It’s CSA 2022 week 9, and our farmers at Beaverland Farms have given us another great box. We have garlic scapes! There’s such a short season for garlic scapes in the spring, and I look forward to them every year. Garlic scapes are the shoots of the hard neck garlic plant; our farmers cut them down so that the plant will produces full bulbs, rather than put all its energy into making flowers. With their tall green fronds they look like ridiculously curly tulip stems, and end in long pointy shoots.
Alas, there’s no more rhubarb from the farm, though I can still find it at the farmers market and in good produce sections. We’re still eating rhubarb, though I’m guessing that this is the last week we’ll find that. Ah well, the season progresses, and each week seems to bring us new things to love.
This week’s box has some excellent goodies:
- mixed lettuces
- cabbage, a lovely full head
- big hefty radishes
- snow peas
- fennel
- garlic scapes
- dill
As usual, I think about how I might use all this good stuff while I’m washing and trimming it. Here are some of my ideas for this lovely CSA 2022 week 9 box:
- little radish snacks with good bread, sweet butter, and salt
- fresh crunchy coleslaw (so many ideas here)
- amazing stir-fries with those peas
- garlic scape pesto
- white bean & garlic scape dip (a perfect accompaniment to raw veggies)
- salmon with lemon & dill
- fennel salad with oranges & almonds (the weather is expected to turn hot mid-week)
- shrimp, avocado, and radish salad (perfect in the heat!)
Follow the season with me, and I’ll show off my CSA box of the week, including ideas of how I might use all the good stuff. Feel free to chime in with comments or questions.