Hi Everyone,
Tomatoes. Tomatoes. Tomatoes.
Guess what’s on our minds lately? Tying up tomatoes, picking tomatoes, weeding tomatoes and of course, eating them.
Of course, we’ve got other produce for you this week too.
Expect the following in your shares this week:
Chard
Baby Beet Greens
Purple Carrots
Eggplant
Sweet Peppers
Summer Squash and/or Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Red Onions
Garlic
Herbs
There will also be bunches of Amaranth Greens and Hot Peppers for the taking.
Preserving the Summer Harvest
Preserving Eggplant
Oh eggplant! So hard to grow, yet, we love them anyhow. I do love eggplant, but I only ever eat it in the winter when I make spicy stews. So, when I saw the following method for preserving eggplant on an Indian cooking website, I was so excited. When I ate the eggplant I preserved this way over the winter, I was floored.
Take whole eggplants, as many as you want to preserve. (Tip: I put as much as I would generally use in a recipe in one freezer bag, which is generally 2 small/medium eggplants.) Rub the entire eggplant skin with olive oil. Place eggplant on a baking sheet and roast at 350 for 25 minutes, or until the skin is completely brown. Let cool. Peel off skin and remove stem. Chop into 1/2″ cubes and place into a quart size freezer bag, label, and place in freezer. (For more freezing tips, check out Week 11.)
Dehydrating
Dehydrated fruits and vegetables are a fun way to enjoy the summer harvest all season long. Around the Four Winds Farm, the most popular summer fruit to dehydrate is the tomato. Since we grow beautiful heirlooms, we love drying all the different colors for their beauty. (And, they taste pretty good too!) You can also cook with dried tomatoes. They are quite good in grain dishes, and can be re-hydrated and used many stews and ragouts for a flavorful addition.
If you don’t already own one, the best place to find a dehydrator (in my opinion) is in the used market. We purchased ours from a friend moving out of town, and I have seen many on the local craigslist pages.
Recipe Submissions!!!
We hear so many wonderful menu ideas from you all week long, and we want to hear more! More about tomatoes that is! What is your favorite thing to do with the beloved summer fruit? Do you have a recipe to go with it? Gazpacho? Fresh tomatoes and pasta? Brushetta? If you are willing to share them with the CSA, we would love to hear your favorite tried-and-true tomato-centric recipes. Please submit by Friday, August 20th for the Week 13 posting.
Community Sauce Days
Second Wind is holding community tomato sauce days during the Tuesday distributions, beginning this week. We provide the space and the tomatoes, you work through each step, from making the sauce from fresh tomatoes to putting jars into the canner. Every participant will get to bring home canned sauce the following week.
Where: The Four Winds Farm, at the Second Wind CSA Distribution
When: We will begin the process at 3:00 pm. You may come at any time between 3:00 and 6:00 pm to join in on the fun, but we ask that you commit to an hour worth of work in order to participate in the whole process.
Bring: Please bring quart sized mason jars and the appropriate number of lids and rings. Bringing a knife, food mill, and or a cutting board could be helpful too! We will be using a propane range so we also ask that participants chip in for the cost of the propane.
RSVP at secondwindcsa@gmail.com.
Second Wind CSA 