OBSESSIVES on CHOW.com

Jam maker June Taylor has a rabid following in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she creates and sells her preserves. Here, she explains how she makes marmalade, including the mysteries of natural pectin, the importance of instinct, and the economies of scale in artisanal production.

Meet John and Barbara Stephens-Lewallen: They harvest seaweed. Operators of the Mendocino Sea Vegetable Company in Philo, California, the Stephens-Lewallens are farmers/fishermen of another stripe. Their catch includes bladderwrack, sea lettuce, kombu, and nori. The couple reveals the culinary delights of seaweed tea and fried seaweed. And Chef Eric Tucker of Millennium Restaurant demonstrates what someone can do with a little sea palm.

Chris Cosentino, chef at San Francisco’s Incanto restaurant, is an offal evangelist. He’s the one people turn to when they have questions about parts of the animal beyond tri-tip and sirloin. Here, he talks about the lost connection between pasture and plate, the ways that both PETA and the USDA have gone off course, and the joys of possum-eatin’. Plus: He escorts us through a full offal dinner.

Arno Holschuh, barista at Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco, discusses the big and the little: the surface area of the bean, the thousand small cuts that will kill your espresso, and why Starbucks is not so bad.