Winter Through Spring: A Bounty
EMERYVILLE’S PAULA LEDUC, caterer to stars like Oprah and venues such as Napa’s Beaulieu Vineyards, shares fragrant vase-worthy edible treats also great for tinctures and sauces: Mexican salvia elegans, aka pineapple sage, with tubular red flowers; South American red bishop’s crown (a cultivar of Capsicum baccatum var. pendulum); long paprika or Capsicum annuum; kaffir lime or citrus hystix, from tropical Asia; South American lemon verbena or Verbenaceae; yellow Peruvian lemon drop or aji limo peppers; hybrid Rangpur lime or Citrus x Limonia, aka lemandarin; South African rose geranium or Pelargonium graveolens; Magnolia grandiflora buds, which can be pickled; and, on the plate, Australian Citrus australasica, aka finger lime fruit, which contains tart pearls resembling roe.
All are paired at March in San Francisco with Rina Menardi’s large round platter, $880, Christiane Perrochon’s dessert plate with a crocodilian texture, $180, and Perrochon’s blue-gray boule vase, $1,900. In the background, a glazed terra-cotta Hex planter, $1,200, and Henry Dean’s gray glass garden seat (upside down), $995.
Styling by Dyan Garza and Paula Leduc.