Dear CSA-ers,

Today's share should include:

One and a half pounds sugarsnap peas
5 or six beets with greens
13 chard leaves
a medium to large Red Sails leaf lettuce and a small green lettuce
a pint box of gooseberries

WHY BEETS!

Iconic CSA farmer, Farmer John of Angelic Organics in Illinois remarks in his cook book that he gets more comments about beets than any other vegetable he puts in his share.  To the half of the CSA members who ask why he puts beets in the share, he responds, "For the other half."  Ah yes, in a CSA, one size fits all, so you can''t always get what you want...

Jim only really likes beets pickled.  A couple weeks ago he wowed Diane with his ability to perform the pickling task.  She thought you could only get them pickled when they were canned.

It's really quite simple, and Jim just guessed at how to do it, throwing some sugar and vinegar in a pan and bringing them to a simmer and throwing in some cooked sliced beets and a few whole cloves (the spice, not cloves of garlic.

For the more precise, trim off greens and save good ones to cook like spinach or chard, leaving about a half inch of stem, trim off root tip, but don't peel before boiling.  partially cover beets in a sauce pan with water, bring to a boil and simmer until tender (Marian Morash says 30 minutes medium sized beets, but that seems long to us).   Allow to cool and then peel  (actually you can rub the beets with your fingers and the peel will slip off.

To pickle, Betty Crocker says to reserve some beet juice from cooking (about a cup) in a sauce pan, add one and a half cups sugar, three quarters cup vinegar, two cinnamon sticks.  Heat liquid to boiling, then pour over cooked, peeled and sliced beets.  Cover and refrigerate  at least 8 hours.  (Jim didn't have to do the refrigeration when he did it).

WHAT THE HECK ARE GOOSEBERRIES?

Gooseberries are a sweet-tart berry that grows on a very thorny bush.  This year we automated our picking by donning leather gloves and raking the berries off the bush.  This means that the berries may not all be of a consistent size and ripeness.  Ripeness seems to be associated with size rather than color.

Also, our gooseberries started getting a pest this year.  We tried to sort out the bad ones, but you might want to sort through them again before popping them in your mouth.  What you are looking for is a small puncture scar, underneath which you may  be able to see a brown spot within the fruit.  If in doubt, break it open, and if it is bad you will see the brown mush inside.

So what to do with them.  The big ripe ones are good to just pop in your mouth, after removing the green stem and the brown blossom tassel.  They are a good addition to a fruit salad, adding a tart zing.  Jim makes a crisp with them, which is zingy enough that it is really best with a dollop of ice cream.  Jeremiah Lehman once bragged about a sauce Heather made with gooseberries and rice malt syrup (I think we have that right, we've never seen the stuff) and served over ice cream.

FARM UPDATE

So, we made it through the heat wave, keeping things watered as best we could, and now we seem to be in another cooling trend with a chance of showers.  It's getting a little late in the season for more rain, so if this keeps up, maybe it will be a cool greens summer, rather than a good tomato year.  We feel we're pretty well caught up on the summer crop planting, so if Mother Nature decides to bring on the heat, we're poised to make the best of it.  If she doesn't well the greens should keep on coming.  What will be, will be.

THE ECONOMICS OF CSA PRICING

We're working on a blog piece to address a reporter's questions about whether CSA farmers behave in an economically rational manner.  Watch the "Notes" section of the website for our comments.

Until next week, Bon Appetit!