Taste Of The Golden State

The Taste of the Golden State Box is filled with carefully curated goodies and ingredients grown in California sunshine and hand crafted with love. Each item was selected for delicious taste, sustainability and ethical farming practices.  We hope you'll enjoy not just the scrumptious treats but also the joy of learning about all of the small family farms and independent makers that created them.

Inside The Box

• Organic King City Pink Beans (1lb)
• Piment d'Ville (1.2oz glass jar)
• Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil (100ml glass bottle)
• Organic Whiskey Spiced Walnuts (6oz bag)
• California Black Button Sage Honey (3oz jar)
• 3 Seed-Bearing lollipops (champagne roses, vanilla hibiscus, blueberry nettle)

King City Pink Beans

There are few things more Californian than having a pot of beans on the stove. Perhaps it is because California was part of Mexico until 1850 but beans are a part of life for most Californians. Pink beans are specifically important in California and are an essential part of a California Style BBQ.

The King City Pink has a rich history and a big flavor. They have a delicious taste that will knock you over it's so good. King City Pinks are dense and meaty with a delicate, thin skin and a luscious broth. The are about the size of a navy bean, larger than the other pink bean famous in California, the pinquito. 

In the 1800s Charles King purchased inexpensive land on the central coast region of California not far from Monterey. When he was successful growing wheat, King City was born and quickly became an agricultural hub also growing the pink beans that bear its name. By the 1930s when John Steinbeck wrote Tortilla Flats, King City was shipping pink beans across the nation. Steinbeck has deep connections to King City and mentions the pink beans in Tortilla Flats and uses the town as a setting for several scenes in Of Mice and Men. Steinbeck's father claimed to have been the first permanent resident of King City and he met and married his wife there. 

What To Do With Them

What stops most people from enjoying amazing dried beans is not knowing how to cook them. Turns out most of us just overthink it. Beans do not need to be soaked overnight, they will simply take longer to cook. Soaking and rinsing the water though does cut down on the specific carbohydrate that causes gas, so if you have issues digesting beans it is recommended to soak.  Read our definitive guide to cooking heirloom beans here. 

Classic Santa Maria Style Pink Beans

The Santa Maria Style BBQ consists of grilled tri-tip with a garlic, sea salt and pepper rub and pink beans. The beans are simple but delicious.

1. Cook your pink beans by your method of choice, classically they are in a big pot on the stove for 3-4 hours, but feel free to use a pressure cooker (we do).

2. When the beans are done, drain most of the liquid and set aside.

3. In a skillet cook 3-6 slices of bacon cut into 1 inch strips until most of the fat has rendered and then remove from the pan.

4. Drain off most of the fat and add one diced onion and 1 minced garlic clove for each cup of dry beans you cooked. Sauté until tender.

5. Add the bacon back to the pot along with diced chili peppers (we like jalepeno but you might want something milder). 

6. Take a 1/3 cup of the cooked beans and mash them slightly with a spoon in a cup of the cooking liquid, add them back into the pot along with the bacon and onion mixture.  Add the beans and more cooking liquid if needed, season with salt and pepper to taste. 

7. Serve with slices of jalapeno, cilantro and wedges of lime.

About The Farmer

Fifth Crow Farms is an organic family owned farm in Pescadero, California. Grounded in a values-based approach to land stewardship, Fifth Crow Farm is a dynamic and diversified organic farm in Pescadero, CA. Founded in 2008 with a shoestring budget, a supportive local community, and ambitious dreams, they strive to bring eaters the highest quality, best tasting, and most nutritious food possible. 

Fifth Crow Farm wants their farm to be more than a business: they strive to make it an engine for positive change in the food system. They are stewarding the land in a way that not only respects but improves habitat for wildlife and builds better soil for future farmers. They also believe in creating a healthy, fulfilling, and fair work environment, and providing their customers with the best tasting, most nutritious, highest quality food possible.

Piment d'Ville

This sweet and spicy Basque espelette pepper is locally grown in California and meticulously hand harvested by farmer Nacho in the small town of Boonville. Prized by French chefs, this ingredient was only available imported from France until a Napa Valley chef committed to sustainability made it his mission to bring the seeds to California.  

Called Piment d'Espelette because it is cultivated in the French commune of Espelette, Piment d'Ville is grown from the same seeds. The climate and soil in this little town is similar to the terroir of Espelette, France, making it an ideal place to grow this magnificent pepper that is the magic ingredient to so many recipes.  

What To Do With It

Basque Chefs call Piment d'Ville "The Third Spice" and use it in their cooking as often as they use salt & pepper. The Piment d'Ville pepper is sweet and spicy, warm not hot.  It's adds a just the perfect splash of flavor to your favorite dishes. 

Just likes the chefs, we love using this pepper on everything from roasted vegetables to fresh fruit to seasoning grilled meats flawlessly.  Piperade has been featured by everyone from Julia Child to Emril. Our version, here, is a fast and easy riff on the french classic. Looking for a fast appetizer for a party? This basque region tapas is as simple as it gets. Follow up your meal with a decadent Salted chocolate pot du creme d'Ville.  This amazingly versatile spice was recently featured in a mouth watering Sweet Potato Galette by Dorie Greenspan in the New York Times.  Looking for more inspiration? Check out the recipes on our site. 

About The Farmer

Boonville Barn Collective is a woman-owned farm that’s been producing unique chile powders for 10 years in the resource-rich Anderson Valley in Northern California. Piment d’Ville is their signature, California-grown version of the coveted Basque Piment d’Espelette. 

Thanks to a similar climate to the Basque region with warm days and cool nights, Boonville Barn Collective has become the most significant source for this peppery, sweet, mildly spicy chile powder outside of Europe. In addition to peppers, they grow a mix of heirloom dry beans, produce olive oil from our 500 olive trees, and grow strawberries for those lucky enough to live in or stop through the Anderson Valley in the summer. 

Grown with organic and sustainable practices on their Renegade certified seven acre farm, the chiles are ready to be harvested by hand after five months in the fields. They’re dried in preparation for de-stemming and deseeding, before being carefully ground and packaged, all on the farm. Boonville Barn Collective is proud to bring the magic and versatility of these fresh, beautiful spices to home cooks and chefs across the country. The farm was founded in order to satisfy a hole in the market for restaurant chefs, but what Gideon and Krissy really want is for folks at home to use their farm-to-jar chile powders liberally and often while cooking. Their chile powders are versatile and go-to flavors that can be used in a variety of foods. 

Boonville Barn Collective believe in the power of bringing people together around the dinner table and sharing a meal. By adding farm-to-jar chile powders to your food, the team is honored to share a seat at your table. Whether you use their chile powders by the pinch or the spoonful, you’re guaranteed to be on your way to a great meal!

Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

Made from estate grown Arbequina olives, which are highly aromatic, small fruit grown in the blue "Seka" hills of the Capay Valley, California where sustainability and environmental care is considered the utmost important for this 1,200 acres of land rich with agriculture.

Winner of a 2019 Good Food Award, this Seka Hills small batch olive oil was harvested in 2018 from olive trees that span the tribal land of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation meaning "Home by the Spring Water."   

The taste of this oil is very balanced and fruity with notes of artichokes and the aroma of fresh green apples.  Full bodied with a medium intensity, this is a great go to olive oil for all your needs.  

What To Do With It

We find it to be just the perfect balance on the salads, drizzled over roasted vegetables, soups or on a simple flatbread pizza. It's irresistible with a loaf of crusty bread for dipping. And we combine with Za'atar over greek yogurt or lebneh.  It's the secret ingredient in our simple pasta sauce that really makes just a few ingredients into an elevated dish.

About The Maker

For thousands of years the ancestors of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation have lived in the oak forests, rolling hills and grasslands of the Capay Valley, tending the natural resources, following traditional wisdom and creating eternal bonds with the land. In their native Patwin language, ‘Séka’ means ‘blue,’ and in selecting Séka Hills as the name for our line of premium tribal products, they honor the blue hills that overlook their homeland in Northern California’s Capay Valley.

Whiskey Spiced Walnuts

A touch of sweetness and holiday spice makes these one of the best nuts we've ever tasted. First Old Dog Ranch infuses non-GMO whiskey with organic fair-trade vanilla beans, then they toast homegrown organic Chandler walnuts with the infused whiskey, organic sugar, and spices. They are simply irresistible.

About The Farmer

Old Dog Ranch is a fifth-generation family farm on the Calaveras River in San Joaquin County, California. Their family has lived and farmed at the ranch since 1912.  This year Old Dog Ranch will become the first Regenerative Organic Certified ™ walnut farm.  

Growing up on the ranch (which is named for two of the family’s beloved, long-lived canine companions), Mollie Sitkin loved experimenting with ingredients picked from the fields and orchards just outside her kitchen door.

Today, Mollie makes the Old Dog Ranch line of walnut snacks and walnut butters with organic Chandler walnuts from an orchard her father planted the year she was born.

Going organic is just one way the Sitkin family farms sustainably and responsibly. They use drip irrigation to conserve water, build healthy soil with cover crops and manure, and choose crop varieties that flourish in our microclimate here on the banks of the Calaveras.

Walnuts thrive in the deep, rich topsoil of the San Joaquin Valley. Old Dog Ranch grows Chandler walnuts for their excellent flavor, golden color, and easy-to-crack shells, and for the trees’ natural resilience: Chandlers leaf and flower later than other varieties, making them naturally resistant to winter frost damage and rainy-season blight.

Mollie is proud to source certified organic and sustainably grown ingredients from her family’s farm and other local producers.

California Black Button Sage Honey

This highly sought after honey is known for its light floral flavor with a hint of pear and its non-crystalizing characteristic.  Coastal California’s scrubland and chaparral plant communities are home to Black Button Sage which earns its cute nickname from the pillowy “buttons” of purple flowerets that grow on its tall stalks. Since only a few of the flowerets bloom at one time on each stem, this native plant provides a consistent nectar source for honeybees from February through June.

The sages, or salvias as some know them, are famous for their ubiquitous variety of scents. Black Button Sage has one of the finest fragrances of all, an enveloping, velvety rich bouquet. This sage requires an especially arid habitat with as much early spring rain as possible in order to thrive, making this a very unique and rare honey.

About The Maker

Ishai Zeldner discovered he had a talent for beekeeping while working in a kibbutz in Isreal. Upon returning to his native California he began a career as a beekeeper, working under a legendary master beekeeper before starting Moonshine Trading Company in the 1970s. Having fallen in love with honey varietals, Moonshine began working with beekeepers in other regions to bring rare monofloral honey varietals to the world.

Seed-Bearing Lollipops

A seed-bearing lollipop is an organic candy with edible herbs and flowers that weave throughout. After devouring, you can plant the biodegradable stick in soil horizontally, cover with a layer of top soil, water daily, and grow a herb or flower.  Each heirloom herb or flower grown has a connection to what you just ate. 

What To Do With It

Devour, Enjoy, Plant! Plant your biodegradable stick horizontally, water every day and a plant will sprout. For more information about planting your lollipop stick visit their website.

About The Maker

At Amborella Organics they believe nature is the greatest medicine and most enlightened teacher. Before launching the company in March of 2016, Co-founders Brennan and Taylor foraged flowers and herbs to shape our logo, sourced turmeric and carrot natural dyes to give our lollipops their vivid hue, and as a nod to nature named our company after the first flower to move from water to land.

Growing up, Brennan Clarke spent weekends at his grandmother's apartment and together they tended to her balcony full of plants. He can’t recall a single television show he watched or text message that he sent during those visits, but he will always remember the smell of her tomato plants and the anticipation of seeing which plants had grown week-to-week.

In 2011 Brennan came up with the concept of housing a seed inside a lollipop stick. For him, this was the perfect way to lure generations, both young and old back into the garden. Brennan shared the idea with his then girlfriend, now wife, Taylor Morgan and Amborella Organics was born. Ideas are worthy of being celebrated. Sometimes they just require sunshine, water, and the very connection they plan to manifest for others to be born.