2018 Produce CSA Week 23

Thoughts on approaching this week’s box from subscriber Conne Ward Cameron.

It makes me very happy to see the first cabbage of the season. Hope you feel the same way.

You’ll find several dozen cabbage recipes at https://grassfedcow.com/ingredient/cabbage/. I’m a big fan of braised cabbage. Just such comforting food. Braised in butter, braised with a little vegetable or chicken stock …. pretty much any way you braise it is fine with me. As the notes on that page say, of course, cabbage is a great keeper. The perfect vegetable for putting away in a root cellar. Anyone still have a root cellar?

But I’m most excited about the popcorn. Love it when popcorn season rolls around. I am at the beach this week – fortunately on the Atlantic coast where Michael will just make for a messy, rainy week. A friend is enjoying the bounty of this week’s box and when she sent me the photo, she asked what those corn cobs were. Something for fall decoration?

It made me laugh and remember my first box (how long ago would that have been?) when popcorn on the cob was one of the offerings. I had no idea what to do with it. And how in the world was I going to get all those kernels off the cob?

Turns out, as Riverview subscribers know, you don’t need to get those kernels off the cob at all. As I emailed my friend, just tuck the cob into a plain brown paper bag, fold it closed and put it in the microwave. Pop for 1 minute, then at 30 second intervals until kernels stop popping. Open the bag. Done.

You’ll find a little more detailed information at https://grassfedcow.com/ingredient/popcorn/ plus there are a few recipes there. The notes say “dozens” but that’s unfortunately, not true. I need to pull together a few more.

In a few weeks, we’ll get popcorn off the cob. Then you can think about how you prefer to cook your popcorn. I just saw this article from Serious Eats with their recommendations. Food for thought, as they say. https://www.seriouseats.com/2018/10/how-to-make-popcorn-best-way.html. Plus, there are some interesting recipe ideas there. And a great tutorial on how popcorn works. Well worth reading.