CSA Harvest #11

This week’s harvest includes:

Potatoes
Carrots
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Bell Peppers
Spicy Peppers
Corn
Beans
Herbal Tea Pack – Lemon Basil, Blue Spice Basil, Lemon Balm, Shiso, Cinnamon Basil, Peppermint, and Vietnamese Mint


Pork with Fresh Cornbread and Shishito Peppers we served at a dinner party this week.

We have been having some great products lately that need a bit of extra protection. Rather than add more plastic into circulation we would like to reuse the black plastic containers we used for packaging your peaches and tomatoes. Those containers must be returned at the CSA pickup each week.

You can make the tea in the same way we described on the July 2nd post.

Our hot pepper plants are really loving the heat that we have been having, so we thought we would share some ways to help you love the heat and make these guys a little bit less intimidating.

Peppers are part of the nightshade family (along with eggplants, tomatoes, and potatoes), and are native to the Americas. When Mexico became a Spanish colony chiles became a popular item of trade, and were quickly integrated into cuisines around the world. Capsaicin is the chemical that gives peppers their spiciness. Though the seeds contain a small amount of a pepper’s heat, the majority of the capsaicin lives in the veins of the pepper.

If you decide you want to dive into the world of hot peppers it is important to use care when handling them. While working with chiles be careful not to touch your eyes or nose, and thoroughly wash your tools and hands once you finish using them. If you forget to wash your knife everything you cut afterwards will become infused with a bit of a kick.

To capture just a little bit of a chile’s heat try adding the whole pepper to a dish that you’re cooking. Just take it out when you’re ready to serve your meal, so that someone doesn’t mistakenly munch on a whole pepper.

Another way of using peppers is to dry them. Hang them somewhere that gets good airflow. Once they’re dried you can use them whole for seasoning, crush them for chile flakes, or grind them. They’ll last for years when dried.