Why I love heritage tomatoes

But really, reading Why Supermarket Tomatoes Suck makes me want to skip tomatoes altogether from October through May...(sob)

It is more profitable for them and their large fast food and supermarket customers to handle and sell tomatoes that are harvested in two or three passes when they are green, indestructibly hard, and impeccably smooth skinned and have a couple of weeks of shelf life ahead of them. Taste does not enter the equation. "No consumer tastes a tomato in the grocery store before buying it. I have not lost one sale due to taste," one grower said. "People just want something red to put in their salad."

Ack! Gotta get a garden plot up and running!

Wow!

More news (previous here) on what things are and aren't worth buying organic (or some equivalent): 7 Foods that Experts Won't Eat includes some surprises, to me at least.

I've talked with potato growers who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals.

(via Rebecca's Pocket)

Adventures in Produce X: Final flurry

The final batch. Not shown is a pot of mums that we got as thanks for our support...


A small pumpkin (fate still undetermined), some radiccio, bok choi
by another name, and mesclun greens.


More potatoes, sweet potatoes (that went into a curried Indian recipe),
celery, and carrots (two colors).

'
A large cabbage, butternut squash (which made my mother happy
during her recent visit), and a heap of apples.

This has been a hectic couple of weeks, so not sure we'll make usual good use of all of this stuff before it goes off. But trying! I particularly want to do something tasty with the cabbage...

Adventures in produce IX: Clearly it's fall now

I'm posting this two full weeks after we got this stuff, so project yourself back to the end of September...



From left, rutabaga tops (yeah, I don't know either), escarole (in large bag), edamame (in small bag), "slicing tomatoes," and small pears. We've decided that we don't like these bitter lettuces (especially not in quantity), but the rest is yummy.



(More of the pears, plus) A bag of apples, a bag of potatoes (becoming a mainstay), some red onions, and two spaghetti squash. This last item is one for which I have a great malevolance stemming from childhood, but Spouse tried some with spaghetti sauce and enjoyed it. The other is awaiting a sneakier recipe . . .

Adventures in produce VIII: Strange mix of seasons

Ok, I've been getting a sense of the seasonality of produce from this undertaking. That is, until this time...


Ok, we start with sweet potatoes (in the bag) and daikon radish (white). A smattering of small ("stuffing") peppers. But wait, Swiss chard? Didn't we get that in week 1?


More tomatoes (regular in bag, and heirloom out of it), redleaf lettuce, another watermelon. (Isn't it September? Well, some folks got apples...) We also got a bag of potatoes, which I guess I couldn't be bothered to photograph this week.

Adventures in produce VII: Some fall bounty

Actually a couple weeks behind here, but here's the last heap of veggies from our farm-share:


Red bell peppers, a small watermelon, two delicata squash, and a spaghetti squash.
(Unfortunately, I don't really love squash. Luckily, the delicatas made some great curried soup!)


Those pale things on the left are eggplants; the rest are tomatoes (heirloom in the bowl).


Probably the last of the corn, along with a bag each of onions and potatoes.

We get some more veggies this week; not sure how many more weeks there will be. This healthy stuff has been well timed for our little cloning project . . .

Adventures in produce VI: Pre-vacation edition

Somehow I manged to get everything into two shots this time...


Peppers, potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, cukes, sweet onions.


More UFO-shaped yellow squash, a canteloupe-sized watermelon, grape tomatoes,
and some peaches that come as our fruit share.

The next batch of produce will go to some friends, while we take off for a couple weeks of actual (computer-free!) vacation. See you toward the end of the month!

Adventures in produce V: Something new every time

We were headed to the shore with some friends when this batch arrived, so they went right into the back of the car and were much appreciated by the group:


More lettuce (only partially shown), snap beans, a bag of potatoes,
and lemon cucumbers (old hat now).


Whole beets (eaten grilled with goat cheese crumbles), the best green peppers ever, and some sweeter peppers whose name I don't know (and which we haven't tried yet).


Lots more corn (grilled in the husk, mmmm), a few onions, and our fruit share
was a heap of wonderful peaches, almost too ripe to travel . . .

We've already gotten the next load (I'm a bit behind with uploading), so maybe I'll post them next week. But first, the eating!!

Adventures in produce IV: Some summer favorites

I'm a bit behind, but here was the haul of our last produce share:


First, another head of lettuce, and one of radicchio (bleah!).


A bag of potatos! And several tomatos!!


This week's novelty grouping: dreidl-shaped summer squash, cucumbers,
dandelion greens, a sweet onion, and a "lemon cucumber."


And last, but not at all least -- fresh corn!! 12 ears!

Many good meals, including some on the grill, have come from all this -- we hope there will be even more corn (and tomatos and other favorites) in the next batch!

Adventures in produce III: More leafy novelties

Ok, finally managed to get these uploaded. Some things we've seen before, but of course a few that send us on a recipe hunt...


Cabbage, red-leaf lettuce, peas (not just tendrils!)


Cauliflower, zucchini (big ones this time)...


Swiss chard, kale, and a bunch of cilantro
We found a great recipe for "South Carolina kale" (involving tomatoes and cumin) -- mmmmm -- and other things underway.

Adventures in produce II: More spring veggies

Our second batch came in late last week -- thanks to Sid for picking up the crate while we were hiding in the shade of Cape Cod. A couple repeat entries, plus some new stuff. (We also got some strawberries, which were granted to Sid as partial repayment for his efforts.) It feels like we can eat the produce at the rate that we receive it, although it is likely to lead to more frequent (and more adventurous) midweek cooking...


A couple of nice lettuces: red leaf and one whose name I've forgotten.


The first, tiny, zucchini of the year, along with another batch of scallions
(this time round and white, rather than long and purple-tinged).


Another batch of pea tendrils, along with a simple head of broccoli
(which I've just learned that I don't know how to spell).


This week's novelty: kohlrabi.
I know my mom made this once years back, but I have no idea what to expect.

The tendrils, zucchini, and scallions have already vanished into another spectacular quiche, which, with salad, makes a great dinner. Not sure yet what the kohlrabi will go into; perhaps a stir-fry with the broccoli. Also fun was that I noticed this time there were flowers on the pea tendrils -- pretty purple ones. I guess that the peas must be on the way. Anyway, a single one teased out looks a little like the flourish at the bottom of some Elizabethan stationery...

Adventures in produce I: Spring veggies

Spouse and I have signed up for a five-month partial share of a farm cooperative, which means we get a box full of produce every other week. I was a bit skeptical of this, imagining ever-growing heaps of zucchini or nameless, tasteless greens. After one delivery, though, I'm already totally psyched, because we got a bunch of early spring vegetables that I know nothing about, and now I imagine that, in addition to eating more fresh produce, we might get to learn a bit about what grows when and also discover some new gems. Here was the yield of our first box:


Here is the least surprising subset: spring green mix, bok choi, mustard greens.
(The last of those is much stronger in flavor than I've experienced before.)


Here we have baby bela mushrooms, red scallions (beautiful!), and radishes.


Here are the two real novelties: pea tendrils and fleur-de-choi (flowers of bok choi).
Both edible raw or cooked (according to the email that comes in advance).
I tasted the "fleur," which was a little like broccolli, but with a more pleasant aftertaste. Didn't try the tendrils raw. However, sauteed the pea tendrils, fleurs, and mustard greens, added a little goat cheese, and had a great pasta dish with fettucini. Also, Spouse subsequently made a great quiche with the peas, fleur, scallions, and mushrooms (and eggs and cheese, of course) -- also delicious. Still plan to throw some radishes into our next salad, and a recipe for bok choi in bacon sauce is sitting on the kitchen counter... fun!! Can't wait to see what comes next!