>> coming up on "california ccuntry"...we're getting all choked up just talking about this spring-time favorite. and we've even got a couple of ways to prepare california's favorite thorny thistle, too.

then, see why one southern california community has a little pixie magic this time of year. and we're heading to the ballpark in search of some farm-fresh food in the bay. it's all ahead and it starts now. [captioning made possible by california farm bureau federation] >> welcome to "california country". i'm your host tracy sellers, and today we're getting to the heart of why one vegetable is a california favorite. if you've ever driven along the central coast and wondered what the heck these plants are, you're not alone. to the naked eye, they may just appear to be overgrown plants. but look a little closer and you'll discover one of the hidden

beauties of california agriculte--artichokes! >> and there's no better place to learn about them than here at ocean mist farms. the folks here have been devoted to growing the thorny thistles since 1924. and today, they are the largest artichoke grower in north america. and this is where they call home-- the tiny town of castroville, which happens to have a huge distinction--artichoke capital of the world. yeah, i said world. and the honor isn't just by accident. >> castro really has a mediterranean-like climate. artichokes don't like it the same way they don't like a lot of rain or not enough rain. they also don't like a lot of cold or a lot of heat. and in the summertime here in castroville, it's rare it gets above 75 degrees. in fact, normally it's 65 in the day

and around 50 at night. and it's that way from the middle of june to the middle of august. >> california produces a hundred percent of the united states' crop of artichokes, and it's no easy task. before it reaches your home, it will take skill, eed and smarts out in the field to get the job done right. workers begin by scouring the field looking for the right-sized artichoke, which they quickly harvest and then toss over their back into a specially-made artichoke harvesting backpack called a canasta. from there, they take it to the nearby packing truck, where each choke is inspected and packed with only the best of the best, making it through to your store. >> each crew is going to harvest and pack between 3 and 5,000 cartons on a daily basis for the next 2 months. and that really equates to about 150,000 artichokes per crew per day. now, at thic time, we're running 3 crews, we're pushing half a million artichokes.

>> and hoping to help them reach their daily goal of nearly a million artichokes harvested and packed, and because i always like a good challenge, i decided to try my hand at harvesting one of my favorite veggies. so, dale, you're going to hav to teach me how to harvest artichokes. >> that's right. i take it you've never harvested artichokes before? >> how did you know? lucky guess, lucky guess. >> well, it's your lucky day. >> ok. >> first we'll start with this. >> ok. >> this is what they call a canasta. it's the artichoke harvesting basket. and what you do is you'll take your right or left arm and sling the canasta over your shoulder. >> try not to hit the person next to you. >> exactly. put your arms through the yellow piece. >> ok. >> and make sure your straps are-- >> twisted, ck. >> not twisted. >> ok. >> this is your harvesting knife. >> ok. >> as to how to harvest, we're going to put it underneath the artichoke and you're just going to pull it towards you like this here. now what we like to see is about 3 fingers,

which means this is a little bit long here. so just take-- toss her off and then toss the artichoke in the back. >> you make it look real easy. >> actually, you've got about 3 hours to get the knack of this, because if you don't catch on by then, you're done. >> fired. then there was the toss, which took some practice. but then i was a pro at it. no look. >> you know, you're catching on a lot faster than most folks do. i'm impressed. i really am. i'm thinking there's a place for you out here. i gotta say, you're probably one of the fastest learners that i've ever taught how to pick artichokes. >> ok, something extra to put in the paycheck there, dale. >> so look at this beautiful jumbo artichoke right here. >> oh, my god. >> gorgeous. big sized jumbo artichoke. >> as a grower, what does that make you feel when you see something like that? >> oh, it's just what

being an artichoke grower is all about. i mean, the fact that you're able to be out here to harvest the product that you worked hard to grow all year long. it gives you a really-- it's a special feeling. every other grower in the world knows what i'm feeling right now. >> on second thought, i think i'm going to leave the harvesting up to the pros. and while i'm at it, i think i'm going to leave the cooking up to the pros, too. nterey chef tony baker isn't a native californian, but he says he has fallen in love with the california-grown veggie, and hopes to help others do the same, too. >> well, it's funny, in california, there's very few strangers to artichokes. but once you start getting into other parts of the country, people are fasnated by them and they're a little bit bewildered and puzzled on how to cook them. and somewhat intimidated. so i take pride in taking out that intimidation and showing them how simple they really are to prepare. and once people get into them, it's a little fun. they really start to enjoy them. >> tony has been working with

ocean mist farms for 11 years now and every year tries to come up with about 25 new recipes using artichokes. and this one is arguably his easiest yet. >> to start, you need a good pair of scissors. these artichokes have thorns and those thorns hurt. so we want to just snip those off all the way around. this is somewhat of an optional step. this is for a restaurant presentation. i think it looks better. but the thorns really do fall off when you cook them, so they become really a non-issue. all right, once you get all around this bad boy, we're going to cut the top off. we're going to cut the top off with a nice, sharp serrated knife. about 3 quarters of an inch or so. i'm going to remove most of the stem since we're going to put this in the oven and we want to cook it straight up. now remember, the stem is an extension of the heart. that white meat in there is all good stuff. so you can either cook the artichoke stem along th it, oa globe presentation

or bowl, i'm going to leave the stem on. so just a little tip there. in this case, we're going to just discard it. all right, now what we're going to do is loosen those brecks. >> tony then uses a restaurant trick. he rubs a little lemon on the edges to keep the ends from discoloring. next he seasons the artichoke with garlic, salt, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and some freshly ground pepper, and then wraps it up in some foil. then he pops into the oven for about 50 minutes at 400 degrees and voila! an artichoke awaits your next meal. it's as easy as that. so while preparing them is as simpler than ever, the journey from field to fork for artichokes remains a well-orchestrated production. and i should know. but farmers wouldn't want it any other way. >> it keeps you humble, at the same time competitive. people really love the industry of agriculture for that reason. because you just never know what's going to happen one second to the next. >> for "california country",

i'm tracy sellers. and if you really like artichokes, ocean mist farm actually has an artichoke club that you can join. they'll give you crop updates and even send you some recipe ideas, too. for all the information on how to join, you can go to our website at californiacountry.org. but if you'd like a recipe now, we've got a great one for you coming up after the break. stay tuned. >> welcome back to "california country". so before the break, we learned all about artichokes and even hos to bake one. but what about grilling artichokes? well, here's chef josh korn with his recipe for a great artichoke.

>> hello, my name is chef josh korn from paul martin's american bistro here in roseville, california. and today we're going tbe cooking a grilled artichoke for you on our live mesquite grill. these particular artichokes are called grove artichokes and they come from castroville, california. certified organic and local and very simply prepared on the grill here. what we do is we brush them with a little bit of olive oil. very lightly. then a little salt. a little bit of fresh cracked black pepper. then we're going to place those right over a very hot grill. in here at the restaurant, we use mesquite charcoal, which enhances the food with a really nice charcoal flavor. then we lke to get the other side with a little bit of oil as well. a little bit more salt, a little bit more pepper.

pretty much the entire artichoke is edible. the stem, the meat of the leaves, everything inside. all we've done is cut the artichoke in half and taken the choke out. before these hit the grill, what we do is we boil them in water, white wine, black peppercorns, bay leaves, salt and pepper, parsley, lots of aromatics, and that really pumps some flav into the artichoke before you even get it onto the grill. so it's really two layers of flavor here. the flavor from the boil and then the wonderful mesquite charcoal flavor here on the grill. so we're just going to let those go for a little bit. now for making the sauce for the artichoke, which is a fresh basil pesto aioli. first we're going to make the basil pesto from scratch. we have six ounces of some beautiful, fresh-picked basil leaves here. and some parmesan regianno. some roasted california wadnuts. a little bit of chopped garlic. some olive oil and some kosher salt. and that's everything right there. it's very simple. so what we're going to do is

we're going to start with the garlic. and here at the restaurant, we use this robo-coup. this is just a big fancy version of what you probably have at home, a cuisinart. any food processor will work. as a matter of fact, you could even use a blender for this. anything that will really chop that basil up really fine. so into this food processor we've got the walnuts, the garlic and our olive oil. what you want to do is make a quick paste out of that. so we'll go ahead and turn that on. and chop up the garlic and the walnuts real fine, blend it with the oil. once you've got a pasty consistency like that, you can go ahead and put your basil, cheese and salt. lots and lots and lots of fresh basil. it takes a lot of basil to make a little bit of delicioupesto. so go ahead and give that a quick blast. basil's getting chopped up and releasing all of its oils and aromatics and essence.

and then what you have here is a nice basil pesto. what we do is we take that, we mix that with some mayonnaise, and that's the finished product right there. pesto aioli sauce. ok, so when the artichoke is just about done, you see you've got some really nice grill marks on there and some flavor. artichokes nice and soft now, ready to eat. we're going to take this to the plate. so we've already pre-warmed our plate. you always want to serve hot food on hot plates, it helps keep the food warm for a little bit longer. put our pesto aioli sauce right on the plate there. and to accompany that, we've got a grilled lemon half. just a nice, fresh sprig of parsley there. and there you have it, our grilled castroville artichoke. >> thanks, josh. that recipe is on our website, too, at californiacountry.org. well, we're g@ing from one of my forite vegetables, artichokes, to one of my all-time favorite fruits. what is it?

>> it's the ojai pixie tangerine. and around these parts, it's not just something they grow, it's something that has caused 26 farming families to grow into one. located just about 30 minutes inland from santa barbara, the town of ojai is a taste of small town california. accessible only by a twisty ride through the aountains, it remains a secluded oasis full of agriculture. it was here where the bacon avocado business once thrived. that was until they stumbled upon a small fruit with big potential. >> so i was kind of wandering around the valley scratching my head, wondering what to do, and i was actually over at friends'

ranches in the friends' ranches' packing house and just reached into a bin the way you do, and i picked up something and i peeled it, and i was, whoo-hoo! really, th was it for me. if you'd have been there, you'd have seen a light bulb go on over my head. >> today, there are more than two dozen families farming pixie tangerines in the ojai valley. but instead of competing against each other, this eclectic group of farmers has done just the opposite. they've joined forces to form the ojai pixie tangerine association. the gro now picks, packs, markets, and believe it or not, even eats together each harvest season. in charge of the bunch is the original pixie chick herself, tony's daughter emily thatcher. >> there's 26 different family farmers in the pixies. and, um, we all hold different views, whether it be politics or religion or what have you. >> they're sort of like frenchmen. they don't agree on anything but pixies. >> it's like being being in a

band that doesn't particularly have a lead singer, doesn't particularly have one songwriter, but everybody has to show up at rehearsals, and we have to argue over the arrangements, and then we have to perform. >> would you like to try an ojai pixie tangerine? >> sure. >> they're seedless. >> oh, my, these are really... >> i know. very sweet. they're pretty easy to peel. >> they're beautiful! >> pixies. they're seedless. they're called pixies. >> we have the advantage with the pixie that the avocado industry had 30 years ago. not everybody's tried one. >> thank you. >> and everybody who does will take one. >> and the pixie movement is sprouting supporters left and right. martha stewart has become a fan, and "sunset" magazine even named the pixie best in the west. all of which is no surprise to chef andy arndt at the nearby ojai valley inn and spa, who's been using the fruit

since he moved to the area. >> it's definitely a treat. i've never been at a place where i can have this abundance of vegetableq and produce daily, and it keeps me creative and keeps me, uh, changing the menus and keep everyone interested and keep the guests excited about what we do. >> and besides chef andy's salads and sauces, the inn has found yet another use for the versatile pixie, as a special spa scrub. which was an idea that definitely rubbed one hard-working farmer the right way. >> well, i thought it was pretty funny. i'd never been to a spa before. when we first started selling ojai pixie tangerines, when i qas a little kid, the ojai valley inn has always been our customer for the tangerines. and we never really knew what they did with them. i want to demand one after every farmers market. [laughs] as a little kid, anyone woud take note of any of the

tangerines that we were growing. and it's so much fun to create another generation of pixie eaters. >> and those pixie tangerines are actually gaining fans all across the country. a couple years ago, the ojai farmers actually starte selling them at yankee stadium during the baseball games, and people loved them. and speaking of baseball, we're hitting it out of the park with our next story. stay tuned. >> welcome back to "california country". you know, baseball has been called america's favorite pastime. but personally for me, eating at the ballgame is my favorite pastime. and, you know, there's actually a lot of farm-fresh food you can find at one stadium here in california.

>> peanuts! paanuts! >> where's the one place in san francisco you can go to get world-class food? well, go to a baseball game, of course. to many americans, this time of year means one thing-- baseball. it's that magical time of high expectations when it seems like every team has a shot at greatness. and, of course, nothing says baseball at the ballpark like the great american hot dog. here at the at&t park, home of the san franciscc giants, they're famous for what else but their giant dog. more than a million franks were dished out here last year. but the hot dogs are just an appetizer for the rest of the food. >> it tastes good. >> but you can't fully represent the food of california without mixing in the bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables the state is known for. and that's where bon appetit chef david button

comes in. >> fresh food. my food brings them back. the ball team does, on occasions, but it's more so the food. >> with its own farmer's market onsite, this obviously isn't your average stadium food. with endless options to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters, it's hard to imagine agreeing on what's the best thing to indulge in. but when you come to at&t park, there is one item that just about everybody has to have. >> we gct some garlic fries. i love the garlic, the spice, you know, it's delicious. ha, i wish my wife would make it like that. i hope she doesn't see this. [laughs] >> always a fan favorite despite having enough garlic to frighten even dracula, garlic fries are a real crowd pleaser. almost 400,000 servings of the finger licking good fries were dished out last year, proving that people just can't get enough of one of the bay area's most potent and famous crops.

now when you're talking about growing garlic in northern california, there's only one place to go--here at christopher ranch. >> christopher ranch was started the year i was born, 1956. my dad figured that was a good idea 'cause he had three little boys. and they started growing sugar beets and a little bit of garlic and sold it to r. >> we@l known at giants games for adding punch to those famous fries, christopher ranch is also known around the country for being the name in garlic. shipping over 60 million pounds of fresh, california garlic each year, the farm is easily the united states' largest producer of the herb. and from the famous gilroy garlic festival to restaurants and stadiums across the country,

this homegrown stinking rose is finding fans wherever it's eaten. >> the first reaction is, i love garlic, it's the best thing around. what we do is we plant a clove, a single clove, into the bed. and this right here would be a bed right here. sg we'd plant it into the bed. and water it and fertilize it. >> from there, the garlic dries for 2 to 3 weeks. the tops and bottoms get clipped off during harvest, and then it's off to the processing facility where every step is taken to ensure the best product gets from the fields to your fork. attention to detail is paramount here, with every bulb getting hands-on care. >> every year we get a little better at doing different types of harvest, but there's just a lot of crops that can't be harvested mechanically in any agricultural area. and i think we need to realize that from a labor standpoint. >> we're the second largest

employer here in south santa clara county. and it feels good to be able to keep people working and to keep california growing. >>nd growing is something this california icon keeps doing. the golden state is number one in both the number of farms growing garlic and in harvested acres, meaning as long as the giants keep hitting it out of the park, christopher ranch will keep trying to make fans stay in the park with their one and only stinking rose. for "california country", i'm tracy sellers. and if you really like garlic, you can always go to the gilroy garlic festival. it happens every july, and they serve up two tons of that christopher rabch garlic in 3 days. it's true, hmm. stay tuned for more "california country" coming up next. >> welcome back to "california

country," the show that takes you on an all-expense-paid trip to experience the best-kept secrets of the golden state. >> did you know that 95% of california's rice is grown within 100 miles here of the state capital, easily making the sacramento valley the heart of the state's thriving rice industry. and it's all thanks to some pretty creative farmers, chefs, and even a few brew masters, too, all of whom are changing the way we think of rice one grain at a time. rice is the most widely consumed grain in the world, and some of the best is being produced right in our own backyard. in the sacramento valley, cool nights and warm daymake

this areideal to grow more than 500,000 acres of some of the world's finest grains. of course, none of this is news to charley mathews. he and his family are responsible for farming more than 1,000 acres of calrose rice in the sacramento valley. >> the thing that always interests me, i think, as a farmer is this ground is-- it goes into rice every year, and i think some places hava had rice straight every year for, like, 80 years now. the way qe grow rice and the way we handle it is just--you can do it every year, so every year, this-,this ground right here generates something. >> from the fields, the rice is then taken to the west sacramento mill, where it is ushered through a series of sorting machines that separate the kernels encased in a hull. the rice is then sent on its way through a multifaceted milling process that clea^ polishes, and grades each and every kernel that passes through. the growing, milling, and marketing of rice is a half-billion-dollar industry in californ, even if

most people have no idea it even exists. >> but it's people that, uh, if they fly into the airport at sacramento or they're just kind of driving through, they kifd of question what it actually is. and it's--it's kibd of hard, 'cause it just looks like green pasture during the summertime, but when you see it now, when everything is aolden and it's ready for harvest, you see all this activity out here, i think people kind of ask, "what is that out there?" >> but if people don't know rice is grown here, the birds flying through certainly do. that's because while california rice growers are producing one of the highest-quality crops in the world, they are also simultaneously providin@ a vital habitat for millions of local and migrating water birds. california's rice flds have become a critical link in the annual migration of millions of ducks, geese, swans, and other waterfowl. after a harvest, they provide these birds with wintertime food and satuary.

>> what happens when i harvest, there's a lot of rice that actually goes right through the machine and out the back, 'cause i can't get every single kernel. um, so when i'm all done here and these fields are reflooded, birds that are migrating on the pacific flyway, they're gonna stop by, 'cause they know that there's food down there. and, uh, it's just kind of like their buffet table. >> being environmentally balanced and economically vibrant is all part of a progressive industry that has come a long way since the early years. rice first arrived in california as a result of the gold rush and the need to find food for the thousands of immigrants arriving in the state. many of whom came to seek fortune discovered the key to riches might be found in doing what they did back home, which was grow crops, including rice. today california is responsible for producing a variety of short and medium grains that are usdd

in a variety of ways, including one of the most widely recognized uses, sushi. in fact, every piece of sushi made in the united states uses california rice. and that includes one of the newest and hippest restaurants in downtown sacramento, kru. >> call it contemporary japanese cuisine, but really it's just a--we have sushi, but that's-- the food is just a fusion of everything i grew up with, you know, so it's lots of california, here in california. >> here, the traditional and contemporary are balanced in one harmonious menu, with classic japanese favorites offtting bold, inventive creations. die-hard sushi lovers will definitely find something they like, from the signature crazy cali to the ever-popular california roll, it's not hard to see what the star of the menu

is here. >> we use 150 to 200 pounds of rice per week. >> people kind of are curious now of how we all are related to sushi. you know, when sush-- sushi first came out, it was just kind of this funny foreign food with raw fish and not a lot of excitement there, but i think what we see restaurants doing with, you know, just n styles of sushi and these great-looking works of art that you eat. i think people now kind of p the connection with california rice and sushi together. >> how are you doing? >> good. how are you? welcome to kru. >> fine. thank you. >> without rice? i don't know. probably'd be doin' a pizza joint or something. i don't so whether you like it in sushi, sake, or just by itself, there are a lot of reasons california rice is nice for just about any meal. and as long as we keep enjoying it, farmers across the valley will keep growing one nature's most important gifts

and one of the state's most prized agricultural legacies. gt for the show today. if you have questions about the stories you've seen today or would like some of those artichoke recipes, go to our website at californiacountry.org. and if you get a chance, go to our facebook site, too. there's some pretty funny pictures of me trying to harvest artichokes on there. so check it out if you get a second. and we'll see you next week on "california country". [aptioning made possible by california farm bureau federation] [captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--]