Week 16Greetings from the Garden! This week's box has cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower, salad greens, golden beets, green onions, radishes, summer squash, cucumbers, purslane, peppers, parsley, and basil.
Field Notes. Monday Ken pulled the garlic, shallots, and storage onions. That leaves the red onion to do. He got them into the yard, and we placed them on covered shelves to cure. The garlic looks beautiful. The onions are smaller this year, but small onions tend to keep better. There is some disappointing news: The Walla Walla sweet onions did not bulb up. I have called the seed company, and they are checking it out. One year we had bottle onions when we ordered leeks. Maybe onion seed is difficult to keep straight.
From the Kitchen. Cucumbers are a member of the cucurbit family like squash. I usually make cucumber salads by running a fork along the length of a cuke to make lines in the slices and break up the skin. Then I slice and salt for about a half hour. Rinse or not depending on how much salt was added. Then I use one of many dressings: yogurt, honey, pepper, and a little vinegar OR tamari/soy sauce, mild vinegar, honey, crushed red pepper, OR a simple olive oil and vinegar.
Ken has been making carrot juice from the number two carrots with a beet for sweetness. Adding cucumber to juice combinations is is refreshing. This summer I want to experiment with making a condiment with cucumber, mint and yogurt we had with curry in an Indian restaurant.
Golen beets are a real treat. Even though the seed costs more and germination is lower than other beet seed, we grow golden beets every year. They are sweeter, less earthy, and don't bleed pink. We like them in combinations for this reason. Beets and their greens are great sources of calcium, iron, vitamins A and C and the carotenes. I usually treat the greens like chard or any wilting green - great in egg dishes, soup, stir fry. Some people use them in salads with blue or goat cheese and walnuts and pecans.
No comments:
Post a Comment