This Thanksgiving Holiday we are happy to share with you: Tri Colored Beans, Tokyo Turnips, Baby Bok Choy, Purple Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Mixed Baby Lettuce and Arugula, White Daikon Radish, Lemon from our friends at Melrose Organics, a Roselle branch to help you decorate your Thanksgiving dinner table and saving the best for last….Recently crafted (as of last night) Jamaican Sorrel- Florida Cranberry Hibiscus Jam/Syrup a perfectly sweet and tart compote to compliment your turkey or waffles.
Tri- Colored Beans– If you are eating fresh green beans for Thanksgiving rather than canned or frozen consider yourself fortunate. Sure, canned green beans are easy to cook with and have a longer storage life but they are almost completely void of their nutritional content and have extreme amounts of sodium added. When given the choice, buy fresh local green beans and add bit of color to your green bean dish this holiday season with our yellow, purple and green beans. Beans combine nicely with lemon juice, butter, dill, basil, garlic, onions, mushrooms, as well as soy sauce, almonds, and of course, bacon.
Tokyo Turnips- Delicate and delicious earth pearls. Sautee them with some butter and brown sugar, or add to a vegetable stew with the bok choy and potatoes from your share.
Baby Bok Choy- Tender asian green perfect for sauteing or added to soups. The stalks are very crunchy, much like celery. Try it as a celery substitute in your Thanksgiving day stuffing.
Purple Potatoes- Purple majestic potatoes have a thin, dark purple outer peel with a bright purple flesh. Use these colorful potatoes as you would a regular potato, however there is no need to peel. When boiled the color will fade to a light pale purple.
Sweet Potatoes- Sweet Potato Pie, Sweet Potato Casserole, Sweet Potato Souffle…Need I go on? This Thanksgiving I am combining all of the different varieties of sweet potatoes we have received over the weeks, including the white murasaki for the filling in a classic sweet potato pie recipe from the Spruce.com https://www.thespruceeats.com/mississippi-sweet-potato-pie-3061533
Mixed Baby Lettuce and Arugula- After stuffing yourself on Thanksgiving, rejuvenate your body with some fresh, light salad greens tossed with an olive oil vinaigrette, perfectly paired with the notorious day-after turkey sandwich.
White Daikon Radish- Is a mild-flavored winter radish, saute it with your turnips, toss it in a salad or use it like you would a cracker dipped in hummus or tahini. Are our radishes piling up in your fridge? Try pickling them, pickled radish is one of my favorite type of pickles. Not only is it delicious with the salty, sweet, and sour flavor, it also has an awesome crunch. This is a perfect compliment to any spicy dish. Follow the recipe here: http://www.itsmydish.com/korean-pickled-radish/
Meyer Lemon- From our friends at Melrose Organics. Squeeze lemon over your sauteed green beans for a classic combination, or squeeze in hot water and Turmeric (from last weeks share) for an after thanksgiving stomach soother.
Roselle Branch- A festive decoration for your holiday table. Save the seeds from inside the calyces and dry them. When fully dried the seedpod will open wide revealing all the little brown seeds, save them and plant them in the late spring for some hibiscus plants in the fall!
Jamaican Sorrel- Florida Cranberry Hibiscus Jam or Syrup- Courtesy of yours truly. All season I’ve been telling my CSA members that the Roselle Hibiscus calyces taste a lot like cranberry so I decided to take it on myself to experiment and come up with a nice treat to compliment the Thanksgiving day holiday. My first experimental batch of Roselle jam was surprisingly perfect with the a savory, tart, yet subtle sweetness of the Roselle and a spreadable jam consistency, perfect to serve with turkey, day-after turkey sandwiches, or on toast/croissant.
Unfortunately my second experimental batch was an epic failure as far as jam goes, however, it was not a complete failure because fortunately when sugar, savory spices and Roselle are involved you really can’t go wrong. This batch did not gel like I had hoped but our marketing team (aka myself & my sweet boyfriend) put on our thinking caps and decided to advertise the jam as it’s new identity…”Syrup.” A semi-sweet, tart, syrup perfect for morning waffles or pancakes, drizzled on turkey sandwiches, on top of Ice cream or added to champagne, prosecco or sparkling water.
Regardless of the batch you received, I want you to know how much our CSA members mean to this farm and to me. I am thankful to be able to wake up every morning and teach people the benefits and they joy of eat good, clean food, grown locally by farmers who really care about their environment and their community. After my second batch failure I had a mental breakdown in the kitchen, jelly simply did not gel, there was no time to fix it, and the world was literally going to end. This is the struggle farmers face on a daily basis (maybe a bit less dramatic) and somehow we keep on truckin, evolving and ever changing. If farming teaches you anything it teaches you to be grateful for what you have and how to work with what you got. Enjoy your Roselle Hibiscus Jam/Syrup and let me know how you used it by tagging us on Instagram or sharing on Facebook! #frogsongcsa & @frogsongorganics
