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Summerland Produce Co. brings ‘farm-to-table’ to the next level

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Downtown L.A. resident Angelika Tesch (the wife of a versatile chef and a devout foodie and home cook) is obsessed with farm-fresh produce. Knowing which farmers have the very best mangoes, avocados or purple queen beans and when they are at the height of seasonality is a passion to her equal to that of the most fervent fantasy football player or Dungeons & Dragons geek.

Which is why her new fresh produce delivery service, Summerland Produce Co., has quickly been racking up fans downtown and beyond. The service, which offers free delivery of a variety of boxes of mixed fruit and veggies (with recipes included), was started a little over six months ago and claims more than 100 clients.

There are a number of fresh produce delivery services in the city, including Farm Fresh to You and Farm Box LA, but Summerland strives to distinguish itself through extra-thoughtful curation and quality of product.

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Tesch rarely uses farmers markets as middlemen. Instead, she sources directly from farms. She guarantees that all the produce that arrives at your door is shipped straight from farms she has a personal relationship with (which are generally located within a 200-mile-radius of L.A.) and straight to downtown L.A. where it is boxed and immediately sent to you.

“We have one vendor outside that range,” says Tesch on a recent Monday while prepping a mango and avocado salad from a delivery box. “It’s Fitzgerald’s in Fresno and they have the most amazing stone fruit; the flavor profiles are just out of this world and he sells proprietary varieties with names like ‘China Bride.’ That’s from about 50 farms that we’re sourcing from.”

She picks an avocado up off the counter. Its center is a vibrant, creamy pea green.

“This avocado is from Pedro’s Ranch,” she says. “Year-round their specialty is avocados and they’re to die for.”

Tesch, who says that there is little she would rather do than take pictures of fruit on a tree, is also constantly on the hunt for rare produce, the kind you might find in a chef-driven restaurant.

Recently she scored some mangoes that she was particularly proud of.

“They’re from Wong Farms,” she says of the mangoes. “They only come out one month of the year and there’s this mad rush to get them.”

She looks down sheepishly and then says, “I ate a whole flat of them last week.”

“Isn’t there a ‘Scarface’ edict to not get high on your own supply?” jokes her business partner, Charlie Davis.

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She laughs, knowing it’s her passion for her own supply that makes Summerland Produce Co. sing.

For more information on pricing, farms and types of boxes available go to: www.summerlandproduceco.com, or call (213) 935.8511.

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