July 16th Newsletter

NICK’S FARM REPORT
July 16, 2010

Happy summer! Although technically, we’ve been enjoying the hot season for a few weeks now, this is the first CSA bag that feels to me like a summer bag. Maybe it is the green beans that are triggering the summer memories. In any case, if the veggies don’t put you in a July mood, I’m sure the recent weather has. The heat has been good for the tomatoes and peppers, but we wouldn’t mind a little rain, either.
One sure sign of mid-summer is the first harvest of new potatoes. Generally, potato plants are allowed to grow until they die back, and the potatoes are allowed to “cure” in the ground until they are dug. Early potato varieties die back sooner than the later, storage potatoes. This year, we will be harvesting several varieties of potatoes earlier than usual. A few weeks ago, some of the potato plants showed some signs of disease. Nick decided to kill these potato plants early rather than risking the spread of illness to the rest of the potato crop and the tomatoes (potatoes and tomatoes are related and thus share many of the same diseases). Luckily, most of the plants that we had to kill had already produced sizeable potatoes. Sometimes, making the best out of a bad situation can be delicious!
Another summery item in the CSA bag this week is sweet corn. Some of you may wonder why we don’t grow sweet corn ourselves, rather than buy it in from another farm. Growing organic sweet corn is something that we would LOVE to do, but it is a crop that we will wait to tackle until we have more space and more control over our field fertility.
We were lucky last year to observe the process of growing sweet corn on the mid-sized organic farm at which we worked.
In addition to requiring a lot of nutrients, the major source of frustration in growing sweet corn is herbivory! It turns out sweet corn is just as delicious to animals, insects, and even microorganisms as it is to us. As a seed, sweet corn often gets eaten by rodents or attacked by fungus after being planted in the field. Once grown, sweet corn is a favorite snack of birds and raccoons (both of which are crafty and hard to deter). In the meantime, we are still working to find a local, organic sweet corn producer. Nick was lucky this week to pick up this corn on the way home from a feed run to Wisconsin. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have this week!

In the CSA Bag This Week:
New potatoes – These are the first potatoes of the season. They are harvested soon after the above-ground plant is dead, which means that the skins are more tender than storage potatoes. However, new potatoes will not store well for long periods of time. To serve, boil or roast the potatoes in their jackets, and roll in butter or olive oil and dill or rosemary, or any other desired spice. Store in a cool, dry place, and use within the next week or two.
Swiss Chard – See the recipe below for Swiss Chard Tart, shared with us by Laura, a fellow CSA member! To store Swiss chard, place in a plastic bag in the fridge.
Green Beans – Remove the stem ends, rinse well, and boil or steam until tender. Store in your fridge for about a week.
Dill – Use to flavor potatoes, green beans, or to make pickles (see recipe below). To store, place dill in a glass of water in the fridge.
Broccoli – Hopefully, you can see the improvement in this broccoli, which comes from our second succession. Last week, we chopped and stir-fried the stalk, leaves, and head together in olive oil, and I really enjoyed the broccoli greens! To store, place in a plastic bag in the fridge.
Summer Squash – The squash is now coming on in full force! I’ve included my favorite recipe for zucchini bread below, along with some tips for freezing squash so that you can use it later in the year.
Suyo cucumbers – Suyo cucumbers are a variety of cucumber that we fell in love with in California. They look great when sliced up for a salad.
Pickling cucumbers - We’ve included a small-batch pickle-making recipe below, shared by another CSA member, Ben Stark.
 And, a special buy-in this week
Sweet corn – This corn comes from a conventional farm in Broadhead, WI.




Swiss Chard Tart
(thanks to Laura for sharing this great recipe!)

2 lb. Swiss chard, washed and spun dry
4 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 Spanish onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/8 c. chopped, fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 large eggs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 c. grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 cup bread crumbs

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F, and lightly grease a shallow 9-inch round baking dish with olive oil.

2. Bring 8 quarts water to a rolling boil and add 2 tablespoons salt.

3. Chop the Swiss chard, discarding the rough stems, and add to the boiling water. Cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

4. In a saucepan, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes.

5. Add the Swiss chard and the parsley. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and cool.

6. Meanwhile, break the eggs into a small bowl. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Add 3 tablespoons of Parmigiano and whisk until the ingredients are well-blended. Combine the egg mixture with the cooled chard.

7. Dust the bottom of the baking dish with 1/2 cup bread crumbs. Carefully add the Swiss chard and egg mixture to the dish. Dust with the remaining Parmigiano and bread crumbs.

8. Bake until the top is golden brown, about 1 hour. Serve hot or room temperature.
Freezing Summer Squash

Zucchini and summer squash are heavy producers, and so it makes perfect sense to store extra zucchini during times of plenty for use in soups, stews, and baked goods (all recipes to be avoided during July and August!). I use the following technique to freeze squash:

Grate squash, using a handheld grater or food processor. Pack into pint ziplock bags, press out the excess air, and freeze. When defrosted, the zucchini will lose a lot of water, and should be drained before use.

Zucchini Bread
(from the Betty Crocker Cookbook)

3 c. shredded zucchini
1 2/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
4 large eggs
3 c. all-purpose or whole-wheat flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. baking powder
½ c. chopped nuts or raisins, if desired

1. Heat the oven to 350˚F. Grease the bottoms of one 9 x 5 or two 8½ x 4½ loaf pans.

2. Mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs in a large bow. Stir in remaining ingredients except nuts and raisins. Stir in nuts and raisins. Divide batter evenly between pans.

3. Bake 8-inch loaves about 50 to 60 minutes, 9-inch loaves 70 to 80 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool ten minutes in the pans.

4. Remove loaves from pans and cool completely. Wrap tightly in saran wrap and refrigerate to store.




Making Pickles

(The information about pickling and recipe below come to us from Ben Stark, a CSA member and Becky’s dad. Ben is a microbiologist by training and a farmer at heart, and has been involved in the pickle-making process since working in the cucumber fields of Michigan at the age of 15.)

Important note for anyone trying canning for the first time:
Before attempting any canning at home, I would highly recommend the following two books: Putting Foods By (by Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg, and Beatrice Vaughan), and Stocking Up (by Carol Hupping). I also highly recommend reading the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, available here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.

With home canned foods, it is important to always check for signs of spoilage before eating. Do not eat anything that comes from a jar with a bulging top, that is discolored or has an odd smell. Dispose of any questionable foods immediately. A good rule of thumb is that your canned food should look and smell (approximately) coming out of the jar like it did going in. The most important rule of home canning is: When in doubt, throw it out!!!!

About Pickling

Pickles are produced when cucumbers are soaked in a solution that has salt and vinegar added (a brine solution) over the course of 2-4 weeks. Specific lactic acid bacteria (which occur naturally on the cucumbers) convert the sugars in cucumbers into lactic acid, which gives pickles their characteristic tart flavor. The salt and acidity of the brine (due to the vinegar) inhibit growth of bacteria that would spoil the food, but allow growth of the lactic acid bacteria. The process of converting sugars into lactic acid is called fermentation. The lactic acid gives the pickles (and other fermented foods) their characteristic tart flavor. While there is initially some oxygen present in the pickle preparation, it is used up quickly as the lactic acid bacteria grow. The lactic acid bacteria grow with or without oxygen, but only make lactic acid once the oxygen is used up (when they grow “anaerobically”).

Small-Batch Pickle Recipe

Brine
This recipe comes from Mrs. Bessie Levine (as recorded in the Ann Arbor Hadassah cookbook of 1952), and can be adjusted depending on how big a batch you are making. In general, though, I have found that 1 quart of brine solution is more than enough for about 2½ lb. of pickles (the pickles take up about 40% of the volume of the jars when you pack them pretty tightly, so that the remaining 60% of the volume must be filled with brine). It doesn’t hurt to make a little extra brine, because that is one thing you don’t want to run out of during the making of a batch.

Here is Mrs. Levine’s brine recipe for a large batch. You can adjust the volume of brine as needed:

10 quarts water
1 cup coarse salt (or pickling/canning salt)
½ cup sugar (this is used to help start the growth of the bacteria, just like a bit of sugar is added to bread dough to help the yeast to start growing)
½ cup white vinegar

Dissolve the above ingredients in a large pot and heat until boiling. Before use, allow the brine to cool to the temperature of a very hot bath. You should be able to put your finger in the brine before you add it to the cucumber-filled jars. Cooling the brine is important, since boiling water will kill the lactic acid bacteria on the cucumbers!

Preparing the jars
I combine the cucumbers and brine in pint or quart Mason jars with two-part closures, and allow the fermentation step to take place right in the individual jars. To prepare the jars, wash the jars, lids and rings in warm, soapy water and place them in a kettle with about ½-1 inch of water in the bottom. Cover the kettle and bring to a boil; then heat for an additional 15 minutes. Use tongs to remove the jars, lids and rings, and place on a clean kitchen towel when you are ready to use them.

Assembling the jars
Rinse the cucumbers (don’t scrub them, but do get off any dirt), and slice them into spears (or halves, if they are small) and fill the jars with the fruit. Also add a couple of slices from a clove of garlic and some dill. Fill jars to the top with the hot brine, leaving ½ inch headspace in the jar, cover, and seal.

Fermentation
Store the jars in a cool (not cold, not hot) place and let the natural fermentation work. You should see bacterial growth in a day or at most two days; this will be evident as the brine becomes cloudy. Don’t be alarmed if the brine gets cloudy. That is how it should look. Mrs. Levine says they will be ready to eat in 3-4 weeks, but it might be worth experimenting, as I have found them ready after only about 2 weeks. I have also found that initially the pickles are crisp, but as they sit, while they do not spoil or lose their flavor, they do lose the crispness.

Occasionally I get some fungus that grows on the top of the pickles, and then they have to be thrown out. I haven’t been able to pinpoint the cause of that particular problem, but my best guess is that fungal spores collect in moisture around the rim of the jars during sealing and can grow in that moisture. Lately I have dried the rim of the jar with a paper napkin or Kleenex just before sealing and that seems to help.

Note from Becky: You can also process your pickles for 15-20 minutes in a boiling water bath after the fermentation process is complete.