We’re seeing the first few trickles of tasty tomatoes, but not nearly what you’d expect for mid-August.  We got some solid information from Bill about this year’s weird weather and how it has effected tomato crops in northern California.

In the hopes of things heating up in time for a late-late summer ripening, we’ve pushed back the dates for the 2010 Tomato Dinners to September.  Fingers crossed.

Yesterday, we hit the Derby Street Farmers’ Market with Chef Canales & got a good look at what is available.  Okra, check.  Black-Eyed peas, check.  Jimmy Nardello peppers, check.  Gypsy peppers…not so much.

Melons on the other hand are going gangbusters right now.  Trini Campbell tells us about the numerous varieties Riverdog Farm grows & how to know when they are ready to be eaten.

We also have tomato reports from two of our go-to tomato farms:  Lucero Organic & Dirty Girl Produce.  And we have Stella Schlesinger (on tape!) saying Dirty Girl Produce will hopefully definitely have oodles of their famous Early Girls tomatoes available in time for Tomato Dinners 2010.  phew.

Official confirmation from Trini at Riverdog Farm: tomato season has started! Also, some recommended older varieties of apricots & peaches from Didar, and Chef Canales tells us how he likes to prepare Jimmy Nardello’s peppers. Who’s Jimmy Nardello?!

We visited the Berkeley Farmers’ Market last Saturday with Bill Fujimoto and got a look at what’s in season right this minute & what will be even-more-in-season by the end of this week.  We also got an insider’s tip on a savvy way to save some money during this time of year.