Category: Cooking, Local Food and Storage

Okay, what the heck are favas anyway? These oversized legumes look like they time travelled straight from the Jurassic. Fava beans are one of the only vegetable food crops double as a cover crop. They can be planted in the off-season to suppress weed growth and fix nitrogen. We don’t use them as a cover crop, however, due to the enormous seed size and therefore proportionately enormous volume of seed required to sow a field. On the other hand, their usefulness in the kitchen shouldn’t be overlooked, as their tender and nutty flavor goes great in several cuisines. Favas originate in the eastern Mediterranean and are considered one of the oldest cultivated crops. They were the only bean grown in the Europe before the arrival of American beans after 1492.

There is some debate over how to prepare fava beans. While most parts of the plant are edible to some degree, the culinary prize is the seed of the pod, (hereafter referred to as the beans). Some claim you can eat the beans with the waxy skins on if they are young and tender, but the majority opinion is to remove the skins before consumption, especially if the beans are mature and filling the pod (as they are in your share).

Remove the skin of each bean, you say? How tedious! Well, yes, this food is indeed a labor of love, however there are a few hacks to speed the process. Once removed from the pods, we like to blanch the beans in boiling water for one minutes and the drain. This will allow the beans to more easily slip from their skins. Another method is to soak the beans (removed from pods) overnight before skinning them.

Once podded and skinned, now you’re ready to prepare them in a dish. From here, you can steam them until tender and toss them in a mixture of salt, olive oil, and lemon juice. You can also grill them, or mash them and spread them on bruschetta, or fold them into mashed potatoes. They’re also a great addition to a green salad, a risotto dish, or pasta. You really can’t go wrong, as they’re delicious on their own with a bit of salt!

Radicchio. More like RADicchio. We love it and you may not… YET… love it, but perhaps you’re up for giving it another shot? Maybe you just haven’t found the recipe for you. Radicchio is still the trendiest crop in foodie-ville. Seattle’s hippest restaurants go all out for their annual Chicory Week, the hottest cold weather food celebration this side of the Mississippi. Long time CSA members have heard it all from me before. “Bitter is Better.” “Radicchio is full of anthocyanins, vitamin K, and micronutrients.” “It’s beyond incredible on pizza, pasta, salad, soups.” “They’re super expensive at the store, so especially precious in your share.” “The Italians love ‘em and you can’t argue with their cuisine!” and on and on…

Nathaniel and I are smitten with these beautiful leafy delicacies and we yearn for you to be, too. No worries if it’s not going to happen. They are indeed strong flavored, but you like strong, bitter coffee, don’t you? Eh? Anyway… We’re giving you a choice of chicories (radicchio, escarole and endive are all chicories) in hopes you can find one you’ll enjoy. Here’s the rundown of the options we’re offering this week.

Frisee: These light green, frilly heads are also known as Curly Endive. Frisee is mostly used in salad, especially in Salad Lyonnaise https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Frisee-Salad-with-Poached-Eggs-and-Bacon/ and is one of the milder options in the chicory family.

Treviso: Football shaped and deep maroon, this is another mild-ish chicory and one that we love to sear or roast with balsamaic like this: https://www.marthastewart.com/346023/roasted-radicchio.

Sugarloaf: Considered by some to be the gateway radicchio, due to it’s mild and sweet flavor. It resembles a Napa Cabbage with it’s tall, lime green appearance. If you need some inspiration, give this a try: https://vancouverradicchiofestival.ca/portfolio-item/sugarloaf-pasta-with-lemon-and-almonds/

Adige Medio: This “Lusia-type” radicchio is round, light green/cream head with pink speckles and is often eaten raw in autumn salads with persimmons (https://beyondsweetandsavory.com/castelfranco-radicchio-persimmon-salad-with-blue-cheese-and-hazelnuts/#recipe), fennel and/or oranges. That bitter taste (in all radicchio) is due to a chemical compound called guaianolide: an antibacterial, antimalarial and anti-inflammatory in time for the first frosts of autumn. It’s also great cooked in risotto because it’s more delicate than red radicchios.

We’re here today to tell you how your Deep Harvest farmers store our beloved winter vegetables and what you could personally do potentially do to really maximize a crop’s longevity in your kitchen. Since we’re not getting a ton of any one item, we’re guessing you won’t need to be storing goods for all that long so don’t stress. These veggies are built to last!

Roots- Mixed roots store best if dry and at 32-40 in plastic bags in your fridge. People really swear by these green storage bags, but we’ve never tried them: https://www.debbiemeyer.com/. You could also make a bunch of soup or stew and freeze that. Here’s a great article that lays out how to go about doing so. Your future self will thank you!!! https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-freeze-soup-23397915

Cabbage– Your farmers keep cabbage in a plastic bag wherever we can fit it in our fridge. We also make a ton of kraut https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-homemade-sauerkraut-in-a-mason-jar-193124 and kimchi, which will store in your fridge for a few months.

Brussels– We store these like the cabbage. Plastic bag, fridge. You may also freeze them, by blanching in boiling water 3-5 minutes, then putting directly into ice water, then drying them, freezing flat on a freezer sheet, and then storing in a plastic bag (more details here: https://poshjournal.com/how-to-blanch-brussels-sprouts. We’ve never done this as they can last fresh in the fridge for 3-5 weeks, if your fridge is around 32 degrees. At 41F they’ll store around 2-3 weeks- a good while either way!

Potatoes– Your local Deep Harvest farmers just keep em in a bowl on our counter. After a couple weeks, they do get green, which makes them unhealthy to eat, so this is suboptimal! If they don’t turn green but just sprout a smidge, we’re really not bothered and just break off the sprouts and enjoy em. This article from the food network says it’s fine to eat potatoes that have sprouted https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/help-around-the-kitchen/sprouted-potatoes-safe-to-eat . If you care to be more responsible, store then in a cool, dry place- perhaps a paper bag in your pantry or a drawer in your kitchen. Don’t let them freeze as they prefer temps between 42-50F. If you want to freeze your potatoes for extra safe and delicious keeping, you could make hash browns following this recipe: https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/side/side-other-side-dish/how-to-make-your-own-frozen-hash.html.

Squash– These puppies can store 2-6 months at 50-55 degrees. Over the years, we’ve mostly just stored them in our unheated garage in crates, which has worked pretty darn well. A basement or pantry would be good too and a counter is actually probably just fine if it’s not close to your stove. If you wanted to make something fun out of a bunch of squash soon, this refrigerator or freezer squash butter makes a great gift. It’ll last in the fridge many weeks or in the freezer for months: https://gourmandeinthekitchen.com/maple-spice-squash-butter-recipe/

Onions and Garlic- These both want to be in a cool, dry, well-ventilated spot between 45-55 degrees. We just leave em on our counter and that works ok too, but at some point they start sprouting and then we eat them quick! We’ve also made minced onions (https://www.backtoourroots.net/how-to-make-homemade-dried-minced-onions/) and garlic salt (https://www.acouplecooks.com/herb-and-garlic-salt/) for gifts and for our own eating pleasure, which were well loved by all!

If you want to go the exta mile, you can get nerdy about vegetable storage with this helpful resource!

https://chemung.cce.cornell.edu/resources/storage-guidelines-for-fruits-vegetables

Have fun, all. Happy eating! Happy winter! We love ya!!

For those of you unacculturated to the wonderful universe that is Chicorylandia, we’re so glad you made it. For you who’ve been here before, welcome back to town. It’s a trendy little locale! A few weeks back, the NYTs even proclaimed chicory is “in season and in style”: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/18/t-magazine/radicchio-chicory.html. And it had its very own hipster festival in Seattle: https://www.chicoryweek.com and social media presence #bitterisbetter and @chicoryweek.

But what is it? And what’s up with it? Chicories are a passion of these farmers of yours. They’re a big ol beautiful family with origins in Italy. They’re generally slightly bitter (but that doesn’t equal bad!), always leafy, and enjoyable raw or cooked. Frisee (aka curly endive), Belgian endive, escarole, and radicchio are all relatives found in the chicory family tree. If you’d like to eat them raw, a sweet and rich topping is recommended. Apples, pears, citrus, strong cheese, candied nuts, crème fraiche, fried bacon, and warm vinaigrettes are all stellar companions to these beautiful leaves when eaten in salad. If you cook them, the bitterness subsides and a nutty, earthiness shines through. Risottos, soups, and baked pastas are all traditional ways to show your regards to this winter hardy crew. Like I’ve said to our longer term farm share members, you like bitter things! Remember coffee and chocolate??? Don’t deny yourself the beauty and experience that is chicory indulging, just because you aren’t used to bitter in greens. It takes a little time, the right recipes, and an open mind, but you can do it! But if you’re still not convinced, we won’t judge you for eating bok choi this week instead.

We like to kick off each Fall CSA season with a refresher on how to store your fall veggies. Apologies to our callused members who have received this info a dozen times already! For our new members, here are a few pro-tips for prioritizing your produce for consumption and storing items aren’t immediately consumed. The great thing about Cool Season veggies is that they generally store in your fridge or on the counter much longer than wilt-prone summer salad greens or fruitfly-attracting tomatoes and cucumbers.

• It’s best to store all items in the fridge in plastic bags with the exception of onions, garlic, squash and potatoes. Too much moisture in the plastic bag can lead to bacterial rot in both roots and greens, so make sure they’re not dripping wet as they go into the fridge.
•  Not-so-hardy greens such as Spinach, Mustards, Salad mix, and Frisee are generally the most wilt-prone items in your share. They should last up to a week in the the fridge, but we’d still recommend consuming them relatively quickly after pick-up.
• Hardier braising greens such as Kale, Chard, and Collards can generally last a bit longer before wilting. (Also, since these greens are generally cooked, it’s not as consequential if they get a bit wilty before consumption)
•  Broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, brussels and cabbage will all store a bit better than greens, but not quite as long as roots. Broccoli is the quickest to turn yellow and rot, while cabbage can last several week.
• Roots such as carrots, beets, parsnips, rutabaga, leeks and winter radishes can last many weeks if stored properly in the fridge. Since moisture loss happens mostly through the leaves, we’d recommend removing the greens before refrigeration. Compost the greens, or in the case of beets and turnips, save them as a separate items to consume like spinach (so tasty!).
• It’s best to store onions, garlic, winter squash on the counter or in any other non-refrigerated place out of the sun. Don’t feel compelled to eat these items right away. If kept dry, they might last you well beyond the year’s end and into winter.
• Potatoes also prefer non-refridgerated storage, but like it a bit cooler and moister than room temperature. If you’re not going to eat your potatoes for several week after pick-up, consider storing them in a paper bag or cardboard box in your garage, or any other cool, dark area. Otherwise, the counter is just fine for short term storage.

In case you didn’t know, chicories are all the rage. If you’re still in the dark, we forgive you. Currently, this trend is still mostly limited to market farmers, food bloggers, and hip chefs. But that’s how all fringe greens get their starts, including kale and arugula back in the late aughts. A decade later, this motley crew of radicchio (Castelfrancos, Treviso, Chioggia, Verona, etc), sugarloaf, endive, escarole, and frisée, collectively known as chicories, are poised to eclipse the trendy greens of yore and make their mark on leafy history. And for good reason. Composed of three different species, the genus Chicorium boasts a wide diversity of cold-hardy, flavorful and aesthetically stunning greens that thrive in our cool, wet Northwest off-seasons. Their wide range of phytochemicals provide greater resistance to insect and fungal damage in the dank fall months compared to other greens. These secondary plant molecules also provide an endless array of bitter flavor profiles. Local Roots farm in Duvall, has made a name for themselves by trialing dozens of chicory varieties from the Seeds of Italy catalog, identifying the best for our area and producing loads of these greens for the Seattle restaurant market. Seattle has in turn caught chicory fever. They’ve even started their own Chicory Week and Chicory Fest, modeled after the regional food festivals of Italy. Yes, these farmers, breeders, chefs and foodies have carved out an entire week to celebrate glorified dandilions. Are you sold yet? Hopefully you enjoyed your frisee salad this past week and are ready to dive deeper. This week’s share you get a head of Variegata di Castlefranco, known in Italy as “Orchid Lettuce” and “Winter Rose”. Dig in.