The Story of Frog Hollow's 
Stinging Nettle Pesto

Walking along the open-air high glass ceilinged halls of the Ferry Plaza Building down on  

the Embarcadero waterfront San Francisco, you might be able to, in any given glimpse, see the San Francisco / Oakland Bay Bridge and some 125 farmer market cafes and stalls, all brimming with local produce, cheeses and baked goods.    

The Farmer's Market is the food source for a bulk of San Franciscan restaurants from all neighborhoods, as it has come to represent a pioneering hub of the farm-to-table restaurant movement since Alice Waters first originated the idea at her Chez Panisse near Berkeley

decades before the rest of the country caught on and began to use the term as if it were something only just beginning.  Farmer Al Courchesne,  another pioneer at the Market, founded Frog Hollow Farm fifty-five miles away in Brentwood back in 1976 with nothing more than a small Cal Red peach patch

that has now grown to a 133-acre farm specializing in stone fruits, conserves, chutneys, marmalades, pastries, dried fruits and olive oil, all to be found in one of many produce bubbling eateries along the corridors of the Market building.

Anna Buss, Culinary coordinator at Frog Hollow, writes "Developing a new product for Frog Hollow is often an adventure and definitely a team effort.  I never know when inspiration will hit and where it will take me.  A typical day might start like this: Wearing his trademark overalls, Farmer Al walks into the office to talk with out Marketing director, Pearl, about mail order sales and new marketing initiatives.  As he is leaving the office, he sees me and his thoughts shift to new products.

"Anna, what can we do with nettle?  We have a lot of it!"

"Well,"  I say as I run through options in my mind, "we could make it in to a pesto, put it in a soup..."

"This is stinging nettle.  It's really good for you, and we are going to make it into a pesto.  It's a little painful to work with at first, but you get used to it after the first time, and it's great for arthritis.  You will learn to love it.  They look at me like I am loco, but we carry on....This stinging weed which was growing in surplus on the farm is now part of some of our best selling and popular products.  We are using the pesto to garnish our cafe menu items such as soup and pizza."

Quick and Easy Nettle Pesto Recipe

.15lb of blanched nettle
1 bunch parsley
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
1 clove garlic
1 tsp of salt

Blend in food processor until smooth and bright green.  Season to taste, and drizzle over soup.