Hi everyone!
We hope you’re as excited as we are about the fridge restock after the break! We build a break week into the season as an opportunity to catch-up, shift things around, and take a breather. Every year Lisa and I have been fortunate enough to fit a little trip into it, and this year we switched things up and made the trek up to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Luckily, we have Lisa’s mom’s place to stop at halfway breaking up the 7 hr drive. The drive is totally worth it though: we camped in vast forests, swam in Lake Superior’s pristine waters, and picked both farmed and foraged raspberries. The Great Lakes and The Midwest never fail to amaze me.
After the UP, we did a quick road trip to visit my Grandma. A big part of this year’s break was sharing news with family, and now we’re thrilled to share it with you all as well —Lisa and I are expecting a baby! Lisa is due in mid-January and we’re overjoyed to start this new chapter. We’re hoping to continue Gard Mo and the CSA Club next season but are still working through the logistics along with the co-op study group to make sure it’s manageable. We’ll likely ask for your feedback and ideas as we figure things out, so stay tuned!
The shares this week are filled with the best of summer, and I don’t anticipate it slowing down for the rest of the season.
Hope you all enjoy the share!
—Ben
It’s been awhile since we’ve had radishes, despite them being heavily featured in the beginning of the season. These ones have a pretty spicy bite to them. We typically suggest cooking the radishes as a way to mellow them out. Pickling them will also mild out that spiciness, while making them a little more funky. To pickle them, slice them thin and follow the liquid portion from this quick pickle recipe.
There are two different varieties this week. One I’m pretty confident are sugar cubes; a highly regarded variety of muskmelon that is hard to beat. The other is maybe Milan, but it’s tough for me to say.
Edamame are immature and still-green soybeans. We left them in the pods still, since eating them straight out of the pod is a fun way to enjoy them. This article outlines a couple different ways to cook edamame. Or shell the edamame and use the beans alone in a dish like this succotash.
These are also often called ‘Hericot Verts.’ They’re a slender variety that are prized for their flavor. I promised back in July when we first got green beans that they would be regularly featured in the shares, and this season has not disappointed. In case you didn’t know, you can click the blue link below each produce item to see all of our recipes featuring that particular veggie.
Jarvi from Otter Oaks described these as an asian/middle eastern variety. They’re similar to the ones we had back in the 5th share. Try out this Adobo Baingain Bharta recipe from Azziza (last year’s CSA Club assistant).
There were spring onions in earlier share. These are those, all grown-up. Nichols now will take the ones that have an intact exterior papery skin and cure them so that they’re able to be stored through the fall. However, a number will have not as nice of a papery exterior and won’t be able to be stored. Those are the ones that we get to eat! With a thinner skin and pretty dirty, we peel them, and clean them up but that means they need to still be refrigerated.
From On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee:
“In the United States, pungent capsicum fruits are generally called ‘peppers,’ or ‘hot peppers,’ terms that stem from the early Spanish identification of capsicum with black-pepper pungency. The native Nahuatl word was ‘chilli,’ which gave rise to Spanish ‘chile,’ and in turn to American ‘chili’ (both a capsicum-flavored stew and the powder used to make it).”
Patty pan is squash that is disc shaped, with both green and yellow varieties. Its flavor is about what you would expect from a summer squash, so take advantage of its adorable shape when cooking or try out this Patty Pan Taco recipe we shared last year.
Romas are the most famous variety of plum tomatoes. These are more fleshy than heirlooms or slicing tomatoes, making them great for making a sauce with as they are less watery. But they still taste pretty great just for a salad or sandwich also.
