Share 8 - week of July 14th
In the share this week:
1.3+ lbs mixed tomatoes
1 bunch carrots
1 bunch celery
1 lb yellow onions
1 small garlic
1 bunch sweet basil
1 lb green beans
Summer squash mix
Thoughts from Farmer Anna:
The tomatoes are really on this week! I wanted to take some time to tell you a bit about the varieties we are growing this year (all pictured above). First up we have several beefsteak varieties that we have been growing for the last several years: Cherokee Carbon (right middle), GinFiz (right top), and BHN-589 (left bottom). Cherokee Carbon is a hybrid of the well-loved heirloom Cherokee Purple and another dark heirloom called Carbon. We call these heirloom hybrid varieties our 'heritage' tomatoes and we like them because they are more resistant to disease, generally more productive - which means we have more of these beauties to share with you over a longer season. GinFiz is another of the heritage tomatoes and is very similar to a German striped tomato or Mr. Stripy varieties. It is yellow with red streaks that extend throughout the interior. BHN-589 is an unfortunately named, but absolutely perfect standard red tomato. It is meaty, delicious and highly productive. We really love this tomato!
A few new varieties for us this year are Blue tonic (right bottom), Woodstock (left middle), and Black Angel (left top). Blue tonic is a medium sized slicer that ripens to pink, but has a purplish hue near the top on many fruits. Woodstock is a greenish, orangish, stripey fun variety that was bred by a grad school lab-mate of Steve's who went on to work for Johnny's Selected Seeds. It's really tasty and the fruit quality seems great so far. Just know that even though part of it remains green, it's a fully ripe tomato. I'm also pretty excited about Black Angel - a darker red determinate tomato. We'll have to have a full taste-testing of all these fun varieties and decide on our favs!
This share is filled with lovable, easy to use veggies, so I don't think you'll have much trouble using your goodies this week. Here are a few thoughts and ideas that are popping up for me:
1) Since you have tomatoes, garlic and basil, I'm thinking either a caprese salad, or brushetta.
2) These are pretty much the nicest carrots and celery we've ever grown, so since it's hot this week, maybe just eat these raw with some hummus or ranch. FYI: you can also use the leafy tops of the celery as an herb. They could even be fun chopped up on top of your brushetta.
3) I may saute some squash and onions as a side dish this week, or better yet - shred them up and make fritters! Fritters are so easy and delicious and squash and onion make a perfect combo.
4) That leaves the green beans. Maybe mix it up and eat these raw with your veggie tray! Or go the traditional route and have them as a side dish with your caprese salad. Or, make a quick batch of dilly beans if you don't want to eat them right away.
So many good options! What do you plan to cool this week?