Granted, I am also occasionally productive when I'm left to my own devices. For example, last night I prepared some of my CSA foods for refrigerator storage. And I did some laundry.
Speaking of preparing CSA foods for storage......I realized yesterday that I had NO IDEA how to properly store fresh produce. When you buy things at the store, you toss it into the crisper or put it on the counter and you're good to go. Fresh produce right off the farm is a whole other ballgame. First of all, as demonstrated in yesterday's debacle, there are bugs. Fresh-off-the-farm produce is not pre-washed or pre-anything besides being pre-picked.
**Sidenote: I just took the dogs out back to pee, where the neighbor granddaughter Chloe and her friend (who lives two doors down) are swimming in their pool. I overheard Chloe say to her friend, "I skinny dip, too!". They're around 9 years old. At first I was like, WHAT, but then I remembered my days in elementary school when I would spend the night at my friend Nicole's house and we thought it was hilarious to skinny dip in her pool at night. Ahh, memories!
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| I'm pretty sure that's a picture of me, Nicole, and her sister, Renee. We were mature for our age. |
ANYWAYS......back to storing produce. I'm not an idiot. I'm fully aware that fresh produce (especially organic produce) picked right out of the ground or off the vine THAT DAY is going to be covered in dirt and have bugs in it and whatever else. I'm also aware that super fresh produce isn't necessarily "ready to eat" without some preparation. I just wasn't actually prepared for the reality of it. Yesterday produced a Wolf spider with an egg sack that looked ready to pop. Today produced a few tiny pinhead-sized spiders, an inchworm, an inchworm cocoon, a few tiny little red and black beetle bugs and a giant caterpillar. Most of the bug loot made it outside into my bushes, though I'm pretty sure the caterpillar was in shock after being in the fridge all night (I'm hoping that he was able to shake it off once his body temp warmed back up). And though I didn't see any today, I've been told that broccoli almost always has worms hiding in the florets.
When I realized yesterday that I really had no idea what to do with fresh produce purchased straight from the farm, I started Googling. I found out how to store turnips (pop off the greenery - which is edible if you choose to save it, do NOT wash them, store them loosely in a plastic bag) and how to store radishes (pop off the greenery, scrub them clean, store them in a bag or jar between layers of paper towels). And that's exactly what I did.
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| I posted this in yesterday's blog, but here it is again for the visual. |
Today I learned how to prepare and store my kale, green leaf lettuce, broccoli, mint, snow peas and green onions.
I decided to freeze the green onions. Lucas and I have been freezing green onions for years....it just turns out we were missing a step in our freezing process. We've always washed them, chopped them, and tossed them in a container to freeze. Today I learned to wash them, chop them, dry them between paper towels, freeze them flat on a tray for about 15 minutes, and THEN put them in a container. The paper towels remove excess moisture and spreading them out on a tray first keeps them from freezing together. Makes sense, so that's what I did.
Since my mint was already starting to wilt and die (I didn't pop it into the fridge early enough yesterday to keep this from happening), I decided to dry it. I learned how to tie it together and hang it in a paper bag in a dark, dry space for a week or two. I forgot to take a picture of it, but just imagine a paper bag currently twist-tied to Lucas's weight bench in the basement, and you're caught up. ;) I have NO idea what to do with dried mint (I'll Google that later), but apparently people dry it so that's what I did.
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| Here's a generic picture of some mint drying, minus the paper bags. |
As for my snow peas, I learned to rinse them in a colander, let them air dry on a drying rack, and store them in a paper (not plastic) bag. So that's what I did.
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| I almost wrote "snap peas" on the bag. |
When it came to my kale and green leaf lettuce, the ultimate storage goal was the same, though the steps were a little different. I read a few articles/blogs about storing kale. Most said to wash it right away, but one guy was so adamant that you should NOT wash kale ahead of time (even saying that "most sources will tell you to wash it, but they're wrong") that I believed him and went with his method. So with the kale I rolled out some paper towels, laid out a layer of unwashed kale, tightly rolled the towels up and then stored them in an air-tight bag with as much of the air removed as possible. In two rolls all of my kale was done. The web guy was also super adamant that kale should not be stored next to certain produce due to its high sensitivity and the fact that certain other produce placed next to it will cause it to go bad. In fact, here's a link to this guy's blog so you can see why I went with his advice. He really seemed to know his kale.
Green leaf lettuce is also stored in rolled paper towels in plastic bags, but you DO wash it beforehand. I learned to fill up a clean kitchen sink halfway with cold water (with some ice cubes tossed in to make sure the water stays nice and cold), cut off the base of the lettuce so that the leaves fall freely into the sink, dunk them and swish them around a bit to remove the dirt and debris, and then let the leaves soak for 15-30 minutes. Roll out some paper towels, shake the excess water off of the leaves and line up a single layer of leaves on the towels. Roll them up and put them in an air-tight plastic bag with as much of the air removed as possible.
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| Kale on the right, two bags of leaf lettuce on the left. Two rolls of kale, four rolls of leaf lettuce. |
Though I did learn how to store broccoli, I cooked it tonight so storing it wasn't needed. What I DID do was soak the broccoli in a bowl of water with a few teaspoons of vinegar in it to kill off any worms (I hate killing innocent little creatures but apparently you can't really pick them out for a chance at freedom), rinsed it with cold water and then let it air dry before I cooked it. If I hadn't cooked it tonight, I would have soaked it, rinsed it, let it dry, and then put it in a cup of water (like a flower) in the fridge. Another option was to wrap it in damp paper towels before putting it in the fridge. The big thing was to NOT store it in a plastic bag. The snow pea recommendations were the same way....do NOT store them in a plastic bag. And even though the kale and lettuce are stored in plastic bags, I was NOT supposed to do this if the paper towels were not there.
So I cooked the broccoli tonight (no dead bugs turned up in the water, fyi), and it was DELICIOUS. Though I only tossed in some salt for boiling/steaming, the broccoli tasted as if it had been seasoned. It was so good!!! Lucy ate FOUR mini-servings of it. And I have a bunch left over for another meal or two. YUM.
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| Cooked broccoli in the fridge for next time! |
The last thing that I got yesterday that wasn't technically included in my CSA was a half-gallon of fresh, raw cow's milk. I intended to pay for it, but the farm owners were just so sweet that since I'm a CSA member, they gave me a half gallon to try free of charge. Well, let's just say that my 2.5-year-old son thinks it's DELICIOUS.
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| I picked up that half-gallon jar yesterday at 5:30. That's how much is left. Delano drank ALL of it. |
And he's not wrong....it is. That is some delicious milk. It's hard to explain why it's so good, but it just is. Maybe it's because the cream separates from the milk so you have to shake it each time you use it.....makes it so down-to-earth and nitty-gritty. So after I wrap up this blog post I'll be sending an email to Fall Creek Farms requesting to become a part of their herd share program! All of this just makes me wish I had become a part of a CSA and herd share program YEARS ago. It's not cheap, and I get that. It's also not ideal for people who can't be at a specific location to pick up their basket once a week every week. And it's not ideal for those who aren't real keen on their veggies, or exploring new recipes with new veggies, or with cooking in general. But for those who are, it's worth it. I've already learned SO much just after my first basket, and I've got 6 months of baskets to go!
Since I'll be swinging by the market every week for my CSA basket, I plan on getting into the habit of buying other local items on a weekly basis, such as eggs and meat. I already buy organic from the supermarket (usually), but buying local just makes it all the better. And I'm all about supporting local farmers.
Bring it on!
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