Category Archives: turmeric

2017CSA_Spring_Apr_15 Flower Salad

2017 CSA Spring April 15th Easter Flowers

2017 CSA Spring April 15th Easter Edible Flowers

  • Papaya
  • Baby Kale
  • Green Sorrel
  • Baby Red Sorrel
  • Field Mix
  • Field Arugula
  • Tatsoi
  • Spearmint
  • Mixed Edible Flowers
  • Micro Color Mix
  • Green Tomatoes
  • Parsley
  • Fresh Select Eggs
  • Turmeric *
  • Ginger *

So many suggestions for this week’s bountiful share: greens in a quiche or omelette that includes microgreen mix inside and more when plated, garnished with a few of the edible flowers. The eggs can also be blown out and used as ornaments. Try a creation with a dremel tool, carving out a design in the shell and painted with red sorrel juice for a fun project. The flowers can be pressed into service in between wax paper for lampshades, or try painting the violets with egg white and rolling it gently in a fine sugar for candied flowers. Of course, any salad you make can be garnished with both the microgreens and edible flowers for a bright and cheerful presentation. 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? It was very hard to not be fooled into thinking that this was a peachy experience. Try your papaya as a replacement for peach in recipes, adding citrus to help cinch the deal 😉 Try with your green sorrel. Papaya cooked with ginger and turmeric makes a very nice jam/compote/chutney for the table from toast to curries. Have a marvelous week!

Budding Turmeric

2017 CSA Spring April 8th Budding Ginger Turmeric

Budding Ginger and Turmeric

  • Baby Kale
  • Green Sorrel
  • Rainbow Chard
  • Field Mix
  • Field Arugula
  • Oregano
  • Mint
  • Edible Flowers
  • Epazote
  • Green Tomatoes
  • Turmeric *
  • Ginger *

*will select pieces from display to avoid over-refrigeration

Budding Ginger and Turmeric : When looking at this week’s CSA farm share, inspiration for green tomatoes three ways popped up immediately: as a pickle, infused with sprigs from your edible flowers; as a curry, combining with wilted sorrel and a mint yogurt garnish; and lastly as a stew with a southern flare, cooking with the spring oregano and epazote.  Serve either the curry or stewed tomatoes over rice.  Very special this week, we have for a limited time some ginger and turmeric that is perfect for grating into the pan for that curry, brewing into a spring tonic tea, or trying your hand at growing a piece. We have the best results when we use sterile pots and coco coir as the medium. Since these are tropical, they are not frost tolerant and require an average temperature around 75f so having these in pots means they can be moved to shade if we have a heat index of 111f as we did last summer, or moved inside to avoid freezing. Pots on a patio are also much less likely to suffer from soil borne diseases and pests. Turmeric has a downward growth energy so it is planted in fully filled pot near the top to allow fingers to form below. Ginger on the otherhand has an upward growth energy and we plant these very shallow in the pot in the middle of a several inches of soil. Later in the season as the rhizome pushes upward, more growing medium is added. If the ginger is not “hilled up”, it is more likely to push leafy stalks and a better yield is missed out upon. These rhizomes can be harvested in late fall, holding back some sections for future plantings. We are working on a new site, www.gingeru.com to facilitate education about growing these. Regardless, they’re delicious!

Budding Ginger

Budding Ginger

Jan 7 2017 snow

2017 CSA Winter January 7th

2017 CSA Winter January 7th

  • Fresh Ginger
  • Fresh Turmeric
  • Papaya
  • Lemon
  • Kumquats
  • Baby Kale
  • Baby Red Sorrel
  • Tatsoi
  • Arugula
  • Mint
  • Lemongrass
  • Delicata
  • Tomatoes

2017 CSA Winter January 7th: Citrus, tropical fruits and rhizomes! An exotic start to the new year…More info from Dr. Carlin Rafie on turmeric, listing its usage for the following: respiratory conditions, liver disorders, rheumatism, diabetic wounds, cough and sinusitis, anorexia, abdominal pain, sprains and swelling. Shealso references the therapeutic effects as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective, thrombosuppressive, antiarthritic, and cardioprotective. I have a friend who likes it in the kitchen as a medical aid for cuts, helping to stop bleeding, lend analgesic action and antibiotic treatment.  Recent findings stongly suggest that turmeric be used together with black pepper as it greatly increases the bioavailability of the curcumin compounds, with one stating that it was raised by 2000%. Curries and golden milk are popular uses for turmeric; i like it combined with ginger, cinnamon, coconut milk and as a tea, chopping it fresh into the pot with a dash of black pepper and using it as a base for brewing my favorite tea bag, adding a dash of milk or cream for a bit of fat as that also increases absorption. Imagine it as a spicy carrot flavor and grate it along with your ginger for a quick stir-fry of your tatsoi with a dash of black pepper into some coconut oil…yum! Have a great week, all!