Spoutwood Farm CSA Harvest Guide: Week 1- June 13, 2005
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Welcome to Spoutwood CSA 2005! A hearty welcome to your first harvest of the year. More than likely many of you will be meeting some new vegetables over the 22 weeks of harvesting. We want to make it as easy as possible for both you and vegetables to get to know each other. Please don’t hesitate to call if you feel lost or confused. Remember that harvests go through the first week of November. Beginning harvests will be heavy on greens like kale and chard – and then before you know it the squash, peas, broccoli, beans, etc. will start rolling in. Do not be intimidated by leaves which are wilty or spotted. Soaking wilted greens in cold water, sometimes for an hour or more, will revive them. Little spots and holes, once washed, do not take away from the nutritional value of the leaves. Just eat around the holes. We grow all vegetables organically and would rather not spray to reduce minor insect damage. When necessary, we give the vegetables a preliminary washing in stream or tap water. As a rule you should supplement by washing all vegetables thoroughly before eating! Your handbooks, which tell you almost all you need to know about storing & eating your veggies, will be given out sometime in the next week or two.
Strawberries – This is the first time in years that we have strawberries! We don’t know how they will continue to produce.
Broccoli – The recent heat is pushing the broccoli heads. They’re smaller this year, but will be with us a good while.
Chinese Cabbage – This yellow-green tall head is an ideal vegetable for stir fries, soups, and salads (using the leafier part for salads). The insects go after the leaves so you may see some cosmetically challenging holes. You may rest assured that it’s perfectly nutritious and tasty. The amount may look intimidating, but it really cooks down. Stir fries are the best way to go, and you can freeze the stir-fries.
Swiss Chard – A most wonderful vegetable coming in green, red, yellow and orange. Use raw in salads or cooked any number of ways. Great cooked, butter or olive oil and seasonings added to the hot greens.
Green Onions – Use the greens as well as the small bulbs chopped into soups, salads or stir fries. Also cuttings from onion transplants are available.
Lettuce – Red or green leaf lettuce to start the season
Greens (Broccoli Raab, Yakina Savoy, Mustard) – We are inundated with greens because of the cool spring. And now due to the extreme heat they’re bolting. Don’t feel obliged to take your full allotment if you think it’s too much. Mustard is a bitey addition to a salad and great on some sandwiches. The raab and yakina are good all around, including cooking by steaming, stir-frying, or lightly boiling. Even the flowering tops of the raab are usually tender.
Spinach – Never too much spinach for salad, stir-fries or cooked greens
Radishes – Radishes are large but still crisp. The greens are also nutritious in salad or cooked.
Bok Choi.—This is another oriental vegetable made for stir-frying.
Kale—Curly Green or Red Russian are a nutritious, steamed or stir-fried treat. Great also in soup and in salads, esp. the Red Russian which is closer to the texture and tenderness of lettuce!
Herb – Parsley and cilantro. Cilantro is excellent in salsa, also try in soups, salads and stir fries.
Flowers –Sorry, no bouquet this week
Stir-fried Chinese Cabbage from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home
2T veg oil (1 of dark sesame oil and 1 of veg oil, even better)
7-8 cups sliced Chinese Cabbage
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2-3 T soy sauce or tamari
2 garlic cloves, minced
toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Heat oil over high heat in a wok or skillet. When very hot, add onion and garlic; stir-fry until onions are translucent and turning golden. Add Chinese cabbage; stir-fry until leaves are slightly wilted. Add soy sauce; stir-fry until stems are tender but firm. Serve immediately, garnished with sesame seeds, if desired. Four servings. Also try any of this week’s other greens in this recipe.
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