Spoutwood Farm CSA Harvest Guide: Week 11- Aug 22, 2005
To view the second harvest for this week, click here
To return to the 2005 Harvest Guide page, click here
WORK HOURS: Please contact Liz ASAP (by phone or e-mail) to confirm a day and time you are planning to work on your share hours. THIS IS IMPORTANT! We need to know in advance that we have help on the schedule.
Next CORE GROUP MEETING : Sat., September 10, 4pm, afterwards potluck. All are invited!
Carrots – Great fresh, in salads, or stir fries.
Green Peppers – Great fresh, in salads, or stir fries.
Hot Peppers –Two kinds—lil’ and big hot peppers-(the lil’ guys are hotter).
Squash – Yellow crookneck and golden or white patty pan—great fried up with onions and garlic, with cheese melted on top.
Eggplant – We now have Louisiana Long Green eggplants, in addition to Orient Express and Black Bell. See Veggie of the week for more ideas.
Cherry Tomatoes – Still getting those “Sun Gold” cherries.
Tomatoes – Great fresh, in salads, or on sandwiches, but not so hot in stir-fries, though you can make a mean curry with them.
Lettuce – This oakleaf or red romaine survived the summer but is not large.
Kale – You should be well acquainted with this one by now.
Green Beans – The start of round two, but not as prolific as round one.
Green Onions –They’re green and they’re onions—need we say more?
Herbs – Basil and parsley.
Flowers – This week’s bouquet features sunflowers, yellow tansy, zinnias, African marigolds, lime or burgundy cockscomb (celosia), green centered cone flowers, globe amaranth and white-green wild boneset.
Recipe of the Week: Baba Ghanoush or Eggplant and Tahini Dip
Here is a tried and delicious recipe from CSA member Tabitha Harrison
1 large eggplant
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/4 cup lemon juice
Slice eggplant in half lengthwise and put upside down on a greased foil lined pan. Put under a broiler until the outside skin is charred black and the pulp inside is soft (15 to 30 minutes). Scrape out eggplant and put in bowl to cool, preferably in refrigerator for several hours. Pour off extra liquid before using. In a food processor, mince garlic, and scrape down sides. Add eggplant, salt, and 1/4-cup tahini. Pulse the food processor to mix. Slowly add lemon juice. Taste. Adjust salt and lemon or tahini.
Serve on a shallow platter and garnish with chopped parsley, miniature eggplant, and tomato or radish roses. Serve with Lebanese pita bread.
Mother Earth Harvest Fair is October 1 and 2 at the Farm, 10-6 both days. It’s definitely a blast: Music and dancing, food galore, storytelling, harvest crafts, craft vendors, Mother Earth Poetry Marathon, Apple Harvest Village, tons of speakers and exhibits on such sustainable living topics as Green Energy and Building Technologies, Folk Culture, Nature (Native plants and wildlife, environmental causes), Sustainable Food and Farming, Sustainable Healthcare & Wellness and Native American Traditions. Please take extra poster-flyers to post or give to friends. If you want to be involved with the CSA booth or the demos of food preservation, please call Liz at 717-235-9272, spoutwoodcsa@yahoo.com .
Eggplant
Eggplant in the U.S. and Great Britain is understated as an edible landscape plant while everywhere else in the world it is appreciated as a valuable staple taking culinary turns to suit each culture.
Why the geographic dichotomy? A wrinkle in history! Eggplant was introduced to Western Europe in the 16th Century when science cautioned against eggplant because of its family tree:
Eggplant is a member of the Nightshade family. Members include tomato, potato, Jimson weed and Belladonna. In truth, eggplant is really a berry. Nightshade plants are known for their poisonous qualities. In fact an immature eggplant does contain toxins, which can cause illness. Thus, the eggplant was renamed “mad apple” by Western Europeans for fear that eating eggplant would cause mental illness. That fear took over 300 years to overcome.
Meanwhile the rest of the world celebrated eggplant. Eggplants, wherever one might find them, are beautiful. The color ranges from green-white, to lavender, to deep black-purple. The skin is shiny and the shape varies from round, to oblong, to the shape of a crooked neck squash. The size may be as small as a grape, to the size of a baseball to the size of an elongated large squash. The flesh is generally white which turns grey-brown when cooked.
Eggplant probably originated in India but documentation of eggplants being cultivated in China is dated as early as 500BCE. Japan toasts eggplant as one of their five most important vegetables; eggplants have been around Japan for almost as long as they have been in China. Eggplant cultivation was wide across the Middle East with each culture ensuring specific traits to suit their tastes. By the 15th Century eggplants were thriving in Greece. By the 16th Century Spanish and Portuguese explorers brought eggplants from home and from Africa to Mexico and back home again. (The Spanish could not live without eggplant. They fancied the food an aphrodisiac calling it “the apple of love.”)
Despite Louis the XIV’s horticultural experiment with eggplant in his royal garden, eggplant was not accepted in France until the 17th Century during the Enlightenment when the French courtiers indulged in the fad of eating grilled eggplant (Probably heard of it from the courts of Spain and could not resist.)
Thank goodness the truth is out on eggplant. The Eggplant is a wonderful food: filling but low in calories. Although it is not particularly high in any single vitamin, it is tasty, high in fiber and has some protein. Eggplant is often used as a meat substitute for vegetarians because it is fleshy and tends to fill the stomach.
How can one prepare eggplant? Lets go country by country:
· G.B.: Scoop out uncooked flesh from rind. Roast with salt, pepper and butter. Stuff mixture into rind and bake.
· France: Sauté onion and garlic in oil, then, add eggplant, tomatoes, herbs and spices. Serve alone or with rice. Call it Ratatouille.
· Turkey: Here’s one of forty ways- Shish Kebab- lamb cubes with eggplant cubes and other veggies grilled on a skewer.
· China: Stir-fry with basil.
· Middle East: Roast eggplant with garlic, tahini, lemon juice, salt and olive oil and call it Baba Ghanoush.
· Japan: Dip eggplant slices into tempura batter, then deep fry.
· Greece, Turkey and Romania: Layer a casserole with eggplant, lamb and bechamel sauce.
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