Radicchio, leeks, yellow carrots, mixed winter radishes, and scorzonera. Except for the carrots, everything’s a bit smaller this week. For more on that red radicchio in the share check out my post over on Instagram @slowhandfarm. I was surprised to find that we still had radishes in the field after that freeze. There’s some superficial damage from the freeze so they’ll need to be trimmed before using, but there’s definitely useable radish there! Checking on the rutabaga that I though was totally mush from the freeze, it actually appears that it may be recovering – still yet to be determined, but fingers crossed on that one.
Scorzonera deserves it’s own paragraph here as it’s an unusual one. Also called “black oyster root” it’s a very reliable winter crop. The greens are edible but the root is why we grow it. Unfortunately they were set back by heavy weed pressure this year so they’re small and will require a bit more work. I typically scrape the black peel off with the back of a knife (takes off less of the actual root than a vegetable peeler) and immdiately dunk them into a bowl of water with some lemon juice to keep them from browning. You’ll notice they “bleed” a white, sticky sap. Once peeled they can be boiled, roasted, sautéed or fried. If you sauté or fry them pay close attention as the sugars convert quickly when they are ready and they can go to overdone in an instant.
Super nice day on the farm yesterday and we’re making more progress on cleaning up the fields to get them ready for planting season, which is coming up rapidly!
Cully Neighborhood Farm 