We just returned from a week-long trip to San Francisco and as you may have noticed, I don’t quite have the whole blogging-while-traveling thing down. Since the Boulder Market is now officially closed, it was nice to head to California where the markets stay open all year long. Susie Wyshak, a fellow foodie who’s helping us discover new producers for Foodzie, gave us the grand tour of the Ferry Building Farmers Market. If you’ve been to San Francisco or flipped through a Food & Wine, Saveur or Bon Appetit magazine you’re probably familiar with a bunch of the producers we bumped into - many that could be considered celebrities in this town!

I’ve been a fan of June Taylor ever since I discovered her in the Silver Lake Cheese Shop in LA and fell in love with her apricot conserve. It was nice to meet her in person and I truly enjoyed my chat with her about cooking and the idea of expanding our jam horizon beyond just jam and toast. (why not duck, fish, cheese…) June’s a producer of artisan jams, syrups and occasionally, if you’re lucky, she’ll craft her famous shortbread or Christmas Cake. June still makes each flavor just one teeny tiny batch at a time (the jams are cooked on her stovetop). She hand labels each jar and even hand-dyed the tissue paper she wrapped her Christmas Cakes in this year. If you want to get a sense for artisan, just talk to June - she defines it in its purest form.

I just mentioned Steve Sando and Rancho Gordo heirloom beans in my recent post about the Obama Bean Art. I was able to pick up a few bags of his beans, the Mayacoba, Brown Tepary, and Christmas Lima, which will most likely accompany my Heritage Turkey for Thanksgiving dinner this year. He was featured in Food & Wine this month and shares some sophisticated recipes that bring out the best in his beans. The Rancho Gordo brand embodies Steve’s colorful and fun personality that I was able to enjoy first-hand at the market. He’s got a basket of beans out on display that shows off the stunning color variations in the heirloom varieties. I couldn’t help but dig my hands in and play with the beans!

We also got to hang with the guys and gals at La Cocina and I fortunately (or unfortunately now that I am totally addicted…) got to try the famous Clare’s Squares. They are seriously sinful, starting with a buttery, crumbly shortbread cookie base and topped with silky caramel and a crisp layer of dark chocolate. I also got to meet the famous Christina from Kika’s Treats, munch on Gabrielle’s Delights and sip on Morning Glory Chai - all La Cocina producers.

Some like to rag on the Ferry Building Farmers Market, that it’s not a REAL farmers market. Although, yes I will admit - many of the producers are more sophisticated than those that fill other farmers markets at the end of the day, they are still real people, making really good food that they are really, really passionate about.