Here’s what we’ll be having for dinners this week: Golden grape tomatoes, zucchini, Lacinato kale (AKA black, Tuscan, or dinosaur kale), Jonagold apples, Poblano peppers, sunchokes (AKA Jerusalem artichokes), and rolled oats.
Fun facts for this week’s CSA box:
- That is not ginger you see in our photo! Sunchokes are yet another food that we’ve never encountered (why we love our CSA). Believe it or not, sunchokes are the tubers of a plant related to the sunflower! Even though they’re also known as Jerusalem artichokes, they have no relation to the city (actually, they’re native to North America) nor are they a variety of artichoke (though they are related via the daisy).
- It is not surprising why Lacinato kale is also known as dinosaur kale. As you can see, the texture of its leaves creates a pattern reminiscent of how we think the skin of ancient monsters may have looked.
- So far, we have had a number of apple varieties come through our CSA – Cameo, Mutsu (Crispin), Pink Lady, Fuji, Gala, etc. The Jonagold apple in this week’s box is a cross between Golden Delicious and the heritage Jonathan apple. The variety was developed fairly recently in the 1950s at Cornell University.
We’re off to enjoy our culinary excitement for the week!
– Kathy May and Silas
