Hi everyone,
As we come up to the end of August, with school starting and football season beginning, it definitely starts to feel like summer is coming to a close. From a produce standpoint, that is definitely not the case. While we may not see much more peppers this season (due to the July rains), we are just hitting the stride in melons, eggplant, and beans. Coincidentally, the hot weather this week is also playing the part of summer.
The recipe this week utilizes a lot of the veggies in the share and is pretty quick and easy (and tasty). If you haven’t tried a recipe of ours yet this season, I’d definitely recommend this one.
Hope you all enjoy the share!
-Ben
In the last share, we cut the bell peppers. I don’t like to do this since the peppers need to be used sooner then. But the peppers in the shares were so big we had to for half shares. These ones are the same, but a lot smaller so we left them whole for you all to use at your leisure.
These are the same as scallions, however these are some of the beefiest ones I’ve seen. Some look more like mini leeks than green onions.
Ground Cherries are closely related to tomatillos (we had both in the last share). It’s much more obvious with their husks on, but we’ve already de-husked them for you to make them easy to snack on or ready for use. I haven’t tried it, but a CSA Club member mentioned making jam with them which sounds delicious.
The tomatoes this year have been plenty full. These romas are great for cooking with. We like to dice them up, and quickly cook them for a fresh tomato sauce for pasta or bread.
This all white variety of corn look like little pearls. Recently we’ve been adding corn to caponata, ramen, bread salad, fried rice, or just about anything we’re cooking.
Zestar are a University of Minnesota developed variety first introduced in 1999. Early ripening, these also have a great flavor; a nice sweet-tart balance with darker cider-like notes.
This is a orange variety of muskmelon that is sweet with earthy notes. It made me think of green tea. Melons are starting to come along now after the July flooding damaged the first planting so expect more in the future.
Edamame are immature and still-green soybeans. We went ahead and steamed these for you all so they are ready to eat. You can eat them out of the shell as-is, cold or quickly warmed up (just salt or season however you’d like). Or shell them and use the beans in a dish.
Fresh beans are something that you’ll never at the grocery store. The red speckling of the cranberry beans is pretty, but will fade when you cook them. Being fresh, they cook much quicker than dry beans would. To cook these, first sauté a bit of shallot, onion, and/or garlic in a pot until fragrant. Then add the beans and enough water cover. Bring the pot up to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for ~ 20 mins or until the beans are soft. You can add any other seasoning, veggies, vinegars, as you’d like.
