Spring Greens, Salad Turnips and Sunchokes!

First CSA shares went out today, including several varieties of lettuce, several types of other salad greens, as well as salad turnips and rhubarb.


We really like the delicate Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce,

as well as the coarser but very sweet Buttercrunch.

This time of year the heavy rich flavor of Red Romaine is a treat.

Later, you may also see the more delicate fine-leafed Salad Bowl, either green or red.

You'll notice that we're doing a little different growing technique, with more big heads of lettuce, rather than the dense beds of fine leaves. It seems to grow better that way, and is easier to handle. As the days grow warmer, it becomes more and more of a challenge to get the lettuce to you in excellent condition -- though we are learning a few tricks to help this.

In the shares, we'll also be packing Mizuna, Arugula and Tatsoi.

Tatsoi is a round dark leaf on a thick stem. It's sweet and crunchy and very mild.

Arugula, also known as "Rocket", is a long oval green leaf with a very aromatic (some say "nutty") taste -- a little goes a long way as an interesting salad addition, but too much can easily dominate the flavor of the salad.

Mizuna, a Japanese green, has a ragged leaf shape. Although it's a relative of mustard, it has a mild pleasant flavor.

Here is some spinach that over-wintered in the greenhouse. The spring spinach is still small and growing pretty slowly.

Salad Turnips are a very sweet juicy type of white turnip, also of Japanese origin. They are eaten raw, in chunks or slices, or included in a salad. They are remarkably different from the fall cooking turnips, with only a hint of the taste that dominates the fall turnips so strongly. I really enjoy them, while the fall turnips just don't impress me.

Sunchokes are a type of sunflower with an edible root, very similar to a water chestnut. The root can be scraped or peeled, then cut in chunks or slices for a tossed salad, or added to a stir-fry.

We hope you enjoy all these interesting Spring veggies!

Merlin