CSA Week Seventeen

News from the field:

Well, this is it. We had a hard frost this week, and despite the warm weather this week, there is more chill on the way for this weekend. As a result, we have lost the sungold cherry tomatoes, the peppers, most lettuces, and a few other things. The days are getting shorter, and believe it or not, the ground will be frozen in a few weeks.

To get ready for winter, your basket will have some storage items this week and next. This week, we have ristras, which are hot peppers strung together to dry for the winter. Hang them somewhere in your kitchen that is dry and gets some air circulation (but not in the sun), and you will have plenty of spice for your winter soups and stir-frys. Hopefully, they will also be a reminder of the fabulous summer we have had this year.

In the Basket:

Carrots - Carrots are one of the veggies that many people like even more after a frost because frost seems to sweeten them a bit. Included in the basket is a recipe by CSAer Zoë, which came highly recommended by another CSAer, Nicole. Thanks Zoë and Nicole!

Chard - A delicate cooking green. I mostly like it gently steamed. Don’t cook it as hard as you would collards or kale; treat it more like spinach. Most people like to remove the stems and cook those separately, for a bit longer. But you can definitely cook and eat the stems, too.

Garlic and leeks - We will likely load you up with storage onions next week, so here’re a few other alliums in the meantime.

Salad turnips and spinach - Yummy fall standbys.

Red tomatoes - We have enough of these under cover to include in the baskets this week. It’s been a good long run on tomatoes!!

Ristra - This is the string of dried peppers. You can hang this for decoration or use them for cooking through the winter or both. You may already know that most of the heat in peppers comes from the membranes. So the bottom of the peppers have way less heat than the top. To use for cooking, I find it easiest to use scissors to snip off a few pieces and add to the pan while sauteing onion and garlic.