Hi everyone!
As I write this Tuesday afternoon, we’re prepping veggies for CSA Club but my mind is on the Next Door Dinner that we have going on tonight. Doing these dinners is always a lot of fun for me. Working with the produce for the CSA Club is always gratifying to know that you all will be cooking up tasty meals, but serving finished dishes with tasty local produce just hits a little different. In addition to the tasty food we’ll be sharing with tonight’s guests, the dinner will have raised about ~$1200 for El Paseo Community Gardens plus another ~$600 of food purchased from local growers and producers. It should be a beautiful night, and I look forward to seeing anyone that is able to make it!
The shift into fall produce has happened. This week’s shares feature iconic autumnal favorites.
Hope you all enjoy the share.
—Ben
Lettuce and other non-kale leafy greens typically go bad the quickest of all the veggies we get. A tip to help greens last a long as possible; if you notice any that are starting to look a little less than great, get rid of those leaves right away. As some start to deuterate, they will cause other go quicker. We also like to crack the container open in the refrigerator, if we notice a lot of condensation as too much moisture in the container will also cause it to go bad quickly.
We end up cutting the squash for you all out of necessity more than anything else. Because it ends up being one squash per full share from Nichols, to make half shares work we have to cut them so we figure best to do them into nice wedges for everyone. That way all you have to do for a simple preparation is oil and salt the wedges and put them into a 400F until tender (~30-45 mins).
Cabbage is a great a rainy-day item. It will keep in the refrigerator for months, and you can always just cut a portion off the head to use, and put the rest back in the refrigerator for later (in a unsealed plastic bag).
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 Cortlands, but I promise these are tastier than it makes it sound.
Discovered in 1898, in the remarkably not Cortland city of Geneva, NY this flattened McIntosh sandbag of shit continues the age-old tradition of dragging the apple reputation of New York State into the sewer.
In 2018, Gala surpassed Red Delicious as America’s Most Popular Apple. If you’ve ever had one and found it underwhelming, don’t hold it against these. Apples are a great storage crop so grocery stores (the distributors they buy from) are able to take advantage of that and often source off-season Galas from around the world for the best pricing and year-around availability. An in-season Gala is wildly superior.
The Cox Orange Pippin is an old variety, first cultivated in the 1820’s. Cox Orange’s are famous for their complex flavor so are a often in craft ciders. They’re extremely aromatic with notes of cherry and anise.
You’ll often see a similar variety in super markets branded as sun gold. Otter Oak has been growing this particular variety of gold cherry tomatoes for a couple of seasons, and Jarvi mentioned that people will usually start asking when they’ll have them as early as June.
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.
Onions are one of those things we’re always happy to get in the share. They’ll last plenty long in the refrigerator, and there is a place for onion in just about every dish.
Bred by North Carolina State University, Covington sweet potatoes are great baking, mashing, and roasting. The simplest way to enjoy these is by baking whole at 375F for ~1hr.
