Storage Share, Nov 19/20, 2020

Farm News

We have enjoyed the mild weather! After frosts in early October, the warm weather has coaxed a few later crops to maturity. We have harvested endless rounds of cabbage, carrots and other roots.  Machinery breakdowns have been minimal!  That’s the worry at the back of our minds at this time of year.

We harvested your Romanesco cauliflower on a blue-sky day.  Ben shows off a beauty.

Next year’s garlic and green garlic are safely in the ground.

Our work days end after dark, but soon our field work will end.  There are still modest amounts of cabbage, Brussels sprouts and a bit of reluctant cauliflower to bring in by next week, then field work will be done for the year.  We’ll move inside for the winter, to wash and deliver all the carrots, cabbage, parsnips and other roots that we’ve stashed away.

Thank you so much for joining our farm this season.  We hope you stay safe and warm this winter, and that this big delivery brightens your winter meals.
Beth and Steve

Storage Share this week

Take one box labelled “A” and one box labelled “B”.

Things you need to know about your winter share

* Your delivery will consist of two different boxes, labeled “A” and “B”.  Take one “A” box and one “B” box.  The boxes contain different vegetables.
* Please pick up your boxes on the day of delivery, during the normal hours for your site.
* Outpost members, pick up your boxes on Friday.  This is the busiest weekend of the year for the Outpost staff, so they WILL NOT hold boxes past Friday, nor can they handle special requests.
* Bring extra bags this time.  The boxes will be lined with a plastic bag as usual, but this big share is too much weight for the bag.  Leave the boxes at your site, take the produce home in the liner bags plus your own bags/containers.

Veggie List and Storage Info (Storage share, Nov. 19/20, 2020)

We hope you enjoy this shipment of veggies.  Strategize to use them well, as some will last longer than others. 
* This is the most perishable vegetable: purple broccoli
* These are the next-most perishable: Brussels sprouts, leeks, Romanesco.  Keep an eye on your butternut, potatoes and sweet potatoes.  The last two are susceptible to drying out.  Expect the largest butternuts to last the longest.
* These will last the longest: beets, cabbage, carrots, celeriac, garlic, red & yellow onions, parsnips and shallots.

Box “A”
Everything in this box can be stored cool or at room temperature.  See notes below for more detail.

‘Autumn Frost’ pumpkin
Butternut squash
Sweet potatoes, mixed ‘Bayou Belle’ and ‘Covington’
(Combined squash & sweet potatoes weigh about 19 lb.)
Shallots, 1.25 lb
Garlic, 3 bulbs (in shallot bag)
Potatoes, russet, 5 lb
Potatoes, Satina, 5 lb

Box “B”
Refrigerate everything in this box, except the onions.

Beets, 3 lb
Brussels sprouts, 1.5 lb
Carrots, 6 lb total
….. orange ~4 lb
….. yellow & purple ~2 lb
Celeriac, 1
Green cabbage, 1 large
Leeks, ~2.5 lb
Onions, 5 lb total
….. red ‘Blush’
….. yellow
Parsnips, ~2 lb
Purple broccoli, 1 large head
Romanesco, 1 medium head (or maybe a purple cauliflower)

Autumn Frost winter squash

Shallots.  Yours are packed in a paper bag, with the garlic.

Top, ‘Blush’ red onion
Bottom, yellow onions

The ‘Blush’ onions are more pink than red, and excellent for long storage.

Autumn Frost winter squash – Store cool and dry.  60 F is ideal.
These beautiful frosted squash have both pumpkin and butternut squash breeding in them.  They cook and taste like an unusually good butternut, with rich, smooth texture.  They are quite nice.  The skin is elible.  The seed companies tell us that they store well, but I encourage you to eat your Autumn Frost within a month.  These are new for us, so we don’t really know if they store reliably.

Beets – Refrigerate in a bag or container.  Beets will store for two months or longer.

Brussels sprouts – Eat within 2 to 3 weeks.

Butternut winter squash –  Store your butternut in a cool, dry place.  60 F is ideal.  Do not put in a plastic bag.  Expect the largest butternuts to store the longest.  Inspect your squash frequently and cook promptly if you see any soft spots developing.  You can cook, mash and freeze the squash for future use.  I find that you can refrigerate cut raw squash for up to one week.  This runs counter to the accepted way to store squash, but is useful if you want to cook just half a squash.  Some of them are big!  Try microwaving your squash for one to two minutes before cutting or peeling.  This softens the squash and makes a large butternut easier to handle.

Cabbage – Refrigerate.

Carrots, orange.  Refrigerate in a plastic bag.  Will keep for several weeks.
Carrots, yellow & purple.  These varieties are pretty AND they taste good.  Refrigerate in the plastic bag.

Celeriac – Will store for months in your fridge.  Cut off chunks as needed.  Peel before using.  I find it easiest to cut the celeriac into flat slices, then peel.

Garlic –  Store at room temperature.

Green cabbage – Refrigerate.  These are big.  It’s OK to cut off chunks as needed.

Leeks.  Refrigerate. In general, leeks are not a long-storage crop.  You may need to strip off one or two outer leaves to freshen the leeks before you cook them.

Onions: Refrigerate or store in a cool, dark spot and protect from light.  Exposure to light stimulates sprouting.  

Parsnips (These look like large white carrots.) – Refrigerate in a plastic bag.  Parsnips will store for several months but will darken in color.  That is a harmless change.

Potatoes; russets and Satinas – Can be stored at room temperature or in a cool spot, but must be kept in the dark so they do not turn green.  A cloth or loose plastic bag draped over the paper bag will slow moisture loss, but do not close the plastic bag.  Both types will store longer if kept cool.  Around 40 – 50 F is ideal.  The potatoes were grown by the Igl family near Antigo.
Russets– We got the big ‘baking’ grade so you have nice bakers for Thanksgiving.  Excellent for baked or mashed potatoes.
Satinas– These are good all-purpose potatoes, everything from roasted to potato salad.  I really like this variety of yellow potato because they oven-roast so well and because they are less sweet than other yellow varieties such as Yukon Golds.

Purple broccoli – Refrigerate in a plastic bag or a container.  You should plan to use this soon, eg within one week. 

Romanesco cauliflower (beautiful chartreuse green, spiraled head) or purple cauliflower (dense purple head) – Refrigerate.  These should store well, eg for a few weeks.

Shallots (look like small red onions) – Good for salad dressing.  We’re still learning how to grow shallots and are thrilled to have a small bag for everyone!

Sweet potatoes – We’re sending a mix of two varieties, Covington (orange skins) and ‘Bayou Belle’ (purple skins).  Both have excellent flavor and sweetness.  Store at room temperature, no lower than 55 F, but 60+ F is better.  Keep them on your kitchen counter where it’s easy to keep an eye on them.  I like to keep ours in a paper bag so they don’t dehydrate.  Cook promptly if they start to soften.  The roots come in a wide ranges of sizes and all are good.

Recipe Ideas

Check out the winter issue of Edible Madison.  That’s our own recipe writer Lauren’s recipe on the cover!  Recipe is at ediblemadison.com/recipes/winter-kale-salad-with-roasted-brussels-cinnamon-citrus-vinaigrette .  

Thanksgiving Menus

For obvious reasons, the Thanksgiving recipes offered online are different this year, scaled back but worth bookmarking for winter meals.  Here are some interesting ones.

The Washington Post
The Post staff used the popular “sheet pan dinner” technique to craft whole holiday meals on one sheet pan, fine-tuning when to add each ingredient to the pan.  I appreciate that kind of finesse, and will be trying a few of the recipes this winter.  I don’t have a good track record with Hasselback potatoes (undercooked potatoes after hours in the oven) so I’m interested in their tricks in the Sheet Pan Chicken With Hasselback Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts recipe.

Smitten Kitchen
I love this cook!  She has an extensive list of Thanksgiving recipes from previous years.  Her newest Potato and Leek Gratin recipe looks good.  

Food52.com
Once again, the lively Food52.com site has outdone itself with an extensive Thanksgiving recipe collection.  They’ve named it “AutoMagic Thanksgiving Menu Maker“.  It’s organized by type of dish, e.g.
.  “Bright and Crunchy” and
.  “Roasted to Perfection”, etc.
I’ve extracted a few sauce ideas from the recipes.
– I like the horseradish vinaigrette in the Autumn Salad with Horseradish Vinaigrette recipe, and have been happily spooning it on roasted sweet potatoes.
– The spicy onions in Dan Kluger’s Roasted Butternut Squash with Spicy Onions recipe are very zippy.  They are quite strong, and I find they overpower roasted squash but are a good complement for mashed potatoes.

Local Thyme
Finally, remember that we can use Local Thyme recipes all winter.  Check them out for Thanksgiving ideas.