Babies Are Booming at the Produce Stand

Carmen Zapien was finishing the last of the bountiful Christmas baskets filled with miniature radishes, corn, onions, turnips, eggplant, beets, carrots and kohlrabi.

“Baby veg Christmas baskets have sold very well this year,” noted Zapien who works at the Underwood Ranch’s produce stand on California 118 on the outskirts of this small Ventura County town. “So have baby vegetables,” she added.

The 75-year-old Underwood Ranch’s 1,000-acre vegetable farm was one of the first in the nation four years ago to grow and sell miniature vegetables.

“We grow just about every vegetable you can think of, 30 to 40 different varieties, and harvest them when the crops are very young. These are not dwarf nor genetically or chemically altered plants,” explained Craig Underwood, 42, head of Underwood Ranch started here by his grandfather, Urban Underwood, in 1912.

“Baby vegetables in the last four years have become a hot item with nouvelle cuisine, especially at white tablecloth restaurants. We sell 80% of our baby vegetables to restaurants all over the country,” he said.

This is the busy season at the Somis farm. In summer, baby vegetables are harvested in farming areas in several states. But in winter, California is the principal source for the tiny vegetables, which are served whole with meals.

Baby carrots are Underwood’s biggest seller, with baby beets a close second.

Laura Conger of Camarillo, shopping at the Underwood produce stand with her granddaughter, Amanda Lincoln, 4, picked up four bunches of miniature French carrots, selling at 45 cents a bunch. “Sweetest carrots you ever tasted,” said Conger.

The produce stand features samples for sale of everything grown at Underwood Ranch. “We get a feel for what appeals to the consumer at the roadside stand, which accounts for only about 1% or 2% of our total sales,” said Underwood.

Baby vegetables are so new they have yet to find a place in supermarkets. But some specialty shops handle the miniatures, which often sell for twice the price of normal size vegetables.

Underwood showed a small carton of baby vegetables packaged especially for microwaves. “We’re experimenting with a microwave package. We hope to put it on the market soon. Baby vegetables have great potential. Our aim is to eventually get them in supermarkets for home consumption,” he noted.

At present Underwood Ranch has 150 acres in baby vegetables grown and harvested year-round, with three crops a year. It is one of the biggest baby vegetable farms in the nation.

“In the beginning we had five to 10 people employed harvesting the babies. Now we have 30 people exclusively employed every day picking miniature vegetables. We pick, wash and package the crops in the field, then place them in the cooler for quick shipment to customers. We sell to 30 to 40 different distributors who handle distribution,” explained Underwood.

The farm is just beginning to export baby vegetables to Hong Kong and Japan where the crops are a new table item just as they are in this country.

“Part of the appeal is the eye as well as taste, which is sweeter and more flavorful than the larger vegetables. Whole baby vegetables are easy to fix and dress up the dinner plate in many of the better restaurants,” said Underwood.

“They are a great lunch box item for school kids and ideal for hors d’oeuvres. In a few years baby vegetables will be a standard item on dinner tables all across America,” he said.