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Chris Cadwell, the owner of Tutti Frutti Farms in the Santa Rita Hills, has been growing vegetables organically since he was in high school. Now, his heirloom tomatoes are stars at farmers markets and in restaurant kitchens around Santa Barbara.
The first time I tasted a tomato, I was a toddler transitioning from puréed food to solids. I was sitting in my highchair when a bright red slice appeared on my plate. The moment I bit in I felt utter delight: a sweet sparkly aliveness.
Over the years that delight has faded to frequent disappointment. Tomatoes served at restaurants are often dull or mealy, slices that promise flavor but rarely deliver.
One night at one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Montecito, Pane e Vino, I stopped to say hello to the owner, Pietro Bernardi, on my way out. He introduced me to the man he was talking to.
“This is Chris Cadwell of Tutti Frutti Farms,” he said, “who grows the best tomatoes ever!” That kind of praise piqued my interest.
So I reached out to Chris to learn more about the story behind the “best-ever” tomatoes. He told me about his deep roots in Carpinteria and Santa Barbara County and his love of place and land. Also — I have now tried his tomatoes and, well, they are amazing.
Victoria Riskin: How did you get into farming, growing vegetables and tomatoes?
Chris Cadwell: I started out in Carpinteria where we lived on my grandfather’s farm, and he raised avocados and lemons. He had a garden with exotic fruit trees, macadamia nuts, and cherimoyas. We had fresh corn, tomatoes, and artichokes. I think that influenced me as a young lad, having all that wonderful food around. Later, in high school, I started my own garden. I always loved farming. The flavors were so different from [those in] store-bought food. It makes a huge difference growing your own food. And I did it organically, even though we didn’t have the word organic yet.
VR: What did growing organically mean then? Of course, now you’re doing it professionally.
CC: Basically, you’re just not allowed to use any chemicals or artificial fertilizers, which is a great thing and totally doable.
VR: And your grandfather knew that or did he use chemicals?
CC: He sprayed a lot with heavy chemicals. He died young. He sprayed everything!
VR: That’s what folks did back then. So why did you instinctively not do that?
CC: It was the ’60s, and there were back-to-the-land movements. So right off the bat I was anti-chemical, and I didn’t find it difficult at all.
VR: And after high school?
CC: I moved up to Big Sur, and I ended up growing vegetables on one acre, all organically. I gave everything to the neighbors and traded with different stores and restaurants. I also fished for a living. I’d get all these fish scraps and bury them in the soil to make compost. The vegetables were just fantastic.
VR: How did you know to use those fish scraps?
CC: I studied a little anthropology and learned how the Indians used fish scraps and the shells. We got fantastic results. The fishing was very good there. I had a little tin boat. I launched out of one spot named Big Creek, which is south of Esalen. It’s the only calm spot you could launch a boat from on the whole coast there. And I kept my boat there because my friend managed the ranch. I had an ideal situation. He raised llamas, and the llamas would poop in one pile, so they made great compost full of worms. We’d gather that up, too, and mix all these blends together and had unbelievable results.
VR: What did you grow?
CC: I grew melons and tomatoes, peppers and zucchini, of course, and a bunch of herbs and lettuce and just everything. One acre produces a lot, you know, especially with that intensive agriculture.
VR: How long did you stay there?
CC: I lived there for five years and then moved back to Santa Barbara. I was doing construction and realized that wasn’t really my favorite thing. I leased some land and grew garlic. I braided it, added flowers to them. I took them to Italian restaurants and stores and then the farmers market. I was so successful with the garlic that I decided, well, I’m going to start growing some other things, and I really got hooked.
I got six acres in Carpinteria, grew vegetables, and distributed them to the restaurants in Santa Barbara — maybe 50 restaurants. Then I acquired 100 acres in Lompoc in 1991 because there’s so much more water there. I decided that was what I was going to do for a living, and we moved up to Lompoc. The farm is right on the river. It’s a little colder, windier, but great for tomatoes — not too hot, not too foggy — so it’s about growing the tomatoes slowly like a Pinot Noir grape. You want it to hang on the vine, otherwise they just grow so fast, they don’t have as much flavor.
VR: Are the farmers markets the biggest place that you sell?
CC: I am in several supermarkets, too. But the farmers market is a big part of our life. My family enjoys selling there more than anything else. It’s a social activity, and we end up growing a lot of special things that people really want to eat, like different kinds of melons and carrots and parsnips.
VR: You’re an organic farmer, and there are all kinds of things you have to go through to be certified. Is that a difficult or expensive process?
CC: It’s difficult and expensive, a lot more paperwork than I would have ever imagined. We’re members of the CCOF [California Certified Organic Farmers] and a third-party group that inspects Whole Foods suppliers, Trader Joe’s, Albertsons, and Sprouts, and we’re registered with the state, so you have to go through that, too.
I always loved farming. The flavors were so different from the store-bought food. It makes a huge difference growing your own food. And I did it organically even though we didn't have the word organic yet.
– Chris Cadwell, Tutti Frutti Farms
VR: Where did the name Tutti Frutti come from?
CC: My wife is a linguist, and back in the day, when we were deciding what to name the farm, we were thinking of a Spanish name, and my wife said tutti frutti means “all the fruits” in Italian. And there was Little Richard’s song “Tutti Frutti.”
VR: How many varieties of tomatoes do you grow?
CC: Well, there’s probably 12 to 14 types. That’s including different Romas, cherries, there’s Early Girls, and of course, all the heirlooms: the Cherokee, the Chocolate Stripe, Marble Stripe, Copia and Beefsteaks, Ponderosa, Brandywine. And there’s a Green Cherokee, which is very good, too, except it doesn’t sell very well because it’s green. People think it’s not ripe, but it’s got a wonderful flavor.
VR: We’ll have to bring back that movie Fried Green Tomatoes! Any favorite varieties?
CC: I’d say the Cherokee Purple and the Chocolate Striped tomatoes are very good. Brandywine is wonderful. Striped German is a nice fruity one. It’s almost like a real tropical fruit. Some are sweeter than others, and some have more acid. Some are tangier. We gather a lot of that seed ourselves to keep those varieties going and try and adapt them to our area.
VR: What would be required to make an adaptation of something that you’ve found?
CC: Not much. The plants are self-pollinating, and we don’t cross two varieties to make a hybrid. We’re just growing the tomato to come out as its true self. A lot of these varieties came from Russia, believe it or not. They used to have little community gardens, and people would keep that one variety, and plants would adapt to be able to produce tomatoes faster in a cold climate. Like the Purple Cherokee — it’s from Russia and is fast-growing in colder weather.
VR: There are so many wonderful restaurants in Santa Barbara. Do the chefs spend time thinking about those different varieties and flavors?
CC: Yes, they do, they really do. They’ll ask for one variety, or they’ll do like a rainbow mix.
Typically people will do fresh basil, olive oil, buffalo mozzarella, and the heirloom tomato rainbow. That’s a fantastic thing because you have all the flavors.
VR: My friend mixes heirlooms with ripe juicy peaches.
CC: And I still love them with fish, so I’ll catch a lot of the local rockfish and fillet them, layer them with tomatoes and basil, garlic, and olive oil, and bake them.
VR: Do you know about Andalusian gazpacho?
CC: I don’t!
VR: I’ll make some with your tomatoes and give it to you.
Learn more at tuttifrutti.com
