P i c k l i s t
roma tomatoes - oregano - corn - onion - purple pepper -
lemon balm - lettuce - melon - cucumbers
Blueberry season came to an end this week and we are bumming. The fruit is there but the quality is not. While this typically occurs mid August, at the end of our blueberry picking season, this year the end- with its soft smushy berries- came entirely too soon. Thank Goodness for that sweet sweet melon, of which we currently are rich in, to distract us from the hit we will take due to the sudden lack of blues.
Yesterday, for the first time in my history of working at Edgewater, we celebrated Jamaican Independence Day away from the blueberry fields. Typically we party amongst the blues, in the field, mid pick, but last night the crew came over after a full day of cutting pig weeds out of the eggplant and pepper planting. As the majority of our crew is from Jamaica, it is only appropriate- and I say mandatory- to order a heap of food from Sunshine Cookshop in Claremont, and kick back. We brought in a full spread of curry goat, jerk chicken, rice and beans, and red stripes. It’s always a treat to literally sit down with the crew - a real mid season rarity- and put some Jamaican food in our bellies.
Now that we are out of blueberry season, the next couple of weeks will be spent bringing in the harvest while simultaneously cleaning up the fields. So many weeds have taken over- there is an actual jungle to bushwack every time the piclistk calls for fennel- and at this point we are crossing our fingers the crab grass in the potatoes decides to slow its roll…
On the bright side of farm life, the temps have cooled, actually meeting the kitchen needs of the tomato harvest. August is the month to focus efforts on putting up food for winter. However doing so in August is often dreadful on account of sweltering heat mixed with stove top/oven use efforts. While I do not love a cool summer day, I do appreciate the gift it brings when the tomatoes demand roasting/saucing/etc… So without any further ramblings, grab your ball jars, winter is coming, and farmy foodie pro-tips await…
FARMY FOODIE PRO-TIPS:
Ripe for the grill: corn - onion - roma tomato - pepper
The following 2 recipes are from Mitchell Davis our beloved up the road nearly resident chef…
Both recipes can be frozen or canned for winter eating. To can, see https://www.ballmasonjars.com/recipes?fdid=tomatoes&custompid=tomato-juice
And if freezing, make sure to add space in your bag/container/jar for inevitable expansion.
There are two ways to look at today’s CSA pick list: 1. Fresh tomato sauce 2. Roasted tomatoes. Both are excellent ways to save and savor these summer flavors. In fact, why not make a little of each?
Fresh Tomato Sauce
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 red, white, or yellow onion, chopped
1 small clove garlic, peeled and split in half, or 1 garlic scape, chopped
Salt
1/2 small hot pepper, seeded and minced, or a pinch of hot pepper flakes
10 to 15 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
¼ cup white wine, vegetable stock, or water
1 bay leaf
Freshly ground black pepper
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high flame. Add the onion, the whole garlic clove or scape, and a pinch of salt, and sauté until the onion is translucent. Remove the garlic clove, if using, and discard. Add the hot pepper and sauté another minute or so. Add the chopped tomatoes, wine, stock, or water, and bay leaf. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer about 5 minutes until the tomatoes begin to give off their liquid. Continue simmering for another 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until the tomatoes have fully melted into sauce. Remove the bay leaf.
At this point you have three options:
1. You can keep the sauce chunky and rustic as it is.
2. You can pass the cooked sauce through a vegetable mill to remove the tomato skins and create a nice texture, not too fine. Or,
3. You can use a regular or immersion blender to purée the sauce until smooth. (Passing it through a strainer once puréed is optional, and might be considered more French than Italian.)
All produce great results. If milling or blending, return the sauce to the pan, adding a little water or better, pasta cooking water, to adjust the consistency, if necessary, and bring it back to a gentle simmer. Add the chopped herbs and some black pepper. Simmer a couple of minutes more and then mix with pasta or use however you like.
Roasted Tomatoes
Any number of plum tomatoes, cut lengthwise in half
3 or 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sprigs of fresh oregano, basil, rosemary, or a combination,
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Arrange the tomato halves cut side up on the prepared pan. Scatter the sliced garlic around the tomatoes. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt and black pepper. Toss the tomatoes to coat with the oil and seasonings and then return them cut side up. Scatter the herbs around the tray. Set in the
oven and roast for about 1 hour or longer, until the tomatoes have shriveled a little, concentrated, and browned around the edges. Serve as is or with ricotta and toasted or grilled sourdough bread to soak up the juices and the oil.
—Cookbook author and food writer Mitchell Davis recently moved from New York City to the Upper Valley, just down the road from Edgewater Farm. For more recipes, subscribe for free to his weekly newsletter Kitchen Sense at www.kitchensense.substack.com
Lemon balm: I LOVE THIS HERB. And as we enter high summer, it is the perfect aid to calm us down amidst the harvest hustle. Read more about this herb, as you sip your lemon balm sun tea, or add to your salad mix…
Edit, copy, and pasted from mountain rose herbs
For centuries, lemon balm has been used for its beneficial properties and has been highly esteemed for its emotional and spiritual effects. Melissa (other name for lemon balm) has traditionally been used as a gentle nervine and in baths to support healthy skin. It is often used to promote a sense of calm and can be brewed into a citrusy lemon balm tea, incorporated into other herbal tea blends, and included in body care recipes.
Used since ancient times to calm the heart and the body, lemon balm with its delicate lemony flavor uplifts the spirit and any culinary dish it is added to. It has been used to sweeten jam, jellies, as an addition to salad, and as a flavoring for various fish and poultry dishes and liqueurs. Further, lemon balm is used for making perfumes, in cosmetics, and in furniture polish manufacturing. It is often found as a tea in combination with other relaxing herbs such as valerian, as an essential oil, and also in ointments for topical applications.
The use of lemon balm goes back thousands of years to the time of the ancient Romans and Greeks. One of its first recorded uses was as a wine infused liniment. Dioscorides (a Greek physician, pharmacologist, and botanist practicing in the 1st century in Rome, who authored the herbal De Materia Medica), mentions its use in this way, and it was also employed in this same manner in Ayurvedic medicine. St. Hildegard of Bingen, an herbalist and nun born in 1098 C.E. in present day Germany said, “Lemon balm contains within it the virtues of a dozen other plants.” According to Nicholas Culpepper (a botanist, avid astrologer, physician, herbalist, and author of the Complete Herbal, written in 1653), said dried lemon balm may be made into a fine 'electuary' with honey. He wrote that it was ruled by the planet Jupiter and associated with the zodiac sign of Cancer, therefore having an association with the water element and thus an effect on emotions.
Lemon balm was traditionally used to uplift the spirits. As Culpepper mentioned, some of its properties were spiritual in nature. This herb was used in spells to heal broken hearts and also to attract romantic love.
MELON: Don’t rush these bad boys. Just like your tomatoes, they can ripen off vine to reach peak flavor. We pick them when they are sized up, but you eat them when their scent is sweet and calling to you. You’ll know