Harvest Notes - Week 7

Did you know that broccoli pops up from the middle of a plant with kale-like leaves?

Broccoli Some of the broccoli we harvested had nice stems and leaves so we left them on. Both are delicious parts of the vegetable. Treat broccoli leaves like kale. Broccoli stems take a little longer to steam than the florets to you may want to take that into account if you want a perfect texture on each. Store in the crisper of your fridge or eat right away for maximum texture and flavor.

Eggplant We had an overwhelming number of big beautiful eggplant ready for harvest this week! We grow two types- the iconic, round Italian variety and a long, thin Asian variety that may be less familiar to some of you. They can both be used for eggplant parmesan, braised eggplant, baba ghanoush, stir-fries, curries, ratatouille or your favorite eggplant dish.

Carrots A mix of orange and yellow carrots. Try shredding these up with beets and cucumbers, then dousing the mixture with lemon juice and salt for a very simple, delicious salad. The greens are useful for making soup stock.

Beets These beets are smaller than the ones we harvested last week but they are the same heirloom variety. The cylindrical shape makes it easy to end up with equally sized slices. The greens are delicious and cook like chard.

Basil Store these on your counter with the stems in a glass of water to avoid the blackening and wilt that can happen when kept in the fridge. Use quickly. I toss basil in just about anything to give it that aromatic complexity- sandwiches, salad dressings, soups, curries, stir-fries, and pasta.

Tomatoes Its true! Our first tomatoes of the season have arrived! We grow a number of varieties of tomatoes- red, orange, dark purple/almost black, yellow, and pink. They each taste a little different. Never store tomatoes in the fridge unless you really want to stop them from ripening for a few days- just know that they’ll lose some of their flavor at cold temperatures.

Cucumber Its time to get creative with so many cucumbers! Try creative salads, cucumber soup, cucumber yogurt (tzatziki), or even try tossing a slice in your glass of water for a refreshing drink. This week you have American slicing cucumbers- the big dark green one that should look and taste familiar to you from the grocery store.

Summer Squash  All of the varieties can be used interchangeably. Try roasting them with a light coating of oil in the oven, making a creamy pureed soup, tossing them on the grill, or shredding them up and mixing with flour and seasoning to make fritters. It may be time to whip out the zucchini bread recipes as well!

WHERE DOES ALL THAT ZUCCHINI COME FROM? We only have a couple of beds planted to summer squash but the power house plants pump out at least one new fruit every other day. You can see three zucchini on the plant above. One is ready to harvest on the left with a dropping blossom. The one in the middle has a bright and robust flower and will be harvestable within two days. The one on the right, whose flower is still taut, will grow to harvest-size by the end of the week.