In Your Share (Aug 17th edition)

IMG_0308Time for peppers!! The Czech Black pepper is a beautiful dark purple-black color, hence the name. It has the shape of a jalapeño, but is not quite as hot. The Bulgarian Carrot pepper is bright orange, about 3 1/2″ long and a little hotter than a jalapeño. All are good fresh in salsa or can be roasted. We also have some Anaheim peppers in the share which are traditionally used for chile rellenos. They are a beautiful light green color and just slightly hot. You can check the Scoville scale for more info on their relative heat of the different peppers. At last count there were over 40 recipes for hot peppers and lots more for your other veggies too at Cook With What You Have. CSA members will find the password to the site in your email – enjoy your 24/7 access to recipe inspiration!

This week your share may include…

  • Basil: Over the years we’ve grown many different varieties and some of the larger leaf types are more productive, but none has the tenderness and eating quality of this true Genovese type.
  • Carrots: One of the best summer snacks!
  • Sweet Corn: So many of the new hybrid super sweet corn varieties are just too sweet for my taste. I really like this variety because it is really tender and sweet, but has some good old-fashioned corn flavor too.
  • Cucumbers: Sweet & tasty slicers
  • Eggplant: Some of these japanese eggplant are almost big enough to make eggplant parmesan!
  • Fennel: Big beautiful bulbs are tasty in salad or sautéed.
  • Cimi di Rapa Greens: These are traditional Italian cooking greens
  • Yukina Greens: This is a larger version of Tatsoi and it’s just as tasty – I usually put it in stir fry, but it’s a very versatile cooking green and nice in salad too.
  • Anaheim Peppers: These are traditionally used for chile rellenos. They usually have just a mild amount of heat, but occasionally they’re hot so I’d advise tasting them first if you’re wary of too much heat.
  • Hot Peppers: Mostly Jalapeño & Czech Black with a few Bulgarian Carrot peppers too.
  • Summer Squash: Nice mix of green & yellow zucchini, crookneck and patty pan.
  • Tomatoes: The Stupice & other early varieties are coming on strong. We should have increasing numbers of slicers & heirloom tomatoes in the share over the next few weeks too! 4&2 Heirloom

Coming soon… Sweet Italian Peppers!