Time to Make the Doughnuts, or in Our Case, Pick the Oranges

We're excited! Blood Oranges are in full season. We had a lot of rain in Southern California this year, which we are mightily grateful for, but because of it, the crop is a little later. The trucks arrive tomorrow with all the bins, and we will load up 40,000 pounds, (no, I didn't make a mistake with zeroes), that's 20 TONS of organic, biodynamically grown fruit to be squeezed into our famous Blood Orange Juice. We'll be out picking, packing, and loading for about a week.

It's a busy time at Beck Grove, but also a very rewarding time, because we can literally see the "fruits" of our labor. I'll post some pictures of the whole process so you can see what a typical harvest looks like, so stay tuned.

The juice is fabulous served on its own, but it's also a great base or addition to other beverages. In an earlier post I offered a recipe for a Banana Blood Orange Smoothie.

Here's another recipe for Blood Orange Mimosas. I promise they'll be a big hit at your next brunch.
 

                Blood Orange Mimosas

Rim the champagne flute with sugar. To do this just moisten the top of the glass by dipping it in a saucer filled with water. Set up another saucer with sugar. We used natural raw sugar, but you can use white sugar or color it if you like.

Fill the flute one third full of chilled LaVigne Blood Orange Juice and top it with chilled champagne. Garnish with a blood orange slice or a sprig of mint or fresh thyme. Cheers!

All photos by Carl Kravats