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CSA Share: Week 4

Posted in csa, photo, vegetables, tagged on December 18, 2009| 1 Comment »

CSA Share Week 4

Lower level, clockwise from bottom right: Hakurei turnips w/tops, green peppers, Lula avocado, bok choy, eggplant, parsley, grapefruit.

On top of box, clockwise from lower right: tomato, yellow squash+zucchini, lettuce, collards

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Black sapote is ripening

Posted in fruits, photo, tagged on December 15, 2009| 4 Comments »

The unusual tropical fruit called black sapote was in your share last week, Saturday Dec. 5th. It starts out bright green and firm, and looks like a large unripe persimmon. If you kept the fruit and didn’t put it in the extras box, this is what it might look like about now. 

Black sapote at one week, not completely ripe yet.

 

See how two of the fruit are darker, but still greenish? They’re ripening but not ready yet! I’d wait a few more days, maybe till the end of the week, until the greenish tinge is gone, and the fruit looks completely black. (The green one is completely inedible unripe. Hope you didn’t find that out the hard way.) It can ripen very fast, so check it every day. When the fruit is very soft, and looks dark and totally disgusting, ready to be thrown into the garbage, and you’re grumbling to yourself, what did I get myself into with this thing — that’s when it’s ready to eat. Really! But not yet, not now. Soon! 

When it’s ready, I like to cut the fruit in half and scoop out the soft flesh with a spoon. It can get a bit messy but licking fingers is part of the fun. The thin skin is inedible, and there are several large shiny brown seeds. The ripe flesh will have the consistency and appearance of chocolate pudding, and some people think it tastes a bit like chocolate, well sort of. Last year I tried a banana bread recipe and used black sapote instead. The bread came out a bit dry, so maybe using honey as a sweetener will help keep it moist. The bread is also good toasted, and freezes well. 

Here’s information and a bunch of recipes from UF IFAS, including one for honey black sapote cake, which I might try… if I don’t eat up these fruit as is (licking my chops).

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CSA share: week 3

Posted in csa, photo, vegetables, tagged on December 12, 2009| 2 Comments »

CSA share: week 3

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To market, to market

Posted in events, food, locavore, market, photo, tagged , , , on December 11, 2009| 4 Comments »

Pinecrest Gardens Farmers Market

Suddenly it’s farmers market season again! A new market sprang up on Sunday morning in the Pinecrest Gardens parking lot. Formerly the South Florida Farmers Market, it has all your old favorite vendors and plus a few new ones. And it was mobbed! Despite a 9 a.m opening time, plenty of people pestered vendors at 8 a.m. (the old opening time) as they were setting up. Farmer Margie Pikarsky of Bee Heaven Farm emailed me, “Business was great. Best start day for a market. Pretty darn good, considering it was also a new location, and a month earlier!!!”

Claire Tomlin, The Market Company

The change in location was a long time coming. Germaine Butler, the founding president of the Pinecrest Garden Club, is delighted to have the Pinecrest Gardens Farmers Market at the garden. “I wanted a market for seven years,” she told me. “This is a community garden, and the market fits in here.” It took some persuading from Farmer Margie, Mitch Rabin of Living Colors Nursery, and Tim Rowan of The Lettuce Farm, to move the market to its new location. Claire Tomlin, who owns The Market Company which runs this market, is happy with the move. She said there’s plenty of room, plus it seemed a natural fit with the neighborhood. Compared to the Gardener’s location, the vibe is definitely more laid back, with people strolling up and down the long row of vendors. And there’s plenty of overflow parking along Killian Drive.

The large Redland Organics tent is located at the west end. If you’re in the CSA, and you want more of something in your share, you can find it at the market. If you’re not in the CSA, this is your chance to get the same things your friends are enjoying. You’ll also find goodies at RO tent that you won’t find in your box, such as smoked eggs, dried fruit, local raw honey, tomato plants, various tropical fruits from Possum Trot Nursery, and delicate oyster mushrooms (which debuted at Ramble) grown by Paradise Farms.

Fresh Local Organic at the Redland Organics tent

Redland Mediterranean Organics holds down the east end of the market. Stroll over to see Hani Khouri tending the falafel fryer, and get a taste of his goat cheese, hummus and tabouleh. Yeah, there’s another guy selling similar food, but it just doesn’t taste the same. And if you want pumpkin pie ice cream made with fresh goat milk, this is the only place you can find it.

And while you are there, stroll through the Pinecrest Gardens themselves. Admission is free, and docents from the garden club will give tours at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The garden club has big plans to put in a world-class kitchen and bring in world-class chefs to give cooking classes, according to Germaine Butler. Once an avid rose grower, she now plants arugula in the front yard, and has a philosophy of “sow it, grow it, serve it, eat it.” Sounds like a good match of garden and farmers indeed!

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CSA share: week 2

Posted in csa, fruits, photo, vegetables, tagged on December 5, 2009|

CSA share: week 2

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