Changing of the Crops

During our weekly field walk and to-do list creation broccoli was checked and subsequently sampled to confirm readiness and tastiness for shares this week.

There has been a gradual changeover with summer crops overlapping with fall crops as they slowly start being harvested. This week, fall comes to us both literally and figuratively, with more fall crops entering the scene. Cabbage and broccoli are here!

Cabbage is easy to store - a plastic bag or container in the fridge and it lasts for weeks - outer leaves may yellow a bit, but just remove them and you have a perfect head left underneath. The first of our cabbages is Savoy cabbage. It is has a tight head like the traditional green and red cabbage, but the leaves are wavy/wrinkled, making the head look pretty. It can be used interchangebly with regular green and red cabbage.

As for broccoli, I find a little game of "find the hidden worm(s)" an important step in the broccoli keeping best in the fridge. The little critters hide on stems and in-between the florets and the color blends in with the color of what they are eating, but not removing them causes the places where they lay to go bad. This may sound complicated, but it really only takes a minute or two and is well worth the time.

This past week we received green tomatoes - you may wonder what to do with them. They are edible and don't need to be ripened. They can be cut up and added to your green salads, made into a Green Tomato Relish or fried up as in Fried Green Tomatoes with Remoulade Sauce, both of which are on this site. Or, mix with the remaining sweet and hot peppers, red tomatoes, onions, garlic, fresh or dried oregano, fresh cilantro, a bit of cider vinegar, salt and pepper - if it seems too tart for your taste, add a bit of your favorite sweetener.