Years ago, when I returned to Boise after a period of being away, I began asking questions. Why Boise? Is it special? And if so, why? What makes Boise, our home? Recently this question was taken up by our famous local author, Anthony Doerr, in a piece in the April issue of Smithsonian Magazine entitled: “Boise, Idaho: Big Skies and Colorful Characters”. I myself found my own answer to these questions by considering Boise’s roots.

I looked back, and tried to understand where Boise came from. This endeavor was greatly helped with the publication of a wonderful little book from the Boise City Office of the Historian, Ethnic Landmarks:Ten historic places that define the City of Trees. This book clearly shows that it is the people who have put down roots here that make our home special.

And on that note, I’d like to introduce you to The “Ambassador of Fruit”. This past August, Orion magazine featured a beautiful article on the world famous Idaho fruit scientist, Esmaeil Fallahi. The piece related the life of Fallahi and showed how his coming to Idaho and putting down his roots–literally–changed our local agriculture and made our community better.

Better? Well, the Shelly Berries that I’ve been writing about now for three weeks and urging you to try, come from Mann Orchard, which was featured in the article because Ron Mann is collaborator and friend with Esmaeil Fallahi. Part of the mission of Fallahi and Mann is to see what they can grow here in Idaho, and that’s risky, but we here in the Boise Co-op Produce Department would like to let those farmers know that we support their endeavors and enjoy trying out these new exotic fruits. Keep ‘em coming! Mann Orchard is offering a bounty of colorful grapes currently in our produce department. Take advantage of them!

To continue with our local roots though, perhaps the ones you’d find in the Produce Department, let’s consider the change of season and the chill in the air. It’s great weather for soups and stews. With that in mind, I like to introduce you to a wonderful root, Celeriac (or Celery Root). If you soup or stew it, It tastes like celery, but behaves and has a texture like a root. Our new Culinary Educator, Sylvie Ryan, has posted a recipe using celery root in a salad. Give it try! Currently we are featuring fresh, local, organic Celeriac from Rice Family Farms.

Rice is also providing us with a number of other local roots you should try. Now is the time to eat hearty and prepare for our long winter nap. Consider these local organic roots: Parsnips, Leeks, Carrots, and then there are Potatoes. Our Potato Table is filling with beautiful Idaho Organic Potatoes from M&M Heath Farms. Maybe we need think about digging out the crock pot!

Before summer is entirely gone, I’d like to close with a quote from Esmaeil Fallahi speaking about Idaho from the article “Ambassador of Fruit” from the August issue of Orion magazine:

“There are hours that I go in the orchard in the sunny day or in the evening and hear the bees, and that’s like music to me. I have written for myself in Farsi about description of season and flowers, and how light goes through the yellow and red clusters of grapes and plums, and how the sun is leaving for the day in the fall.”