Hi everyone!
I hope you all are doing well. I don’t normally mention much outside of the CSA Club in these newsletters, but given what feels like a dramatic escalation of the current situation I feel like I should. We generally think of the CSA Club as a form of activism through food. We believe that collectivism and community building is the only way to a prosperous future, and hope that the CSA Club does that through the mutual supporting of the local food system. By diverting our food dollars back into our community rather than grocery store chains, distributors, large agriculture corporations, and ultimately the fossil fuel industries (via fuel, fertilizers and other chemicals), we can keep power in our community by not allowing wealth to be siphoned out to large international companies. Those large entities are disconnected from Chicago, and us. Given a choice between us and profits, they will always pick profits and won’t hesitate to use those profits to influence policies to our detriment.
But as we watch this occupation of Chicago unfold, I find myself feeling like I should do more. Governor Pritzker gave an address last Monday where he forcefully condemned the unlawful activity of ICE, DHS, and the federal government. Unfortunatly because of the legal power of the federal government, there is not much that the state government can do to restrict the feds activity or hold them accountable. The only thing the Governor had to offer as resistance was a plea for help from Illinoisians to film, document and share these unhelpful, illegal, and immoral activities of the feds. Fortunately, the community was already on it.
Across Chicagoland, rapid response groups are organizing to be wherever the feds are to record what they are doing. If you are like me and trying to figure out a way to do more, getting involved with one of these groups would be a great way to do that. PUÑO (Pilsen Unidos por Nuestro Orgullo) is the group here in Pilsen that has been organizing patrol shifts. I have not been particularly involved yet, but Lisa is way more knowledgeable on the situation and would be happy to chat with anyone about it so please feel free to reach out.
There’s lots of tasty stuff in the shares this week, particularly a lot of apples. We like to keep our apples in the crisper box of the refrigerator in their brown paper bags. Like that, they’ll keep for months. Knowing that we can stockpile apples for winter makes the amount we’ll get through the end of the season less daunting.
Hope you all enjoy the share.
—Ben
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.
The characteristic green bell pepper flavor is due to the compound isobutyl methoxypyrazine (the same that give sauvignon blancs their distinctive vegetal notes). In red varieties, those compounds fade as the peppers ripen and the flavor becomes dominated by fruiter and more floral compounds like capsanthin, capsorubin, and beta-carotene.
These cute dollop-of-pumpkin winter squashes were initially bred in Japan and are still popular there. They have an chestnut-like flavor which is how they got their name; kuri means “chestnut” in Japanese.
Jonagolds are a cross between Golden Delicious and Jonathon bred at the New York State Experimental Station in the 1950s. The texture of the one I tried was a little softer than I prefer but the taste was a strong sweet-tart balance with an intense apple juice flavor.
Ambrosias were first cultivated in British Columbia, Canada in the 1990’s. They’ve gone on to find wide popularity as a year-around grocery store staple often displacing Red Delicious. These ones from Nichols are sweet with only a touch of tartness and a flavor that reminds me of banana bread.
These are some gorgeous peppers. They’re similar to other pepper varieties you might see called ‘frying peppers’ or ‘Jimmy Nardello’s.’ We’re in the peak of pepper season right now. This is point in the season when red peppers are plentiful and delicious. You’ll notice some green color lingering on these. Most peppers will eventually ripen to a red color if left on the vine long enough. I find that red peppers have a more fruity flavor than the green ones. Jalapenos, for example, we typically eat green but you can occasionally find red ones at grocery stores. Red peppers will always be a little more expensive though since for industrial agriculture the extra time on the vine reduces the overall yield of the plant by weight. For smaller farms, they’ll pick green peppers early in the season as needed and the rest later as they turn red for a natural staggering of the pepper crop rather than just maximizing pounds of peppers.
