Full Share: Sweet Corn, Cucumbers, Sweet Onion, Slicing Tomatoes, Sun Gold Tomatoes, Huck Gold Potatoes, Carrots, Garlic and Zucchini
Partial Share: Carrot, Huck Gold Potato, Cucumber, Zucchini, Sungold Tomatoes, Sweet Corn, and Sweet Onion.
Hello CSA Members and friends!
It’s lucky week #13 indeed! The sweet corn is ready! For all of you who moved to Montana for it’s amazing sweet corn season, these next two weeks are for you!! The corn is super tender and sweet, and you can eat it raw right off the cob (you should shuck it first), you can “filet” it off the cob to add to salads and meals, or you can go with the old standard of grilled or boiled with butter and salt. The other important corn fact is, that unlike fine wine, it does not get better with age. As soon as it’s picked, the sugars in corn start turning into starch. So, the sooner you eat it, the sweeter and more delicious it is. I will admit to cringing when I deliver CSA’s on the second week of corn, and people tell me that the corn from the first week is still in their fridge….no dilly dallying!
It’s been hot and dry out there for a long time now, and it is definitely not weather that lettuce thrives in. So, this if the first week we are going to take a break from salad mix. Back when I was a kid, aside from walking to school uphill both ways, this was the time of year where we ate “summer salads”, which consisted of cucumber, sweet onion, tomato, basil (and sometimes celery) marinated in oil and vinegar with a pinch of salt. Delicious and refreshing, at a time when lettuce can start tasting bitter and struggle to grow. As seasonal eating has gone out the window in this country, so too have a lot of seasonal food traditions like this. But this week I’m throwing the idea back out there in honor of seasonal eating. The world would be a better place if we did more of it!
In addition to the corn, the tomatoes are ripening at a mind numbing pace, so you’ll be getting both sun gold cherry tomatoes as well as larger slicing tomatoes. The two varieties of slicer that we grow are either pink or brownish red when ripe, so don’t wait for them to turn red, because you’ll be there a long time. If the tomato you get is not quite deep pink or brown, simply set it out on you counter for a day or two and it will finish ripening. It should be firm, so don’t wait so long that it gets soft and mushy. And you never want to put tomatoes in the refrigerator…leave them out at room temp. In general, everything on the farm is way ahead of “normal”, and it’s so hot and dry it’s hard to keep the soil moisture up. We even have a lot of winter squash that is ready at this point, which is odd for early August.
The potatoes this week are called Huckleberry Gold, and they have a purple skin but yellow interior. It is claimed that they are the only low glycemic potato for what that’s worth…personally, I think they are a great all around potato. The sweet onion is very mild, it’s great raw, marinated in vinegar, or cooked. And a little sautéed sweet onion, garlic, and zucchini is always a great option, topped with some sun golds..
Well, enjoy the cooler temps! Sure wish that rain they forecasted had materialized! See you at CSA pickup.
Todd
