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Category: Storage and Preparation

  • Storing Zucchini and Summer Squash

    This time of year every CSA share in the country will probably have some zucchini or summer squash included in their share, ours does!  You’ll want to store it properly to keep it fresh until you are ready to use it, here’s how.

    Keep the squash whole, dry and unwashed in a plastic bag and put them in the crisper drawer in the refrigerator. They’ll keep there for at least 1 to 2 weeks, though you’ll probably see the skin start to shrivel a little.

    These zucchini were kept that way and are 2 weeks old.

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    They are just a little wrinkly, but totally fine to use raw or cooked.

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    Some people like to blanch and store zucchini in the freezer. I haven’t tried blanching it and freezing it but I have shredded it and frozen it and used it in baked goods like muffins, cakes and bread. If I’m honest like using summer squash in the summer and winter squash in the winter and not messing with freezing it.

    Check out some of these recipes for ideas on using your zucchini.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

  • Storing Radishes, Carrots, Grilling Onions and Turnips

    I did a little experiment I want to share with you. 5 weeks ago, the last time we got radishes in our CSA share, I wanted to see how long they would stay crisp and fresh stored in my refrigerator. Every week I would check on them and see if they were still crisp. These are 5 week old radishes. Beautiful right?

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    I cut off the leaves and put them in a plastic bag and put them in the vegetable drawer in my refrigerator. I do the same with carrots, turnips and grilling onions. (Here is a post I did on storing/cured onions).

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    All of these will keep at least 2 or 3 weeks.  These carrots are 3 weeks old and just as good as the day I got them. IMG_2327

    So, know, you don’t have to eat your whole CSA share every week. It’s nice to sandbag some vegetables if you need larger quantities than you get in one weeks share.

    It’s also nice to know some of the vegetables will wait patiently in  the refrigerator until they are needed.

    Have a great week, see you at pickup.

    Mo

  • PSA on New Potatoes

    New potatoes are a little different than longer storing potatoes.

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    The thickness of the skin of a potato is determined by when it is harvested and the age of the plant it is harvested from.

    New potatoes are harvested while the plant is still alive, that is why the skins are so thin. They will cook faster than potatoes with thicker skins and be more tender than thicker skinned potatoes.

    Thicker skins on potatoes result from leaving the potatoes in the ground after the plant dies. The potatoes stop getting nutrients from the plant and thicken their skins to insulate themselves from the elements, and to store energy so it can sprout in the next season. This thicker skin improves storing ability too.

    Treat new potatoes like fresh produce — store them in the refrigerator in a plastic bag. Because the skins are so soft, the potatoes will be scuffed by us at the farm harvesting and washing and bagging them. Don’t worry, this is normal and perfectly OK . Use new potatoes within 7-10 days.

    I like to steam new potatoes or pan fry or pan roast them. I find boiling them is too rough and they sometimes shred and fall apart. I have read that some people like to microwave new potatoes, that it concentrates their flavor. I haven’t tried it, if you have leave a comment below please!

    You can substitute new potatoes for regular potatoes in most uses and recipes except for Baked Potatoes and French Fries. New potatoes aren’t sturdy starchy enough for these types of uses.

    Have a great week. See you at pick-up.

    Mo

  • Trim-Wash-Store-Cook

    I like to trim, wash and store my vegetables as soon as I get home from CSA pick-up. It takes up less refrigerator room that way and it makes for easy addition of vegetables to  meals or snacks during the week.

    Here I had kale, hakurei turnips, bok choi,

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    Green garlic, and walking onions.

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    I trimmed the roots off, because they get slimy or moldy. I also trim off the leafy tops, then I and wash everything so it is ready to use.

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    Here they are bagged ready to store in the refrigerator. Much more manageable size, right?

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    Before I put stuff away I pulled out some of this weeks bounty for a really simple dinner. I made a miso soup with rice noodles and added my CSA vegetables. It’s kind of a riff on this soup I posted years ago.

    I cut up enough vegetables for two of us. I use what I get, I don’t worry if they will ‘go’ together, they will. I just use what I have, and I had miso, rice noodles, eggs, and these vegetables. So I cut them up and sauteed them briefly.

    And added them to the miso and noodles and put an egg on it. Bam, a delicious dinner in no time.

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    Have a great week.

    mo

  • Freeze the Summers Bounty

    I hear lots of great comments at CSA pickup about how much food you are getting every week. Some people say they can barely get through one weeks share before they get the next.

    It’s a great problem to have! But, I do understand sometimes it is overwhelming. In fact this morning my refrigerator was looking full to bursting so I took a few minutes to take the time to steam and freeze some beans and cauliflower and cut up a melon.

    Freezing food doesn’t have to be a big production.  I probably had two pounds of beans and a head of cauliflower and half a melon. I steamed the vegetables and ran cool water over them and drained them really well in a colander and portioned them into zip-lock bags. I usually salt them a little after I cool them down and sometimes I add a little olive oil or butter to the back so when I warm them up I don’t have to season them. I think salting them really helps the flavor.

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    Make sure you label the bags. These are sandwich zip-locks, enough for two servings. In the winter I grab these when I am making soup, or to round out a meal when I need a little something else.

    I freeze cantaloupe for smoothies.

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    I keep all my odds-and-ends vegetables in one area in the freezer so I remember to use them up and they don’t get lost.

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    Most vegetables need to be blanched before freezing. The exceptions that I can think of off the top of my head are onions and peppers. I LOVE having peppers and onions in the freezer in the winter. I grab a handful to add to eggs, or to saute for a sauce. Fruit can be frozen raw or cooked.

    Here is lots of information you can trust for freezing food for the best results of safety and best taste.

    I am always so happy to have a little bit of the Farm in my freezer during those long winter months when I am longing for some kale or beans or chard.

    Put some of your bounty in the freezer, I know you will be glad you did.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

     

     

     

  • Peaches-Storing and Keeping

    This week the CSA members who have Fruit Shares will be getting peaches from our friends the Western Slope this week. We will probably have several more weeks of peaches in the Fruit Share so I wanted to have a little chat about the peaches you get and how to handle, and keep them at their best.

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    The peaches we get are picked ripe off the tree. They are hand picked and handled very gingerly and packed in padded boxes so they won’t be bruised.

    We weigh them and very carefully put them in paper bags for distribution to you. Usually Lauren is the only one who will handle and weigh peaches. Sometimes I might, and if Lauren is busy she will carefully train one person to do this job. We treat the peaches like we would eggs. We don’t bang them or crowd them, or stack them more than two high. We only move one box of peaches at a time and don’t shove or throw the boxes in the truck.

    I don’t think there is any other fruit or vegetable on the farm that is as coddled like the peaches you get from us. A little piece of our heart breaks off and dies when we see CSA members shove a bag of peaches in a tote bag and then put the CSA vegetables on top of the peaches…it happens every now and then and we are very sad when it does. :(

    OK. So, now you have your peaches. If they are still a little firm for your liking they might benefit from spending a night or two on your counter. You want set them on the counter, or in a paper bag with their shoulders down like this. Preferably not touching if you have room.

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    See the little bump on the top of the peach in front? That is the blossom end, the stem end is where the shoulders are and fruit (i.e.peaches and tomatoes) ripen best with their shoulders down. Here is another picture of a peach showing the stem end, the second peach. The front peach is blossom end up and how you want to store yours.

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    The peaches are picked ripe, but peaches continue to ripen after they are picked so you need to decide if you want yours ripened more. If I am grilling peaches I might leave them a little firm. If I am eating them fresh I like them a little softer and leave them out for a day or two.

    To determine ripeness I  hold my peach in the palm of my hand and gently close my hand around the peach. Don’t press your finger into the peach or you will bruise it. You can feel with your whole hand if the peach flesh gives a little, or not.

    You can keep peaches in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days, not long I know. Put them in a plastic bag and store them on their shoulders if you have enough room.

    If you can’t use your peaches in the 3 to 5 days you can freeze them. They freeze beautifully.

    I’ll try to add a few peach recipe ideas in the next week or so to help you use up your bounty.

    Happy Summer!

    Mo

     

     

     

  • Storing Parsley and Basil

    Today is August 22, 2016 CSA week #14. Almost 3 weeks ago we got parsley in  our CSA share. I put that parsley in my refrigerator to see what is the best way to store it. I put two small bunches in a tall container with water (on the left), hoping that the tall sides would protect the parsley. The other bunch I put in a glass of water. Like I would a bunch of flowers, leaving the parsley leaves exposed to the air. I didn’t take a picture of them on July 29th, darn. This picture is was taken this morning.

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    I didn’t change the water, or do anything to them after I put them in their containers. Have a look at the difference between the two.

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    The two bunches on the left that were somewhat protected by the container look nearly fresh. The bunch on the right is droopy but usable.

    Here is a closer look at on of the bunches on the left kept in the higher sided container.

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    I think we can conclude that keeping bunches of herbs like parsley (cilantro too) in containers of water will keep the herbs fresh for weeks. The higher the side, the better!

    Let’s talk about basil now. Here at Red Wagon we harvest basil by ‘tipping’ the plants. We only take the top 6 leaves off the basil plants.

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    We harvest the tips of the leaves because it allows the plant to keep producing harvest-able leaves which, in turn will prevent the plant from flowering. We can harvest our basil all season without succession plantings.

    Basil doesn’t like cold at all. That makes storing a little tricky. With a little trial and error I have found that given the way we harvest basil the best way I have found to store the basil is like this.

    In a semi-opened baggie in the door (warmest part) of the refrigerator. I don’t have a butter shelf in my refrigerator. If you do, that would be a great place to store your basil.

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    The semi-opened baggie seems to be the key to storing the basil longer than a few days. I tried storing closed bags and I also tried to poke holes in bags of basil and leaving about a 1/3 of the bag open/un-zipped, kept my basil fresh for 8 to 10 days.

    This is day 11 and the basil is starting to look a little sad :-(  . It’s usable, but on it’s last leg.  I made pizza last night and used some of this basil. I had to pick through it, but it was fine.

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    I hope this was helpful and that all your herbs are fresh and lovely. Enjoy your week!

    Let any questions or comments below and I’ll see some of you at the pick-ups!

    Mo

     

     

     

     

     

  • Onions-Different Types for Different Uses

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    So many different alliums! How are they different and how do you use them to their best advantage?

    Let’s start with young onions, or what we at Red Wagon call ‘grilling onions’ vs the storing onions we are starting to see at the CSA pickup.

    Grilling onions are just young thin-skinned onions. We harvest them while they are still developing so they are mild, sweet and tender. You can eat them raw and they will be mild and crisp. If you grill them they are not too bold in flavor. Grilling onions will only store for a week or two in the refrigerator. They are not storing onions.

    Look at the stems of these three onions, the stem of an onion tells us their story.IMG_2905

    The first onion is a Grilling/Young  Onion, Second a Storage Onion and third is a storage onions still curing. Look at the stem on the onion on the left. It is fat and the rings of the onion are exposed to air. This onion will not store for long but will be delicious for a week or two. The middle onion is a storage onion. This onion has been harvested and properly cured/dried so the stem dries and closes around the onion providing natural protection so this onion will store for months in a cool dry spot. The onion on the right is a storage onion still being cured.See how the onion skin is drying and closing around the stem? You can see how the papers of the onions’ job is to dry and shrink around the bulb of the onion to protect it for long storage. In a few more days this onions’ stem will be dry and shrink and close the stem around the bulb to protect it for long storage.

    These three onions are pretty similar, right? Clearly meant to be storage onions.

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    Let’s cut them open and see what is going on.

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    Go back and look a the picture of the uncut onions again. Look how the onion stem on the left* is sort of flat and open, the middle is seemingly dry and closed, and the last is dried and shriveled up high, but firm against the top of the bulb of the onion. All of the skins look pretty good though.

    When cut open, it is easy to see how, and why, middle onion and the onion on the right were cured properly and will store well. If I had these onions in my pantry I would obviously throw away the onion on the left and use the middle onion first, then the onion on the right last.

    Phew. Was that too much info?

    I’ll give my short answer when I’m asked ‘what is the difference between red, yellow and white storage onions’.

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    Yellow onions are an all purpose onion. They are great for cooking, not too pungent and are sweet enough to caramelize when cooked. Raw they have a more assertive/pungent onion flavor than white onions and they can be less crisp than white onions. I try to save yellow onions for cooking.

    I like to use white onions if I am making something raw, like salsa, or a sandwich. You can cook with them, but they aren’t as sweet as yellow onions and many times if you are trying to ‘brown’ your onions you will burn a white onion because it doesn’t have the natural sugar that yellow or red onions have. If you need to brown an onion and only have white onions add a pinch of sugar and you should get it to brown OK, and not burn.

    Red onions are obviously very pretty raw. They taste similar to yellow onions raw and cooked. They are pungent/assertive raw and have nice assertive but sweet ‘onion’ flavor cooked.The color gets a little washed out when you cook them, so I usually save my red onions for using in raw dishes.

    We will talk about leeks and boiling onions in another blog post.

    If you have any questions, email me or leave a comment below in the comment section.

    Have a great week.

    Mo

    *It took me about 10 minutes to find an onion that wasn’t curing properly from literally TONS of onions we have harvested this year. 99% of our storing onions, the onions you will get, will be cured properly and will keep (if you store them in a cool dry place) for  months. I just wanted to get the concept across of how an onion cures and what it looks like when done properly. I hope these pictures do that.

     

     

  • Storing Winter Keeper Boxes

    Here are some instructions for those of you who got Winter Keeper Boxes or have other vegetables you’d like to store.

    The items in the box have different requirements for storage. However, nothing should be exposed to freezing temperatures. One key is to periodically check your vegetables in storage. Remove any items that are getting soft or starting to rot. You know the saying, “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” Well, the same is true for other fruits and vegetables. One rotting squash will cause the others to rot. I try to look through my veggies every few weeks and pull the ones that are starting to go bad.

    Another rule of thumb is that larger veggies will store longer than smaller ones. Huge carrots will last a few months if properly stored. Thin carrots will last a few weeks at most. (See the photos at the bottom.)

    In a perfect world we would all have root cellars to store our veggies. I do not. I will list the ideal conditions, as well as what I do in reality.

    Winter Squash – Use any squash that have been nicked or have lost their stems first. Store squash in a cool, dry place with a bit of air circulation. Your basement or garage would be ideal, but don’t let them freeze in your garage. Reality: I store them in a wire basket on the bottom shelf on a table in my living room—my crawl space is too scary for food. We have squash that last until spring. (Although I almost always miss one that decides to liquefy and make a huge mess.)

    Onions – Store them in a cool, dark, dry place. Exposure to light will make your onions sprout faster. I try to keep mine in a cupboard or closet. Or I at least put them in a brown paper bag (to block out the light) if I don’t have room.

    Potatoes – Store them in a dark, cool, moist place. If the potatoes get too dry, they will start to shrivel; light makes the potatoes turn green and become inedible. Right now I have mine in a hemp sack on the counter.

    Root Vegetables – Vegetables like carrots, turnips, beets, radishes, parsnips, rutabagas, and sunchokes all have similar storage requirements. You can pack them in a wooden box with moist sand in your mythical root cellar. Or you can put them in a sealed plastic bag (or other air-tight container) in the refrigerator. If you think you will store your root veggies for a long time, trim the tiny little roots off the bottom as well as any greens off the top of the veggies. These parts will rot faster. Once the greens start to rot, the whole root will rot. If you trim the parts that are most likely to rot, the main part of the root will last much longer. Your goal is to trim the root to look like the carrot pictured in the second photo to the right.

    Small and Large Carrot

    Trimmed Carrot

  • Celery Storage and Ideas

    Either you love it or you hate it. Honestly, I don’t get what isn’t to like. I understand why someone might not like arugula. I sort of get why raw kale salad might take some getting used to. But when I hear “I hate celery’. I don’t get it.
    Celery adds a delicious crunch and mildly mineral, grassy, bitter taste and water content to salads and stir fries. It is a great vehicle for dips and for stuffing with things like cheese and peanut butter.
    It balances flavors in soups and stew when you use it with carrots and onions.
    It’s great for juicing.
    It’s texture and flavor are unique and unexpected in so many dishes.

    This is the first year Wyatt has grown celery and he did a great job. Look at how beautiful it is.

    Celery

    The leaves were so big I couldn’t get the whole bunch in the picture. You won’t ever see that many leaves on a bunch of celery in the grocery store. You won’t ever see celery this fresh in a store.

    Celery will keep in your produce drawer for a long, long time if you store it correctly.
    First cut off most of the leaves, use those in a salad or to make a vegetable stock.
    You want to keep the root of the plant moist for best keeping. I like to wrap the root of the plant in a moist paper towel and then put the whole thing in a plastic bag. Don’t seal the bag, let some air flow.

    Trimmed bottom

    Pop this into a plastic bag, then into the produce drawer. When I use some of the celery, if the paper towel has dried out I just re-wet it. This will keep for at least a couple weeks.

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    Some people like to cut off the root and put the stalks of the celery in a glass of water, like you would a bouquet of flowers and then put that in the refrigerator. I find that when I have tried that my celery didn’t last as long as the paper towel in the plastic bag method. Plus, who has room for a vase of celery in their refrigerator?

    Make sure you tell Wyatt how much you like celery, or he might not grow it again next year!!
    Have a great week.