Tag: Kohlrabi

  • Winter CSA – Week 3

    This week, we plan to include the following items in the farm share:

    Kohlrabi Slaw with Sesame Vinaigrette
    I love making slaw with kohlrabi and carrots – it’s so crisp and fresh. Peel the outer purple skin with a potato peeler or paring knife to prepare this Kohlrabi Slaw with Sesame Vinaigrette. Don’t forget about the greens! The kohlrabi leaves can also be sautéed with other greens (treat it like kale) for a boost of anti-oxidants.

    Eight ways to use Pandan
    The use of pandan in Southeast Asian cooking flavors both sweet and savory dishes. The leaves themselves are not edible because they are very fibrous, but when it is cooked, the naturally sweet taste and grassy aroma transforms a dish. The flavor has hints of rose, almond, and vanilla, it pairs very well with coconut milk. The most common use for pandan leaves is to add them to rice before cooking : take a leaf or two, tie them into a knot and drop it into the pot of rice. The rice will absorb the aroma and flavor of the pandan leaves during cooking. Discard the pandan leaves before serving the rice. Similarly, the aroma infuses into meat when wrapped in leaves and cooked. It is also common to extract the pandan juice : chop leaves, then pulse in food processor. Add hot water, let cool and strain. The extract is then used in many desert dishes. To help manage blood pressure and blood sugar, the leaves are steeped in boiling water, and the tea is consumed twice per day.

    This quick recipe for hearty Sweet Potato and Ham Soup is perfect for a chilly night’s dinner and a great way to use leftover ham and veggies!

    Feeling like salad? Mix your arugula and mizuna for a zesty salad base and top with sliced radishes.

    You can roast or steam Bonita White Sweet Potatoes just like other sweet potatoes.

  • Winter 2021 CSA – Week 2

    CSA Members will enjoy these items, mostly from our farm:

    • Dill bunch
    • Spring Mix
    • Watermelon Radishes
    • Osaka Mustard Greens
    • Tomatoes – The Family Garden
    • Grapefruit
    • Small Papaya – High Springs Orchard OR Orange from FSO
    • Turmeric
    • Sweet Potatoes, fingerlings (Traditional Orange “Yams”)

    Flourless Sweet Potato Cake (Paleo, Vegan, Gluten Free)
    I can’t wait to try this guilt-free chocolate cake! It’s grain and dairy free… and made with pureed sweet potatoes! They add to the moistness and richness of the cake. It must be healthier, right?!

    Indian Style Dill and Turmeric Potato Salad
    This warm potato salad is loaded with dill and fresh grated turmeric in place of powder will have powerful health benefits and taste!

    Dill Salad Dressing
    Try this original recipe on all these greens this week, we’ll surely be making a few salads!

  • CSA Share: Week 8, April 24-27

    This Week we are happy to share with you some delicious brand new, right out of the ground, New Red Potatoes, Arugula, Scallions/Green Onions, Red Radish, Summer Squash, Purple Kohlrabi, Tender Panisse Lettuce, Green Cabbage, Fennel and some delicate and delicious English Peas.

    New Red Potatoes Potato season has arrived!! This particular heirloom variety has been grown in Florida for over 100 years because of its ability to precede pesticide usage. To fumigate means to disinfect or purify (an area) with the fumes of certain chemicals. Many farmers do this to rid their fields of problematic nematodes that live in the soil and cause unsightly damage to potatoes. We do not fumigate our fields so we have to rely on certain varieties of vegetables that are resistant or less susceptible to certain diseases. Enjoy these freshly unearthed potatoes by simply washing them and preparing them as usual. Don’t bother peeling, the skin is so thin and tender and holds most of the nutritional value of the potato.

    Try this perfect springtime potato salad featuring baby Red Potatoes, Fennel and English peas from your share!

    Fennel Potato Salad 

    Green Cabbage We harvest the cabbage by cutting the stalk just below the bottom leaves with a blade. The outer leaves are trimmed, and any diseased, damaged, or necrotic leaves are removed. We store the harvested cabbage in giant bins in our refrigerated shipping containers for up to three months and are cleaned/trimmed per order. Due to its long shelf life cabbage was a main staple in European countries during the 17th and 18th centuries. Read how Sauerkraut was used by Dutch, Scandinavian and German sailors to prevent scurvy during long ship voyages.

    Magical Sour Cabbage- How Sauerkraut helped save the age of sail- Modern Farmer.Com

    “Baby” Summer Squash refers to any variety that is picked very small. While they come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors they all have similar properties: thin skins and pale delicate flesh that softens easily when cooked. They are grown in warm weather so they are particularly susceptible to the cold, however they deteriorate quickly when kept too warm. The ideal storage for these squash is in about 55 degrees, so the coolest part of the kitchen or warmest part of the refrigerator, loosely wrapped in a paper bag or kitchen towel.

    English Peas, meet the English pea, also known as the garden pea or the green pea. This variety of the legume family must be shelled. The seed pod easily splits open to reveal beautifully round and delicate green peas. Eat them raw in salads, simmer them in a saucepan, or blanch them (boil them for just a minute or two and then cool off in cold water and drain) and freeze them for later.

    Red Radish most commonly known as table radishes or spring radishes. These beautiful red radishes are typically served raw in salads and vegetable assortments, however, they are delicious cooked as well. They too are members of the mustard family and tend to be a little hotter than the larger Asian Daikon radishes.

    Purple Kohlrabi, a member of the vast mustard family (Brassicaceae), Kohlrabi is a crunchy vegetable with a mild flavor making it extremely versatile in the kitchen. When eaten raw it adds a crunchy addition to vegetable platters, salads and slaws. When cooked it becomes tender, much like a potato or cooked turnip. Make sure to remove the stems and leaves and peel the tough purple skin. I shredded it, tossed it in some fresh lime juice and used it as a topping on my tacos. The flavor of Kohlrabi is very mild so it goes well in just about any dish.

    Panisse Lettuce it’s large, lime green, lobed leaves form this dense head lettuce variety. Wait to wash it until you are ready to use it as washing it strips it of some of its natural protective coating that helps it maintain a longer shelf life.

    Arugula or Rocket, is a tender, spicy green that has grown in popularity in recent years. It can be eaten raw or wilted. It balances other flavors well, whether sweet, salty, rich or acidic. Toss it in your green salad or give it a quick sauté in a pan with a little garlic and olive oil. You can also dice it up and mix it in with some cooked quinoa and other similar grains to give them a little zing of flavor.

    Fennel Crispy and fragrant this feathery vegetable is most commonly used for its white, bulbous lower stem. However, its fronds are edible too. Save the fronds for a garnish or use it as a herb in slaws and salads. Try slicing the bulb and serving topped with some goat cheese.

    Scallions or Green Onions are picked before they have had the chance to form a bulb at the base, and their flavor is milder and fresher than mature bulb onions. Most western cooks use the tender white and pale green parts, while oriental dishes usually call for the long green shoots. The long shoots are great in stir-fry’s and dice up the pale green parts to use a garnish on top of soups and salads.

    Peas, Love and Good Clean Food -Shani

     

  • CSA Share: Week 6, April 10-13

    April showers bring…Happy and hydrated fruits and vegetables. This week we are pleased to share with you: Bok Choy, Panisse Lettuce, Rainbow Carrots, Purple Kohlrabi, Red Radish, Scallions, Snow Peas, Strawberries and Fresh Dill. Enjoy

    First remove the peeling, then chop and prepare as you would a potato or eat it raw in salads.

    Kohlrabi: The taste and texture of kohlrabi are similar to those of a broccoli stem or cabbage heart, but milder and sweeter. Cook it as you would a potato: roast, stir fry, puree and use soups, shred and put in salads or slaws.  To Prepare: When you get home separate the leaves from the bulbs. The leaves will wilt and only last for a few days while the un peeled kohlrabi bulb will stay in your fridge for a week or two. Store the leaves in a sealed ziplock plastic bag. The un peeled bulbs can be stored in your produce drawer or you can go ahead and prep them by peeling them and putting them in a plastic bag so they are easily ready to cut and use. The leaves are also entirely edible, Chiffonade them finely and toss them in a vinaigrette. Chiffonade is the name of the technique in which you stack the leaves, rolling them tightly, then slicing the leaves perpendicular to the roll to make long, thin strips (who knew it actually had a name for that technique). You can also rough chop and steam or sauté them, like collard greens or kale.

    Dill: This member of the Apiaceae (aromatic flowering plants) family, and relative to celery, carrot and parsley loves to stay fresh in a jar on your kitchen countertop. If you put it in the fridge it will wilt almost instantly. Treat it as you would cut flowers changing the water daily and your dill will remain fragrant and lovely for a week. It makes a great salad dressing, dip or sprinkle it over your french fries.

    Two recipes from my favorite Herb Recipe book my mother found at a yard sale. Best fifty cents she’s ever spent 😉

    Creamy Dill Dressing

    South Deerfield, MA

    Makes 8 servings

    1 Cup Buttermilk

    3 Tbsp. Mayonnaise

    4 Tbsp. chopped fresh Dill

    3 Tbsp. chopped fresh Chives or Scallions

    1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice

    1 tsp. Dijon Mustard

    Salt to taste

    Pepper to taste.

    Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth.

    Let stand for at least one hour before serving. Store refrigerated for 4-5 days.

    Serve on salad greens or with sliced vegetables (tossed with cucumbers/radishes)

    Scallions- While Chives and Scallions are not the same vegetable they are almost identical in taste and can be used in substitution for each other. Chives are generally smaller and more slender with a milder flavor. Use the scallions in dips, spreads or garnish over soups and eggs.

    Delicious veggie cream cheese spread for your morning bagel, croissant or crackers.

    Chive-Dill Spread

    Omaha, NE

    Makes 1 cup

    8 0z. Cream Cheese, softened,

    ¼ cup finely chopped fresh dill,

    2 Tbsp. finely chopped chives or diced scallions,

    1 tsp. Fresh minced garlic, 1 small carrot shredded, (makes about 2 Tbsp)

    Mix cream cheese and herbs until well blended. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

    Snow Peas- Bright green snow peas – often used in Asian stir-fries – are not to be confused with snap peas. Both are part of the legume family of sugar peas and have edible pods. Very versatile and one of the easiest vegetables to prepare, snow peas can be enjoyed au natural, added to salads, served raw with any kind of dip, or sautéed and buttered. Before cooking or eating them rinse them in water, then crack the tip of each snow pea and pull out the tough string that runs along its side (optional). No matter how you cook them – boiling, steaming, stir-frying or blanching – snow peas need only one to three minutes. Quick cooking will also retain their vibrant color and vitamins.

    Taste The Rainbow!

    Rainbow Carrots- Delicious colorful carrots just in time for easter brunch. I don’t have to tell you how to eat a carrot but you might find this article useful for it’s lush, feathery locks..

    Not Just Rabbit Food: 5 Tasty Ways to Eat Carrot Tops– TheKitchn.Com

     

    Strawberry U-Pick Going on NOW!!!

    Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 3-7pm, at Frog Song Organics- 4317 NE US Hwy 301, Hawthorne Fl 32640

    Cash or Check only please! Check out our Facebook Page for more details.

     

  • CSA Share: Week 4, March 27-30

    This Week we are happy to share with you: Bok Choy, Rainbow Carrots, Kohlrabi, Red Butter Lettuce, Scallions, Murasaki Sweet Potatoes, French Breakfast Radish, Spinach and some of you lucky CSA members will receive Mulberries (if you don’t get some in your share this week..Don’t worry you will get them next week).Mulberries-

    These mulberries come from a large tree that shades part of our greenhouse. We only have one of these trees and it bears fruit for about three weeks of the year. This year we are fortunate to have a large enough quantity of berries for our CSA members to have a little taste. The immature fruits are white, green, or pale yellow at first and they turn pink and then red while ripening. When they turn a dark purple or black they have the sweetest flavor and are fully ripe. We pick them once they are fully ripe so they will be pretty tender and fragile by the time they get to your kitchen but rather sweet and ripe than sour..trust me you don’t want an unripe mulberry. BEWARE, THEY STAIN EVERYTHING!! They have such an intense, easily extracted coloring that they are increasingly popular as a natural food colorant. Toss a handful in your salad or use in salad dressing, stir them in some lemonade, sprinkle over your breakfast yogurt and granola, or add to your batter for some delicious and colorful baked goods. Too mushy? Create a mulberry sauce to drizzle over your ice cream. The berry has a little thin green stem that runs through the berry from tip to tip. Go ahead and eat it, it won’t hurt you, in fact it’s down right good for you and it’s also a pain to try to remove. You probably wouldn’t even know it was there unless I mentioned it. Enjoy this special treat from the farm!

    Interesting Fact about the Mulberry Tree..

    Some North American cities have banned the planting of mulberries because of the large amounts of pollen they produce, posing a potential health hazard for some pollen allergy sufferers. Conversely, female mulberry trees produce all-female flowers, which draw pollen and dust from the air. Because of this pollen-absorbing feature, all-female mulberry trees are considered “allergy-free”.

    Rainbow Carrots- You know it’s spring when you open up your share to find beautiful feather like fronds on the tops of your multicolored carrots. Makes sure to cut the tops off of your carrots as soon as you get them home, this will help prolong the life of your carrot. Don’t throw those beautiful, luscious green tops away, use them as you would parsley, in chimichurri or try them in some carrot top pesto using the spinach in your share (there are several variations).

    Carrot top pesto with Spinach

    Roasted Carrots with Carrot Top Pesto and Goat Cheese

    The name Kohlrabi comes from the German “kohl,” meaning cabbage, and “rabi,” meaning turnip—and that kind of says it all about this delicious vegetable. It’s flavor is that of it’s namesakes and has also been describe as having a similar taste to a stem of broccoli.

    Don’t be perplexed about this purple alien-like vegetable in your share, it’s really quite versatile and can be cooked similar to a potato or eaten raw – it’s crispy like an apple or a Jicama. To prepare simply cut off each leaf at the base of the stem where it is attached. Then you can peel them using a vegetable peeler, or chop off the outside rind to get to the crisp and ready to eat, inside. Once the outer rind is removed you can cut the kohlrabi bulb according to your recipe: shredded- most common for salads, cubed- for stews and roasting or pureed for soups.

    Spinach and Kohlrabi Gratin

    Quick Kohlrabi and Carrot Gratin with scallions (this recipe is in German but my computer translated it for me.. I tried to find a english version to share but I had no luck, I will try to try to translate it and post the recipe). 

    French Breakfast Radishes: Slice them and toss them in a salad or snack on them whole. My favorite way to eat these radishes (or any kind of radish) is on top of toast. I’m a radish toast connoisseur if you will, always on the lookout for new ways to combine my favorite things: Radishes, bread, butter and salt. Try this recipe using the scallions in your share and some fresh dill from past shares.

    Killingthyme.net

    French Breakfast Radish Toast with Cream Cheese, Dill and Scallions

    Or looking for an elegant party finger food:

    lottieanddoof.com

     

     

     

    Butter-Dipped French Breakfast Radishes

     

     

    Spinach- A Special Treat! Spinach is an extremely difficult crop to grow organically in Florida due to its susceptibility to mildew and precise germination temperature. Spinach is affected by many different strains/races of downy mildew. In conventional agriculture they spray it with fungicides every week or more often to combat the mildew. The seeds also require cold weather to germinate and the plants won’t grow if the temperature gets over 80º. Eat it fresh in a green salad, add it to your morning eggs, or blend it up and put it in your smoothie, there’s no wrong way to eat Spinach- just ask Popeye.

    Red Butter Lettuce- It’s large tender leaves are perfect for lettuce wraps, make sure to wash the head of lettuce once again before you eat it.

    Bok Choy- Chinese cabbage, great for stir fries and soups. Store bok choy in a sealed plastic bag in your produce drawer for maximum shelf life.

    Spring Onions– Are great as a garnish on casseroles, on toasts, sprinkled over eggs or in salads. SAVE THE SCRAPS! Onions are one of the easiest vegetables to regrow. Simply chop them up leaving at least 1-1 1/2 inches at the end of the stem (white part) and put the ends  in a jar of water or moist soil, they will sprout some little roots and then you can plant them in your windowsill garden or yard and they will grow you a little spring onion.

    Murasaki Sweet Potatoes- Crimson outer peeling with sweet white flesh. Cook as you would a traditional sweet potato, no need to peel, most of the nutrients are  actually in the peeling itself. Give them a good wash and roast in the oven. Store your sweet potatoes in a cool dry place in your kitchen and they will hold for several weeks/months. If they begin to sprout just cut off the little sprouted nub and prepare as usual, fear not, that’s just nature trying to do what nature does best, regrow! 🙂

    Thanks for reading, send me your favorite recipes to CSA@Frogsongorganics.Com and don’t forget to check back next week! -Shani