!

[marilees]

The Costco on Rengstorff has some on Saturday.. very hit or miss, though

[vivian]

I've been getting some tasy figs at Bianchinni's market on Laurel in San Carlos. I think I paid about $2 or $2.50 a basket. IMHO I liked them better than the ones I got at the farmers' market.

[Shane Greenwood]

Check DeMartini in Los Altos. They have a great selection of local produce. One of my favorite things about that store is that they lay out samples of almost all the produce so you can taste before you buy. They usually have a few varieties of each fruit & veg too.

www.demartiniorchard.com

[jlally]

Thanks for the tip on DeMartini! The figs I got there were fine - sweet and ripe. The salad was a hit. Along with Dittmer's and the Milk Pail I've got good local supplies for most of my needs right on San Antonio Rd.

[Shane Greenwood]

Cool! Glad that worked out. I love that they let you taste most of the stuff before you buy it. How many different kinds of figs did they have?

[jlally]

They had 2 types, green and black. I just zeroed in on the black Mission ones

[rworange]

There are two fig crops in the summer. The first is past, the second is just starting. So local figs should be showing up at the farmers markets currently. Yes, you can get figs at Whole Foods. However, they are not local and usually suffer from refridgeration ... not to mention being more $$$

[Melanie Wong]

I saw some beautiful, plump white figs (actually yellow-green in color) at Andy's Orchard today, $2.50/lb.

-----
Andy's Orchard
1615 Half Rd, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

[teela brown]

Yep, Melanie, aren't those to die for? I bought a couple of pounds of both white and brown turkey figs there a week or so ago, and they were all devoured in about three days.

If Andy's receives from the same growers as last year, look for some which are striped with yellow and green. They are of the color and consistency of strawberry jam on the insides. I'm going this Wednesday, if they're open, as I'm home from work for the day, to search for these.

[Melanie Wong]

I had stonefruit blinders on and didn't buy any of the figs that visit, hoping they'd still be around for a couple weeks. I purchased some of the yellow and green striped ones last season but didn't get to eat them. I bumped into a friend who was wearing a blouse with the identical striping and color scheme and I gave her the color-coordinated figs since she was obviously meant to be the recipient.

A selection of figs from Andy's would be a terrific offering for a hound in the South Bay to bring to the picnic (hint, hint!). Here's more about the upcoming event, last year's reports and how to sign up.

Ninth Annual Chowing with the Hounds Picnic! October 3rd, 2009, details and registration info
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/652687

Chowing with the Hounds Picnic, 2008 Report.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/560808

Recipes from the 2008 Chowing with the Hounds Picnic!
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/560850

[jsaimd]

They have them at many markets and farmers markets, but my last purchase at Sigona's was soft, but no flavor at all. So sad : (. You can use dried figs too for great flavor if you can't find any good figs. Sigona's does have good dried mission figs.

Pepper cress is also known as watercress. You can sub baby arugula if you can't find watercress.

[maigre]

Whole Foods in Los Altos has had some pretty good figs at reasonable prices lately. There's a vendor at the Mountain View farmers market near High Ground Organics that reduces the price the more you buy and they're good ones. I think it's two of those green strawberry containers for $5 and four of them for $9, IIRC.

Pepper cress and water cress are not the same thing. Pepper cress is, as you might expect, peppery tasting. It's a member of the mustard family. Water cress is another leafy green. Both are delicious, but they're different flavors. I agree that arugula could be a good sub.

[jsaimd]

I stand corrected. Maigre is right.

However, the recipe I think you are making says you can use either. Watercress was the baby arugula of the early1990s...

i was back at Sigona's today and they have their figs on sale for $2 a pint - they are local organic. These ones seemed riper - nice and soft, but i didn't taste.

[Claudette]

I got pepper cress at Whole Foods Cupertino a couple of weeks ago. Warning: it's REALLY peppery, and might not be everyone's cup of tea (can I say that?). It was beautiful - much tighter leaves than watercress.

[JasmineG]

Maybe it's just not a good year for figs? Or too early in the fall season? Because I got figs tonight from the farmer's market, and they looked beautiful and felt great, and were bland and flavorless.