Tomato Mountain logoTractor, Field, Hoops & Sky
~ In the Box ~
Week 32 ~ Monday, Nov 19 
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Leeks


Red Russian Kale
 
 
  Onions
 
 Tatsoi
  (Solo & Sm only) 

Spinach
(Med & Lg only) 


The boxes are on their way... a slightly earlier start than usual to manage the combined Monday & Tuesday routes. Anticipate some variation from usual arrivals, but feel free to call or text Robin (708-370-8017) if you'd like an ETA.

~ Recipes ~
 
braised leeks  
Use this week's leeks in any way you'd normally use onions. Or treat the grande dame of the allium family on its own in Braised Leeks (above) or as the star in a tart or quiche.
 
 

Questions? 
 
 Email us or call
 
Robin (in Chicago)
708-370-8017
or
Chris (farmer/owner)
608-712-1585 
 
   
 
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Good thing I talked about how cloudy November usually is last week as I seem to have jinxed it. It would have been nice to have had all this sunny and beautiful weather a couple of weeks ago when we were harvesting root crops, but better late than never. The good news with the warm weather is that the spinach in the hoop houses is growing very well and catching up after the coolish fall. With the exception of some early spinach going in this week's Medium and Large shares, we'll start harvesting it after Thanksgiving and put it in just about every box through the end of the winter share (late March). To maximize quality and flavor, we actually need more cold weather. The idea is to grow the spinach and get the volume up before the cold weather hits, and then let it freeze to improve flavor and texture. Things are right on track, so expect lots of great spinach December through March.

This week's box is the first in which we'll include a jar of unlabeled whole roasted tomatoes. We've left the jars unlabeled so that we can get them back from you to sterilize and reuse them. Though we can't reuse the lids, we ask that you do return the washed jar with the lid on to help protect the jar rim from impact/nicks. It seems senseless to recycle a glass jar, melting and making another glass jar, when it could simply be reused. For years I've been looking forward to this little bit of resource responsibility, like back in the days of the "milkman." The difference is the milkman didn't milk the cow. We do grow the produce, and make the jarred tomatoes, and so feel even more invested in the whole process.

Getting the jars back represents thousands of dollars of savings for us, and represents lots of energy not expended melting and remaking jars. If we are able to get over 90% of customers to return their jars, we'll pass along the savings and reduce the value of the jars of tomatoes by the 65+ cents that each jar costs us. Currently, we sell the quart jars for $10 (3 for $25) at markets and in our online store for CSA customers. Initially, we'll value whole roasted tomatoes at $8 in the CSA boxes, and if we can achieve a 90% return rate, we'll be able to reduce that to around $7.50/jar.

As for the whole roasted tomatoes themselves, they're my favorite to use for pasta sauce, salsa, chili, or anywhere you'd use canned tomatoes. They are not in one piece (whole) anymore because we've roasted and blended them to conserve the fiber and nutrition in the seeds and skins (though the roasting and blending reduces the presence of skins). We say "whole" as in whole bread--we use the whole tomato. These tomatoes are the same ones we use in our processing kitchen to make all of our tomato salsas, soups, and sauces (though we also strain the tomatoes for the soups, juice and bloody mary mix).

The only way to keep tomatoes whole and in one piece in the cooking process is to add calcium chloride, the ingredient in every can of whole or diced tomatoes you'll ever buy. Calcium chloride keeps the tomato cell walls from breaking down from time and heat, and is added to all canned tomato products to maintain texture and firmness. (Pickles are a good example of where/how this salt is a good preservative and improves texture.) We choose not to use it mostly because it would take more work and we don't need to make that particular product. It would also be a pain to skin the tomatoes; the skins are good for you, and when roasted and blended, they fall apart nicely adding body and nutrition to the product. We're going for the other effect--roasted and slightly concentrated, so they are already a little cooked and 'dried out.'

So, please wash and return the jar with the lid, and put it with your box or cooler for us to pick up. As always, you may send several jars/boxes at a time if it's hard to remember or deal with the logistical issues every week, but please save all that stuff as much as you can as it saves everyone money and just makes sense. Over the season, we deliver thousands of boxes, and now jars, and they average about $1/each. Well over 95% of all that can be recovered, as less than 5% of boxes tear/jars break. Please help us keep waste, wasted energy, and our costs down so that we can pass the savings on to you.

Have a wonderful holiday!

Chris Covelli

and the Tomato Mountain Farm Team 
 
Tomato Mountain Farm  |  N7720 Sandy Hook Rd  |  Brooklyn, WI  53521