Here in California, stone fruit reigns supreme. From the start of cherry season in April until the last lingering peaches and plums are plucked from the trees in October, these fabulous fruits steal the show at farm stores and farmers markets across the state. We met with Andy Mariani, stone fruit aficionado and owner of Andy’s Orchard to learn more about the artisan offerings at his Morgan Hill farm store. Spoiler alert: you’ve never had stone fruit like this before.
California grows 80% of the nation’s stone fruit!
Andy’s Orchard: This small farm is a big deal in Morgan Hill
Andy’s Orchard offers customers a taste of uncommon stonefruit varieties – many of which aren’t grown anywhere else in the state. Andy travels the world, personally selecting new varieties to add to his existing lineup. So how does Andy decide which fruits make the cut? It all comes down to one simple factor: flavor. Andy smiles proudly and notes, “We grow a lot of different varieties. I think it’s, like, 280 in the last count. Cherries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums – and what we’ve done is we’ve selected the best of these different fruits based on flavor.”
Want to learn more about Andy’s Orchard? Read the farm feature on our sister website, californiagrown.org!
Events at Andy’s Orchard
If you’ve never had the pleasure of biting into a Green Gage plum, or devouring a Baby Crawford peach, you might not realize that different varieties of the same fruit can taste wildly different. Take apples, for example: a tart Granny Smith apple is easily distinguished from a sinfully sweet Gala apple. The same thing holds true for stone fruit – and if you’ve only been indulging in limited grocery store offerings, Andy invites you to attend one of his legendary tasting events.
Andy’s Orchard hosts a variety of events throughout the year…just don’t expect a petting zoo. Andy remarks sarcastically, “My cat is the closest thing we have to a petting zoo.” Grinning slyly, he continues, “We don’t have petting zoos and corn mazes, but we try to make it educational. San Jose is the eighth largest metropolitan area in the country. We’d like to have people come out to the farm and share an experience – see what we’re actually doing.”
Tastings
Andy’s Orchards hosts around five tasting events each summer, starting with their annual Father’s Day Cherry Tasting Event.
Andy enthuses, “People come from all over the country. This is really a major event because it’s hard to find these kinds of varieties. We start out on Father’s Day with cherries. And then we go to apricots, peaches and nectarines throughout the summer. It’s modeled after wine tasting, so we’ll have as many as 80 different varieties of fruit to taste.”
Tasting events are meant to be both enjoyable and educational. Andy hires docents, many of whom are Stanford educated, to lead small groups of guests through the orchard while sharing the area’s rich agricultural history and highlighting the nuances of each variety. While the tastings are not marketed as U-Pick events, guests are given a small bucket and encouraged to taste whatever stone fruits strike their fancy along the way.
Want to attend a tasting at Andy’s Orchard?
Interested in attending a tasting event at Andy’s Orchard? Sign up for the Andy’s Orchard newsletter and follow Andy’s Orchard on Instagram and Facebook for the latest event info. Reservations are required and tickets sell out quickly, so keep an eye out for upcoming tasting announcements.
Holiday Open House
Andy’s Orchard celebrates the season with an annual Holiday Open House held over the four weekends leading up to Christmas. Guests are treated to Andy’s handmade sugar plums and other holiday confections, and can enjoy complimentary eggnog, hot cocoa, cider or wassail while perusing the farm store for the perfect gifts. In addition to their signature dried fruits and nuts , the shelves are stocked with cheeses, candies, olive oils and more from favorite local producers – making it easy to share a taste of the Golden State during the holiday season.
Get a taste of Andy’s artisan stone fruit
Once you’ve experienced Andy’s tree-ripened, heirloom fruits, there’s really no way to kick the craving. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get your fix! Andy’s Orchard’s fresh stone fruit is available at their Morgan Hill farm store, the Santa Monica Farmers Market, and online.
Andy’s Orchard Farm Store
The Andy’s Orchard farm store is open from mid-May through the end of December. Stop in to experience unusual and heirloom stone fruit at its peak. Andy admits that artisan fruit is pricier to produce than its conventional cousins, but if the price is prohibitive, he encourages shoppers to check the “ugly fruit corner”. Andy explains, “Our fruit is very high priced, but there’s a lot of it that’s cosmetically imperfect. We have a whole corner devoted to what we call ugly fruit – it has the same eating quality but is not cosmetically perfect. We sell it at half the price and they can make anything they want out of it because the flavor is still there.”
“Ugly fruit” is also used to make secondary products. Andy’s Orchard partners with local producers on ice creams, beers, pies, jams and more featuring his legendary stone fruit.
Santa Monica Farmers Market
Andy’s Orchard is a long time vendor at the Santa Monica Farmers Market. Andy proudly says, “We’re like rock stars down there! We take a whole van load down there and they’ll start the waiting line at 5:30 in the morning…the market opens at eight!”
Shop Online
You don’t have to live in California to enjoy Andy’s Orchard’s stone fruit – their online store ships fresh and dried fruit nationwide! Order a la carte or sign up for their weekly subscription service. Andy explains, “We can pick it ripe and it’s sent overnight shipping to anywhere in the country. So someone in New York can order our Baby Crawford peaches, and they’ll have it the next day.”
More to explore!
Casa de Fruta
Casa de Fruta is one of California’s most notable produce stands, located on Highway 152. It has become a popular destination for locals and tourists alike, offering a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables at affordable prices.
Gilroy Gardens
Ever been to Gilroy Gardens? Learning about California Grown fruits, vegetables and plants has never been more fun!
The Stinking Rose
Did you know that there is a restaurant in San Francisco devoted to celebrating California Grown garlic? The Stinking Rose goes all in on California garlic – infusing it into every deliciously campy (and vampy!) detail.
Today, the only “fruit” associated with Silicon Valley is Apple, but until some 50 or more years ago, the area was known for fruit trees – specifically prunes. Let’s take a trip back in time and explore why Silicon Valley was once known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight.
Article by Hilary Rance. Photography by James Collier. Tasting images courtesy of Andy’s Orchard.