NEWS FROM TWIN SPRINGS FRUIT FARM

Jesse pulling some of our Sugarsnax carrots
































For what's at market this week please see below

CROP UPDATE
     Michael tells me that all of the Brussels Sprouts and Kaleidoscope Greens (purples?) are in the ground for the fall, and that today the Celery is going in. Lets hope for a great crop; celery is one of the more challenging things to grow, heck, its even difficult to get those tiny seeds to sprout. When we have had the rare "good crop", yield wise, customers have raved about the flavor - something to look forward in a few weeks.
     Is it too soon, the beginning of August, to mention that the first apples are a bit less than a month away? Perhaps it is; it is peach season after all and those interested are making plans soon to freeze, or perhaps can the freestones as well as make lots of pies and cobblers now that they are so much easier to work with. Don't forget peach jam, or blackberry for that matter, as they are coming on strong at this time.
     In perusing various sites with instructions for freezing peaches I came up with one with which I can agree on most points. I'll link to it HERE, for those who are interested. 
     The tips I like from this set of instructions are: the use of a somewhat light syrup (1:3), the option to leave the skin on*, the use of firm but not soft-ripe peaches, and perhaps even the use of reusable freezer tolerant glass jars, rather than throw away plastic bags.          The article also advises the use of an antioxidant like lemon juice or ascorbic acid, with which I don't necessarily disagree, but more and more I'm comfortable with things looking quite natural, like our dried apples - a bit brown, rather than bone white like McDonalds; but as George Bush said "You're the decider".
     While some of you may wish to try canning and freezing without syrup I would use the light syrup mentioned above knowing that there is always the option to discard the syrup. I have some "sugar issues" but over the years have found light syrup makes for a more agreeable end result. Twin Springs tried canning in water and nobody wanted to buy them after the first try.

Carrot Lore
     Did you know that there is an odd reason why carrots are mostly orange varieties, of which there are hundreds available? In reading through the carrot section of Jo Robinson's book "Eating on the Wild Side", which I have drawn from many times, it occurred to me just how interesting is the history of carrots. 
     In this country we have a wild example of them in our Queen Anne's Lace, mostly considered a weed. It turns out that some Native Americans would use them in various ways. Though a bit tough, small and woody they were quite nutritious and could be made palatable by a long steaming process, much like a clam bake.
The orange color of most of our carrots is pretty arbitrary, having originated with the Dutch. The original carrot, purple in fact, was native to Afghanistan, and was cultivated several thousand years ago. Jo says:

..."By the 1300s. purple carrots were growing in Spain, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Two mutant varieties - white and yellow carrots - began to be cultivated as well. Sixteenth-century Europeans were growing four colors of carrots - red, yellow, purple, and white.
     You might have noticed that orange carrots have yet to be mentioned. In fact, orange carrots did not exist until four hundred years ago, when two plant breeders in the Netherlands crossed a yellow mutant carrot from Africa with a local red carrot. The impetus for this botanical merger is that the men wanted to honor the House of Orange, the princely dynasty that had spearheaded the Netherlands' revolt against Spain in the mid-sixteenth century."

     What then became known as "the long orange Dutch carrot", designed by man, for political reasons, became the default carrot all around the world. Seems kind of bizarre to me, but the history of foods can be like that. You'll notice that Twin Springs has grown both orange and white carrots for the last couple of years; and in the fall we intend to try a purple strain. Jo indicates that, as with many fruits and vegetables, color can indicate, to some extent, the nutrients found inside. She indicates that all carrots aren't equal in that respect. Testing demonstrates that purple carrots have greater amounts of certain antioxidants, such as anthocyanin. 
     We once grew a mix of carrot varieties named "Rainbow", obviously the mix was of three or four colors of carrot. We found that customers are so used to orange that they picked out, for the most part, the nice looking orange ones, leaving behind white and purple varieties. Stopping growing the mix was our only option as by the end of the day you had just unfamiliar colors of carrots on display.
     This fall we are going to introduce a purely purple variety, hoping that with a bit of sampling, and perhaps educational efforts on our part, we can convince customers to branch out in selecting varieties, as we believe the nutritional benefits will be significant. 
      At this time we are selling Sugarsnax, an early variety, which allows us to dig some as early as possible. The carrots are long and thin, with a very crunchy texture and a mildly sweet flavor. 
      As I mentioned last year what we call baby carrots, those uniform little things in bags at the grocery store, are actually the rejected mis-shapened carrots, peeled, thus losing a huge proportion of the nutrients, and shaped to look like baby carrots. Jo informs us to avoid them and to cook whole carrots, preferably in butter or oil, whether saut�ed, baked or roasted, to get the most nutrients for your dollar. Peeling carrots, and many other fruits and veggies, can lose you many vital nutrients. As Jo points out:

*"As with most fruits and vegetables, the greatest concentration of nutrients is in the skin and the tissue right below it. This makes sense, because the outer layers of a plant are its first line of defense against UV rays, mold, grazing animals, insects, fungus, and disease. The more phytonutrients in those outermost layers, the better it can defend itself. When you whittle away the outer portion of a carrot, you remove one-third of its phytonutrients."

 PICKLES REDUX
     I'm aware that I've put in two pickle recipes in the last couple of months, but a customer asked that I find the below one from last season, as it was her favorite. I think that she especially enjoyed the addition of some "heat" from the jalape�os, as did I. 
     Everyone should always feel free to make creative changes to any recipe, how else are you going to learn? Crunchy carrots or perhaps cauliflower or watermelon rind may be a pleasant addition. I know Jeremiah likes using the leftover liquid from a jar of pickled hot peppers as an addition to a current effort. (Perhaps, however, using it over and over would be a poor choice.)
Easy, No Cook Refrigerator Pickles

INGREDIENTS

2 Lbs. TSFF middle eastern cucumbers
sliced diagonally 1/2" thick, no 
need to peel or de-seed
1 Medium Twin Springs Candy onion
Sliced 1" thick, and broken up
2 Celery stalks
Sliced 1/2" thick on the diagonal
Optional: Jalape�os, either fresh or 
       already pickled, seeded and sliced        pretty thin, or any other similar...
Coarse salt
2 cups of sugar (You may cut back, or experiment with another sweetener)
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp. celery seed

Adapted from Martha Stewart Online.
INSTRUCTIONS

In a colander set over a medium bowl, 
toss the cucumbers, onion and celery
with 1&1/2 tsp. of salt.
Set aside to drain, 30 minutes, tossing 
occasionally.
In a small bowl combine sugar, vinegar, celery seed, Jalape�os if desired, and 
mustard seed; stir until 
the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the vinegar mixture over the 
pickles and place in airtight jars.

Refrigerate at least 8 hours, and keep 
refrigerated. What with the vinegar, salt and sugar these seem to keep for ages.

 
Cheers from all of us who bring you great fresh food; thanks for having us at your table. - Aubrey
Here's generally what's at all our market locations this week:
  • Peaches - All our peaches at this time and until the end of the season are now FREESTONE, meaning that they are now more suitable for cooking, freezing and canning. This week we are picking Red Haven, John Boy and Early Loring, all of fine quality for all purposes. The Red Haven I sampled at Mt. Vernon were so sweet and juicy that they were irresistable.
  • Blueberries - Being as we are starting to pick fewer blueberries, as the season is winding down at this time, we will eliminate the sale; there has been a discount price for two weeks and I hope that all who were interested took advantage. For the balance of the season Blueberries will be $6.00 per pint, which doesn't preclude purchasing a flat; it just makes them more expensive.
  • While blueberries are on the way out, perhaps two more weeks of picking the later varieties, Blackberries are coming in fairly strong.
  • White Peaches - We are picking a few of both the "White Lady" and "White Pearl" varieties and both are super sweet.
  • Nectarines - It looks as though we will have some nectarines at all locations; it is too early to tell whether a given market will have either white or yellow, but there should be a few.
  • Vivaldi (a Weight Watcher's Club pick) potatoes. These delicious yellow potatoes are dug as "New Potatoes", meaning that they are young and tender, rather than mature and hardened off. Many of our customers are pleased to see them back, after their hiatus last season. We advise a simple wash but not a hard scrub of peel, many nutrients, and especially minerals are in or just below the skin.
  • Canary Melons - This is what I wrote last week: "Arturo let me know that he expected to pick some early next week; so look for them soon." And we think that it will actually be true this coming week, but not, apparently, in time for the weekend. 
  • Garlic - Remember to let it sit for a while, after cutting or pressing, before introducing to heat. The nutritional value apparently just soars during that short wait time.
  • Manar Cucumbers - A good supply for the foreseeable future, please note the pickle recipe above; they really are delicious and refreshing. One never needs to de-seed, peel or salt our baby, gourmet cucumbers. They are also "burp-less", a fact confirmed by numerous customers.
  • Red Raspberries - We will have some at all locations, but the current varieties are diminishing and our late variety is not nearly ready.
  • Sweet Peppers fully ripe, delicious and sweet - red, yellow and orange; we have a steady, if not sufficient supply to cover our needs.
  • White Carrots and Orange Carrots - Always bagged to maintain the quality. Please note that while raw carrots are quite good for you, carrots saut�ed whole in butter and/or oil are the most nutritious way to prepare them. We also advise you to scrub, at the most, rather than scraping or peeling.
  • Our field grown Beefsteak tomatoes, actually BHN 589, a thrilling name, but nonetheless the variety in the catalogues best known for its flavor, are starting to come off in very respectable numbers. they are large and beautiful and as with this year's peaches the flavor is superb.
  • Sungold, sweet orange cherry tomatoes and the very "tomatoey" Dasher red pear tomatoes are in good supply, being as the first of the field ones are starting to be picked.
  • Pink Lady Dried Apples - "Apple Snitz" as the Amish call it
  • Both "Orion" and "Neon" Eggplant, in very limited amounts
  • Arugula: Arturo informs me that there will be plenty for all markets.
    We will have good amounts of both our Red Oakleaf and Green Buttercrunch Lettuces
  • Twin Spring's Hot Pepper Jelly, Chipotle Ketchup, Marinara Sauce, Apple Butter and Apple Sauce. All may be purchased individually or by the 12 jar case for 10% off. You may hit "reply" to this email to let me know to have a case reserved for you.

In addition to the above: We will carry at "OUR OWN" Market Locations:

  • Joe's Sweet Corn, remember only at "Twin Spring Own Markets" and the three Central Markets we attend (Pike Central, Bethesda Central and the new Mosaic Market).
  • Local: Honeylopes (super sweet, greenish/orange, tasting much like a honeydew), Canary melonsCantaloupes as well as Red Watermelons
  • Broccoli, Cabbage, both Sweet (ie. Orange, red and yellow) and Green Peppers, Green and Gold Zucchini as well as Green and Golden Beans
  • John Stoner will supply us with regular Eggplant as well as long thin Asian Eggplant, BroccoliHerbsBeetsBasil and Kale.
  • We carry Kime's Tart Cherry Juice, a very powerful natural anti-oxidant.
  • Fresh Hard Pretzels, both regular and whole wheat, baked right down the road in Gettysburg, so they are always fresh
  • Michelle's Granola, handmade and baked fresh in DC
  • Allen's fresh Eggs, both brown and white, from "free walking hens"
  • Twin Springs carries Ed's fresh local Artisanal Cheeses: sharp cheddar, cheddar, smoked cheddar as well as smoked jalape�o; also available are his goat gouda and goat cheddar.
  • Jim Small's Local Wildflower Honey which is, of course, never heated more than necessary to flow during bottling, and which is completely unadulterated, sourced from the hives Jim keeps on our farm as well as other local farms.
  • Maple Syrup and Maple Sugar are available and are tapped and bottled on the Patterson Farm in Maryland.
  • McCutcheon's: jams, some fruit sweetened, ie. no cane sugar or corn syrup, and jellies as well as many other great products created right in Frederick Maryland
  • Baked Goods from the Stonehearth Bakery, also in Frederick, all items are baked "that" morning.

 
or add a friend's email address to bug them about going to market to buy local stuff!