Recchiuti and the Farmer's Market

In 1993 the Ferry Building debuted a public mercantile
facing Market Street, an environment that went on to be a considerable influence for Michael Recchiuti. Michael and
his entrepreneurial chocolate products were a mainstay at
the farmers market for six years, even during the building's renovation, when the whole operation moved a few streets
over. “It was held in this parking lot, that we would convert into a global village, and all of a sudden there would be something like six hundred people there. So there were all
these farmers that would just appear. I would always show
up, even if it rained. A lot of vendors would cancel if the
weather was bad, but I was there every Saturday.

I would get there at five in the morning, and help some farmers set up their booths. They’d give me recommendations on ingredients, or samples to try, saying ‘We’ve got so much lavender, and lemon verbena, do you think you could do anything with it?’ They’d let me take it home, and I started toying around with all the different types of herbs. I’d picked up an interest in teas and infusions from back in my restaurant days, making pastries and deserts, so that skill set became relevant again.

I like the fact that a lot of our flavors are savory, and at first people were thinking ‘why are you using ingredients you’d use in soap?’ But I was approaching it from more of a European angle, just from my travels and working in European kitchens. When I worked alongside French, German or Swiss chefs, they were always using herbs and teas and different types of botanicals. So I was bringing that mindset back, influenced by these Californian farmers.

Eventually I got out to visit their lavender farms. We'd show up around 3am, hoping to catch the sunrise on the lavender. The smell is intoxicating, that is something I’ll never forget. When you have that much of one product, lavender, or lemon verbena, or even tomatoes, the smell can get really intense. I’m always looking for the bright, intense flavors, I don’t want something muddled where you have to guess what it is."

The savory influence can be felt all throughout Recchiuti’s offerings, but we’ve gathered some the best of them in our signature Black Box 16.