June 27, 2024 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Salad Cabbage

 

What's In The Box

Salad Cabbage: This week you will receive one of two varieties of salad cabbage that we grow in early summer. “Tiara” is a round variety and “Sweetheart” is a pointy headed cabbage. Both of these varieties differ from storage cabbage in that they are more tender and mild flavored. They are great for salads, slaws, or may be lightly cooked such as in this week’s featured recipe.

Garlic Scapes: We are in our final week of garlic scapes. We plan to start harvesting fresh bulbs of garlic next week! Enjoy this final taste of fresh, bright garlic flavor in a batch of Garlic-Scape Cilantro Pesto!

Purple & White Scallions: We are nearing the end of scallions which means we’ll be switching over to fresh Sierra Blanca onions within the next week or so. Scallions are an important part of Chinese cuisine and form the base of many dishes along with garlic and ginger. Consider using scallions to make a tasty stir-fry this week!

Cauliflower or Broccoli: This week we’re harvesting our first crop of cauliflower. Despite having a bit of a wet spring, these plants are actually producing some nice cauliflower. The heads are on the small side but remember to use the stem portion along with the florets to maximize yields. We are in between two crops of broccoli this week, so the harvest has been a little light. We’ll have more coming next week.

Green and/or Slicer Cucumbers: We are pleased to see our cucumber crop kicking into production! There is a nice pile of cucumbers in your box this week to get the season started. Enjoy them as a stand-alone cucumber salad or add them to a cabbage slaw or noodle salad. You can also preserve them by making a jar of refrigerator pickles or fermenting them. 
 
Zucchini and/or Scallopini Squash: Zucchini is one way nature keeps us hydrated during the heat of summer and it’s also one of the most versatile summer vegetables! Use it in stir-fry, casseroles, salads, or baked goods. Store at room temperature as it will sustain chill injury if stored for extended time in the refrigerator.  
             
Green Top Chioggia Beets: Be careful not to confuse the radishes and the beets this week! One way to distinguish between the two is to cut open one of the roots. Chioggia beets will have candy stripes inside! To retain the stripes, it’s best to either eat them raw or roasted. Don’t forget to use the edible green tops as well!

Green Top Orange Carrots: The ultimate sign of a fresh carrot is when it still has its green tops attached! This early variety of carrot is known for being a tender carrot. Munch on them raw, add them to slaws and salads, or lightly cook them. The green tops are also edible and are packed with nutrients, so put them to use! There are recipe suggestions below.

Green Top Red Radishes: Don’t confuse this week’s radishes with the beets. When you cut into a radish it will be entirely white on the inside. Use the roots in salads, munch on them raw with a bit of salt, or if you prefer a milder radish flavor you can roast them. Don’t let those bountiful tops go to waste! Add them to a stir fry, incorporate them into a green drink, or turn them into pesto!

Cilantro: This is one of our “bread and butter” crops and we have an abundant supply right now! Cilantro is an herb that is used around the world. Add it to tacos, Vietnamese noodle salads, Indian curries, or juice it along with cucumbers and lime juice!

Recipe Suggestions & Inspiration For This Week’s Box Contents

Life Changing Crispy Fish Tacos with Cilantro Lime Slaw
Simplest Cabbage Slaw
Easy Ginger Scallion Chicken Stir-Fry
31 Reasons Garlic, Ginger & Scallions are the Holy Trinity of Flavors
Soba Noodle Salad with Chicken and Chile (also featuring cucumbers, radishes, cilantro& scallion)
Grilled Zucchini & Goat Cheese Salad
Crispy Zucchini Black Bean Tacos
Roasted Cauliflower Black Bean Tacos
Creamy Cucumber & Radish Salad with Dill
How To Use Radish Greens & Radish Top Pesto
Carrot Top Chimichurri
Carrot Top Pesto
Cucumber Cilantro Margarita
Cilantro Cucumber Detox Juice
Butter Glazed Roasted Red Radishes with Fresh Herbs
Chioggia Beet Carpaccio
Beet Green & Almond Pesto Pilaf
Shaved Beet & Carrot Salad with Citrus-Scallion Dressing

Vegetable Feature: Salad Cabbage

Sweetheart Cabbage

This year we have two varieties of salad cabbage, Tiara and Sweetheart. Tiara is a round cabbage and sweetheart cabbage forms a pointy head. Both are smaller varieties typically only weighing about 1¼ to 2 pounds on average. These varieties are intended to be grown as an early-season cabbage and are known as “salad cabbage” because the leaves are tender enough to be eaten raw in salads. Another reason we grow this variety for summer harvest is that it gives us another option for a “salad green” during early summer when lettuce is more difficult to grow.

Preparation & Usage

Sweetheart cabbage may be eaten raw or lightly cooked.  Lightly rinse the outer leaves before using.  If you don’t use the entire cabbage for one preparation, wrap the remaining portion of cabbage and store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.  One cabbage typically yields 7-10 cups of shredded cabbage.  You’ll be surprised by how much cabbage is packed into these dense little heads! If you’re using it for vegetable slaws or raw salads, slice it very thinly or shred it.  If you choose to cook it, I’d recommend a quick cooking method such as stir-frying or grilling and be careful not to overcook it!

Storage Tips

Store your cabbage in the refrigerator loosely wrapped in a plastic bag. If you don’t need to use the whole head at one time, just trim off the portion you need and put the remainder back in the refrigerator. If your cabbage starts to get soft or a little dehydrated, don’t throw it out! It’s still good and is perfectly usable for making soup or any other dish where you’ll be cooking the cabbage.

Health & Nutrition 

Cabbage is packed with nutrients including vitamins C and K, fiber B6 as well as antioxidants.

A Recipe For Peace: Embracing Diversity & Remembering Our Humanity

By Andrea Yoder

“You can learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together.”—Anthony Bourdain

I am not a historian, a philosopher, a scholar or an academic. I write, but I would not call myself a writer. I am not as well-read in world affairs as I should or could be. I have traveled to only three countries outside of the United States. I identify as a human being, with a heart, living in a global community and I often seek to explore and understand different parts of the world and its people through food. This is the language I speak and thankfully, food is something that is shared by every other human in the world. Our common thread.

As we started the CSA season this year, the state of the world weighed heavy on my heart—and still does. I kept thinking to myself “what can I do?” The things that are happening in the world—in Palestine, but other areas as well (Ukraine, Sudan, Congo, sadly the list goes on), are incomprehensible to me. I cannot recall where I saw this quote, but it was something like “We judge that which we do not understand.”  As I reflected on these words, I thought maybe if we can understand more about other people and where they come from, that may be the start of breaking down walls and barriers of judgement. Perhaps the effort to become more informed could be an entry point for compassion & basic considerations of humanity, the first step in a recipe for peace. 

As I started looking at recipes to feature with each week’s delivery, I was drawn to looking at other cultures to see what I might learn from other parts of the world and how they prepare vegetables and incorporate them into their meals, traditions, celebrations, etc. I started with a recipe from India, found a rhubarb stew from Persia (Iran), a simple Hungarian Kohlrabi Soup, and an Israeli Fennel, Kohlrabi and Green Onion Salad. Yes, I will definitely be featuring some Palestinian recipes as well in upcoming weeks as more summer vegetables fill our plates. I also hope to explore some other areas of the world I know nothing about with the intention to embark on a steep learning curve. Perhaps we may honor the people of Congo with some recipes that represent Congolese culture or perhaps Sudanese cuisine. There is a vast world to explore.

I do not know fully what cultures, religions, or belief systems are represented within our membership. There may be people from India, China, Argentina, Palestine, South Africa, Israel, Mexico, Korea, Greece and beyond. There may be people in our membership who are Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. There may be Muslims, Buddhists, Baptists, Mennonites, Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, Mormons, and Jews. There may be people in our membership who support abortion and those who do not. We feed everyone. We may not personally agree with everyone’s beliefs, but we invite everyone to come to our table for peaceful, respectful conversation and acknowledge the sovereign right to agree to disagree.

Can we, the people of one CSA community in the Midwest, be a representation of a world living in peace, respecting each other? Can we be a representation of humans teaching other humans how to be good humans through example? Can we sit together and share meals and food in an effort to learn each other’s stories and in doing so cultivate compassion and recognize that beneath the skin we are all the same? Can we open our hearts to share another’s pain, and can we speak up to say enough is enough? Can we lead with love even when it’s so very hard to do? I challenge myself with these questions.

I recently had the opportunity to watch a documentary entitled “Where The Olive Trees Weep: No One Is Free Until We All Are Free.” The introduction to this film reads as follows: “Where The Olive Trees Weep offers a searing window into the struggles and resilience of the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. It explores themes of loss, trauma and the quest for justice…..Ancient landscapes bear deep scars, having witnessed the brutal reality of ancestral land confiscation, expulsions, imprisonment, home demolitions, water deprivation, and denial of basic human rights. Yet, through the veil of oppression, we catch a glimpse of resilience—deep roots that have carried the Palestinian people through decades of darkness and shattered lives. This emotional journey bares the humanity of the oppressed while grappling with the question: what makes the oppressor so ruthlessly blind to its own cruelty?” 

After the release of this film earlier this month, the directors hosted 21 days of discussions looking at the history and current situation of the Palestinian people. They have interviewed leaders in faith, physicians, poets, artists, lawyers, activists, psychologists, all in an effort to understand what got us to the point we are at right now while simultaneously seeking answers and direction for a peaceful way forward for all. I have watched the discussions each day and this experience has been such a gift to me and has helped me be a quick study. I have cried and allowed my heart to break over and over as the names and faces become real to me. It is no longer “Palestinians,” but rather people with names who have suffered and died. People who have risked imprisonment simply by participating in some cases. People who had to choose their words carefully for fear they would be arrested. While my heart is still very heavy, my hope in humanity is renewed. I have watched Palestinians and Israelis come together to have conversation. I have watched people of differing religions come together in prayer. We cannot assume a belief system simply because one is Israeli, Palestinian, American or anything else. Through coming together, we can work with the common thread of a longing for PEACE.

If you are interested in viewing the film, you may find more information about how to do so HERE. You will also find some helpful resources if you wish to become more involved.

As we prepare to pack this week’s CSA boxes, I am very much aware of how very blessed we are to be able to farm the land we are stewards of, to produce food for all of your tables. In a world where there are farmers without land and abandoned fields without caretakers while people face malnutrition and famine, the food we pack in CSA boxes feels even more sacred. Thank you for being part of our CSA community and our global community. May we all do our part to create a world where we are all free and live respectfully in peace, one meal at a time.

Charred Cabbage with Hazelnuts & Chile Butter

Photo from the book:  Ripe Figs: Recipes and Stories
from Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus

This week’s recipe comes from Yasmin Kahn’s beautiful book, Ripe Figs:  Recipes and Stories from Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus.  This is a book worth having on your shelf, both for the recipes Yasmin has created as well as the stories she shares that offer us insight into the history and lives of the groups of people who now call the regions of Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus home.  Yasmin states that “At the time of writing, an estimated five million refugees have come through Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus in the last five years—the biggest movement of people that Europe has seen since the Second World War.  This is a huge number by any standards, but perhaps just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the kind of migration our planet might see as the climate and financial crises escalate, or if we face another health pandemic.  Migration, and how we deal with it, is one of the key issues of our times.” 

The result of immigration from a food perspective is an intermingling of the culture, cuisine and traditions each group brings with them, their way of remembering “home.”  This week’s recipe is simple in preparation, but full of flavor and a great way to highlight our summer salad cabbages.  

Yield:  4 servings as a side dish

1-2 salad cabbage(s) (Tiara or sweetheart) (approximately 1 ¾ lb)

1 tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp coriander seeds

¼ tsp ground allspice

4 Tbsp olive oil

Mounded ¼ cup blanched hazelnuts, roughly chopped

3 Tbsp salted butter

½ tsp pul biber (Aleppo pepper), plus more to taste**

Handful of parsley leaves

Salt & Black Pepper, to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. 
2. Cut the cabbage in half, keeping the stem intact, then cut each piece into thirds so you end up with 6 thick wedges.  You’ll get some random pieces falling off, but that’s OK, you can transfer those bits straight to a rimmed baking sheet.
3. Place the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry pan over medium heat and toast them for 1 minute or so until their aromas are released. Grind the spices in a mortar and pestle and then mix in the allspice, oil, and ½ tsp salt. Spread this spiced oil over the cabbage, using your fingers to massage it into each piece.
4. Heat a griddle pan until it is very hot. Sear the wedges for about 4 minutes on each side until they are charred, then transfer to the baking sheet and roast for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the stalks are soft and tender.

**NOTE:  Aleppo Pepper, aka pul biber, is a common Middle Eastern condiment and flavor enhancer.  Some describe this chile variety as having a slow-building heat with hints of cumin and a bit of fruitiness.  Aleppo Pepper is available in the United States, so you just may find it at your local spice shop or food co-op.  However, if you cannot find it you may make a comparable substitute by mixing paprika with cayenne pepper in a  4:1 ratio.  To make an amount you can work with for this recipe, mix 1 tsp of paprika with ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper.  This amount will be sufficient for the 1/2 tsp quantity called for in the recipe with a little extra to add if you want additional flavor and/or heat. 

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”.

June 13, 2024 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Kohlrabi

 

What's In The Box

Kohlrabi: Enjoy this week’s featured vegetable in its raw form or cook it! If this is your first time working with kohlrabi, head over to our blog and read more about this unique vegetable. After you peel the lower bulb portion, you’ll find tender, crispy, white flesh that is slightly sweet and reminiscent of cabbage. The leafy green tops are also edible and may be substituted in any recipe calling for collards. If you’re not sure what to do with kohlrabi, start by just cutting the bulb into strips and eating it raw with a pinch of salt and chili powder or dipping it into your favorite dressing!

Strawberries: It’s looking like it is going to be a short strawberry season, but this week’s harvests have been very abundant! Our strawberries are selected for flavor, not shipping and extended shelf life. To get the most out of your strawberries, keep them in the refrigerator and wash them just before eating. We recommend eating them within a few days of receiving…. which shouldn’t be hard to do!

Rhubarb: Just when you think there isn’t one more thing you can make with rhubarb, we uncover yet another goldmine of recipes! Check out the list below which includes Rhubarb & Spicy Goat Cheese Pizza & Rhubarb Chicken Curry.

Salad Mix: We are nearing the end of our spring salad mix run with just one to two more weeks of harvest at most. The nice thing about salad mix is that we’ve done all the hard work. The only thing left for you to do is keep it cold until you’re ready to eat it!

Spinach: This week we are harvesting a new variety of spinach we trialed named “Red Tabby.” The harvest wasn’t as strong as we had hoped, so we mixed it in with some of our regular spinach to make it go as far as possible. If your bag contains some spinach leaves with red veins and stems…. that’s the Red Tabby. Let us know what you think!

Garlic Scapes: Scapes are a byproduct of hardneck garlic production…and a tasty one at that! Use scapes in any recipe calling for garlic cloves. No need to peel, just chop it all up.

Mini Green Boston Lettuce or Red Oak Lettuce: We grow these smaller head lettuce varieties in the spring because they fit nicely in the CSA box and have shorter days to maturity. Use these delicate lettuces as a base for a salad or mix them in with kale or spinach for some variety.

Lacinato Kale: This variety of kale is also called “Dino” or “Tuscan” kale. It’s a good option for making raw kale salads, slaws, etc. You can also add it to soups, mix it in with beans, or cook it and add it to a pizza!

Purple Scallions: We’re adding a little splash of color to your allium this week with these gorgeous purple scallions! Use the lower purple base as well as the green tops, just discard the little root base.

BONUS: Broccoli or Cauliflower or Zucchini and/or Scallopini Squash—All of these items are just starting to come on…very slowly. We don’t have enough for all boxes just yet, but included a taste as supplies allow. Don’t worry, there will be more to come very soon! 

Recipe Suggestions & Inspiration For This Week’s Box Contents

Kohlrabi Custard

Kohlrabi & Chickpea Salad

Kohlrabi, Kale & Sausage Soup

Amazing Coconut Curried Greens (utilizing kale and kohlrabi leaves!)

Kale & Kohlrabi Gnocchi

Chicken with Rhubarb Sauce

Rhubarb Chicken Curry

Rhubarb Quinoa Salad

Rhubarb & Spicy Goat Cheese Pizza

German Rhubarb Pie

Little Gem Lettuce with Rhubarb Dressing & Strawberries

Strawberry Feta Kale Salad

Strawberry Rhubarb Bundt Cake

Roasted Rhubarb Salad with Salad Mix

Greek Lettuce Salad with Scallions & Dill

Spinach Salad with Scallions & Hot Bacon Dressing

Kohlrabi Salad with Spinach, Dates & Hazelnuts

Kohlrabi and Garlic Scape Fritters with Spiced Lemon Tahini

Garlic Scape Curry

Garlic Scape Egg Soup

Vegetable Feature: Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is a crisp, juicy, sweet, mild flavored vegetable. While kohlrabi is in the cabbage family and resembles a turnip, it grows differently than both. Many people mistake kohlrabi for being a root vegetable that grows under the ground, but it is actually an enlarged stem that grows above the soil level. The stems and leaves shoot up from the bulbous part to give it a unique appearance unlike any other vegetable. We grow green, purple and white varieties, but there really isn’t any distinguishable difference between the three once they are peeled.

Preparation & Usage:

Kohlrabi can be prepared in many different ways, both raw and cooked. It may be sauteed, stir-fried, braised, roasted, grilled and baked. The simplest way to eat it is to peel it and munch on slices plain or with just a touch of salt, a little lime juice and some chili powder. It can also be shredded and used in slaws with a variety of dressings or sliced and added to sandwiches or salads. If you ask Farmer Richard what his favorite way to eat kohlrabi is, I guarantee he’ll say, “Creamy Kohlrabi Slaw!”

While kohlrabi pairs well with creamy sauces and is great in refreshing salads, it is actually an adaptable vegetable that also pairs well with a lot of other flavor profiles from around the world.  Don’t be afraid to use kohlrabi in curries or stir-fries.  You may also come across some recipes for stuffed kohlrabi that is baked, a concept that descends more from European cuisine along with a variety of soup and stew recipes.

Kohlrabi in the field

To use kohlrabi, first remove the fibrous peel from the exterior of the bulb prior to eating.  You can do this easily by cutting the kohlrabi into halves or quarters and then peeling away the outer skin with a paring knife.  The flesh is dense and crisp, yet tender, juicy and sweet with a hint of a mild cabbage flavor.  The leaves on kohlrabi are edible as well, so don’t just discard them.  They have the texture and characteristics of collard greens, so you could use them in any recipe calling for collards or kale.  They are also good eaten raw.  Just make sure you slice them thinly and toss them with an acidic vinaigrette to soften the leaves.

Storage Tips:

To store kohlrabi, cut the stems and leaves off. Store both leaves and the bulbs in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. The leaves will keep for about 1 week, and the bulbs will last up to several weeks if stored properly.

Health & Nutrition:  

Kohlrabi is an excellent source of vitamin C, fiber, and potassium.  It is low in calories and sodium, and contains indoles, which are believed to be potentially significant anti-cancer compounds.  These plant compounds are not destroyed with cooking of the vegetable.

Cultural & Historical Background:  

The name for kohlrabi is derived from “khol” meaning stem or cabbage and “rabi” meaning turnip.

Transplanting Kohlrabi

Growing Information:  

Kohlrabi is seeded in the greenhouse in early March and transplanted to the field as early as possible in April, along with other vegetables in the same family of brassica crops including broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.  Kohlrabi is reliably one of the first of this family of vegetables to be ready, so it has earned its “niche” in seasonal eating while we wait for broccoli and cauliflower to make heads.  We also grow a slightly different type of kohlrabi in the fall that is intended for long term storage.  We hope to include storage kohlrabi in your boxes most likely in December!

Creamy Hungarian Kohlrabi Soup

Kohlrabi has, historically, been a part of central and northern European cuisine, primarily in countries such as Germany, Hungary, and Poland. Creamy kohlrabi soup is a traditional way to eat kohlrabi in Hungary, and it is a simple, humble recipe. As with many traditional recipes, every person’s grandmother has her own special way of making these traditional recipes.  Thus, the recipe below is my adaptation of several recipes I found for this soup. I hope you enjoy it in all its simplicity.

Yield:  4-6 servings

2 Tbsp olive oil or butter

3 medium kohlrabi with greens

3-4 garlic scapes, finely chopped

3-4 scallions

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 ½-2 tsp sweet paprika

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

3/4 cup heavy cream

½ cup sour cream

2-3 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

2 tsp salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. First, prepare the vegetables. Remove the greens from the kohlrabi and set aside. Cut the kohlrabi into quarters and remove the peeling with a paring knife. Once peeled, cut the kohlrabi into medium dice, and set aside. Wash the leaves and separate the leaf portion from the thick rib and stem. Rough chop the leaves and set aside.
2. Roughly chop the garlic scapes and set aside. Remove the green tops from the scallions and slice the lower onion portion. Set aside with the garlic scapes. Finely slice the green tops and set aside to use as a garnish for serving the soup. 
3. Warm the oil or butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic scapes and sauté until fragrant and tender. Sprinkle the flour and 1 ½ tsp paprika over the onion & garlic mixture and stir to combine all of the flour.  It should make a light paste. Add 1 cup of the chicken or vegetable stock to the pan and stir to incorporate the flour paste into the liquid.  Once well combined with no lumps, add the remaining stock along with the diced kohlrabi, kohlrabi leaves and 2 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Bring the soup to a gentle simmer over medium-to-medium high heat.  Simmer, uncovered, until the kohlrabi is just tender when tested with a fork, about 20 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat and carefully puree the soup either with an immersion blender in the pan you prepared the soup in, or carefully transfer the soup to a blender. Purée until smooth, then return the soup to the original pan. Heat the soup over low heat and carefully stir in the heavy cream and sour cream, being careful that the mixture does not come to a boil. 
6. Once warmed through, taste the soup. Add additional salt, pepper, and/or paprika to your liking. Stir in the chopped fresh parsley and serve with the green onion tops.

Recipe developed by Chef Andrea, based on several different Hungarian cooks’ recipes. The primary sources for this recipe are as follows:  https://www.gastronomersguide.com/2008/12/kohlrabi-soup.html 

https://www.thespruceeats.com/hungarian-creamy-kohlrabi-soup-1137419  

June 6, 2024 - This Week's Box Contents Featuring Garlic Scapes

 

What's In The Box

Rhubarb:  Don’t forget, rhubarb is an easy vegetable to freeze for later use. Cut it raw, into bite-sized pieces, and put it in a freezer bag. When you are ready to use it, pull it out and use it to make a pie or crisp, chutney or barbecue sauce, etc.

Salad Mix: Take advantage of this item, which we refer to as “nature’s fast food.”  Turn it into a quick entrée salad by dressing the greens with a light vinaigrette and top with hard-boiled eggs, leftover roasted chicken, nuts, seeds, and any other vegetables you may have available!

Pea Vine: Pea vine is a pea plant that is harvested while young and before it starts to blossom. The leaves and tender stems may be used in salads, sauteed or stir-fried, incorporated into soup, or blended into cream cheese or pesto. Sometimes the lower to middle part of the stem can become tough. If you find this to be true, remove the tender leaves and use the stem to flavor soups, stews, and broth.

Baby Bok Choi: Wash it well before use, especially the base where the leaves attach as there may be dirt in the lower ribs. Baby Bok Choi is a very versatile vegetable that may be enjoyed either raw in salads or lightly cooked. Toss it into a stir-fry, grill it, or add it to soup!

Garlic Scapes: Read more about this week’s featured vegetable on our blog. You’ll find scapes to be nearly entirely usable, up to the bulbil on the end which can be tough. They may be eaten raw, sauteed, grilled, roasted, or stir-fried, turned into pesto, marinades, and so much more!

Mini Red Romaine or Mini Boston Head Lettuce: As we continue with our spring collection of miniature lettuces, this week’s boxes will contain either mini red romaine heads or a speckled mini green Boston lettuce. Use these little lettuces to make a nice salad, add the leaves to your sandwich or wrap, or just use them as dipping tools to carry your favorite dip or hummus!

Green Curly Kale: This week’s kale is our very first harvest. The leaves are thick, yet still tender. Use them to make kale chips, add to soups or casseroles, or massage the leaves with a vinaigrette to make a raw kale salad!

White Scallions: These are the first of our spring-planted scallions. Trim away the very distal root end and use the remainder of the onion—both white and green parts!

Baby White Turnips: Enjoy these tender, sweet roots either raw or lightly cooked. Don’t forget to eat the green tops too! Add them to sauces, pasta dishes, soup, etc.

Strawberries: It’s officially strawberry season!! We have done our best to pick the berries and pack them in a pint after which they are taken to the cooler to remove any field heat. However, our berries are selected for flavor & yield potential, not for their ability to be shipped. We suggest you enjoy your berries within a few days of receiving for best results and be sure to keep them in the refrigerator!

CHOICE: Herb Packs (For those who did not receive one last week) You can read more about this years herb pack contents on our blog post from last week on our blog post from last week. This week we have sent herb packs for our Green Week Every Other Week Members, members who scheduled a flex box and did not receive an herb pack last week, and those who specifically requested a pack. If none of the aforementioned pertains to you, please do not take an herb pack. Thank you!

 

Recipe Suggestions & Inspiration For This Week’s Box Contents

White Bean & Garlic Scape Dip

Asparagus Risotto with Garlic Scapes

Brie & Garlic Scape Pizza

Bacon Wrapped Garlic Scapes

Garlic Scape & Spring Onion Focaccia

Strawberry Rhubarb Barbeque Sauce

Basil Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Goat Cheese Crostini with Rhubarb Chutney

Stir-Fried Chicken & Baby Bok Choi

Bok Choi Salad with Sesame Ginger Dressing

Rosemary, White Bean & Kale Quesadillas

Strawberry Quinoa Tabouli

The Best Strawberry Margarita

Turnip Salad with Yogurt, Herbs and Poppyseeds

Pea Vine Cream Cheese

Pea Vine Pesto Pasta Salad

Fettucine with Pea Vine Cream Sauce

Vegetable Feature: Garlic Scapes

Garlic scapes are a long, skinny, curly green vegetable that is actually a byproduct of growing hardneck garlic. They grow up from the center of the plant and we harvest them in June, about a month ahead of our annual garlic harvest.

Roasted Garlic Scape Hummus

Preparation & Usage

Nearly the entire scape is edible and is best when harvested while young and tender. You may need to trim off the skinny end near the little bulb at the far end of the scape as this portion is often tough. The remainder of the scape is usable and tender, so they do not need to be peeled. Scapes have a bright, juicy, mild garlic flavor. They may be used in any recipe that calls for garlic cloves, just chop them up and add them as you would minced garlic. They can also be grilled or roasted, pickled, fermented, and make an awesome pesto! They are a great addition to eggs, stir-fries, pizzas, etc.

Cultural & Historical Background  

Garlic Scape 

Up until the early 90’s we used to remove scapes from the garlic plant and throw them on the ground!  We were the first farm in the Midwest to start harvesting the scapes for use as a vegetable, thanks to one of our customers from Korea who asked us to save the garlic scapes for her so she could make pickles.  We thought this was odd, but saved some for her anyway.  She was gracious enough to share a jar of pickled scapes with us and that was our introduction to how delicious they are to eat!

Storage Tips

Store scapes in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them. They’ll store for 2-3 weeks

Growing Information  

All of our varieties of garlic are a type called hardneck garlic.  This type of garlic produces scapes as part of nature’s plan for the plant to propagate itself in the soil.  If left unattended, the bulbil on the end of the scape would get bigger and would eventually be so heavy it would fall down and plant itself, thereby propagating a new plant!  We’re cultivating garlic, so we plant a clove of garlic from a full sized bulb and use that as a means of growing the plant.  Since we don’t need the scape to produce another crop, we go through the field and cut them off the plant so the plant can focus its energy into producing a nice sized bulb instead of a scape.

Garlic Scapes and Kale Pesto

Photo from www.oriesfarmfresh.com

This week’s recipe may be considered to be a foundational recipe for this week’s meals. With a jar of this pesto in your refrigerator, you’ll be ready to put together a lot of great meals quickly. At the end of the recipe, there’s a list of suggested uses for this pesto, but it is by no means all-inclusive! This is a great way to get greens into your day, but it’s also a great way to create flavorful dishes in barely any time! Enjoy—Andrea

1 cup chopped garlic scapes

½ cup sunflower seeds ½ cup walnuts ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese Juice of 1 large lemon ¾ tsp sea salt

1. In a food processor, pulse the garlic scapes until minced.
2. Add sunflower seeds, walnuts, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, sea salt, and black pepper and process until thoroughly combined, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.
3. Place the kale in the food processor and process until the kale is broken down and incorporated. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is evenly mixed.
4. Taste and adjust seasonings to suit your preferences. Some may wish to add a bit more oil, a little more lemon, or more salt.
5. Store in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for a few months.

Suggested Uses: 

• Serve on a charcuterie board with veggies and crackers.
• Stirred into pastas of pasta salads.
• Spread on sandwiches, toast, or bagels.
• Mixed into scrambled eggs.
• Mix with roasted root vegetables.
• Use it in place of tomato sauce on a pizza.

Recipe borrowed from www.oriesfarmfresh.com.