On the Trail of the Fruit Detective

Laura Avery

Mirror contributing writer 

   Those of us who frequent our local farmers' markets are privy to a lot of esoteric information -- esoteric in the metaphysical sense meaning "known only to a few;" not generally perceived. We are on a first-name basis with remarkable growers from around California who through their own passion, inventiveness and skill have produced some of the finest-tasting fruits and vegetables available anywhere on the planet. 
   Thanks to direct marketing, California growers have been able to bypass the narrowly constricted growing and marketing channels of the wholesale ag production industry and can grow what they want for an increasingly appreciative and receptive urban market. Delicate, flavorful "out of print" varieties of fruits and vegetables are among some of the most sought-after items at many of the 56 Certified Farmers' Markets (CFMs) which flourish in Los Angeles County, where consumers have been introduced to the concepts of dryland farming, natural genetic mutations known as "sports," and "rutab" stage dates (the soft, melt-in-your-mouth stage prior to drying). As chefs, writers, home cooks, meal planners or foragers, we are all eager to try out new items and share the news with each other. Not all of us can spend a month researching the full growing cycle of blood oranges, but David Karp, the Fruit Detective did, and his Los Angeles Times article published in 1998 is practically a monograph on the subject.
   What leads someone from a first taste to a definitive treatise complete with a dozen photographs, encompassing hundreds of miles of travel in California from a home base in New York City? Beyond being "on assignment,", the self-proclaimed Fruit Detective was on the trail of a fascinating food item, his scholarly instincts as a Medievalist from Wesleyan University honed and homing in on the true origin of something unique with a story to tell. An article on Asian pears followed, with even more photographs, and it was apparent that the Fruit Detective had to go where the fruit stories were, so he left his apartment in New York and set up shop in Venice, working for the Los Angeles Times food editor Russ Parsons. 
   The Fruit Detective describes himself as an intermediary between "the knowers" and "the growers" -- the "knowers" being, for example, the researchers at U.C. Riverside's citrus variety collection who are developing myriad varieties of citrus fruit, and the "growers" -- farmers who are always on the lookout for something new and tasteworthy. 
   Aside from visiting with agronomists at University campuses, David's research takes him all over the state, seeking out growers of interesting and specialty fruit crops. Recently, he discovered a premier grower of pummelos, the bowling-ball sized citrus fruit prized by Asians, in De Luz, San Diego County. The grower, Jerry Dimitman, grew amazing and rare pummelos as a personal hobby, marketing them only at the Alhambra CFM, where customers literally get into food fights over his pummelos. As a personal gesture to Dimitman, David brought several of the fruits to Santa Monica, where many seasoned customers were treated to a first-time taste of the rare Sarawak, Wong, and Chong pummelo varities. He then dissuaded Dimitman from clearing out most of his arawak trees and personally picked and shipped several pallets of the prized fruit to a wholesaler of specialty produce in New York for whom David also works as a forager. Jerry Dimitman can now count on a steady market for his Sarawak pummelos, and the few remaining trees are saved.
   The Fruit Detective's favorite fruit? Aside from an apricot from his aunt’s backyard tree which is forever preserved as a pristine childhood memory, David raves about the true Moorpark apricot-- even though in Moorpark itself only a few fruits set each year. A close second is the Blenheim or Royal apricot, and he can tell you authoritatively that there are only three commercial growers of Blenheims within driving distance of L.A. (All of whom attend the Santa Monica CFMs); and the Stanwick White Nectarines with the leathery, cracked skin grown by Truman Kennedy of Reedley. The Detective will further inform you that this exquisite variety used to be the standard nectarine grown in California. Want to know where the prime growing ground in all of California used to be, where only one grower of the famously rare greengage plums still remains? It's under pavement in Silicon Valley. Does he have a favorite vegetable? McGrath Farms' sweet shelling peas.
   You want to know what you’re eating? The Fruit Detective knows.