Iacopi Farms

The sellers for Iacopi at the San Carlos farmers market are pleasant, and knowledgeable of their produce. Beans and peas are always excellent.
I had bought the Italian butter beans at the People’s Store in Bolinas for years, so I’m thrilled to find them at the farmers market on the peninsula.
All their varieties are produced and sorted with care; I’ve never had to deal with dust, gravel, debris or damaged beans. Thank you for elevating a simple legume to the elegance of high quality produce. They make a damn fine dish.

Tuesday markets is when I find them.
They are there Saturdays too.
Right now English peas are the way yo go. Artichokes are good, cauliflower is winding down.
Gee, this sounds like a weather forecast!
This is proof of the theory of buying foods in season.
Fava beans are on their way. Blue Lake green beans are hard to top. And can’t wait until Brussels sprouts roll around again. Roscoe always takes care of me here and we can share jabber on the current sports goings… let go Warriors!
Check them out and you’ll cruise past the supermarket vegetable section and know where you need to go! In fact, heading to the Ferry Building right now!

Delicious, naturally creamy butter beans. We can’t wait to try the Berlotti beans too!

We bought Butter beans at the Ferry building Farmers market. Beans were good, would buy again. and again… and again…

There is something very unique going on at the Half Moon Bay Airport, and it has nothing to do with aviation. If you stand off to the side of this public-​use airport mostly used for single engine planes you’ll probably not notice what’s going on in the weedy-​looking field just beyond the parking lot for small aircraft. There’s actually a farm on the airport!
Louis Iacopi and his son has leased this land from San Mateo County to harvest two very unique crops. What looked liked dry, yellowing weeds from a distance turned out to be a crop of Italian butter beans in its final stage before harvesting. The bean pods in the earlier stage look like regular green beans but are left to dry out under Mother Nature’s elements months before harvesting. We were told these are normally harvested by mechanical means in the month of October. Once harvested the pods are shelled and the beans are sold to restaurants and at local farmers markets.
Dodging incoming aircraft we walked over to a second crop just yards away in a separate field. Mr. Iacopi refers to them as cranberry beans probably because of its color, but these are actually Berlotti beans. Unlike the Italian butter beans these are harvested while fresh and by hand. The pod has a beautiful cranberry red color with specks of green throughout. We cracked open a few pods to expose a fresh bean slightly larger than a Jelly Belly candy. Pods are usually shelled immediately and once dried can keep for years. Most of Mr. Iacopi’s Berlottis are sold to restaurants as they are a favorite bean used in minestrone.
The Iacopi Farms continue for many acres beyond the airport with crops such as artichokes, Blue Lake green beans and some of the sweetest English shelling peas I’ve ever tasted. Another popular crop on the farm is the potato. There are up to six varieties planted on this farm. I didn’t even realize I was standing on his crop until it was mentioned to me. The vines are cut and the potatoes are left under the soil for two to three weeks before harvesting. This allows the soft skin to dry out and harden a bit before they are dug up.
Iacopi Farms normally sells at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco as well as farmers markets in San Mateo, Jack London Square, Pleasanton and Danville.