2014 Summer Share #5

2014 Summer Share #5

Share Notes:

This summer season is really rockin’ along nicely and the garden is doing great. We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures. Please send us a note or post a comment on facebook of how you’re using your CSA share! And don’t forget to head on over to the Kitchen blog to see what we’re cookin’ up! Enjoy it all in season!

 

  • Watermelon—Sugar Baby variety.  We are so excited to bring you these this week. This variety is usually about 6-8 inches across, but these got much bigger and we couldn’t fit them in the box!
  • Basil—Genovese. This dries nicely for later use. Just hang upside down in your kitchen till totally dry then put in a bag or jar.  To store fresh for up to 2 weeks, place the sprigs in a glass of water on the counter (Not in the fridge! Basil can’t tolerate below 50 degrees) and change the water daily.
  • Eggplant—Large shares received our Italian Eggplant varieties: either Black Beauty (standard purple eggplant) or Calliope (variegated heirloom variety that is slightly smaller). Small shares received our Japanese varieties: either a bag of Fairytale eggplant OR a handful of our long slender purple eggplant. Try them in a Thai curry!
  • Bell Peppers—Most of you received green bell peppers, but a few may have gotten a purple one! They’re really fun and slightly sweeter.
  • Hot Peppers— Large shares received several Jalapenos and small shares received Serrano peppers. The serranos are muy picante and the jalapenos are still hot but not too crazy.  Check out our stuffed pepper recipes from last fall for ways to tone down the heat and  yours up!
  • Tomatoes—The harvest just keeps getting more and more abundant! I hope we’re not overloading you with too many. Refrigeration below 50 degrees causes tomatoes to become mealy, so store them on the counter unless you want to save them for later in the week.

Some of you may have seen that we have some canning quality tomatoes (slightly bruised, cracked, or too small) available by the box. We hope to keep offering those up to you when we have them at a great bulk rate. Let us know if you’re interested!

  • Cucumbers—The harvest is waning, so we may just have one or two more weeks of cucumbers for you.
  • Zucchini—Romanesco! Aren’t these delicious? I think we are set on never growing another variety of zucchini again!  You’ve got plenty of tomatoes to give this tomato and zucchini recipe a try this week: Italian Zucchini Malfatti dumplings.
  • Yellow squash—You can store your squash and zucchini sealed up and in the fridge for up to a week or out on the counter for a couple of days. This is very likely the final week for squash and zucchini. I hope you enjoyed them!
  • Cherry Tomatoes—Sungold: the best cherry EVER! The large shares get to enjoy this special treat this week. We hope there will be enough for everyone to receive them soon.

 

Wash your vegetables just before using them to improve shelf-life. Enjoy!

Large Share

IMG_0554

  Large share: Bell peppers, Sugar Baby watermelon, Sungold cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, yellow squash, Calliope Italian eggplant (a few received large purple Italian eggplant, not shown) jalapenos, Romanesco zucchini, and lots and lots of tomatoes.

Small Share

IMG_0558Small share: cucumber, Serrano peppers, Japanese eggplant and Fairytale eggplant (both shown here as an example, but you received one or the other, not both) Genovese basil, Sugar Baby watermelon, bell peppers, yellow squash, Romanesco zucchini, and lots of tomatoes.

 

Jessica & Justin