This is Week 21 of your 22 Week summer CSA share! Please see last week's Farm Happening for "Crop Update". Napa Cabbage is a glorious Fall vegetable. Yes, it is huge but we have great ideas for you! Napa is extremely cold-hardy out in the field and has been known to be the last standing "green" through all types of late Fall storms. It will store for weeks in your fridge and you can slice off chunks to use little by little. Kimchee anyone? Kimchee is a Korean fermented food with great medicinal value and tastes great too! Kimchee can be easily made at home with Napa and Daikon (also available in this week's shares) and stored for eating all winter. Try using Napa instead of Romaine for the best Caesar Salad (Napa has more nutrition than lettuce). Napa is great used raw in a mixed salad, coleslaw, or on tacos. Wonderful sauteed with all sorts of spices or cooked into stirfry, miso soup, eggrolls, or springrolls. It is also fantastic roasted! Slice in half and brush with olive oil, roast in oven or on grill until it deflates and is slightly charred on the edges. Yum!
Daikon Radish is adored for its flavor, a nice sharp radish that is great sliced raw in salads. It is also considered a "Superfood" for its high nutrient and enzyme content. It is known as a blood purifier and supports good digestion. Daikon is wonderful chopped and added to miso soup, stirfry, eggrolls, or sliced with apples for a perfect snack. You can also make Chinese "Turnip cakes" which are actually made with Daikon radish (not Turnip) along with rice flour. Sometimes I put slices on my morning toast to start the day with a Zing!
Kimchee tip: I've made lots of fermented foods at home and the tip I think is most important is to be sure to keep all of the veggies pushed down in your jar underneath the liquid brine. If you get stingy and try to force too many veggies to fit into the jar they will pop out of the brine and cause mold growth.
If this is your last CSA pick up of the Summer season (for some biweekly members), We want to thank you so very much for being part of Aspen Moon Farm! Feel free to log into your harvie account next week to view our farewell Farm Happening loaded with gratitude to our CSA members!!
2022 Summer CSA shares will be available in November or December.
Farmer experience of the week: Winter, Summer, and Fall all in the same day; sometimes in the span of 20 minutes!
