As a result of travel and other distractions I've sort of fallen off the wagon with my CSA updates. There's not been anything revolutionary going on in the kitchen anyway, so you're not missing out on much.
Possibly my favorite item from the Week 6 delivery were adorable French breakfast radishes, pointy little guys with a pinkish-red blush on one end and white on the other end. They needed nothing more than some good butter, good salt, and good bread. The betel leaves were used in a successful repeat preparation of the bò lá lốt, with bok choy leaves serving as an effective substitute wrapper when the betel leaves were used up. The canistels from Week 6 finally ripened (like the black sapotes, they need to be really soft - seemingly ready to be thrown out - before they're ripe enough to eat) and I've harvested the flesh on these which is in the freezer, potentially turning into a flan this weekend. A word of warning - I wouldn't use your best knife with these, the skin has a sticky substance that really doesn't want to wash off the blade. Nothing particularly exciting happened to the rest of Week 6.
I was out of town this past weekend and Mrs. F did the pick-up, so no picture of Week 7 (though Redland Organics has the newsletter online). This was the "freeze" week. While the greens and cabbage looked none the worse for wear, the citrus was spotty - and sour! Unfortunately the carambola was too. Mrs. F cooked off the kale with some andouille and white beans, and it was delicious. I've got some more ideas for the black sapote. And the avocado may get used for a sample of the Alton Brown "sardine and avocado sandwich diet."
It will be interesting to see how much the cold snap is going to affect the rest of the season's harvest.
If the black sapote still has a sticky layer that clings to a knife blade, then it isn't ripe enough. When they seem collapsingly soft, then ... let them go another day or so. It's hard to do, but that's what works. Eventually they get so you don't even really need to peel 'em.
ReplyDeleteA great way to remove the sticky latex from things like canistel, black sapote, or jakfruit, is to use CitraSolv or similar product. Use it full strength and it will dissolve the latex easily and completely.
ReplyDeleteIt was the canistel, not the black sapote, that left the sticky residue on the knife. The black sapotes have been plenty ripe when I've used them. But that's another lesson: I leave a post-it next to the ripening black sapotes that says "Don't throw me out!" since others in the house understandably mistake it for a rotten fruit.
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