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On Sunday, July 19, The California Museum hosted a members-only event at Ikeda’s California Country Market, the iconic bakery and market in Auburn. Present was Derek Ikeda, co-owner and third-generation family member in the business, to regale members with its history and offer samples of fruits grown in their orchard.
As children, Ikeda’s grandparents Sam Ikeda and Sally Makishima grew up in Penryn, but were interned from 1942 to 1945 at Tule Lake Relocation Center, close to the California-Oregon border. This was the largest of the 10 War Relocation Authority camps designed to contain Japanese and Japanese-American citizens during World War II. Living in the barracks, Sam Ikeda recalled being treated well, but found it curious that the guards kept the guns pointed inward.
After leaving the camp, Sam Ikeda went to San Francisco to become what was referred to as a house boy.
“He was essentially a helper, a young butler, to these very wealthy families in San Francisco. From that he says that he learned how these people think, how you have to give the highest quality, not just to the high client, but to everybody. That kind of built his sense of service,” Derek Ikeda said.
Makishima went to Twin Falls, Idaho, to the Twin Falls Migratory Labor Camp, which was set up to employ immigrants to help fill the labor gap created by the war. The two ultimately returned to their respective family homes in Auburn and married. Glen Ikeda knew he wanted to farm, as there were many Japanese farmers in the area.
“So they started off with tomatoes, and the very first batch of tomatoes all failed, they all burned out. They are like, what the heck’s going on? The climate is so different here. You get 110 degree highs, and it can get as cold as 40 degrees during the cold of the springtime,” Derek Ikeda said.
The Ikedas met a man named Everett Gibson, who imparted a lot of farming expertise on them. Within a year, the Ikedas and Gibson were selling peaches directly to consumers at a roadside stand.
The family orchard still exists about a mile from the current market and bakery. In a sense, some of Sam Ikeda’s fruit lives on to this day. The Ikedas have grafted cuttings from the original trees onto hardier stock.
“You’re still tasting the same exact fruit that Sam was growing back when he was farming, but we’ve strengthened the trees with stronger genetics, so they’re a little bit more resistant to the climate of this area,” Derek Ikeda said. By way of example, he began cutting slices of a Suncrest peach grown in the orchard.
It’s the platonic ideal of a peach. As a freestone, the bright yellow flesh falls away from the stone. It’s both bracingly acidic and sugar-sweet, and gushingly juicy.
The Suncrests are just one variety the Ikedas grow. Different peaches come in at different times. About a week earlier, they harvested Bonjour peaches, which the Suncrests are derived from. They’re also currently harvesting Elbertas, soon to be followed by Redhavens.
“Redhavens are really, really flavorful. They’re probably the best,” Derek Ikeda said.
He notes that the fruit at Ikeda’s is of superior quality because they can allow it to ripen before harvesting.
“The reason is because we pick them at peak ripeness. Usually, stores will pick them maybe a little bit green and hard, and then it takes a while to get to the store. It takes maybe three, four days. Our orchards are one mile down the road,” he said.
He went on to explain how to select the best fruit. Peaches and other stone fruit blush darker where they’ve been exposed to sun, so paler peaches probably come from deeper in the tree. Then he pointed out areas of speckling, known as sugar spots.
“That’s indicative that there’s going to be good sugar in the fruit. Nectarines show them a lot better. Plums show it pretty well, but you can see them on a peach,” he said.
When Gibson retired, Sam and Sally Ikeda took over the market fully, establishing Ikeda’s California Country Market in 1970. It remained just a fruit stand until their sons Glen and Steve joined the business in the 1980s.
“We were known to sell only the juiciest fruit, the sweetest fruit. That’s called number one fruit. Number twos have blemishes and bruises on them. And my dad’s like, ‘we’re selling all these at half off, or we’re even tossing these things. Why are we tossing these? We could be turning these things into pies,’” Derek Ikeda said.
Glen Ikeda consulted with a number of professional pie bakers to try out recipes. Once he was satisfied with the quality of the pies, he began to sell them. To drive interest, he gave out coupons to entice customers to give the pies a try.
“The first week they had pies, everybody came by. There was so much support for them, and they’re like, ‘wow, we got a hit. This is what we’re going to do from now on,’” Derek Ikeda said.
Indeed, pies became Ikeda’s stock in trade. As its reputation and business grew, the market expanded its offerings to other baked goods, sauces, jams and more. The family opened a second location in Davis at 26295 Mace Blvd. in 2000.
Pies remain the business’s most esteemed product. In fact, the pies were recently selected as part of USA Today’s 10Best list of best pie shops in America, and ultimately was ranked number one.
Sam and Sally Ikeda retired from the business in 1996, and Sam Ikeda died in 2017. Now, Glen Ikeda is also talking about retirement.
“I don’t know what that entails. He’ll probably still be at the store every single day,” Derek Ikeda said.
Today, Derek Ikeda and his younger brother Brendyn mostly run the show. They’ve been in the business since 2016 and 2020, respectively. Derek Ikeda mainly focuses on marketing and Brendyn Ikeda takes the lead on fruit procurement. The Ikedas don’t grow everything they sell in their small orchard, but they go out of their way to seek out small, local family farms to round out their selections.
