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Spoonbar Pastry Chef Tosha Callahan

The jury is in.

Spoonbar’s “Give Us Your Fruit” promo was wildly successful.

For those who don’t know what that is, click here to get up to speed. For the rest of you, muchas gracias for your interest and support. Especially those of you who participated. The community response was incredible. During the week of the promo, we traded over $1000 in Spoonbar credit for around 1500 pounds of fresh, ripe citrus. All that bartering hearkened back to the days of yore.

“It’s like it was 1799 all over again,” jokes Tosha Callahan, our pastry chef and champion of the program. In fact, so instrumental was Tosha in the success of “GUYF,” that we’ll now pass the mic to her. Here’s what she had to say…

“I’ve been up to my eyeballs in fresh, local fruit, and I couldn’t be happier. We’ve received quantities as small as two pounds (about twelve lemons), up to our hundred pound daily max. And the variety of citrus has been outstanding. Eureka lemons, Meyer lemons, juicing oranges, lusciously sweet Healdsburg grapefruits, tart Alexander Valley clementines and more. It’s incredible how much great fruit grows around here.”

Of course, all this fruit begs the question: What the hell are we gonna do with it?

“Some of the citrus will go into Scott Beattie’s cocktails,” says Tosha. “We were very lucky to get our hands on some Rangpur limes, a rare sweet orange lime that will surely deliver a punch to his famed drinks. The oranges are great for our hotel guests as fresh squeezed OJ has been on the breakfast tray since we started. And for me, well, it’s been great to have all this citrus to utilize in my desserts. Try, just try to find a fresher lemon tart than the one on my menu.”

But what’s most exiting to our superstar pastry chef is the sheer variety of participants. “I’ve seen everyone from locals walking their dogs with backpacks full of fruit, to cyclists riding up from Santa Rosa with a big bag of Meyer lemons. It’s really quite amazing.

GUYF has been so successful, in fact, that Tosha is going to keep it going. “I’m in love with this program, and the fantastic community support. I will be available to receive fruit trades Sunday-Wednesday from 8am-12pm for the month of March. We’re looking for any type of citrus or ripe fruit that will be utilized in the Spoonbar pastry kitchen and, of course, behind the bar.”

So what are you waiting for? Give Us Your Fruit!