Market Notes for August 16
You may have noticed the lack of a Thursday newsletter this week. Everything is fine, but Henry didn’t answer my calls/emails last night when I tried to get the Food & Farm Notes because he was on the tractor until dark, trying to get fall crops planted.
He just now told me this week’s highlights, so you get both the regular and late-breaking news together this week, including:
Last Chance to get:
Sweet Corn (and possibly “chowder corn,” slightly more mature sweet corn, great for soups and chowders)
Elderberries - look for the Special Prices on 2 boxes
Chive Buds - a sweet, tender delicacy when stir-fried
Small Watermelons - While the season for small watermelons is almost over, more of the larger varieties will be coming to market this week, including the Golden Producer, found only at Henry’s Farm. That’s because it hasn’t been in seed catalogs for decades, but Henry saves the seed, often with help from market friends who buy a Golden Producer and bring the seeds back to him.
If you’d like to help save seeds for Henry, here are the rules, which you MUST follow:
1. Make sure the seeds you are saving are from a Golden Producer, not some other yellow watermelon.
2. Rinse the seeds so they are not sticky.
3. Dry the seeds completely, and bring to Henry dry, not in a wet paper towel or moist baggie. If they are moist they will mold and rot and be useless.
Henry has noticed a few non-Golden Producer watermelons in his patch this year, which could be because someone mixed in some other seeds. Henry can usually distinguish the different melons based on their outer appearance, but he can be fooled. So you may get a red watermelon instead of a Golden Producer, but it will still be delicious!
The tomatoes are finally ramping up, so stock up on all your favorite varieties this week!
It’s Tomato Time & Summer Greens Season
It’s too hot for lettuces, spinach, and most other greens, so cook up some Amaranth Greens, or make a salad with Purslane (high in omega-3s), or stir-fry or saute the lovely Malabar Spinach, pictured below.
Shiso Sale!
Special 2-bunch Prices on all 3 varieties: Green Shiso, Korean Shiso, and Red Shiso (pictured below)
Red Shiso makes a beautiful, delicious, and healing drink. Henry said Hiroko experimented making the healing elixir with a mix of shiso varieties, but only the pure red drink prevents his muscle cramps.
The Green Shiso is even tastier, and can be added to salads of all sorts, including egg, potato, bean, fruit, and green salads!
You can also dry the leaves and then use them as a seasoning sprinkled on rice, omelets, and soups.
Food Notes: Lemon Basil
The aroma of a bunch of Lemon Basil will surely make you smile and lift your spirits — as it did for Henry and Hiroko’s daughter Sora in this photo from a few years ago. (It also tastes great!)
Lemon Basil has small leaves that are a bit lighter green than regular basil . . . but sight is not the sense you should use to identify it. No, instead, close your eyes and inhale. You'll swear that someone just squeezed a fresh lemon. And that enlivening aroma does indeed come from the very same chemical compound that makes lemons smell lemony.
Like lemons, lemon basil adds a light lift to just about anything -- from salad dressings to pastas to vegetables to fish and chicken dishes to fruit salads and desserts. If you cook with it, or even whir it into a pesto, the lemon aroma fades, so just tear the leaves into pieces and scatter over whatever you're making just before serving.
I can't remember which person in our (large) family came up with the idea of putting lemon basil in cornbread, but it's become one of our favorite recipes. Just stir about a cup of lemon basil leaves into your favorite cornbread batter. As it bakes, it releases a toasty corn and light lemon scent, and the finished product is in between cake and corn bread.
Lemon Cornbread
1 bunch lemon basil, leaves removed and coarsely chopped
1 cup all- purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal (try the great stone-ground organic cornmeal and flours from Janie’s Mill, where our sister Jill is the mill manager)
2-4 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup butter
Preheat oven to 425. Grease 8 X 8 inch baking pan.
In medium bowl, with a fork, mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, and baking powder. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the lemon basil, and mix just until the flour is moistened. Stir in the chopped lemon basil.
Pour into the greased baking pan and spread evenly. Bake 25 minutes or until golden.
