2017 CSA Week 13

Good evening fellow CSA members,

I hope you have accomplished everything you were planning for July. Tomorrow ushers in August and brings us another great share...

Produce	Storage	Longevity
summer squash and zucchini	unwashed, in fridge	1-2 weeks
green beans*	unwashed, in fridge	3-4 days
tomatoes	room temperature	about a week
sweet corn*	shucked or with husks on in coldest part of fridge	enjoy as soon as possible
blackberries	unwashed, in fridge	3-5 days
basil	ends snipped, immersed in water	1 week+
cantaloupe	peeled and sliced, or unpeeled in fridge	enjoy as soon as possible

*Tuesday members will receive sweet corn. Thursday and Saturday members will receive green beans this week.

Allow me a minute to talk about one thing not in this week's share: Beef. I am very much a carnivore and beef is my meat of choice. After our first winter meat CSA with Sustainable Harvest Farm I was so impressed with the quality of their beef I tried to get a full year's worth of beef from them for the following year (I didn't get enough). But I did get several cuts of beef I wouldn't normally prepare. I love smoked beef brisket but had never prepared a brisket before and don't own a smoker. So, I've been testing several "oven smoked" (faux-b-que) recipes throughout the year and just this week found the one I am going to stick with. Delicious. I used several of the week's share ingredients to round out the meal.

One last thing. Probably sign up for a winter meat share if you're interested before I buy it all. I think Ford has increased his meat production over the years but once, while I was pregnant, he sold out of several cuts of meat. It was a sad day. And I always think about that when I decide how much meat to buy during the winter share.

I am excited for the sweet corn this week but even more excited for the cantaloupe. I love cantaloupe and only learned in the last couple of years (from my husband) that it is an especially healthy fruit. Since he isn't actually a nutritionist (not even close) I did a little research and learned it has one of the highest levels of vitamin A of any fruit. It is also packed with vitamin C, several B vitamins, vitamin K, potassium, magnesium and fiber.

I love eating cantaloupe plain (especially with a meal of fresh green beans, corn, tomatoes and cornbread this time of year), but just yesterday I learned cantaloupe soup exists. (You can get it at the Greentree Tea Room in Lexington during the month of August.) I did a search for recipes. I have no idea what different varieties there are of cantaloupe soup, but this recipe sounded yummy to me.

You'll have to let me know if you make it!

Happy eating!