Share Notes May 14 & 16, 2020
CSA Share Notes:
Another good harvest this week! Here’s your vegetable line up:
- Kale—For everyone! Large shares received Red Russian kale which has turned a lovely purpley red. Regular shares received Curly Kale, Mini shares received Lacinato, a chef favorite.
- Head Lettuce—Green Muir lettuce and a New Red Fire to the Regular and Large shares. Mini shares received Purple Cherokee lettuce. These will store wonderfully i a produce bag in your fridge if you’re having hard time eating all this lovely lettuce. We’ll probably give out a good amount for one or two more weeks and then it will be done.
- Romaine—For the Large shares only. This is a lovely, VERY tall red romaine.
- Turnips—Purple Top heirloom turnips for the Large and Regular shares. These are excellent roasted or used in place of mashed potatoes with plenty of butter. Normally turnip greens are a super delicious bonus, but the bugs have done a number on these, they’re pretty riddled with holes. If your greens aren’t worth saving, just discard.
- Radishes—Watermelon radishes for the Regular and Large shares only. These are truly beautiful with deep pink centers. We like to dip them into hummus, but we really like to put them on top of a slice of avocado-smeared Sola bread with a sprinkling of sea salt.
- Broccoli—This crop is just beginning to mature and we should have a lot of it very soon! This week you’re all just getting a tiny taste.
- Kohlrabi—Only for the Mini shares. This week we roasted several bulbs and served them as part of chickpea & quinoa buddha bowls. It was lovely. This is the crunchy, nutty, sweet bulb of the brassica family (related to broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, brussel sprout). Think of them as broccoli stems but more delicious. This is excellent in a slaw or a stir fry, or even a cream soup, but they’re also really great raw with salt and lemon. You discard the leaves and peel the tough outer peel from the bulb, slice, and eat.
- Garlic Scapes—A small handful for the Regular and Mini shares. This is the flowering stalk from the center of the garlic plant. You take it off the plant to allow it to focus its energy on growing a good bulb rather than growing a showy flower (although garlic flowers are really, really pretty!) For these you’ll want to trim away any woody parts as well as the tougher pointy end above the flower bud, then chop all tender parts up nice and small. You can use them raw in place of green onions for a mild garlicky topping, or sauté them in place of garlic into any other prepared dish. Scapes are evidence that our garlic is about a month away from being ready to harvest!
Veggie Storage tips:
Everything will keep longest stored in the fridge sealed up in produce bags. All root crops should be severed from their tops to keep the roots from getting rubbery. Everything will need a gentle washing before cooking, but leave the dirt on until you’re ready to use them to prevent spoilage. Things to look forward to: beets and broccoli! Maybe 1-3 weeks out on each of those. 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