On The Table June 19
This Week’s Share
see our storage tips page for info on the best ways to store your veggies.
Garlic Scapes? Kohlrabi? What are they and how can I cook them?
Garlic Scapes
are the stems of the Allium plant, with the flowers attached. If they are not harvested these flowers will develop into bulbils which contain garlic seeds. While farmers traditionally will save the seeds of their plantings to grow them again the next year, garlic is usually planted in clove. This is because it takes several replantings for a garlic bulb grown from seed to reach its full size. The scapes are cut to concentrate the energy of the plant into growing the bulbs. So there are two reasons (other than how delicious they are) that we have garlic scapes in our box this week.
Cut the flower and the top of the scape off and use the stem. It has a mild garlicky flavor without the bite of cloves. They are best used within a short time after harvest. Garlic Scape Pesto is a popular preparation. You can blend chopped scapes with olive oil in a food processor, adding parsley or cilantro (or even basil if you have it!), pine nuts or walnuts, grated sharp cheese like parmesan, asiago or romano and some lemon juice. You can also chop them into into 1 inch pieces and saute with olive oil, salt, pepper and some red pepper flakes until just slightly tender, and then add coarsely chopped greens like chard or kale and continue sauteeing until the greens are done (longer for the kale.) Another yummy thing to do is to make a frittata with the scapes and some spinach or chard. See the GARLIC SCAPE FRITTATA recipe on our Recipes page for details.
Kohlrabi
is a cruciferous vegetable like broccoli, kale, cabbage, bok choy, guy lan and brussels sprouts. High in Vitamin C and soluble fiber, it is great for you as well as tasty. The orb sprouting the leaves is actually a swollen stem which is similar in taste to broccoli stems or a mild turnip. Best eaten soon after harvest, it has a mild flavor and can be eaten raw or cooked. Very young tender kohlrabi can be prepared without peeling, but most often it is necessary to peel it. Check out the Kohlrabi and Carrot Slaw recipe on our Recipes page above!
Get on the Strawberry Bus!
There are still some seats available on the Strawberry Bus, leaving Arrow this Saturday, June 21st at 9AM. Strawberries are $3.75 a quart on the farm. The bus is free but you should let us know you’re coming by emailing the number in your party to info@astoriacsa.com. Please consider donating to offset the cost of the bus and help us provide free busses in the future, just click on the membership link to get to our donation page!
Bring a lunch, plenty of water and sunscreen. Golden Earthworm also has a farm stand, and we may be stopping at Briermere farm, the supplier of our fruit share for a visit to their farm stand and bakery (delicious fruit pies!). Bring extra money because you will certainly want to buy more beautiful produce!
Vermicomposting Event June 26th!
Don’t forget our Vermicomposting Event next Thursday, June 26. Plan to spend some extra time at Arrow Thursday June 26th, from 6-7:30 with Helen Ho, while she explains how easy it is to have a worm bin and turn your vegetable scraps and junk mail into nutrient rich compost for your garden or houseplants. We’ve invited Councilman Vallone to come visit and see us in action (see previous post for pictures of our visit to Mr. Vallone.)
Call for submissions
Read any good cookbooks lately? What are you doing with your share? If you have a cookbook you’d like to sing the praises of to the rest of the group, recipes or questions email them to newsletter@astoriacsa.com. We’d like to put member recipes on our recipes page and hear about the cookbooks you’re using. Recipes can be of your own invention or passed down through family. (If you want to submit them from a cookbook be sure to include attribution information.) If you’d like to review any other books related to food and nutrition you’ve read, we’re interested in that too.
Also, have you been on a restrictive diet? Kosher, Halal, Vegetarian, Vegan, Macrobiotic, Raw, Fad, whatever. We’d like to talk to you for a future article! Email newsletter@astoriacsa.com.