Produce questions answered

Ok, so here’s the story…Many of you have been asking about some of our produce, so we will try to answer some of your questions:

1. What is a kohlrabi?  Kohlrabi (German Turnip) The name comes from the German Kohl "cabbage" and Rabi  "turnip", because is is a member of the cabbage family, and the swollen stem resembles the turnip, however, the flavor is much milder and sweeter than that of the turnip.  We prefer to simply peel the skin, slice them into 1/8^th inch thick and salt them.  But, there are plenty of recipes on line that look pretty good.  We will only have these available for a couple more weeks, with more to come in the fall.
2.  Do you have to shell the sugar snap peas?  No, ours are a variety that you eat shell and all…Although great steamed, they make a nice addition to a salad, or for a good raw snack all by themselves.
3.  What is a candy onion?  Candy onions are an early variety of an extremely sweet onion.  Our candy onions are about the size of a baseball, but they do not store well.  You should try to use the entire onion within 1 week.
4. Do I have to cure fresh garlic?  The garlic you buy at the grocery store has been cured, this simply means that it has been dried and the individual cloves have formed (the cloves are the seed for next years crop).  Fresh garlic is just that--fresh!  There are no individual cloves, the entire head is useable as you would use the individual cloves.  The flavor of fresh garlic will make you wish that it was available all year!
   
5. NEW potatoes???  Grocery store potatoes are those which have been harvested from potato plants that have died off for the season.  They have formed that tough skin that helps to keep them through the winter.  The new potatoes are harvested from the living plant.  They have a very thin and delicate skin, but the “meat” of the potato has an unparalleled flavor. 

 --Remember that most potatoes have been sprayed with copious amounts of pesticides.  AND, conventional growers don’t usually wait for the natural curing of the potato—they kill the plants with a herbicide!  Of course, we are a spray free operation!

Enjoy the bounty of the harvest, and don’t hesitate to ask any questions!