Blueberries

We got a preview of the blueberries Granor Farm CSA members can go pick for themselves at the farm on July 23.  Popped a few of these right a way, they're wonderful.  Jess and I decided the distance was just a bit too far for us to make it next week with her being as far along in her pregnancy as she is, but can't wait to hear how it goes from those that can make.  Talking to Jesse, you should assume for about 2 hours from the city.  If you haven't already, RSVP directly with Jesse at the farm, you should have his email address from his weekly emails. 

Fennel

This is a picture of young fennel, which has made an appearance in the week 4 basket.  It's something I don't have a lot of experience with, so we'll look something up and let you know how it goes.

Radicchio

Radicchio is a red salad green, fairly firm and due to this we often use it as a shell/wrapper for tacos.

Kohlrabi

This was a last minute addition to the week 4 box for the Granor Farms full share members.  It will be our first time cooking with it, but I've heard you just peal it and then can slice it thin and eat it raw as well as steam or saute it.  We're looking forward to giving it a shot. 

Veggie Storage

One of the most frustrating parts of fresh produce is having it go bad before getting the chance to enjoy it.  We've found a couple of methods that have worked for us to help maximize fridge life.

Asparagus seems to work best of the wood stalks (not tips) wrapped in a moist paper towel.

Beets seem to do fine unwashed in the veggie drawer, though we do remove the beet greens, leaving about an inch on the fruit and store that separately, as described below. 

Kale, collards, chard, mustard greens, beet greens, turnip greens, etc.  Kale and collard greens are pictured to the left.  It's amazing how fresh and crisp items like kale look when you first get them home, but after one day in the fruit basket or just out in the fridge they've pretty much gone limp.  We've tried a few different ideas with these and found the following to work the best.  Lightly dampen a paper towel or cloth and spread the greens out on the towel.  Keep the layer pretty light, then just roll up the towel and place towel and veggies into a plastic bag.  We pulled our kale out last week on Thursday, so 5 days later and it was still as crisp and fresh looking as when we picked it up Saturday.  It would have been good for at least another couple days.  For beets and turnips, we just cut the greens off the fruit when we get them home and store them separately.

Salad greens, spinach, arugula, etc. Moisture seems to be the biggest enemy with these, so we pull the salad mix out of their container and onto a dry sheet or two of paper towel then roll them up and place them in a plastic bag making sure to squeeze as much air out as possible.  So the only difference from above is that the paper towel is dry.  If you notice the paper towel is getting pretty moist, swap it out.  To the right is a picture of two bunches of mezuna, the one on the left was prepped as noted above, the one on the right was just in a brown paper bag.  There was the same amount of both and you can see that the one stored in the paper bag was starting to wilt down.

Mushrooms do really well in paper bags.  I learned this tip from one of the farmers at Green City Market.  They'll start to look a little dehydrated if left too long, but I'll take that any day over them getting wet and slimy, like when left in a plastic bag or left in the grocery store container. 

Onions and sweet potatoes have a pretty long shelf life and do best in a single layer stored in any cool place.  In the summer we use the fridge and definitely don't have the space to put these in a single layer and the do ok, but find we end up with some soft spots if left too long.

Radishes and Turnips do fine loose in the veggie drawer.

These are some of the items we've been seeing in our csa baskets as well as some other staples, at least in our kitchen. 

Red Saladbowl Lettuce

We just used this mixed into salads last week.  They're not an overly sturdy lettuce, but might see if they'll work as a wrap for burgers.

Mizuna/Arugula Mix

Typically we just use this raw for salads, but works well any way you use spinach, sauteed, steamed, etc.  I love the peppery taste of arugula.