Moving beyond the freeze

FARMERS markets these days carry the unmistakable air of an army after a battle. Even three weeks after the disastrous mid-January freeze that swept through California’s farmlands, there are noticeable gaps in the ranks of vendors left by farmers who just don’t have anything to sell. Of the fruits and vegetables that are on display, some look a bit bedraggled and worn. And hanging over everything is a sort of buoyant optimism that feels a little forced.

Yes, he’ll probably lose all of his 5 acres of avocado trees, says Ojai farmer Jim Churchill, but they were old and set up on a drip system that didn’t work so well anymore anyway. This is a catastrophe, but it is also an opportunity for a fresh start. Besides, he managed to save most of his precious Pixie tangerines.

Vicki Bernard of Bernard Ranches says she lost all of the approximately 100 new trees she had planted in the last couple of years at her Valley Center ranch near Escondido, but thankfully the Riverside orchard came through without much damage.

Tony Thacher of Friends’ Ranch, also in Ojai, guesses that he lost 35% to 40% of his citrus fruit, but he’s excited about a new product he’s created necessitated by the short crops -- “juice cocktail” bags he calls “Friends’ Blend” of mixed navel and blood oranges, Minneola tangelos and some Valencia oranges left over from last year’s harvest.

Prices for citrus are higher, on average about $1 a pound more than before the freeze. Behind Thacher’s stand hangs a poster with pictures of ice-covered trees and the hand-written legend: “Please be understanding. Our prices have gone up. We’ve spent a lot of time and money growing trees and fruit and trying to protect them from the cold.”

Citrus was far from the only crop affected, even though it probably suffered the worst long-term damage.

Strawberries were also frozen, losing fruit and flowers. But unlike tree fruit, strawberry plants can produce fruit for 11 months of the year, so while the freeze may have meant losing a couple of weeks of production, it didn’t mean the end of the season.

Tender greens, herbs and lettuces were affected too, but these also recover quickly. Right now, there seem to be fewer of them than normal and the ones that are there often look a little wilted and shopworn.

Even with citrus, some varieties were hit harder than others. Generally, faced with a “Sophie’s Choice” of deciding which fruit to save, farmers went with the higher value crops -- tangerines, blood oranges and navel oranges. Valencia oranges -- so-called “summer oranges” here in California -- probably got hit the worst. They are still immature, which means they are small and low in sugar and will freeze more quickly (sugar acts as a natural antifreeze, lowering the freezing point of liquid). These are just beginning to be harvested, so in this way, the effects of the freeze will be felt for several months more.

For now, the best bets at the farmers market are sturdy cooking greens such as kale and chard; root vegetables such as turnips, radishes, beets and potatoes; and citrus fruits such as tangerines, navel and blood oranges.

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Peak season

Blood oranges: These crimson-fleshed citrus fruits have gone almost instantly from obscure to commonplace. It wasn’t so long ago that you practically had to travel to Sicily to find them. Now they’re in grocery stores. Blood oranges get their unusual berry flavor from the same anthocyanin pigment that gives them their vivid color -- this should be no surprise as it is the same pigment that colors (and flavors) raspberries. There are actually several varieties of blood orange and they ripen at different times. The ones we’re seeing most of right now, the first to ripen, are the Moros. They have the deepest and most consistent color but often are not as sweet as other varieties. For flavor, most citrus aficionados prefer Tarocco blood oranges, which are just beginning to be harvested.

Various vendors, $2.50 per pound.

Cara Cara navel oranges: This is another “non-orange” orange. The flesh of a Cara Cara is deep pink, closer to a ruby grapefruit. The operative pigment here is lycopene, which also gives those red grapefruit their color. Cara Caras are fairly sweet and somewhat low in acidity, which makes them taste even sweeter. Their flavor is like that of a navel, but there is a little something extra -- often described as a hint of cherry. Cara Caras are actually a fairly new fruit -- a chance mutation discovered in 1976 in an orchard in Venezuela (at the Hacienda de Cara Cara) and introduced in Florida in 1987.

Various vendors, $2.50 per pound.

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russ.parsons@latimes.com