Category Archives: papaya

Papaya in Greenhouse

2017 CSA Spring April 1st

2017 CSA Spring April 1st

  • Papaya
  • Field Mix
  • Field Arugula
  • Watercress
  • Spearmint
  • Epazote
  • Sage
  • Micro Color Mix

A new season beginning with our Farmer’s markets and CSA farm shares brings greens, herbs, fruit and surprise! some microgreens. For those of you new to our program, welcome! and here are some suggestions for your goodies besides salad. Traditionally the ripe papaya is skinned, de-seeded, chopped into bite sized pieces and dressed with fresh squeezed lime juice. Simple and delicious! You can also used cubed ripe papaya as a replacement for peaches in recipes. We have enjoyed papaya pies, cobbler and jam made from these fruits (see web address at bottom for some recipes). The spearmint and sage would both do well as a hot or iced tea and the epazote is also known as Mexican tea in some parts. Epazote is used to enhance beans and sauces, and is used as a digestive aid. Your Micro Color Mix of microgreens can be used across the board in savory dishes, cooked or raw. The microgreens are great in the fold of an omlette or quiche; they can go atop the salad or pasta, inside of a wrap or sandwich and can be frozen to be later added to a cooked dish (like quiche). For those who have just found us, there is an in-depth article at www.c-ville.com you might find of interest. Our farm is nestled just outside Shenandoah National Park, north of Charlottesville, utilizing about 6 acres out of 15 all together. The photo below was taken by Mike at one of my most favorite overlooks in the park, maybe five minutes from the farm “as the crow flies”. For those of you returning or renewing your CSA farm shares i just want to send out a big thank you! Appreciations all around that we can share in these delectable gifts together.

2017CSA_Winter_Mar_11 eggs

2017 CSA Winter March 11th Eggs

2017 CSA Winter March 11th Eggs

  • Bag of Arugula
  • Bag of Field Mix
  • Marjoram
  • Oregano
  • Papaya
  • Epazote
  • Mint
  • Hot! Scorpion Peppers *use gloves
  • Micro Mix
  • Eggs

Bonus Eggs this week! If you still have some of your roasted Pepper Paste left, try combining it in a bean dish with a dash of each of your herbs. You may want to try folding some microgreens into an omelet or chopping some greens into a quiche this week with the added bonus of eggs and micros. Friendly reminder about the sinus opening scorpion peppers: they are some of the hottest peppers in the world so please use gloves while handling.

With Easter in April coming, as well as the season for some emerging spring flowers, consider adding some wildcrafted edible flowers to the menu. Pictured right, above, are violets, which are about a month ahead of schedule in our microcosm. Below right are redbud flowers in bloom, which can be popped off and added raw to dishes, or can be prepared such as fritters, pancakes or stir-fry. The violets are great fresh, and when fried into the edges of an egg, turn a bit of turquoise blue. Be sure to gather from clean sites, not next to a road, and always check for bugs.

Papaya Pie slice

2017 CSA Winter February 25th Papaya

2017 CSA Winter February 25th

  • Bag of Arugula
  • Bag of Field Mix
  • Mustard Greens
  • Red Sorrel
  • Papaya
  • Flowering Sage
  • Flowering Pineapple Sage
  • Epazote
  • Cilantro
  • Tatsoi

Just a quick and delightful treatment of your sage in meals this week: try the leaves and flowering tops fried. I have seen leaves fried as is and served as a garnish and the flowering tops dipped in an egg batter and then fried, served as an appetizer back in the day when Mark Newsome was Chef of Joshua Wilton House.

Papaya pie!

Yeah, a little different, but I wanted to share my results: skinned, deseeded and chopped papaya was tossed with juice from 2 limes, !approximately ¾ cup of brown sugar, 2 tbs of honey, 1 ½  tbs of corn starch, plus healthy dashes of cinnamon and vanilla. This was poured into a prepared pie shell and baked on a jelly roll pan at 350F for 30 minutes. I thought it looked a little runny at end time so I dusted the top with some more corn starch, used a spoon to gently fold that into the papaya filling and baked it for at least another 20 minutes. See the results in the photos and please overlook the tell-tale dusting trail…we thought it turned out very yummy! Maybe you will try it?

Papaya Pie

Papaya Pie