Share Notes 5-24-18

Share Notes 5-24-18

CSA Share Notes:

We’ve got a great line up for you this week, and spring season is still going strong for a few weeks longer. We also announced last week that the summer CSA season is open for registration. Hooray! If you want your shares to continue into summer (tomatoes! cucumbers! melons! peppers! blueberries!) just head over here to get yourself signed up.

So with that update, here’s your box.

  • Radicchio—This crop is a European green sometimes found in high-end salad mixes, that resembles a cross between a lettuce and a red cabbage. It is excellent chopped into a salad, or you can quarter and grill it, brushed with olive oil and spices. It’s a rare treat.
  • Fennel—This frilly plant provides you with crisp bulbs that are great thinly sliced, roasted, or caramelized. The fronds are excellent with fish. It would be really nice added to our winter root salad.  Do you want to use up half of your share in one large, amazing dish?? Use this recipe for Roasted Spring Salad with fennel and radicchio (also includes carrot, broccoli, and more!) top it with big  chunks of feta cheese and a sprinkling of nuts and you have a meal.
  • Lettuce—Large shares received a skyphos lettuce, which is a bit like a Boston or bibb lettuce, and a green romaine, small shares received a skyphos lettuce and a red Lolla Rosa lettuce, nice and crisp.
  • Onions—Young white onions are our first to be ready. Uncured, these baby’s won’t store long so make sure you use them up within the week. Our storage onions will be ready in a few more weeks after they’ve cured, post harvest.
  • Hakurei turnip—These fresh, crisp white salad turnips are best eaten raw, with a little lemon and salt. They are the sweetest, tastiest turnips you’ll ever eat! Use them in the winter root salad linked above!
  • Collard Greens—You can use this traditional southern green in any dish that calls for kale. Genetically, they’re almost exactly the same plant!
  • Broccoli—It’s beginning to wane in the heat, but we still have a nice bunch or lovely broccoli for you!
  • Kohlrabi—The edible swollen stem of this crop is crips and juicy, wonderful raw or cooked. This plant is closely related to broccoli and cabbage and the name kohlrabi actually translates as “cabbage turnip.” It’s wonderful in a kohlrabi & broccoli cheese soup, or in a fresh salad.
  • Snow Peas—Almost the end of these tasty beauties. They do not tolerate heat, so they’re almost spent. Enjoy them!

Veggie Storage tips:

The radicchio needs just a few outer leaves removed to get to the meat of the plant. your turnip roots, fennel bulbs, and kohlrabi need their tops removed to keep the roots from getting rubbery. They can then go sealed up in the fridge to stay crisp.  For the fennel, place the fronds in a glass of water on the counter, and use in cooking throughout the week.  The many (many!) leafy greens will last longest stored in the refrigerator, sealed up in bags to retain their moisture. They’re so huge, we often just place them into a few large plastic grocery sacks, and tie them up to seal them. Don’t forget everything will need a good washing before cooking, but leave the dirt on until you’re ready to use them.

We’d love to hear stories and recipes of your culinary adventures this week. Send us a note or post a comment of how you’ve used your CSA share.

Your farmers,

Jess & Justin

Large ShareLarge Share:  (top row) Collard, Muir Lettuce, Red Oak Leaf Lettuce, radicchio, (2nd row) broccoli, fennel, snow peas, Hakurei Turnips (3rd row) kohlrabi, white onions.

Small Share

Small share: (top row) collard, Muir lettuce, Red Oakleaf lettuce, kohlrabi, (bottom row) fennel, radicchio, snow peas and white onions, broccoli, and hakurei turnips.