Author: Tristan Klesick
Know Your Produce: Swiss Chard
Chard belongs to the same family as beets and spinach and shares a similar taste profile: it has the bitterness of beet greens and the slightly salty flavor of spinach leaves. Both the leaves and stalk of chard are edible, although the stems vary in texture with the white ones being the most tender.
To store, place unwashed chard in the refrigerator in a plastic bag. It will keep fresh for several days. If you have large batches of chard, you can blanch the leaves and then freeze them.
To prep: Wash the chard well to remove any sand or soil that may be hidden in the leaves. One way to do this is to immerse pieces of cut chard in a bowl of cool water, swirling them around to remove any dirt and then quickly rinsing them with cool running water. Trim the bottom end of the stalk. If you find the stalks to be more fibrous than desired, make incisions near the base of the stalk and peel away the fibers, like you would do with celery.
To enjoy: Treat chard much like you would any other green (spinach, kale, bok choy), sauté, steam, or chop and add to soups, casseroles, and pasta dishes. Chard can also be baked into “chips” by removing the stems and tossing with sea salt and olive oil. Place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 10-15 minutes, until the edges are brown but not burnt.
Fresh This Week Tips, 10.3.2010
d’Anjou Pears
STORE: Keep pears at room temperature until ripe. To test for ripeness, gently push on the stem. If it gives a little, your pear is ready to eat.
PREP: Wash pears in cold water and keep them whole, slice them or chop them.
USE: d’Anjou pears can be eaten out of hand, mixed into a spring salad, baked or poached. Remember the delicious Apple and Rhubarb Crisp recipe? Make another version of that crisp by substituting the apples and rhubarb with pears and dried cranberries.
Spartan Apples
STORE: Store apples in a paper bag in the crisper of your refrigerator. Spartan apples typically don’t keep for very long, so it’s advisable to use your apples within 1 week.
PREP: Wash apples under cold running water. If using your apples in a recipe, typically you will peel and core the apple before cutting it into slices or cubes. To prevent apples from browning, brush with a lemon juice-water solution (1 cup water mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice).
USE: Spartan apples are the small to medium sized offspring of MacIntosh apples. They are a favorite among children for their crisp, snow white flesh and sweet flavor. Pack your Spartan apples as a lunchtime snack or use them to make a wonderful applesauce or apple butter.
Bunch Carrots
STORE: Always remove tops from carrots as they take moisture from the “root” to stay green, leaving you with a limp carrot. Store carrots in the coolest part of the refrigerator in a plastic bag or wrapped in a paper towel to reduce the amount of moisture that is lost. They should keep for about two weeks. Be sure to store your carrots away from apples, pears, potatoes as they produce a gas that will make carrots bitter.
PREP: Wash carrot roots and gently scrub them with a vegetable brush right before preparing them to eat. Peel (if desired) and chop according to your recipe or their purpose.
USE: You can steam, pickle, puree (for carrot soup!), juice, eat them raw or add them to any number of soups, stews and stir fries.
Yellow Corn
STORE: Store corn in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Do not remove its husk since this will protect its flavor. To enjoy your corn at its best, eat as soon as possible.
Fresh corn freezes well if placed in heavy-duty freezer bags. To prepare whole ears for freezing, blanch them first for seven to eleven minutes depending upon their size. To freeze the kernels, first blanch the ears for about five minutes and then cut the kernels off the cob. Whole corn on the cob will keep for up to one year, while the kernels can be frozen for two to three months.
PREP: To prepare your corn, remove or pull down the husks (depending on if you would like to cook your corn with the husks on or off) and remove the silk from the cob. Rinse under cool water (if desired, pull the husks back around your corn). To cut the kernels off of a corn cob, put the flat stem end in a bowl and run a sharp chef’s knife down the length of the ear using a sawing motion.
USE: Corn can be grilled, baked, steamed, boiled or broiled. For a last taste of summer, try this tasty Oven Roasted Corn on the Cob recipe. To enjoy your corn in Fall dishes, add cooked corn kernels to soup or chili for a heartier, more nutritious meal.
Did You Know?
A few weeks ago, a person who has been a customer of Klesick Family Farm for a long time wrote, “I didn’t know your website had all this cool stuff!!! You should maybe write it up as one of the main stories in your box news.”Well, we decided to do just that. This newsletter is dedicated to some of this “cool stuff”–recent improvements to our service.
Find out what’s coming in next week’s boxes! Every Thursday around noon we update the “Fresh This Week” page of our website with what we have planned for the following week’s boxes, including our new Essentials boxes. The Essentials options are designed for single person households or for people who just want a smaller amount of produce.
Build your own custom box Do you want to order your own produce instead of getting one of our standard boxes? You can! Just choose from the many online options on our Products page and order only those items you would like to receive. You can order fruit, vegetables, bread items, coffee & tea, and other grocery items like eggs, honey, jams, and even pickles. In fact, in a few weeks we will be introducing a whole new line of products to this selection. There is a $3.50 delivery charge for custom orders, but when the order totals $37.50 or more the fee is waived.
Yes, we can make substitutions Don’t like zucchini? Are you allergic to green beans? Can’t have grapefruit? Good news! You can request a substitution when the items you can’t have or can’t use are scheduled for your box. You can either request never to receive an item or you can request just a one-time substitution. We will replace the item you do not want with another item of equivalent value. Please call or e-mail us for this service, as it is not available online. There is a $1 charge for each item that is substituted. We are sorry, but we cannot substitute items in the NW box, Juicer box, or Essentials due to the set up of these boxes.
We have a Blog! Did you ever receive something in your box that you didn’t even know what it was, let alone how to use it? Check out our blog for recipes and preparation tips (the link is located at the top of our home page). And while you’re there, you might want to read the latest words from Tristan or check out the produce specials on the “Goods and Goodies” page.
More good Would you like to switch from weekly to every other week delivery? Would you prefer to rotate between a certain box one week and a different box the next? Do you want to know how to donate produce to a local food bank? Would it be easier if you made an automatic payment with your credit or debit card? Do you need to know how to set up an online account? Do you need to skip a delivery? We are aiming for flexibility and variety in order to best meet your produce needs. If the service is not working for you or if you are having any difficulties, please contact us. There is probably an option that will meet your needs.
Fresh This Week Add-Ons 10.3.2010
Fresh This Week Tips 9.26.2010
DAPPLE DANDY PLUOTS
STORE: Your pluots will continue to ripen once off the tree. Turn them upside down and leave them on the counter away from the sun. When ripe, store them unwrapped in the refrigerator for up to three days.
PREP: If stored in the refrigerator, remove your pluots before eating and let them return to room temperature. They taste much better this way. Rinse and leave whole, slice into wedges or cut into chunks.
USE: These sweet Dapple Dandy Pluots can be eaten out of hand, as a fresh topping for yogurt, dehydrated into dried pluots or made into jam. You can also experiment by substituting them for plums in recipes (afterall, they are the delicious hybrid of the plum and apricot).
KEITT MANGO
STORE: Keep your mangoes in a plastic or paper bag in the cupboard. The Keitt mango changes color from an orange-ish green to a bright green when ripe. A ripe mango will yield to gentle pressure. Once ripe, refrigerate for up to 1 week.
PREP: Using a sharp knife, slice around the stone. Cut a checkered pattern onto the cut mango. Flip the skin inside out and slice the cubes into a bowl.
USE: The Keitt mango is larger, sweeter and less fibrous than other mangoes. They can be eaten whole or used in desserts and curries. For a delicious morning treat, enjoy a mango smoothie: a combination of diced mango, a banana, 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 cup of orange juice and ice cubes. Blend till frothy!
JUMBO RED ONIONS
STORE: Store your red onions in a cool, dry place (not in the fridge as they will go soft). They will keep for several months. Once cut, wrap them up in the fridge and use within two or three days.
PREP: To prepare your onion, begin by cutting off the top and removing the papery skin. To chop, cut your onion in half and slice vertically from top to bottom and horizontally. To slice, trim the root off, then cut in slices moving from the root end towards the top. Leave as slices or separate each one out into rings.
USE: Enjoy your red onions raw in Greek salads or on turkey sandwiches. If you aren’t a fan of raw onions, add them to a stir fry, pickle them or try a new twist on the old classic with French Red Onion Soup. http://www.gourmet.com/recipes/2000s/2008/09/redonionsoup
TOMATOES
STORE: Store unripe tomatoes in a paper bag until ripe. Store ripe tomatoes in a cool place for up to 5 days.
PREP: Wash tomatoes in cold water before use. Slice tomatoes vertically for salads and sandwiches to prevent the juice and seeds spilling out. To peel your tomatoes, cut an X on the bottom of each tomato and blanch.
USE: Tomatoes are wonderful accompaniments to salads and pastas. Chop tomatoes and add them to a simple pesto pasta. You’ll get beautiful color and fresh flavor with one easy step!
The Spring and the Fall: Assorted musings from the farmer
The spring and fall farm seasons are similar in many ways, especially with the erratic weather patterns. The big weather difference, however, is that now the days are getting shorter and the soil getting wetter verses in the spring when the day length is increasing and soil is getting warmer. That subtle change, now magnified with this wet September, has made our fall chores more interesting than usual.
So in the spring we run around getting the ground ready for planting and in the fall we run around spreading compost, planting cover crops, garlic, shallots, and harvesting the summer (as if there was a summer) planted crops. I love this season, but there are literally not enough daylight hours to get the work done, especially when you only get one or two days of good field work weather. And trust me, when we get those days, we are as busy as beavers from dawn to dusk.
This week we are hoping to do all of the above and get closer to taking a long winter nap. My new team of horses, Sally and Sandy, are sure sweet to work with. Together, last week, we disc-harrowed an acre of ground that had provided us with green beans and tomatoes and then we planted winter wheat for a cover crop on top of it.
Speaking of tomatoes . . . I grew Japanese Black Trifele tomatoes this year, mostly on a whim. Mike and Joanie, at the Rents Due Ranch, had a couple hundred extra plants, so I, in a moment of romanticism, picked up 100. They were incredibly flavorful, but ripened too quickly and didn’t have good shelf life. I have put them on the “do not grow in the future” list.
Back to the horses. It was fun driving the horses through the tomato plants and discing them down. Every now and then a green tomato would burst and I would get lightly splattered. All and all, Sally, Sandy and I worked together for six hours. That was as close to pure bliss as I have come to farming with horses. I am looking forward to finishing the fall farm chores with them.
Thanks for supporting our family farm and our family of farmers. This farming year, with all of its challenges, is more enjoyable because the food we raise goes to our family of local customers.
Fresh This Week Add-Ons 9/26/2010
Know Your Produce: Kiwi Berries
Berry meet kiwi. Kiwi meet berry. And you have kiwi berries!
They are the peel-less, fuzz-less cousin of the more well-known kiwifruit. Brought from Asia to the United States in the 1800s, the kiwi berry packs a big nutritional punch as the most nutrient-dense of all major fruits. One berry has five times the vitamin C content of an orange and twice the amount of vitamin E as an avocado. From folic acid and antioxidants to fiber and chromium, kiwi fruits contain 20 nutrients that are connected to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and slowed aging.
Not just good for you, kiwi berries are delicious! Each variety has a unique flavor and color and their smooth skins make them the perfect snack. They can be eaten fresh, in salads, salsas, dessert sauces, ice cream and sorbets. Their tropical tastes pair well with orange, honey, and chocolate.
Kiwi berries should be allowed to ripen at room temperature. When they are ready to be enjoyed, the berries will turn a dark green color and feel slightly soft to the touch. Unlike most fruits, they are not ready to eat until they look wrinkled and soft. Once they are ripe, store them in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or eat immediately. Let them come back up to room temperature before eating.
Fresh this Week 9.19.2010
SPINACH
STORE: Store fresh, unwashed spinach loosely packed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator crisper for about five days.
PREP: Wash thoroughly by swishing leaves in a bowl full of tepid water and repeat until clean. Dry with paper towels or in a salad spinner.
USE: Boil spinach for one minute to bring out the flavor or simply keep raw. Make a delicious Strawberry & Spinach salad or substitute spinach for the Swiss Chard in these delicious Swiss Chard & Caramelized Onion Tacos. You can also add spinach to smoothies, add layers of steamed spinach to lasagna or simply saute with a little olive oil, garlic and a pinch of salt.
Sekel Pears
STORE: The Sekel pear can be stored in the refrigerator for two to seven days. To ripen, leave them at room temperature for two to four days.
PREP: Wash pears under cold water. Leave whole, cut into fourths or cube depending on your preference or desired recipe. To prevent pears from browning, brush with a lemon juice-water solution (1 cup water mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice).
USE: This delicious dessert pear is best used for pickling, poaching and canning, but is tasty eaten whole. When baked, the flavors of the Sekel pear work wonderfully with honey and cinnamon (a scoop of vanilla ice cream is also delicious).
Yukon Potatoes
STORE: Store Yukons in a cool place in an open paper bag. They should last a couple of weeks.
PREP: Wash and lightly scrub potatoes before using. Peel potatoes before using or leave the skin on for baked potatoes or to add additional texture to mashed potatoes.
USE: Yukon potatoes have a delicious buttery flavor. They make wonderful home fries, mashed potatoes and soups. If you’re feeling adventurous, try out this yummy Fall recipe for potato pancakes!