This week, you're receiving: Collard
Greens, White Turnips and their greens, long green radishes, and some
round Misato Rose ones, big purple and little green pac choys,
arugula, and sorrel – that's one bag. In the other bag, sweet
potatoes, a few sweet peppers (dwindling supply now), onions, garlic,
and a couple of green tomatoes for a fried treat.
This morning after the collards were
picked, I headed up the hill to do some more harvesting. I was
thinking: “I'll pick a few radishes, then see how the turnips are
doing. If they're big enough, I'll pick a few of them, and maybe
some kale to top it off.” But the turnips are doing much better
than I thought – the bulbs are still a little small (but they
taste so good that way!) - but the greens are really big and
luscious. They don't hold up so well in the bag, waiting for
delivery, but they're FINE to eat. By the time I picked some
turnips, it felt like kale ontop of it all might be overwhelming.
There will certainly be more kale available next week!
So, here's a few things about greens.
Greens 101, if you like.
To store greens – wrap them well –
tightly is OK – in a plastic bag in the crisper drawer if possible.
If there are radish or turnip bulbs attached to your greens, cut
them off about an inch above the stem and store them separately.
Bulbs will keep longer than greens, if that helps your culinary
decision making.
You can also wash and prep your greens
before you store them. It's a fine thing to do. If you are getting
really into greens and you don't yet have a salad spinner, I suggest
you buy one. The ones they carry at Walmart aren't all that good –
TJMaxx or Ross sometimes have nice ones in their kitchen sections,
and Kroger and Target carry good ones. They're more expensive, but
we've never regretted investing in a worthy kitchen tool.
Another word about cooking green
storage. Sometimes it can be good to just cook a whole big batch of
greens at once, then pop the leftovers into a baggy and keep them in
the fridge. You can chop them up for an omelet, blend them into a
soup from there with little hassle. The baggy could also go straight
to the freezer for some cold day when greens aren't available.
As for eating these heartier greens,
the same rules apply to them as do to salad fixings. A little oil
(or butter, or bacon drippings if you're a really traditional
southerner), and some vinegar (we like balsamic) make just about any
of the basic cooking greens work. You can steam them with just a
little water in the bottom of a pan, or steam-fry them with some
coconut or olive oil (this works well with the thicker greens like
the dark lacinato kale and collard greens). Some chopped garlic in
the pan can add depth, as can additions like ground cumin and
coriander, and a splash of lemon juice just before serving.
For more information, about more
vegetables, please follow this link:
Scroll down and there will be a list of
vegetables – linked with options for word or pdf docs to accompany
them. The recipes are good. The storage information is good. If
you like it, you might consider buying the book: Farmer John's
Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables.
We use it frequently.
Also – if you're not quite sure which
greens are which, please go to our blog:
http://redspringsfamilyfarm.blogspot.com/
I am putting up a new page for
vegetable identification with some nice photos. I'll try to add to
it as we go along. Also, you can find a HUGE backlog of recipes from
our newsletters of several seasons past.
Ok – that's enough out of me. Keep
warm and eat your greens. Safe and happy Halloween!
Coree
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