June 20, 2024 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Fennel

 

What's In The Box

Fennel: Read more about this week’s featured vegetable below. While the bulb is the portion most used, the feathery fonds and the stalks are also usable. Fennel has a distinct flavor, reminiscent of anise or licorice. The flavor is more intense when eaten raw, so if you are looking for something milder, consider cooking it. Add it to pasta dishes, roasted vegetable blends, soups, stews, sauces, or stock where it will function more as an “aromatic” and add a nice, slightly sweet, background flavor.

Salad Mix: This is our final week of salad mix until we resume planting again in the fall. This week’s mix includes baby lettuce varieties along with some of that beautiful Red Tabby spinach that has excellent flavor! We also added a splash of color with a few peppery nasturtium flowers!

Garlic Scapes: We are hoping to harvest all the scapes before the end of this week. We’re just a few weeks away from garlic harvest and we want the plants to focus their energy into growing a nice sized bulb! Use garlic scapes anywhere that calls for garlic cloves, and substitute in a 1:1 ratio or more (if you are a garlic lover).

Rainbow Chard: This nutrient-dense leafy green is not only gorgeous but has depth of flavor. While it is most often cooked, it may also be eaten raw as a salad green. The colorful stems are also edible, so don’t discard them! They may need a slightly longer cooking time than the leaves.

Purple & White Spring Scallions: It’s a peak week for these spring scallions, so we harvested one bunch of each color for you! Use the entire onion, green tops, and all.

Strawberries: This will likely be our final week for harvesting strawberries. We are picking our late season variety which tends to produce big berries, but it has a softer texture. We've also had more rain this week, which makes this variety in particular a bit more delicate. So, eat your berries sooner than later and know that a bit of softness is normal for this variety.

Kohlrabi: Don’t let this unique vegetable intimidate you. Cut the leaves off and cook them as you would kale or collards. Peel the bulb in the same way you would peel an apple using a paring knife. I prefer to cut the kohlrabi into quarters before peeling to make the pieces easier to hold. Eat it raw or cooked.

Broccoli or White Cauliflower: We are harvesting our first spring crops of both of these vegetables and production is not quite at full throttle yet, so your box will contain one of these two items. Maximize your yields by using the dense stem portions of both in addition to the crown (florets) of the head.

Zucchini and/or Scallopini Squash: This is a warm-weather vegetable with a recommended storage temperature of 45-50°F. We recommend storing them at room temperature as a standard refrigerator is colder than this and may result in cold injury which will decrease the shelf life.

Green Top Baby Red Beets: Both the green tops and the beet roots are edible and loaded with nutrients! In particular, beets and their greens contain valuable plant compounds that support the liver with its role in detoxification. Beet greens may be eaten raw or cooked and may be used interchangeably in any recipe calling for chard. It’s best to cook beet roots with the skin on and then peel them so as to retain all of the nutrients.

Recipe Suggestions & Inspiration For This Week’s Box Contents

Fennel Honey Cake

Candied Fennel Stalk & Fennel Simple Syrup

Caramelized Fennel & Beet Pizza

Almond Strawberry Salad with Fennel

Pound Cake with Roasted Strawberry Fennel Compote

Roasted Beets & Fennel with Orange Vinaigrette 

B.L.K Sandwich (Bacon, Lettuce & Kohlrabi)

Swiss Chard & Lentil Soup with Herbed Kohlrabi Yogurt

Swiss Chard Salad with Parmesan, Lemon & Bread Crumbs

Savory Cheese & Scallion Scones

White Egg Pizza with Pecorino & Scallions

Sicilian Kohlrabi Linguine with Thyme, White Wine, and Crème Fraiche

Grilled Zucchini with Goat Cheese, Basil & Honey

Caramelized Zucchini Frittata

Chard, Spring Onion & Parmesan Pasta

Garlic Scape Pesto

Garlic Scape Compound Butter

Vegetable Feature: Fennel

Fennel is in the same family as carrots, dill, and parsley which are characterized by their feathery tops and round, flattened flower heads called umbels. It can be easily identified by its feathery tops and distinct aroma. Fennel is not a root vegetable, it actually grows above the ground and the feathery tops create a magical, cloud-like appearance in the field that makes you want to walk down the row while running your hands over the tops just to feel the softness and encourage the sweet aroma to fill the space around you. Yes, it’s magical. Fennel has the flavor of anise, or mild licorice. Nearly all of the fennel plant is edible and is comprised of three main parts. The white bulb at the base of the plant is the most commonly used part. The soft, fine, feathery green portion extending off the stalks is called “fronds.” The fronds are also edible and can be used more as an herb, seasoning or garnish. The stalks are sometimes too fibrous to eat, however they have a lot of flavor so don’t discard them!

Preparation & Usage

Fennel may be eaten both raw and cooked. In its raw form, you’ll find it to be crunchy and refreshing with a stronger anise flavor. It’s super important, when eating fennel raw, to slice it paper thin. It’s a very dense vegetable, so it’s a little hard to chomp down on a big, thick slice of it with enjoyment. The flavor, texture and overall eating experience is greatly enhanced by simply slicing it very thinly with either a mandolin or just a sharp knife. In its raw form it’s often used in vegetable and grain salads and can be pickled. The feathery fronds can be chopped finely or just tear up little tufts of them and add them to fresh salads, use them as a garnish for pasta or rice dishes, blend them into sauces, soups or vinaigrette, or even use them in a drink.

Fennel in the field

Fennel may also be cooked and can be roasted, sautéed, stir-fried, simmered in soups and stews and makes a delicious, flavorful gratin.  When cooked, the flavor of fennel mellows and is much more subtle.  This allows it to fade from the front, in-your-face position to a much more discreet presence as a background flavor that rounds out a dish.  The stalks are more fibrous, so generally are not eaten, however don’t throw them away.  They have a lot of flavor in them!  Put them in a roasting pan underneath a pork roast or whole chicken and the flavor and aroma of the fennel will permeate the meat as it roasts and it will add a nice background flavor to the pan sauce you make from the drippings.  If you’re making a seafood or potato chowder, add the stalks to the pot to flavor the broth or creamy base and just remove them before serving.  They also add a nice background flavor to something as simple as vegetable stock.

Fennel pairs well with a wide variety of foods including seafood, poultry, pork and cured meats such as salami and sopressata.  It also works well with cream as well as fresh and hard cheese such as feta and Parmesan.  Recipes featuring fennel will often include white wine, honey, lemons and other citrus fruit and/or vegetables such as tomatoes, celery, carrots, cucumbers as well as beets, dried beans and herbs including parsley, dill and basil.  In addition to citrus fruit, fennel also pairs well with pomegranates, berries, apples and stone fruit.

If you are using the fennel bulb, first peel off the outer layer of the bulb to wash away dirt that may be between the layers.  The outer layer is still usable after it is washed so don’t throw it away.  Cut the bulb in half and make a V-shaped cut into the core at the base of the fennel bulb.  Remove most of the core, then slice thinly or cut as desired.

Storage Tips

Beet & Fennel Pizza

Fennel should be stored in the refrigerator, loosely wrapped in plastic to keep it fresh and crisp.

Health & Nutrition 

Fennel is a good source of calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, and vitamins C & A.  The volatile oil that gives it the distinct flavor and aroma is called anethole.  It has been shown to reduce inflammation and help prevent some cancers.  As an added bonus, it is also a natural digestive and breath freshener!

Cultural & Historical Background 

Fennel is often found in Italian cuisine, but it is also included in some classical French dishes and may also be found in the cuisine of different parts of Asia.

Growing Information 

On our farm, we only plant two crops of fennel in the spring for harvest in late June/early July.

Israeli Fennel, Kohlrabi and Green Onion Salad

This week’s recipe is very simple and features three different vegetables from this week’s box!  

Yield:  4 servings

Photo from www.veredguttman.com

2 medium kohlrabi, peeled and sliced thinly (about 4 ½ cups)

2-3 fennel bulbs with stalks  

4 celery stalks

1 bunch scallions, cut on the diagonal (lower onion and green tops)

Juice from 3 large lemons (about ⅔ cup)

2 Tbsp olive oil

Salt, to taste

Optional:  Crumbled feta cheese, Sliced olives, Sliced Avocado

1. Cut the kohlrabi and fennel in half; discard the fennel core.  Cut the halves into very thin slices, using a knife or mandolin if you prefer.  You should have about 3 cups of fennel and 4 ½ cups kohlrabi.  Place vegetables in a large mixing bowl.
2. Slice celery stalks and fennel stalks thinly and add to the bowl.  Add the scallions, lemon juice and olive oil, mixing well to combine.  Add the salt, stir, and taste; adjust accordingly.  If you’re using feta, olives or avocado, add them just before serving.  Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Recipe developed by Vered Guttman and was originally published on her blog “Vered’s Israeli Cooking”.