July Sixth
Okay, so every week you open up your CSA box, and the most prominent color in your box is, well, green! Yes folks, GREEN! Green is the color we see everywhere out there when we open up our door and step outside. Nature is smothered in the color and offers the most edible volumes in this color. There are more edible greens on the planet than there are foods available in any other color. This is nature’s way of telling us, EAT YOUR GREENS!
When we walk into a supermarket there are many other colors and shapes of food that we humans have managed to cultivate and process and package, and the poor leafy greens get one measly corner on the shelves of the produce aisle inside these giant stores filled with “food”. There has been much nutritional advice out there about eating the full rainbow, and I do believe that there is a lot of value and merit to this idea, but the poor greens receive far too little attention and importance and we become quickly bored with the color amidst all of the colorful food marketing out there. The other colors of the rainbow usually have a higher sugar content than the greens, are a little tastier and ultimately win our spending dollars for this reason. So I am here today to try and speak for the greens!
The tomatoes are still a month away and our colorful sweet peppers, melons and sweet corn are also a few weeks away as well. But for now, you find Collard Greens in your box and you are passive about them. I am hopeful that we can use this time of greens bounty (while we bide our time waiting for tomatoes and sweet peppers) to make better friends with the color, learn to honor it and embrace the deep nutritional importance of the color.
I have done some traveling in my short life and have lived in places where eating raw greens was a cultural no-no because of the questionable sources of water used to irrigate and then wash the greens. We are blessed to live in a part of the world where we have clean, potable water and eating raw green salads is actually something of a privilege. There are many places on the planet today where if you wish to eat green foods, they must be cooked to death to ensure you don’t get salmonella poisoning or exposure to some other kind of bacteria that would make you sick.
I pulled this little piece off of Dr. Mercola’s Website:
Green foods and vegetables contain an array of antioxidants and other disease-fighting compounds that are very difficult to get anywhere else. Plant chemicals called phytochemicals can reduce inflammation and eliminate carcinogens, while others regulate the rate at which your cells reproduce, get rid of old cells and maintain DNA. Studies have repeatedly shown that people with higher green vegetable intake have:
-Lower risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease
-Higher scores on cognitive tests
-Lower risk of certain types of cancer, eye disease, and digestive problems
-Higher antioxidant levels
-Reduced risk of kidney stones and bone loss
-Lower biomarkers for oxidative stress
Further, if you eat your veggies raw, you’ll also be receiving biophotons, the smallest physical units of light, which are stored in, and used by all biological organisms — including your body. Vital sun energy finds its way into your cells via the food you eat, in the form of these biophotons. They contain important bio-information, which controls complex vital processes in your body. The biophotons have the power to order and regulate, and, in doing so, to elevate the organism — in this case, your physical body — to a higher oscillation or order. Generally, the more sunlight a food is able to store, the more nutritious it is.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/04/08/eating-sprouts.aspx
Without any further ado, Happy Greens Eating!
Soooo…..What’s in the Box????
Green Cabbage- Cute little heads of green cabbage for all this week!
Lettuce x 2- A Green Leaf Head and a gorgeous red oakleaf variety. Use your lettuce leaves as wraps this week and fill them with rice, meat or other sautéed vegetabels.
Strawberry Pints- The final giving of Strawberries, sadly. We’re always a little sad when they go out of season, but so many other fun things to look forward to.
Kohlrabi- Either a white or a purple kohlrabi. We can look forward to more kohlrabi in the fall. Peel your kohlrabi and slice up the crunchy insides into veggie sticks for a healthy snack.
Fennel- Fennel is in the umbelifferae family along with carrots, parsnip, dill, parsley and celery. It is an aromatic vegetables that has a licorice flavor when eaten raw that almost entirely disappers once cooked. The frawns of the fennel are edible but used more commonly as garnish. Slice your fennel bulb lengthwise and cut out the core at the base of the plant. Slice up your fennel in whichever way your recipe calls for.
Peas- .74 lbs per member this week. Peas may be out of season for now. Peas are a cool-season plant that starts to slow down in the heat of the summer. It sure was nice having peas back for a while!
Basil- Small little bunches of basil. We wanted to give an herb this week and we noticed that the basil was wanting to make seed heads, so we gave the plants a trim. Basil does not keep well once it has been washed, so we did not wash the basil. It keeps best in a vase on the counter like cut flowers. Never refrigerate basil as it will turn black in temperatures in the 30’s.
Summer Squash and Zucchini– 4-5 fruits per member. The summer squash plants are very generous. We can look forward to several more weeks of summer squash givings, so dig out your favorite squash recipes! They have a very mild and agreeable texture, so they are easy to sneak into almost any dish you are preparing.
Cucumbers- 2-3 cucumbers per member. So excited about cucumbers coming into season! Make cucumber salad, cucumber water or even cucumber smoothies! They keep best in the fridge, or closer to 50 degrees like squash.
Bunching Onions- Another fine week of green onions for your everyday needs!
Garlic Scapes- Funky garlic scapes for dicing up into almost anything you are preparing. Garlic scapes have a more smooth, mild and less pungent and spicy flavor once cooked than cured garlic. Enjoy this seasonal delicacy while it lasts! Probably one more week of garlic scapes.
Collards- A southern green in our northern state. Collards can be subbed into any of your favorite greens recipes. Use them in soups, fritattas or just sautéed with onion and garlic scapes. Collards have a more smooth texture and hold together very nicely in cooking. Try collards insead of swiss chard in that Tamale recipe from last week. I know I’m going to!
Asian Eggplants or Broccoli as bonus items- There were 100 Broccolis to distribute and 85 asian eggplants to share while we packed 310 boxes. We stuck them in boxes with smaller cabbages or boxes coming off the line that still had room in the top to stick them in. Lotts more broccoli next week and eggplants are just coming into season, so more of those on the way as well!
Next Week’s Best Guess:
Kale, Green Onions, Garlic Scapeas, Zucchini, Summer Squash, Cucumbers, Parslely, Beets, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Lettuce, and maybe fennel or eggplant.
Recipes-
Summer Squash and Zucchini Salad
Spring Salad with Fennel and Orange
Does anyone out there have a fantastic Collard recipe to sahre the love?
