Farm to Fork in Morgan Hill
Eateries, Orchards, Growers, and Purveyors
It’s no secret that the best food comes from quality ingredients. Which is why Morgan Hill prides itself as part of the farm-to-table movement. We are home to a number of high-quality and rare purveyors of artisanal fruits and fresh specialty products. With easy access to delicious ingredients, often grown from within miles, our culinary scene is one of the best.
This part of California, known as the “Goldilocks Zone,” is blessed with farming conditions that are “just right.” Paired with it’s fertile and unique terroir, the Santa Clara Valley has been dubbed the “Valley of Heart’s Delight.” Agriculture is woven into the very fabric of Morgan Hill, where farm to fork is a way of life.
Farm to Fork eatiNG
The agriculture of the Morgan Hill area has influenced and inspired local chefs and made its way onto the menus of Morgan Hill restaurants, pop ups, and caterers. Leave the picking, prepping, and cooking to the creative kitchens at these local dining establishments—and discover the true meaning of “farm to fork”!
Specialty Fruit OrchardS
Known to be the cultivator of one of the largest collections of stone fruits on the West Coast, Andy’s Orchard is specialized in new and heirloom varieties with a focus on flavor and high eating quality. Their fruits are shipped as delicacies around the world, and have cult followings at Southern California farmers markets. Their farm store is open for the season and will soon be filled with fresh, orchard grown lemons, mandarins, fava beans, apricots, cherries, plums, pluots, and peaches. Owner Andy Mariani, a noted expert with the California Rare Fruit Growers, recently began cultivating rare, heirloom strawberries such as Sparkle and Mara De Bois, a favorite in the markets of France. The berries feature an intense, old-fashioned strawberry flavor and are picked by hand at peak ripeness every day or two, the way all artisanal fruit was once harvested. One of the orchards staples is cherries, offering varieties of Coral and Brooks, plus the ancient Black Tartarians. Andy’s Orchard connects with urban neighbors by inviting them to fruit tastings and tours of their working fruit orchard in the midst of Silicon Valley. And—rumor has it—they may introduce a pick-your-own program this season!
Speaking of “pick your own” fruit, U-Pick Orchards family farm features 5 cherry ranches across Morgan Hill and Gilroy. Each year, upon fruit maturity, they open their gates to thousands of “you-pickers,” eager to get their fill of Bing, Coral Champagne and other cherry varietals. Picking your own cherries is a highly anticipated and memorable family-friendly experience in Morgan Hill. And U-Pick Orchards makes it incredibly easy to immerse into the agriculture that once dominated the Santa Clara Valley. The orchard provides pickers with a bag and they may then enjoy picking straight from the tree. The collected cherries are charged by the weight and available first come, first serve, until the ranches are picked through. Follow U-Pick Orchards and sign up to their newsletter to be notified of opening dates, which are typically late May or early June.
Fun Fact: Morgan Hill is just as much about “orchard-to-glass” as it is farm-to-fork. Local hard cidery, TenFiveOne Cider Co. uses U Pick Orchard’s sweet Bing cherries for their Bada Bing hard cider flavor! Kelly Brewing Company also uses fresh stone fruit from Andy’s Orchard to craft their apricot kettle sour beer. Here’s to drinking locally crafted brews with local fruit!
High Quality Sourcing & Growing
Terra Amico Farms is a 100% organic tomato farm, of CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) distinction, where everything is grown from seed right on site. Terra Amico Farms grows over 50 different heirloom varieties of tomatoes each year, making them a true expert in this flavorful staple. During peak season, between 200-400 pounds of tomatoes are harvested fresh each morning at their premium ripeness. The farm utilizes regenerative farming, which is a conservation and rehabilitation practice that encompasses a whole system—focusing on soil health, increasing biodiversity, conserving water, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, and improving resiliency. During the summer, fresh tomatoes land themselves on the Terra Amico farm cart, along with herbs, eggs, and other treats from the farm. They feature a sought-after series of farm to table dinners in the summer months and collaborate with local wineries and chefs, such as Lion Ranch Vineyards & Winery and Tommy Palmer.
Further upping the ante on Morgan Hill’s high quality ingredients is Carniceria Elite Meat Market, offering fine meats, hand-selected by experts. In their recently opened space, you’ll find a variety of marinated beef, chicken, and pork and a selection of Harris Ranch’s famous cuts. But where they really stand out is their speciality imported beef program, including Waygu beef from Japan and Australia. Kobe Wine Beef Wagyu are cattle fed with the grape produce from Kobe wine, special to Hokkaido Japan. This livestock farm is the only farm that raises Kobe Wine Beef. The market also carries Margaret River Wagyu Beef. Raised in the fresh air and pure ground water of Western Australian, this beef has an unmistakably rich and butter flavor thanks to it’s “stress-free lifestyle” and high quality diet, leading to a highly marbled meat. Carniceria Elite Meat Market also supplies a special Olive-fed-beef, a Wagyu brand produced in Shodoshima Island in Japan, where the cattle are fed an olive diet. You can also find an assortment of crisp fruits and veggies, rubs and seasonings for all your grilling needs.
Award-winning products
Keeping with the high-quality trend, Morgan Hill is also home to Bay Area beekeeping leader, KoopHaus Apiaries. This third-generation family farm won not one, but two 2023 Good Food Awards for their Wildflower Honey and Cinnamon Creamed Honey. This apiary propagates strong colonies of bees suited to the central coast climate. The bees’ local forage is diverse thanks to the unique assortment of orchards, fields, mustard weed, lavender, and a specially created pollinator habitat garden. Small amounts of honey are harvested to ensure the health of the hive is maintained. The Morgan Hill Wildflower Honey is lightly strained to retain the natural pollens and create a pure, raw, and natural product. Premium, organic cinnamon from Sri Lanka is added to raw, creamed honey to make the Cinnamon Creamed Honey. This delicious spread has subtle exotic, tropical and floral notes and pairs well with toast, pancakes or tea. While they offer local honey in the Spring and Fall, raising bees is the focus of the apiary and they offer hive managment consults across the SF Bay Area.
Frantoio Grove is a local olive oil producer, headed by fifth and sixth generation California farmers. The farm has a focus on growing the finest quality of olives to create nutrient dense, interestingly flavored, and minimally processed oils. Incorporating sustainable practices, like restoring the natural soil microbiome, was taken a step further by becoming Regenerative Organic Certified. This is one of the highest certifications for food, using the USDA standards for Organic Certified as a baseline and layering on stringent standards for soil health, land management, animal welfare, and social fairness. Planted in 2005, Franotio Grove grows mostly the Frantoio olive vareity, with a small percentage of others to promote healthy pollination. Their Frantoio Blend Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil is peppery, fresh, and grassy. Their single variety EVOO won Best in Show and Best in California at the California State Fair in 2020. and they’ve collected numerous other awards throughout the years, such as a Good Food Award. They also produce limited quantities a few months a year ,during harvest, of the “ultra-fresh” Olivo Nuovo, which goes straight from the mill to the bottle.
