Weekly Weeder

Olin-Fox Farms Volume No. 11 Issue No. 12 June 11, 2009

www.olinfoxfarms.com Summer Season Week 3

STANDARD REMINDER

Please be sure to wash your weekly share thoroughly before serving. To preserve freshness, it is NOT ‘table ready’ (i.e., pre-washed). We deliver your Olin-Fox Farms’ produce right from the fields to ensure highest quality.


This is the Third Week of the Summer 2009 Program.

Next Week is an OFF Week.

The Fourth Week of the Summer Program is June 24 - 27.

Schedules can be found on our website, www.olinfoxfarms.com.


This Week's News From The Farms

The weather Mother Nature produced over the last week has been pretty furious in the manner of wind, lightening, and hail, but the rain has been needed to give many crops the extra boost they needed to catch up from a slow start this year.

With that said, the shares this week are large and heavy, so take care when carrying them. Please note: due to some of the wet harvesting conditions, some of your produce may need to be washed and cleaned a little more carefully, especially the red lettuce. It was very wet when harvested. We have done the best that we can do under the circumstances. Harvesting has been very good this week, and offered up a few extras, so when the picking is good, we plan to add an extra item to your shares whenever possible.

The heat of the Summer will slow down egg production, so eggs will in your shares about every other delivery until Fall and Winter, when egg production will pick back up.

Well, the heat is on, and we've gotten a lot of rain, so the veggie forecast is looking in favor of more squash, cabbage, cucumbers, eggplant, peaches, and blackberries. Tomatoes and sweet corn start in July.

In other news, we will be testing the delivery notification for Northern Virginia on the homepage of our website starting tomorrow. So, check our website (www.olinfoxfarms.com) after 2 pm to see if your shares are available for pick up. Hopefully, this will save some of you time.

So, enjoy your produce, and if you would like to share a recipe, please email it to us. If we use your recipe in the Weekly Weeder, we will add you as a contributor to the Weekly Weeder, or you can be anonymous. Anyway, we all enjoy good food and the many ways to prepare it.


In Your Produce Basket This Week

Garlic Scapes, Summer Squash, White Turnips, Kohlrabi, Chinese Cabbage,

Parsley, Salad Mix, Green Lettuce

Please see the Produce List for your location for more details.


For Those With a Fruit Share: Red Raspberries or Peaches


Recipes and Information

Kohlrabi

One of our most favorite “alien vegetables,” as we like to call it at Olin-Fox Farms. A brief glance online lends descriptions of “a Green Sputnik,” or “a hot air balloon.”


Kohlrabi was known to first century Rome and is included in the oldest known cookbook on Roman imperial dining in Rome, and it is by Apicius. Charlemagne, crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 800 A.D. ordered that kohlrabi be grown in the lands under his rule. Since Charlemagne's home was actually located in the Western part of Germany, that is how we today use a German word meaning “cabbage-turnip,” namely, kohlrabi.


Nutritionally speaking, kohlrabi has a whopping 245 grams of Potassium in ½ cup, and is also a good source for dietary fiber, Vitamins A and C, folic acid, and calcium. It is low in calories, having only 19 in ½ cup.

Information from: http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch24.html


Recipe Ideas

Kohlrabi greens can be prepared as you would your favorite leafy green, such as kale, collards or spinach. They work well lightly steamed, stir-fried, or sauteed in olive oil and garlic.


To prepare the globe, peel the outer skin. It can be sliced and eaten raw, or also steamed or sauteed.



Kohlrabi, Pea Shoot and Chinese Cabbage Salad

  • ½ cup pea shoots, halved

  • ½ tsp. salt

  • 1 trimmed kohlrabi bulb

  • 4 cups Chinese Cabbage, sliced

  • 1 Tbsp. Japanese-style sesame seeds (not hulled), toasted

  • 1 tablespoons soy sauce

  • 1/2 teaspoons sugar

  • 1 teaspoon mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)

  • 2 Tsp. water


Equipment:

  • an adjustable-blade slicer (fitted with julienne blade) or a julienne peeler;

  • a suribachi (Japanese sesame-seed-grinding bowl) or an electric coffee/spice grinder

Preparation:

Bring 2 cups water to a boil with 1/2 teaspoon salt, then quickly blanch pea shoots until color brightens, about 10 seconds. Drain immediately and transfer to a bowl of cold water to stop cooking. Drain and pat dry.


Peel kohlrabi bulbs with a small sharp knife, then cut into matchsticks with slicer.


Slice Chinese Cabbage finely, as you would for coleslaw.


Toss together pea shoots, kohlrabi, and Chinese Cabbage in a serving dish.


Finely grind sesame seeds in suribachi or grinder, then transfer to a bowl and stir in remaining ingredients. (Dressing will be thick; thin slightly with additional water if desired.)


Serve salad drizzled with some of dressing and serve remainder on the side.


*******************************

Peruse the June 13, 2007 edition of the Weekly Weeder for an entertaining and informative article about Kohlrabi from our Newsletter Focalizer at the time Ethan Brent:

http://www.olinfoxfarms.com/user/ww%20June%2013%20Wed%20html.html


Newsletter written by John Cooper and Alice Hershiser.

Bon Appetit!