We left the popcorn on the cob for the novelty of it. Just put a full cob into a large paper bag and use the popcorn setting on your microwave (3.5 oz, ~1.5 mins). Most of the popcorn will pop off the cob into the bag, but some will stay on the cob so you literally have popcorn on the cob. If you’d rather, you can always break the kernels off the cob and pop on the stove top like you otherwise would loose popcorn.
We had arugula in the shares back in May. It prefers cool weather which is why it’s making its return into the shares now. I’ve always found Nichols’ arugula to have a more intense pepperiness than what is typically sourced by restaurants or grocery stores. Its pretty fragile so prioritize using it up first. Similar to the radishes, if you find the taste to be too intense, don’t be afraid to give them a quick sautee and it will mild the arugula out.
We had a very radish-ful start to the season, but hopefully you all have had a long enough break to enjoy these. French breakfast radishes are my favorite variety, and my preferred way to eat them is the french way —raw with a healthy smear of butter. But if you don’t like the spiciness of radish or are trying to figure out a way to get through them quick, roast them! Roasted radish are simple, delicious, and a lot easier to eat a bowl of in a single sitting.
We’re pulling a little TV magic here. Cabbages came in the shares this week, but the problem we run into is that we receive one cabbage per a full share. The first time we received cabbages in the shares, we purchased extras so that we could give everyone whole cabbages (to the detriment of our food cost). Fortunately, a few weeks back we had cabbages in the shares again and dealt with the problem by keeping the cabbages to ferment into saurkraut. Now we’ll share that saurkraut with you all, and keep these cabbages to get another batch of saurkraut started.
Sunchokes are starchy tubers similar to potato and can be used similarly. Sunchokes are closely related to sunflower, and will often be call ‘Jerusalem artichokes’ for unclear reasons. Roasted sunchoke until tender is always nice. A favorite, but laborious, of mine is to make sunchoke chips to use as a gorgeous crunchy topping for a salad.
Goldrush are my favorite apples for a multitude of reasons. Goldrush apples are the state fruit of Illinois as of 2008 when a fourth-grade class from Woodlawn petition state legislature to adopt the fruit as a symbol of the state. Initially breed via a collaborative breeding program between University of Illinois, Purdue, and Rutgers, Goldrushs are crisp, tart, and sweet with a complex spice notes, like clove and allspice. My favorite thing about Goldrushes is how well they store. Their texture remains firm for several months with proper storage and from my experience, they even get sweeter with time.
We had Snowsweets back in the 9th share as well. They were the ones I recommended for charcuterie/cheese boards since they will keep a bright white once cut and have a savory buttery note. Nichols has noted that this has been on of their best apple crops ever, to the point that they are working to offload as much apples as possible heading into the winter. They’re running a sale through Thanksgiving of $40 per bushel. A bushel is a lot of apples, about 40-48lbs. For reference; half shares typically receive ~ 1lb, full shares ~2lbs. But if you want to try out making cider or apple sauce or have the space to store that much apples for the winter, this is a great opportunity. Or buy a bushel, take what you can manage and bring the rest to a food pantry where they would be well appreciated.
We have a treat from farmer Jarvi for this week. Last week was the last for harvesting at their Bronzeville plot at Legends Farm. The plot is rented by Windy City Harvest, the Chicago Botanical Garden’s urban agriculture apprenticeship program, and has to deal with the big problems plaguing urban agriculture; dependence on city water (it was turned off for the winter last week) and lack of land ownership (there is uncertainty whether the lease will be renewed each year so the growers must completely clear the space at the end of the season). Fortunately, Otter Oaks has secured land out in Woodstock, IL via the Conservations Fund’s Working Farms Fund. These pumpkins are the first of Otter Oaks’ many harvests to come from their Woodstock plot. Pie pumpkins can be used in any recipe that calls for pumpkin puree (pie, muffins, soup, sauce, etc.). This Serious Eats article does a great job explaining how to get from pumpkin to puree, which you could even freeze for later use.
Beets seem to be pretty polarizing for people. I would have thought most people don’t like them too much but I’ve been surprised by how many people tell us they love beets. The earthy flavor of beets is due to a molecule called geosmin. It’s also actually present in soil. When it rains, geosmin from the earth is aerosolized which creates the pleasant characteristic smell of rain (we’re extremely sensitive to it, so it doesn’t take much for us to be able to smell it) so maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised that people also like beets.
More leek! With the potatoes in this share a potato leek soup is sounding delicious. Vichyssoise is a classic. While typically served cold, with the cooler temps I’d just eat it hot.
We also had butternut in the shares back in September. We’ve been enjoying our squash roasted, as soup, and even as pasta sauce.
A variety of fingerling potatoes, these are an easy to use size. In kitchens, we often refer to tasks that are tedious and not really necessary as ‘french’. Peeling potatoes for anything besides mashed potatoes a bit too ‘french’ for me when doing home cooking.
The carrots are building up in our refrigerator from the ample amount Nichols has put in the shares this year. We’re planning to use some of the carrots for carrot cake as a different format for enjoying them. The rainbow carrots might add a fun variation to a typical carrot cake. Or it might just look a little ugly since the purple/red colors are due to anthocyanins which are water-soluble and pH sensitive (cakes are typically slightly alkaline from the baking soda/powder).
Eggplant and peppers are a couple of fruit-that-we-call-vegetables that have seasons extending into fall (vs. cucumber, tomato, or summer squash). This will be the second time we have them in the share from Otter Oaks and will be the some of the last things they harvest from the Bronzeville plot. Next year Otter Oaks will be cultivating an acre out in McHenry county. Jarvi said they’re looking forward to having the extra space (only 1/4 acre in Bronzeville currently) as it will allow them to grow more space intensive things like winter squashes as well as space things out a bit more to reduce pest pressure.
I don’t think you would be able to find scallions quite this big at the grocery store. Popular in Chinese cooking along garlic and ginger as the base aromatics for most dishes, the white portions can be used just as you would onion while the greens are perfect for a garnish and bringing a nice brightness when sliced thinly and added fresh to dishes.
Collard greens are most famously used in the dish simply called ‘collard greens’ or ‘collards’. The name ‘collards’ however is derived from the same word as other brassicas its closely related to. From On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee;
Several vegetables in the cabbage family, ‘kale’, ‘collards’, and ‘cauliflower’, have names that derive from the Latin word ‘caulis,’ meaning “stem” or “stalk,” the part of the plant from which the edible portions emerge. ‘Cabbage’ itself comes from the Latin ‘caput,’ meaning “head.”
In the list Nichols sent me, they had noted bell peppers for this week but not onions. Yet when we received the shares, onions and peppers! My guess is that as we near the end of the pepper season, there weren’t quite enough for all of the CSA shares Nichols does (>1000 per week) so they added some onions to compensate. Rather than giving half shares half a pepper, we thought it’d be nice to just slice them up along with the onions for a fajita mix. Definitely prioritize using these up first compared to the other things in the share since they’ll go bad the quickest. Hope you all enjoy it!
Greenhouse growing enables Nichols to greatly expand their variety and availability of produce at the beginning and end of seasons. As we start to approach cold nights that lettuce wouldn’t enjoy, growing it in a greenhouse keeps the temperature more even from the day to night allowing them to thrive and increasing the diversity of things we receive in the shares.
We had shallots in the shares back in August. Peeled shallots are a staple in restaurant walk-in coolers -but they’re typically enormous and a little sad looking. These from Nichols are smaller and have an intense flavor. We like to use a couple here or there in dishes like we would garlic or onion. Peeled and refrigerated like this they’ll keep for a long time also. Lisa and I still have some left from August that I used in chiliquilies this morning for breakfast so no need to rush to use these.
“Supersweet winter” isn’t the variety of these carrots, rather it describes the timing of their planting and harvesting. Once cold weather hits, carrots that are still in the ground convert starches to sugar. In that context, these are early winter carrots but the sweetness is already there. The carrots are building up in our refrigerator from the ample amount Nichols has put in the shares this year so we’re planning to use these for carrot cake as a different format for enjoying them.
This the second time we’ve received Jonathan apples this season. We haven’t been a particular rush to eat all of our apples. Come Thanksgiving, we’ll be thanking our past selves for hording away apples since we’ll make the most delicious mixed variety apple pie to bring to the festivities.
This will be the third share in a row with brussel sprouts which helps make up for the smaller amounts of them that we’ve been getting. I’ve been using them a lot recently to make a quick slaw as an side/garnish for whatever else I’m cooking. I’ll thinly slice 2-5 brussels, and then dress it with rice wine vinegar, maple syrup, and a touch of mustard (and maybe toss in some other fun things like pickles, seeds, or apples). I’ve used that slaw on top tacos, as a side with a sweet potato hash, and on a sandwich.
These leeks are really nice looking with large white portions, which is the most useful part of the leeks. The upper dark green portion starts to become more fibrous and bitter, and less sweet. When we trim the leeks up for you all, we keep the dark green parts to use for stock which they’re perfect for! We do have that stock for sale ($4 per quart) but keep it frozen so we don’t bring it with to pick-ups. Reach out if you’re ever interested in some.
Nichols listed these as ‘yellow’ potatoes, so I’m not exactly sure which variety they are. If I had to take a guess, I’d say they are the Canada Golds that we had back in the beginning of September.
A favorite tool I use when writing these blurbs is the website Apple Rankings. Written by comedian Brian Frange, it often gives extremely harsh but comical reviews of apple varieties. I’ll leave a blurb here from Apple Ranking’s review of Melroses, but I promise these are tastier than it makes it sound.
“This WWII-era tank-fruit is a daunting behemoth that could easily smash in a Nazi’s skull if hurled at close range. Dense, thick-skinned, and great in an apple pie, this state apple of Ohio may be the most American apple on Earth.”
These tomatoes are a mix of red and green as this week we’re helping out Otter Oaks by taking what fruit was left on their tomato plants. As the season is wrapping, farmer Jarvi has to completely clean up and clear out their plot at the Legends farm in Bronzeville. The land the Legends farm is on is leased yearly by The Chicago Botanical Garden as part of their urban agriculture apprenticeship program, Windy City Harvest, so at the end of each growing season there is always uncertainty around whether it will be leased again the following. Fortunately, Otter Oaks has secured a more stable land opportunity so that next season they don’t have to spend as much time clearing out, and focus on getting things started for a head start on spring. Here is a reddit thread with some ideas for how to use up end of season tomatoes!
Watermelon radishes are a little deceptive from the outside; green on the top fading to a pale white and then pink blushed at the tap root. On the inside they’re a strikingly vibrant purple-red. If you like the spiciness of radishes (they’re pretty spicy), they look amazing thinly sliced on a salad. Otherwise consider a quick pickle for an eye catching garnish.
Onions are the poster child for the group of vegetables called alliums which includes garlic, leek, shallots, and chives. The distinctive flavor of alliums is due to sulfur compounds that work as irritants resulting in the spiciness of alliums. When cells are damaged by cutting or chewing, enzymes are released that breakdown sulfur compounds into smaller volatile compounds that give the raw allium flavor. Cooking causes these compounds to react with each other creating a range of different flavor molecules creating a depth of flavor. This complexity is why we love alliums so much that they are ubiquitous across dishes and cuisines.
We had big bok choy from Otter Oaks back in the beginning of the season. These from Nichols are small and cute. Bok choy is part of the rapa group of brassicas along with turnips and napa cabbage. The smaller leaves of baby bok choy makes it nice for use whole, either quickly boiled, steamed, or roasted. Or just chop it and add to a veggie stir fry.
A mix of red and green leaf lettuce.
