Introducing our limited edition seasonal pantry boxes, with monthly offerings of pantry staples created by every Gjelina restaurant — it’s a taste of the Gjelina Group restaurants interpreted through a single, best-in-season ingredient, all sourced from our Southern California farms.

In a calm, quiet corner of Valley Center lives the coolest farm family in the SoCal.  Since 1983, plaid-shirt-wearing Peter Schaner, his wife Kayne, and their eight children have been farming 22 acres of hillside.  They grow around 90 varieties of fruit, ranging from guavas, meyer lemon & limes, persimmons, oranges of all kinds, and pomegranates as deep red as rubies.  The family also uses the bottom land to grow a wide range of vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers.

The variety of pomegranates the Schaners grow are called “Wonderful” – and with their rich red color and large size they live up to their name.  The Wonderful pomegranate is an old fashioned type, with deep, robust flavor.  Peter believes his family’s pomegranates are extra flavorful due to the farm’s water.  They use well water that is high in dissolved solids (naturally occurring salts), and water there is precious, so used judiciously.  The trees have to work harder and that struggle intensifies the flavor.  When you crack into one and see the color or drink their almost syrupy juice, you’ll understand.