What’s up on the farm?

Happy Full Cold Moon! Though it sounds like a cryptic comment on the recent weather, tonight (Tuesday) is the full moon, historically known as the Full Cold Moon. The name is appropriate this year; it’s COLD out here! Actually its better today, but I have to admit, the recent weather hasn’t made me really excited about doing outside chores. It’s also brought an end to the outside garden, ah well, the high tunnel is the place to be.

Something to start thinking about this week is our final Winter Season delivery. We are scheduled to have our final delivery on Tuesday, Dec. 26^th. As many of you will likely be off work and still enjoying your holidays we wanted to offer an option. We can postpone that week’s delivery to Wed or Thurs if that would be helpful for folks. So next week (Dec 12^th) when you pick up your box you can vote for what day (Tues, Wed or Thurs) you would prefer for the final delivery and we will go with the majority decision.

A little explanation for those of you who are new to the CSA and a refresher for the rest, those dirty, knobby tubers in the box this week are sunchokes, also known as Jerusalem Artichokes. Not from Jerusalem or an artichoke they are a root section of a tall sunflower, native to the United States. Eaten raw, they are crisp and refreshing like water chestnuts. Cooked, they are moist, sweet and starchy. Their nutty flavor reminds some people of globe artichokes and reminds others of asparagus. If you can’t use your sunchokes right away, keep unwashed tubers in a perforated plastic bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks. If the skin looks shriveled when you take them out of storage, refresh them in a bowl of cold water. To prepare, rinse under cold water, scrubbing gently with a brush if necessary. Whether you eat them raw or cooked, you may want to leave the skin on for the nutrients. If you are cooking them, the skin slips off easily afterwards. To avoid discoloration when exposed to air, soak sliced or skinned raw tubers briefly in a mixture of 2 tbs. lemon juice and 2 qt. water. When cooking sunchokes, watch them closely as they can go quickly from firm and tender to mushy. Here are a few serving suggestions, or try the recipe on the back:

· Use raw, sliced or julienned in salads or on a tray with other raw vegetables

· Steam, boil bake or mash with butter or olive oil and lemon juice as you would potatoes

· Make sunchoke French fries

· Slice ¼” thick and sauté them in oil with salt until lightly browned , or stir fry them

· Roast whole sunchokes alone or with other root veggies in a 425 degree oven until tender, 30 – 40 min.

Best from the farm,

Jill & Sean

Sautéed Sunchokes

An easy yet absolutely delicious way to cook up some sunchokes is to sauté them in butter. This is a great alternative to potatoes on the dinner table and just as versatile.

Serves 4

3 tbs. butter

1 ½ tsp. vegetable or olive oil

1 pound sunchokes, sliced into 1 inch rounds

2 tbs. minced fresh parsley, divided

salt

freshly ground pepper

Heat butter and oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sunchokes and 1 tbs. of the parsley; cook, turning frequently, until the sunchokes are lightly browned on the outside and tender on the inside, 4 – 6 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and garnish with the remaining parsley.

Recipe Source: Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables