Many New Veggies this Week!

Eggplant was a pleasant surprise in last week's share - FYI, Derek and Dana generally let me know what the harvest will be either Saturday or Sunday morning. They take a weekly walk on Sunday morning, taking notes on how each crop is doing to help for future planning. Part of the walk is to determine what crops are ready for harvest. I had already finished my part of the newsletter last Sunday when they realized the eggplants were ready in enough quantity to add to the shares - one of the many fun things about the farm. Eggplants are botanically a fruit and are in the same family as tomatoes. They contain several key vitamins, minerals and fiber plus have significant antioxidant properties. Eggplant is far more delicate than you might realize. It doesn't do well in extreme temperatures, including both the heat and cold. Keep your eggplant out of direct sunlight and in a relatively cool spot, such as in a kitchen cupboard or pantry. Refrigerators are too cold and often cause eggplants to spoil prematurely. On the other hand, many kitchens get too hot during the summer months. If your kitchen is warm, try storing your eggplant in the coolest place in your home - possibly the basement. Two things cause eggplant to spoil quickly - moisture and ethylene gas. To store eggplant, wrap individually in paper towels, a paper bag or a perforated plastic bag. If your kitchen is cool, you can keep it on the counter. If you feel like you must refrigerate it, make room in your crisper drawer, or place on a shelf. Wherever you store, keep eggplant away from fruits and veggies that produce ethylene gas, including bananas, tomatoes, peaches and plums. Eggplants are at their best when enjoyed within 5-7 days. Check out this site for a lot of eggplant recipes, many of which have been submitted by fellow members. A couple of my favorites are Eggplant and Green Beans in a Spicy Garlic Sauce and Eggplant Salad.

Cabbage is making its farm debut for this year. The variety we will be receiving is call Farao, which is a tight heading variety. The flavor of Farao cabbage plants is mild and peppery. The leaves are thin and tender. This is a great cabbage for stir fries but will also hold up to pickling, sauerkraut, and roasting as well. You can also eat it raw and fresh if you would like. It's great in cole slaw, especially with farm carrots. Cabbage is very nutritious - Half a cup of cooked cabbage has about a third the vitamin C you need for the day. It also gives you doses of fiber, folate, potassium, magnesium, vitamins A and K, and more! To store cabbage, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap if it's been cut already, or put it in a resealable plastic bag if it's still whole. Then, store the cabbage in the crisper drawer in your fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Farm carrots are so sweet and delicious that I don't think I need to say much about them. Placed in an open or perforated plastic bag n the crisper drawer of your fridge, they will keep for up to a month - although I am sure they won't be around nearly that long! Since it is summertime, most of my carrots will be eaten raw with other farm veggies, possibly dipped in Baba Ganoush or Eggplant Dip.

Celery was the other surprise last week - Yay! Celery is very low in calories and a good source of Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Calcium, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate, Potassium and Manganese. Plastic bags trap in the ethylene it produces, which hastens spoiling. For the best results, keep celery heads whole, wrap them up tightly in aluminum foil, and then keep them in the refrigerator crisper drawer as usual. When stored this way, celery stalks can maintain their freshness anywhere from two to four weeks.

The 2020 garlic harvest started today, so we will be receiving fresh, aka, uncured garlic for the next few weeks. Note the wonderful aroma as you near the barn this week. There are differing opinions on storing fresh garlic. Some say store in the fridge, while others say leave on kitchen counter in a paper bag. I have always kept it in the fridge, which didn't really make sense to me because the garlic is hanging in the barn in the heat to cure. I think this year I will keep on the kitchen counter, saving me from having to root around the fridge looking for the garlic bulb!