Please note: the Montgomery Potters have an upcoming End of Summer Sale of on Saturday 8/31 from 9:00-3:30 at the Bethesda United Church of Christ.
Those of you who have been with this newsletter for over a year may remember I used this same cheap trick to get you to open my email last year. These weird but lovely flowers are blooming in our yard again. The pink lily like flowers are called Naked Ladies because there isn't a bit of foliage to go with the tall summer flowers. Last year I claimed that they announced the start of apple season, which is a bit of a stretch as I made it up, but once again it is quite true as the first two varieties made their debut at Mt. Vernon and ourBethesda YMCA market this Wednesday. I find the flowers to be a bit on the creepy side; they just don't look right with no leaves, but my wife loves them
In addition to the ongoing harvest of freestone peaches, mostly Bounty this week, which have seldom been better, we are picking the first two apple varieties: Ginger Gold and Zestar. Ginger Gold is crisp and sweet like a Golden Delicious and was discovered on a farm in Virginia owned by a lady who just happens to be named Ginger, what a coincidence!
The Zestar is a fairly new variety, though we had a few last year. It was developed by the University on Minnesota to be an early apple able to survive the ridiculously cold weather up there. Turns out it is a fine, slightly tangy apple you may come to love; please try a sample at market.
I want to announce that we've decided to make our heirloom tomatoes the same lower price as our regular slicing tomatoes. We normally feel the need to charge more for heirlooms, $3.99 per pound last week, due to the huge losses we experience when trying to pick them ripe and get them to market in good shape. The guys brought in so many fine looking lugs of both varieties that we knew we needed to lower the price to the same $2.99 per pound as the vine ripened field tomatoes
Both Beefsteak and the heirloom varieties, Cherokee Purple and German Slicers, are coming in strong, even with this unusually cool, but fine with me, weather. Arturo and the crew are also picking some Romas and lots of Sungold (cherry tomatoes) and Dasher (grape tomatoes).
Look for our fine "2nds" in field tomatoes at half price, $1.49 per pound and $18.00 a half bushel. Many of my beloved regular customers comment on them as being just as good as other growers' first quality fruit. What can I say? We grow a lot of tomatoes and want them to be perfect, or cheaper if not quite perfect. The next three or so weeks will be peak time for canning and freezing of tomatoes; so, as with peaches, don't wait to take advantage.
ANAHEIM CHILES
Being as the guys are harvesting just jillions of Anaheim chiles, a moderately hot chile pepper, I want to figure out how to move them before they go downhill. The peppers are hotter when more red than green; and we are picking lots of both. Hotter versions are grown in places like New Mexico, due more to climate than variety, where they are like some kind of state treasure, being roasted everywhere and used in pretty much every sauce and recipe. My son Jesse, who lives out there part of the year, has brought back frozen ones to be used in many southwestern recipes.
Perhaps we can get a movement started here; to that end I'm going to link to a recipe for stuffed chiles, which sounds incredible; but I must admit that I've been too busy, yet, to try it out, though I've had my share of similar recipes in the many Mexican restaurants around Gettysburg -
CHILI RELLENOS
GARLIC HINTS
A segment from Lynn Rosetto Casper's cooking show on NPR last Saturday was an interview with Jo Robinson, a food author with a scientific bent, whose intention in her newly published book "Eating on the Wild Side" is to inform us of newly discovered nutritional benefits, especially concerning the value of Phytonutreints.
A factoid from the interview I wanted to pass along is that research shows that the healthful antioxidants in garlic don't fully form until after the cloves have been chopped, pressed or otherwise mashed etc. and been allowed to sit for a few minutes prior to being heated. She has much more great advice and I may "cherry pick" a bit over coming weeks, especially if the ideas are conducive to marketing Twin Springs' great stuff!
Another hint, from me, with respect to garlic is that there is a way to make it easier to peel, other that the standard crush it a bit with a heavy chef's knife. Put the cloves in a metal bowl with another on top and proceed to shake it vigorously for a minute or so; the cloves should be easier to peel or even already fully peeled.
