Every great kitchen has an origin story. As we celebrate 50 years of Frog Hollow Farm, we're reflecting on the people and moments that have shaped our farm into what it is today. Some milestones came from years of careful planning, while others began with a simple conversation. 

The story of our Farm Kitchen is a little bit of both.

A Chance Meeting Over Stone Fruit

In 1994, Chef Becky Courchesne attended a stone fruit tasting at the Metropolitan Club in San Francisco. At the time, she was the head pastry chef at Oliveto, having previously cooked at Café Fanny and spent time staging at Chez Panisse.

As Becky stepped into the elevator, another guest walked in carrying a box of legendary Frog Hollow Farm peaches. That guest was Farmer Al.

"I love Frog Hollow Farm fruit," she remembers saying.

The two chatted before heading into the tasting, where Al joined other California growers for a panel discussion about stone fruit. At this time, Becky was already familiar with Frog Hollow's reputation. She had first discovered the farm while shopping at Monterey Market, where produce buyer Bill Fujimoto enthusiastically introduced her to Frog Hollow's Fantasia nectarines.

After the tasting, Becky reached out to Al to get more fruit for the desserts she was creating at Oliveto. That phone call sparked a friendship that would eventually become both a partnership and a love story.

Letting Great Ingredients Speak for Themselves

It wasn't just Frog Hollow's fruit that drew Becky to the farm; it was the shared philosophy behind it. Long before she joined Frog Hollow Farm, she had developed a cooking style centered around one simple idea: start with exceptional ingredients.

Working at Café Fanny, Chez Panisse, and Oliveto taught her that delicious produce doesn't need to be hidden beneath complicated recipes or overly sweet sauces. Instead, simple preparations allow the natural flavors to shine.

When fresh Frog Hollow peaches, nectarines, and apricots appeared in the Oliveto kitchen, Becky reached for the fruit instead of caramel or heavy fillings, creating desserts that celebrated what was already there. This is a philosophy that still guides the Frog Hollow Farm Kitchen today.

Turning Extra Fruit Into Something Special

When Becky officially joined Frog Hollow Farm in 1995, Farmer Al had already been thinking about a challenge every fruit grower faces: what happens to the fruit that doesn't make it to the farmers market or grocery shelf? The fruit was still delicious, but it simply needed another purpose.

Together, Becky and Al began experimenting with ways to preserve the harvest, and the peach conserve was born. The first batches of conserves weren't made on the farm. Becky borrowed kitchen space at Café Fanny in Berkeley, making just a handful of jars at a time while learning everything from food safety requirements to how recipes would scale.

Later, thanks to connections in the restaurant community, Lark Creek Cafe opened its kitchen to the pair, allowing them to use large commercial braisers that made bigger batches possible. Those early years were filled with trial and error, and plenty of learning.

Why Peach Conserves?

At the time, peaches made up much of the farm's production, making them the natural choice for the Farm Kitchen's very first product. But Becky wanted to create something different.

Many fruit jams on the market relied heavily on sugar, masking the flavor of the fruit itself. Instead, she developed a peach conserve with generous chunks of fruit and just enough sugar to preserve its natural sweetness.

The goal wasn't to make something sweeter than a peach. It was to capture the taste of a perfectly tree-ripened Frog Hollow peach in a jar. And customers immediately noticed! Farmers markets became the perfect place to introduce these new products, giving Becky instant feedback from customers who appreciated fruit-forward conserves with vibrant flavor and less sugar.

"It was great to be at the farmers market where feedback is so immediate," Becky recalls. "Farmers markets are such a valued part of the Frog Hollow Farm business."

Encouraged by the response, she began experimenting with pastries as well.

Building the Farm Kitchen

After years of cooking in borrowed kitchens, it became clear that Frog Hollow Farm had outgrown them. So, in 2000, the Farm Kitchen was built.

The transition was exciting, but also a bit overwhelming. Becky suddenly found herself scaling recipes, training employees, installing equipment, and figuring out how to produce larger quantities while maintaining the same quality that customers had come to expect.

Fortunately, the response made all the hard work worthwhile. With a dedicated kitchen, Frog Hollow Farm could continue creating conserves, pastries, dried fruit, and an ever-growing collection of handcrafted products that showcased the harvest in new ways.

Even today, the Farm Kitchen plays an important role in reducing food waste by giving more of our fruit a delicious second life. Fruit that may not be destined for the fresh market can become jams, baked goods, dried fruit, or seasonal specialties, ensuring that more of every harvest can be enjoyed.

More Than Just a Kitchen

Over the past 25 years, the Farm Kitchen has grown into something much bigger than a place to cook. Beyond being a place where new recipes are developed, it's given us the ability to host events and bring our community together to celebrate good food. In some ways, the kitchen has become one of the heartbeats of Frog Hollow Farm.

Looking back, it's amazing to think that it all began with a chance meeting over a box of peaches! One conversation led to a partnership. That partnership led to a kitchen. And today, that kitchen continues to transform the fruit we grow into value-added products, and food that brings people together.