 Apple Mint Vegetable Profile: Mint (Mentha spp.)
Description: Mint easily one of the strongest aromatic herbs we grow, and truth be told, almost all other aromatic herbs are members of the Mint family (rosemary, thyme, lavender, sage, etc). There are over 500 true mint varieties. For our purposes here, we are talking about the 3 that we offer: peppermint, chocolate mint, and apple mint. All are abundant perennials on this farm! Peppermint has a fresh classic mint flavor with smooth, tipped and serrated leaves. Chocolate mint looks similar, with a purple stem, and a sweeter chocolaty flavor. Apple mint has soft, fuzzy leaves, that are rounded in shape and lighter in color. Nutrition: Mint is popular among herbalists for its many medicinal properties, including its soothing and cooling action. It supports lung and liver function, improved digestion and dispels gas, aids in painful menstruation, and headaches. Storage: Mint keeps well on the counter for a few days in a glass of cool water in a cool, low-light area. It may even sprout roots, which you can plant for our own harvest or introduce to your lawn for a fresh scent when you mow. It can be kept fresh longer in a waterproof container in the fridge, maybe 4-5 days. Use: As with many herbs, the question we get is some variation of: “This smells great, but how do I USE it?” Well, don’t be shy! Mint is more than a flavoring for sweets; it can be as versatile as you want to make it. Raw: Finely chop it into a salad for a Mediterranean twist, with lemon and tahini-based dessing! Take a sprig or two and submerge in a jar of water, and refrigerate overnight for mint-infused water (add cucumber slices in season). Makes a fruit salad really pop! Dried: Mint is more difficult than other herbs to dry without turning brown. Best if you have a dehydrator. Oven drying is not recommended! Cooked: Mint is a traditional flavor component in rice, tabbouleh, and couscous salads. Simply add once grains are finished cooking to infuse. Hot tea is a great way to use mint as well! Sources: The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia by Rebecca Wood The Rodale Encyclopida of Herbs Asparagus to Zucchini by Fairshare Coalition Produce: A fruit and vegetable lover's guide by Bruce Beck Our own experience!
0 Comments
 Vegetable Profile: Rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum)
Description: Rhubarb has become a seasonal favorite for desert in the past 400 years since cane sugar became widely available, but the root has been used medicinally for thousands of years! We offer the thick, juicy, tart flavored stems in our CSA and at the market. We also offer Rhubarb seedlings for our spring seedling sale. Nutrition: As a sour, astringent, and cooling food, Rhubarb removes excess heat and supports healthy blood circulation. It helps when the liver is experiencing inflammation and can relieve constipation. High in vitamin C and potassium. Storage: Either store whole in a bag in the fridge and use within 3-5 days, or chop up and freeze them for later use. Use: There’s probably a lot of bakers out there who have even better ideas about desserts with rhubarb, but here’s a few more ideas! Keep in mind, rhubarb leaves are poisonous, and even stems should be eaten in moderation for people who have kidney stones or inadequate calcium absorption. Make a spring pink tonic by chopping up the stalks, boiling in 3 cups of water, and adding the rhubarb to simmer for 5 minutes. Then remove from heat, add a sprig of mint or chamomile, and let steep for 5 more minutes. Add honey to taste. Rhubarb bakes well into tarts, and lends a unique twist to compote served with savory dishes. Sources: The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia by Rebecca Wood Asparagus to Zucchini by Fairshare Coalition Produce: A fruit and vegetable lover's guide by Bruce Beck Our own experience!  Vegetable Profile: Chives (Allium schoenoprasm)
Description: Chives are just as much of a pleasure to eat as they are to grow. From tiny seedlings, they proliferate steadily from year to year as a perennial. They enjoy the shadier spots, and are some of the first volunteers in early spring to break the surface with their green tips. Their flavor is as appetizing as it is versatile, and they are popular the world around. Chives have been prized in herb gardens for over 5000 years, dating back to their origins in China. Nutrition: Chives, as a member of the onion family, carry many of the same medicinal actions, though they are milder. They build the appetite and improve digestion and blood circulation. They are warming in nature. Storage: Chives are a cold-hardy plant, and so they benefit from refrigeration. If left out, the quickly wilt and turn yellow. Store in a water-proof container, and use within 5-7 days. Use: There are more ways to use chives than meets the eye. We love fresh chive leaves and flowers, dried leaves, and chive infused vinegar! Raw: Chive leaf: finely mince whole, and sprinkle on eggs, potatoes, meat dishes or in freshly cooked rice. Chive flowers: pinch off the tiny flowers and sprinkle on dishes the same way you would fresh leaves. Dried: Lie out the whole, unchopped leaves on a screen or other breathable material in low light, well-ventilated area. After a few days, when the leaves are crisp, you can crush them up and use them as a spice. Sources: The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia by Rebecca Wood The Rodale Encyclopida of Herbs Asparagus to Zucchini by Fairshare Coalition Produce: A fruit and vegetable lover's guide by Bruce Beck Our own experience!  Vegetable Profile: Leeks (Allium ampeloprasum)
Description: Picking a favorite onion family plant is about as difficult as it gets, but honestly, leeks are at the top of my list. Maybe it’s because they’re largely under-appreciated, but I stand firmly on my conviction that anything onion can do, leeks can do better! They are great in soup, sure, but they deserve so, so much more. If you like their wild ancestor, the ramp, you’ll love cultivated leeks just as much without the harmful effects that wild harvesting has on delicate and threatened ramp populations. Nutrition: Sulfur compounds in leeks and most onion family crops account for their healing action in digestion. Unlike other onion family plants, leeks contain carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. They are milder than onions and garlic, and are therefore more child-friendly and less heating for people with heat-related conditions. Storage: Can be stored in the crisper drawer of the fridge for up to a week or more. They also freeze well if you chop them and add them to a freezer bag. Use: There are so many ways to enjoy leeks! Sauteed, raw, grilled, blended into soups.. The leek can do it all. Raw: Peel pack the outer leaves if they are thin or tough. Rinse off any remaining dirt with cool water. Cut off the root base, and finely chop the remaining stalk and leaves, until leaves become fibrous From there, you can add it to salad, use it on a sandwich or burrito, or mix it into scrambled eggs. I love topping a bagel and cream cheese with some finely chopped leeks! Cooked: Repeat the first step above Coarsely chop the leeks into disks Add to heated oil along with onions or garlic, or in place of. Continue adding ingredients for a stirfry Sources: The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia by Rebecca Wood Asparagus to Zucchini by Fairshare Coalition Produce: A fruit and vegetable lover's guide by Bruce Beck Our own experience!  Vegetable Profile: Bok Choy( Brassica rapa, Chinensis group)
See also: Pac choy Description: A sweet and mild tasting, upright green with thick succulent stalks. We love this crop for sautees and ferments, especially Korean style kimchi. Nutrition: Choy is considerably rich in calcium, antioxidant beta-carotene, and features diversity of phytonutrients common of the cabbage family. It’s a cooling and soothing tonic for the digestive system and helps expel excess water. Storage: Choy stores well in the fridge for 5-7 days in a waterproof container and with light moisture. Use: The juiciness of this green is best put to use in stirfries and ferments. Cooked: wash and chop the choy from base to tops (excluding the roots) and add to eated olive oil, minced garlic, and soy sauce. Fermented: Chop thinly like cabbage, salt until it tastes like seawater, and mix with carrot and other cabbage family plants. Pack firmly into a jar, with a smaller jar inside to weigh the matter down under the juices. Let ferment, covered but breathing, on the counter for 3-7 days. Cap tightly and refrigerate. Use it on everything! Sources: The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia by Rebecca Wood Asparagus to Zucchini by Fairshare Coalition The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Eliz Katz Produce: A fruit and vegetable lover's guide by Bruce Beck Our own experience!
 Vegetable Profile: Garlic (Allium sativum)
Description: Garlic is one of the most prized crops we grow. We have been saving our own seed garlic for almost a decade. We grow two types, both hardneck: yellow German, and red Japanese. We offer green garlic, which is immature garlic, garlic scapes (or immature seed heads), and cured garlic in season. Nutrition: Garlic is a nutritional and medicinal powerhouse. Pungent and sweet in taste, it has a warming nature and tonifies the spleen, stomach, kidney, and lungs. It stimulates a healthy appetite, improves metabolism and digestion, and is considered antibacterial, antifungal, and anticarcinogenic. It actually helps promote healthy intestinal growth by discouraging pathogenic bacteria. It has also been shown to help stabilize blood sugar. Storage: Green garlic: best stored in the fridge in a waterproof bag or container. Use up before it wilts, in about 6-7 days. Garlic scapes: Store in a waterproof bag or container for up to 3 weeks in the fridge. Cured garlic bulb: store out of the fridge in a cool, dry, low-light location and use up within 1-2 months. Use: We are guilty of tripling the amount that every recipe calls for. That’s just how we do it! Green garlic: remove outer leaves all the way down the stalk, like leeks or scallions. Then, chop off the root base and slide up the stalk into small disks until it becomes fibrous at the end. Sautee, or use like scallions for a powerful garlic flavor. Excellent on pizza! Garlic scapes: Simply mince the whole thing until you get to the tail end of the seed head where it’s fibrous or turns brown. Use as green garlic above. Cured garlic bulb: Remove outer husk and either chop or mince, according to your recipe. Can be used raw or cooked. Sources: The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia by Rebecca Wood Asparagus to Zucchini by Fairshare Coalition Produce: A fruit and vegetable lover's guide by Bruce Beck Our own experience!  Vegetable Profile: Lettuce Description: Lettuce is one of the most popular crops we grow. As a member of the Asteraceae, or Sunflower family, it loves our loose, well-drained soil. We love its wide variety of colors, textures, and uses! Iceberg lettuce just can’t compare to the juicy crunch and delicate flavor of each of the unique varieties that we grow. We hope you “lettuce” steal the spotlight on your plate with these delicious leaves! Types of lettuce we grow include butterhead, loose-leaf lettuce, romaine, and summer crisp varieties. We also offer a diverse array of salad mixes. Salanova lettuce was first introduced last year. We were so happy with it we decide to start growing more this year. Nutrition: Lettuce with more pigment and flavor signifies more potent nutritional properties. It’s bitter-sweet flavor lends itself as a digestive aid, and its cooling nature helps tame inflammation. The white sap of mature lettuce is known to support healthy breastmilk production, and it serves as a good source of magnesium. Its high silicon content makes it an excellent tonic for the pancreas. It has a calming effect on the nervous system. Storage: Lettuce is harvested at a young and tender stage, so it must be stored in the fridge in a water-proof container to prevent wilting. With proper storage, whole head lettuce can last for up to 5 days, while baby lettuce or salad mix will last about 3. Our lettuce is not treated with a bleach solution, nor is it irradiated, so it will not have the same shelf life as some you buy in the store. We believe the trade-off is well worth it! Use: The fact that we grow so much lettuce means that we have experimented with it and found that there is more than one way to eat lettuce! Raw: Gently separate leaves from the stem (if it’s head lettuce) and rinse lettuce in a colander, and then lay in a dishtowel. Grab up all 4 corners of the dish towel and swing the lettuce dry in a windmill motion outside (or use a salad spinner). Chop into bite-size pieces From there, you can either make salad, use it on a sandwich or burrito, or mix it into scrambled eggs. Cooked: Mature lettuce actually makes a very lovely sauteed green. Follow the first 3 steps above, and simply incorporate it in a stirfry, omelet, or make a cooked green side dish with olive oil, soy sauce, and garlic added. Sources: The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia by Rebecca Wood Asparagus to Zucchini by Fairshare Coalition Produce: A fruit and vegetable lover's guide by Bruce Beck Our own experience!  Salanova
Storage:
Carrots are a storage crop, and prefer a cool, dark, and moist place. They will get soft if they start to loose moisture; store either in a covered container in the fridge with a wet cloth, or even in a container of moist clean sand in a pantry space. Depending on your storage method, they can last anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months. The more mature the carrots are, the longer they will last also. Use: We have a few different ways we like to prepare carrots at Wellspring! Cooked:
The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia by Rebecca Wood Asparagus to Zucchini by Fairshare Coalition Produce: A fruit and vegetable lover's guide by Bruce Beck The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Elix Katz Our own experience!
Storage:
Radishes, while more study than other more leafy crops, are tender and get soft when they start to loose moisture. Cooling slows this process, so they keep best in the fridge in a covered container with the greens removed. You can even add some water to the container if you want to keep them extra crisp. The greens are delicious when cooked. Use the bulbs within 1 week, the greens within 2-3 days. Use: The way we prefer to prepare radishes, two ways! Raw:
It's that easy to enjoy radishes! Some people are hesitant to try them because of a childhood experience or not having them prepared well, and they miss out on all the possibilities and benefits that this early and late season crop brings. We hope this helps you rediscover radish as a welcome addition to your dish! Sources: The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia by Rebecca Wood Asparagus to Zucchini by Fairshare Coalition Produce: A fruit and vegetable lover's guide by Bruce Beck Our own experience! Description: Scallions (also called green onions, bunching onions) are a delicious pungent topping to almost anything you make! Their blanched white base and slender, hollow green leaves and tender texture are as attractive as they are appetizing! Nutrition: A warming tonic for the digestive system and supports healthy blood circulation, the heart, large intestine, and lungs. Light anti-fungal and antimicrobial action. Contains precursors to vitamin A, B complex, and C when eaten raw. Also contains some calcium, magnesium, and potassium. Storage:
Scallions are tender and cold tolerant, so they keep best in the fridge in a produce bag. Use within 3-4 days. Use: The way we prefer to prepare scallions:
Sources: The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia by Rebecca Wood Asparagus to Zucchini by Fairshare Coalition Produce: A fruit and vegetable lover's guide by Bruce Beck Our own experience! |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
July 2020
Categories |
RSS Feed