>> coming up next on "california country"... it's crunch time as we dig up what goes into one of our vorite snacks... and you don't even have to leave your car to see how farming is blossoming in one part of the state this time of year... then we put the "fun" back in fungi with tips from an expert. it's all ahead and it starts now. [captioning made possible by california farm bureau federation]

>> welcome to the show. i'm your host tracy sellers. we're in the beautiful mountains of el dorado county today, which is just a short drive away from sacramento. and that brings us to our first story. if you're anything like me, you've probably consumed this next produce item at least once this week. tha's because it's been called america's favorite vegetable. but we like to call it a reason to get our hands dirty and meet some real potato pioneers. with their adaptability and versatility, it's no wonder potatoes are a fan favorite. baked, mashed, diced, or scalloped, no matter how you slice it, from potato chips to french fries and almost anything in beeen, the pot has been a staple of our dt throughout history and today.

and there's no denying we have a special love affair with these spuds. you know, on average, each of us will actually eat 135 pounds of potatoes a year, and in a wide variety of forms. in fact, potatoes are the leading vegetable crop in the united states, with annual total production being about 41 billion pounds. and they've been a staple ron lehr's family farm since the 1930s. this third generation farmer grows more than 2,500 acres of the vegetable just outside of bakersfield, and knows just what to look for in a perfect tato. >> looking for a good pota, it could dend on the varty that you were lookg for. it's, uh-s long as they're nicend firm and not getting soft and dehydrated. >> kern coty, where ron's spuds grow, is actually california's largest potato growing region. the tubers love

the hot days and cool nights the area offers. which is also why brian kirschenmann's fami started farming here a century ago. >> well, 're a family busiss. um, our family's been gring potatoes for over 100 years in california. ludwig kirschenmann's probably-- rumor has it lwig kirschenmann brought one of the fst potato crops to california before the turn of the century. >> brian grows about 4,500 acres of potatoes at his family farm, but unlike ron, he growsmaller potatoes that are called chippers, which are used mostly for poto chips and french fries. so what makes a good chipper? >> what makes a good chipper is actually, um, l sugar. you know, when you, um, ramelize something in the, um, in your--with a frying pan it turns brown. so people don't like brown potato chips, i do't know why, so that means it's high sugar content. so we've got to have low sugar in order

to make 'em cook white. >> the potatoes are harvested and brought here to the processing facility where they are washed, sorted, d even tasted o. to make sure the chipping potatoes have just the right amount of sugar for their customers, brian fries some of his potatoes up to see how they cook. thus, the wall of potato chips. >> oh, it just is really because when you, um, send a pota-- load of potatoes and it cooks dark, you get the load of potatoes back. so it's, um, quality control make sure you don't lose money. >> the potatoes are then trucked out and distributed to a variety of fast food chains and large food processors, including lay's potatops, as well as smaller distributors like california chips in oxnard. >> these potatoes were in the ound in bakersfield 24 hours ago. we get them in every day. if they come in in the afternoon, they were picked that very same day--or d that very same day. and as you can see, they're beautiful white potatoes, very thin skins. we leave the skins on and the

make great potato chips. >> after arrival, the potatoes are dumped from the hopper and moved into the slicer where they are sliced to specific thickness. then they move through a water bath before passing under air jets that remove excess water as theflow into the fryer. they stay here for a couple of minutes as paddles gently distribute them in contact with the oil evenly. they are removed, cooled, salted, flavored, and then passed through a computer to check for any imperfections. then they are sent on to their jouey into a bag that will hopefully find its way into a store near you soon. >> iat at least a bag a day. i walk it off. >> they go through about 50,000 pounds of kern county potatoes

a day at california chips, but each one is needed because it takes about 100 pounds of potatoes make just 25 pounds of potato chips. that's no smallotatoes. for "california country", i'm tracy seller so now that we've learned about a uple of varieties of potatoes, the next question is what do we do with them? here's the chef with a couple of ideas for you. >> hi. i'm richard sluzarz, chef here at the grand hyatt san francisco. and one of th- what we're gonna talk out today, or what we're gonna prepare today isashed potatoes. and why--why we're gonna do mashed potatoes, it's something that is a very simple thing, but i know there's some times some people have some issues with mashed potatoes and, you know,why did mine turn out lumpy?" "why did they turn o--maybe not so, uh, creamy?" and so when you make mashed potatoes--and we start here with ssetotatoes. so we peel our russet potatoes, and then we dice them, and then we put them in pot. and we start with cold water. and you always--when you're making mashed potatoes, you should always start with cold water.

put a little salt in the water. and then we put it on the stove where we bring it upo a boil. ok? and the important thing is again to--to have the potatoes start from cold. and then when you're cooking the potatoesyou want to cook them until they're nice and fork tender, so a fork goes in, you take it out, and they're nice and tender. another thing with mashed potatoes too is, depending on the type of potato you do, and when you cook them, is really not to over-- over-whip them, especially if you were--say if you were making a red potato mash. um, if you really over-whip them, then they really become kind of pasty. so you really want to make sure that you don't do that, because at that point it seems like there's not--you can't add enough cream to make them, uh, creamy. we've got our mashed potatoes. i' taken some caramelized onions--so we've taken some onions, we've slow-cooked them so they've got nice color, kind of caramelized the sugars in the onions, chopped them up, and now we're gonna add em to r mashed potatoes. and then it's just gonna be a quick, simple mix but the sweetness from the ions, the caramelization, it just makes it a terrific,

uh, mashed potato. another one you could do, and i ha some more mashed he, is a roasted garlic mashed. and the nice thing about that is it's very simple to do the roasted garlic. you could take your cloves-- uh, what we do is we jt toss th with a little bit of oil and roast them in the oven. and then we're just gonna add these to the--our mashed potatoes. and you can--i'm doing this--because the cloves are small, i'm doing whole cloves, but you could doyou could mash them if you like. but the rlic imparts a great flavor in there. the possibilities are pretty much limitless. whatever you'd like to add. cheese, scalligns, bacon, whatever you'd like to do. but it's a great way to dress up your mashed potatoes. >> thanks, richard. and incidentally, if you want any of tho mashed potato tips, you can check them out on our website. coming up next, we're taking a drive in theountry. find orchards, vineyards, and a little bit of history without really ever having to leave your car? well, we have

onidea for you. check it out. here in california, the is one sure sign that spring has ofcially sprung. the opening of the central vley blossom trail. each spring, the orchds here explode into beautiful colors and fragrance as the fruit trees bssom and ficially begin the changing of the seasons. >> well, the blossom trail is really a way for us to share with visitors and locals alike the beauty of our agricultural offerings l around us. >> bssom trails of a single variety of fruit are big all across the country, but it's thvaety of crops that makes

this one so popular. they say that traffic increases by about 30% thip time of year, which means big business for a pretty small community. the path through peach, plum, apple, orange, and nut orchards shows off the picturesque side of the san jquin valley's staple industry, agriculture. the colorful tetops set against the majestic peaks of the sierra nevada are part o@ a changing landscape here. already, the trail has been altered several times since its 1988 inception to acmmodate the region's growing population. >> well, it's important for our area. it's important fresno county that we preserve agriculture. >> the trail traces the outskirts of such tiny centl valley towns as reedley, lma, and sanger. and ashe landscape wakes up around the area, so does

business. take simonian farms, for example. just outside the fresno city limits is where you'll find this 20-acre family owned operation that has grown 0 varieties of fruits and vegetables for morthan 100 years, and doesn't look to close shop anytime soon. especially if the lion of fans the ple has earned over the years has anything to say about it. >> o mgod. just for people to see it. i don't think they've ever seen anything like this. toee the beaiful blossoms, and the colors, and the countryside, and what--what it rely takes to doingarming. i mean i think--god, i just-- i just think they get a lot out of this. >> blossoms are one of the most vible signs a new crop is the way. and for about 6 weeks out of theear, you can see this spectular sight, trees flushed full of blossoms. some have as my as 20,000 per tree. but the one thing you discover quite quickly about the blossom trail is, besides highlighting the beauty

of the area and the bounty of agriculture the county has to offer, the trail is really all about one thin..eating. >> we have lots of the products. everything that is here, we offer in e store. >> making her own homemade, fresh-from-the-farm granola is just part of the entertainment at another stop gn the blossom trail, luke's almond acres. continuing luke's agricultural tradition, this family farm's untry store offers nuts, fruits, and chocates, all in a beautiful almond orchard setting that is primed for educational opportunitie about farm life that go beyond the granola. >> so her'our trail mix that you guys will be making. we have a variety of ded fruits and nuts as well as chocolate, 'cause you have to have chocolate in it.

>> you've always heard these stories out people that live in the big cities and they go on these--and you ask them, "well, where do you buy--where does milk come from?" "oh, from the grocery store." "where does the egg come fro" "from the grocery store." you know, i think these people have the right to know where this stuff comes fr. >> but before any of this fabulous food even ends up on the trees, much less my stomach, the orchards a helped out by this man, brian beekman. you see, with more than million blossoming almond trs throughout the central valley, there is a lot of work to do. it's an exciting, action-packed time of the year as bee keepers bring in their winged forces to do the job. >> what happens ishen the trees bloom all at the same time, then the bees go from- from one tree, they work one

tree, then they fly across the road to the other ones. and they actually touch the pollen from-rom the other tree to the othetree that they landed o they do that all day long every day. and that's what produces nuts and fruit and whatever the bees are-- or whatever the farmers trying to produce. >> on avere, it takes more than 3 million bees to do the job. having to pollinate all of those trees in a short amount of time brings up the estion who's ally busier this timof year, the farmers or the bee >> uh, you know, i'd y they're busier than me 'cause they work 7 days a week. and i do, too, but--b, uh--they nev--that's why i have to work 7 days a week, 'cause they never take a day off, so--ha ha ha. >> and while it's a busy time of the yeafor both bees and farmers, all will agree it's worth it in the end. more than 3 1/2 million dollars in income and thousands of jobs are generated from these orchards, orchards that end up feeding the nation and world a wl no doubt end up on a dinner table

near you sometime soon. for "california country", i'm tracy seers. and in case you're curious, almond, plum, citrus, and apple plants tend to have the ite petals, while nectarine, peach, and apricot plants tend to have the pink petals. there you go. ha ha. coming up next, we're going to a one-of-a-kind spa. day of walking around, it's nice to just relax a little bit. and, if i could speak for them, our four-legged friends would probably agree with me, right? well, as charlotte fadipe shows us, now horses have a place to relax and rehabilitate. >> looking at shorty enjoying himself in this pen, it's hard to believe that this 27-year-old cutting horse was once so l, he w almost crippled and his

owners were nsidering having him put down. but, after some tender loving caret a special rehabilitation center in the tiny town of jamestown between sacramento and fresno, shor is clearly back on his feet again. >> well, we were raised in a ranching background around cattle and horses our entire lives, and it's just something that we love to do naturally. i come from a rodeo background where that's what i did growing up. we'd travel everywher and you crte a bond with your horse. and when yourorse gets injured, you need that horse back. and this was just a great way to help get these performance horses back into action. >> your eyes do not deceive you. that is a horse having a spa treatment, complete with jets and pumps. but this is no luxury session for four-legged animals. for e thing, this piece of equipment, known as a hydro therapy spa, uses ice cold water. it's designed to prent and heal all kinds of leg injuries by reducing inflammation and improving circulation. >> rht now, the horse is

standing in 35-degree water" there's a heavy concentration of epsom and sea salts in this water to draw whatever we can out of the legs, any inflammation, any swelling. if there's an open wound, it acts as cleanser. uh, the jets are going, like i said. they create circulation through the legs. >> he says it can treat a variety of horse injuries including tendonitis, shin splints, and hoof injuries. catting, a four-year-old cutting horse from lincoln, calirnia will soon be taking part in show in oregon. and she seems to love the spa treatment just like so many other horses. >> uh, small horses have very small feet. they're very injury prone because they have a very demanding workoad. they're always being asked to stop, slide, come back, turn on their gs. >> the spa session lasts about 12 minutes. some horses may get this treatment twice a day, several times a week. pat says you can sometimesee and feel the difference immediately. it's [indistinct]

wow. it's just one of the treatments at the premier equine centein jamestown, which is run by pat grohl and amie allen. >> it's nice to see, like, i mean, horses are bound to get hurt. it's just what they do. they're large anils. they're athletes, just like we e. and to see how ey progress and how you can help them heal faster and make them feel better, it's nice to be able te that progress. >> pat and amie admit when they started the business, they initially met a lot of skeptical people. but now vets recommend horses to the center all the time. it's quickly becoming onof the mosinnovative healing and rehabilitation centers for horses in america, with clients coming from as far away as oklahoma canada. >> well, you know, horses are athletes. and, uh, wask them more and more to do more and more. and we expect more out of them. and as we have become, i think honestly, better educated, we realize that there are other therapiethat we can do to the athletic horse to help

them rehab from injuries. >> we pretty much have the oy spa out here on the west coast. they're very polar in europe, and nobody knows what ey are out here. >> like this gadgeknown as a p3 machine. it's an electro magnetic pulsing ring which stulates the horse's muscles and blood flow to speed up the healing process. >> if there's a muscle that's tight, or if there's something strained, it can actually go in and re it and change its frequency accoingly that it can make that relax and get the blood circulating ther so that there's not any tension and it caneal faster. >> and then there' the rocizer. it's sort of like a biwalker for horses. the machine lows you to choo a program so that horses walk, trot, or canter for a set amount of time every day. vets give it the thumbs-up. >> it's a great way, if you're trying to rehab a horse from an injury, to get them controlled exercise. 'cause that's really hard to do wi a horse. you can't say "ok,

i just want you to walk." >> you know, at any one time, you might find up to about 25 different horses here, all of them receiving a range of treatment. and sometimes the very best eatment is for the horse to simply stand still under special infrared heat lamps. p says these lamps put out infrared heat that is the same type put out by the sun,ut without the harmful rays. he says it helps strengthen the horse's immune system. many of the horses stay at the rehabilitation center for about 30 to 60 days, depeg on what a vet recommends. the $1,500 a mon fee is often covered by iurance. >> we hate to see horses in painwe hate to see them not being able to be in competition, so this is just a great outlet for those horses. >> from ice-cold spas to infrared lamps, special walkers and more, pat beeves that wgrking horses deserve cutting edge treatments when they come fatied, sore, or sick. and just like shorty, many get just that at this unique rehabilitation center.

in jamestown, charlotte fadipe for "california country" tv. >> and good news, the equine center actually has expanded, and it's noin oakdale. and it has a mobile spa, too, for horses. don't u wish they had that for us? that'd be nice, huh? ha. coming up next, are you >> welcome back to "california country." >> at the kitchen in sacramento, chefs are busy preparing tasty dishes using a vegetable that's increasing in popularity. california endives are showing up on more and more dinner plates. >> i mean, you see a lot of people use, uh, the endive as vessels. so they'll take just the leaf off and put things in it and serve it that way. uh, i think it has a lot

of different uses. >> the chances are if this vegetable's on your plate, it's probably grown by california vegetable specialties, a company headquartered in the tiny hamlet of rio vista, between san francisco and sacramento. the first thing the owner did was gi us a lesson in pronunciation. >> so what we grow here at cvs is spelled e-n-d-i-v-e. however, it's pronounced quite differently, and the correct pronunciation is this--on-deev. >> obviously, uh, rio vista, where rich works, is about as far away from france as you can get, so we tend to call it en-dive. now, i know rich is cringing in his seat as i say this, as he has when he's come here for dinner, but, uh, that's kind of the ongoing-- the ongoing joke. >> on-deev.

>> you can learn to say it pretty quickly, but this vegetable takes a long time to grow, almost 6 months. first step is to plant chicory seed. then months later, harvest the root. >> well, what we're after is a chicory root. this is a big one. this little bud here, along with the support of this root, will render an endive. you know, chicory roots through the centuries have been used for teas, coffees, medicinal purposes, and the legend is that about 8--in 1830, a farmer had some chicory roots in his-- his cellar. this is in--in the outskirts of brussels, belgium. and he forgot about them. he was gonna use them as a coffee substitute after drying and roasting them. uh, in the spring of 1831, those roots in the dark confines of that cellar had sprouted, and he then noticed the sprouts that had come fp the top of the chicory roots. >> the mature roots are actually harvested by machine, each one

producing just one bud and ultimately just one endive. this 55-acre field will produce tens of thousands of buds and will probably end up on salad plates in america, japan, and other asian countries. >> i love growing things, a-and as a way to make a living, growing food is very, very, very fulfilling. >> endives are really grown and harvested in 2 different types of fields. the first is a traditional one like this one here in turlock, and the second, a more specialized facility in rio vista. this next step involves growing the roots in a huge dark room. >> of course it's completely dark. i mean, you come in here and turn the flashlight off, and it is the definition of darkness. there is no light. because the light would in fact, if you will, contaminate the endive by helping it green up. these roots have been here for approximately 3 1/2 weeks,

having come out of colstorage, and you can see that the buds now on top of the chicory roots are growing, and there's a--a lot of growth down at the bottom with the feeder roots that are in about an inch and a half of the fertilizer solution. uh, under the exact same conditions, this still haq about a week to go. it's, um, very, very similar in technique, but of course different color. >> how many of this would you say goes on a day, a week, an hour? like a gazillion here. >> uh, we--yeah, we do produce a lot of endive. um, oh, golly, we're producing, uh, approximately million pounds a year. >> uh, you find that most people like it, and i--i just think it's one of those products thatthat works for everybody. i mean, it works with lemon. it works wi blue cheese. it works with--obviously with olive oil. this is the type of thing that we do at the kitchen all he time is take things that people, uh, aren't so sure about and

turn it into something where they go, "wow. i--now you've really opened up my eyes to something." >> in rio vista, charlotte fadipe, "california country tv." >> so today on "food 101", we're going to be talking about mushrooms. here to help us out is greg corrigan, senior director of produce and floral here at raley's. greg, good to see you again. >> hey there. >> so when i walk up to this display, i have no idea what makes a good mushroom or a bad mushroom. so how do i pick a good one? >> well, the mushroom guys would argue that they're all good. but there are some differences, and you do want to look for mushrooms that are nice and white, and fresh, and not a lot of decay. >> ok. >> so you definitely want to stay away from the ones that are turng brown and looking dehydrated. they actually have some ofhese new cool packages that are easy and convenient for the consumer to close. so easy to put in the fridge, store--always want store them nice and cold in the fridge right away, don't keep them out. um, b some great varieties to choose from. >> so these guys--so i walk up to this--and they do ald look

good, i will give you credit. they all do look good. but, i mean, what makes a good mushroom, like-- >> well, you know, one of the growing trends is going to, like, a crimini mushroo. it's a little bit nuttier, little more woody flavor, a little more robust flavor compared to the traditional white mushroom. >> ok. >> so if you're really wanting to do a stir-fry, or sautee some mushrooms and get s@me really robust flavor, try some of the criminis out. they're great. >> and so i get this home-- my b questio washing it. ok? do we put it under the tap, do a little damp cloth? what do we do? what do we do? >> well, you know, you definitely don't wa to wash them beore you're ready to use them. so always wait until you're about to use them. so don't think you have to wash them before you store them in the fridge. that's a bad thing. >> ok. i would do t@at. >> but you do. you always want to either brush th with a soft brush or rinse them lightly before usingjust to get all the debris that may ben there. >> that is gonnao it for the show today. if you have any questions about the recipes

or the stories you've seen on the show today, check out our website at www.californiacountry.org. and we'll see you again next week on "california country". [captioning made possible by california farm bureau federation] [captioned by the national captiong institute --wwncicap.org--]