CSA Week 6: Cuke season!
Farm Share Newsletter - July 8, 2023
This Week's Share:
-Scallions
-Mix of Green and Red Shiso
-Unagi Cucumber
-Baby Bok Choy
-Baby Red Russian Kale
-Green or Red Tatsoi
-Head Lettuce
-Snow Peas
Cukes!
Here's to another scorcher of a week. We got to the farm earlier than usual to beat the heat and had some ultra-productive mornings. Most satisfyingly, we harvested all of our garlic, which is now sitting in a dry place to cure. Our garlic, a mix of hardneck and softneck varieties, should be ready in two to three weeks!
For now, more scallions for your allium. Have you ever made scallion pancakes?
Shiso is here! And so are cucumbers! You can keep your fireworks. For me, these are the markers of July. Our cucumbers this week are called Unagi. They're a cross between a Persian and a Japanese variety. Thin-skinned and sweet, like our cat. I've included a recipe for a cucumber-shiso salad below.
Baby bok choy and tatsoi for your usual brassica fare this week. Baby Russian kale — which volunteered from kale that went to seed last season — as a bonus.
Member photo of the week: Molly's family's quajado.
"A Sephardic dish ... with komatsuna, turnip tops, and radish tops. It has egg and lots of feta, parm, and cottage cheese. It's mustardy but she's good!
Recipe: Cucumber and Shiso Salad
Ingredients
-1 cucumber
-2 leaves of shiso, sliced thin
-1 tbsp soy sauce
-1 tbsp rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
-3 tbsp salt
-optional berries
Steps
Slice cucumber into rounds, thinly. Place rounds into a colander set on top of a bowl or in your sink. Sprinkle salt over cucumbers and massage it in. Wait 10 to 20 minutes.
Stir rice vinegar and soy sauce in a jar.
Rinse cucumbers under cold water. Squeeze out water by the handful.
Place cucumbers in a single or double layer on a plate. Drizzle soy-vinegar mixture over the cucumbers. Garnish with shiso and berries. We used cascade berries from the Holmestead farm farmstand.
'Til next week,
Steven