What's In The Box
Rhubarb: Read more about how to use, prepare and store this week’s featured vegetable in our feature article. Store rhubarb in a plastic bag in the refrigerator to keep it hydrated until you’re ready to use it. Use it in sweet desserts or take advantage of its sourness in savory dishes!
Ramps: This is our final delivery of ramps. We harvested these at the end of last week as we were seeing signs indicating the end of harvest season. Prioritize using these ramps sooner than later as they may not store as long as with other deliveries.
Watercress: This green is in the “cress” family and has a peppery, spicy flavor. We have washed it, but suggest you give it a final washing in a sink of clean, cold water before you use it. Watercress may be eaten raw in salads or lightly wilted down or blended into soup. If you eat a piece on its own, you may find its pungency to be a bit too much. However, if paired with fat & acidity, the pungency mellows and the flavor is more balanced.
Chives: This is our last week for chives and yours may have some purple buds/blossoms. The flowers and/or buds are also edible and have a nice onion flavor. As the flower becomes more open, its stem may become more rigid and tough. If you notice this, use the rigid stem to flavor sauces and stocks, or compost it.
Green Garlic: Green garlic resembles a scallion or green onion, but you can tell the difference by looking at the green tops. Green garlic has flat leaves/green tops while green onions or scallions have round tops. Use green garlic, white base, and green tops, in any recipe calling for garlic and/or onions.
Egyptian Walking Onions: This is an overwintered multiplier onion. It’s called a “walking” onion because it forms a “set” on top that makes the green top so heavy it falls over, thereby propagating itself and “walking,” like an Egyptian I suppose. This is a flavorful onion, so be sure to use all of it from the base to the green tops.
Asparagus: There are two bunches in your box this week totaling about 1.5#. Steam it, roast it, sauté it, or shave it and eat it as a raw salad! Wrap it in bacon or prosciutto, drizzle it with brown butter or hollandaise. Eat it with your eggs for breakfast, layer it in a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, roast it and serve with grilled flank steak for dinner. Don’t forget to keep the base of the stems moist with a towel or stored upright in a glass of water to keep the spears crisp, not floppy.
Overwintered Parsnips: Stored in the field over the winter and dug this spring, these parsnips are sweet and delicious! You may notice some rusty blemishes on the exterior. This is something we see sometimes in the spring. It usually only affects the surface and may be cut or peeled away.
Gold Potatoes or Russet Potatoes: These potatoes are from last fall’s harvest and have been held in cold storage, but they are at a point in their lifecycle where they want to start sprouting. We recommend you use these potatoes within a week of receiving them. If you do have some that start to sprout, cut out the sprout and use the remainder of the potato as soon as possible.
Green Top Red Radishes: This is one of our favorite times of the year to eat fresh radishes as the flavor is most balanced in the cool of the spring and fall. Eat them with a bit of salt and butter or add them to a salad. And those green tops, don’t throw those away—they are edible and contain valuable nutrients! Use them to make pesto, blend them into a green drink, or sauté with other greens.
Little Gem Head Lettuce: We grew these compact heads of lettuce in one of our tunnel greenhouses. Separate the leaves from the core at the base of the head and wash well before using. Pat dry with a towel or dry them in a salad spinner. Turn them into a salad or use the leaves as a carrier for fillings or dipping!
Sorrel or Stinging Nettles:
Sorrel: Sorrel is a perennial green that is related to rhubarb. It is light green with arrow shaped leaves that are tangy and have a lemon-citrus flavor. Sorrel may be eaten raw or cooked in soups and sauces where it melts into the hot liquid. Please note, we have not prewashed the sorrel. You should wash this sorrel in clean, cold water before using it. Pat it dry with a clean towel or dry it in a salad spinner.
Nettles: Now before you go and put the nettles in the swap box, check out some of the suggested recipes below that are tried and true crowd pleasers! If you aren’t sure how to handle them so you don’t get stung by the little prickers on the stems and leaves, visit our nettle blog post from several years ago which includes handling suggestions and pictures. Once the nettles have been blanched in boiling water, they can be handled with bare hands.
Recipe Suggestions & Inspiration For This Week’s Box Contents:
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| Nettle & Mushroom Pizza with Ramp Cream |
Persian Rhubarb Stew (See Below)
Vegetable Feature: Rhubarb
Rhubarb is an interesting vegetable that is often thought of as a fruit. It is part of the knotweed family of plants that also includes sorrel and buckwheat. Both rhubarb and sorrel are perennial crops that we rely on to fill the gap in our diet between stored winter vegetables and spring planted crops. These vegetables are high in oxalates which is what gives them that sour, tangy flavor. In the case of rhubarb, the stalk is the edible part of the plant and the leaves are discarded.
Preparation & Usage:
Of course, you’ll never go wrong with enjoying rhubarb in sweet preparations as well. Muffins, cakes, cobbler, fruit crisps and beverages are all excellent ways to use rhubarb. Rhubarb pairs well with fruits including strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, lemon, oranges and apples. Finally, sugar is not the only sweetener for rhubarb; the flavors of honey and maple syrup are also nice accompaniments.
Storage Tips:
Rhubarb should be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator to keep it fresh and firm until you’re ready to use it. If it gets a little floppy or dehydrated, don’t throw it away as it can still be used in dishes where you’re cooking the rhubarb. Rhubarb can also be frozen for later use. If you want to freeze rhubarb, simply wash the stalks, cut into smaller pieces (size is up to you) and put it in the freezer in a freezer bag. You do not need to cook rhubarb before freezing it, you can freeze it raw.
Growing Information: Rhubarb is a perennial plant that grows from a gnarly root base referred to as a “crown.” Once a plant is established it can continue to produce for many years. The first several years are very important for the plant to make sure the crown develops and has enough energy to become established. For the first two years of the plant’s life, we don’t harvest any rhubarb from the plant. In the third year, we start harvesting stalks.
Additional Points of Interest:
Rhubarb is thought to have originated in the areas of China, Mongolia and Russia. Before it was used as a food, rhubarb root was traditionally used as a medicine to treat a wide range of ailments, including detoxification, liver & blood cleansing. Its culinary use also started in the east where it was used in drinks and meat stews before later spreading to Europe and finally the United States at the end of the 18th century. It now holds a special spring time slot in our Midwestern diets.
Persian Rhubarb Stew (Khoresh Rivas)
Yield: 4 servings
4 Tbsp olive oil
1-1 ¼ cup thinly sliced spring onions/scallions and/or green garlic (base only)
½ tsp turmeric, ground
1 pound stewing meat (beef, lamb, chicken thighs)
2 ½-3 cups water or stock (vegetable, beef or chicken)
1 ½ tsp salt, plus more to taste
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 pound rhubarb (Approximately 2 cups), cut into ¾-1 inch chunks
Sabzi (Herbs)
4 Tbsp olive oil
3 cups finely chopped fresh parsley
1 cup finely chopped fresh mint
- In a medium-large pot, heat the olive oil and sauté the onions over medium heat for about 8-10 minutes.
- Add the turmeric and stir to combine before adding the beef pieces. Add the beef and sauté until the beef starts to brown a bit, stirring periodically to make sure the onions do not get too brown.
- Add 2 ½ cups of water or stock, bring to a rapid simmer, cover and simmer over low heat for about 40-60 minutes or until the meat is just starting to get tender. The cooking time for this step will vary depending on the cut of meat you use.
- Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, add 4 Tbsp olive oil and sauté the chopped fresh parsley and mint over medium heat for 8-10 minutes. You may need to add another ½ cup of liquid at this step if the amount of liquid in your stew has reduced greatly.
- Lower the heat towards the end to prevent the herbs from burning. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- After the meat has cooked for 40-60 minutes, add the salt, pepper and sauteed herbs. Cover and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes over medium-low heat. At this point, the stew should be very fragrant with the herbs and meat fork tender. The consistency of the stew should be dense and not at all watery. In the next step you will add the rhubarb which will release some liquid, so if you feel like it needs more liquid hold off until the rhubarb has cooked down a bit.
- Add the rhubarb pieces to the stew, gently mix, cover, and cook until the rhubarb has softened, about 8-10 minutes. You want the rhubarb to be tender, but to still hold its shape. Thus, take care not to overcook it (and if you do, it will still be delicious it will just have less chunkiness).
- Serve the stew with steamed basmati rice and, if you wish, a side of plain yogurt.
Recipe adapted from Omid Roustaei, The Caspian Chef.
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