What’s in season now: May & June

Gas prices are going up again - I know we all remember last summer too well - and immediately the price of produce creeps up as well. It pays off to shop local - the farmer’s markets are about to open in the Northeast and it also pays to shift over to recipes that use what’s in season now.

May:

Fruits: apricots from California, first berries(careful), Florida mangos, citrus(end of season - careful), fresh figs, pineapples from Hawaii (end), cherries (end of month maybe! - really short season - so grab!)

Veggies: green beans, bell peppers (first), cucumbers, summer squash, celery, sugar snap peas, vidalia onions, asparagus (end - careful!), endive (end- careful!)

June:

Fruits: Cherries (short season - grab!), berries, cantaloupe, apricots, plums

Veggies: green beans, bell peppers, carrots, beets, garlic, summer-squash, swiss chard, basil

Love Food - Hate Waste!

How to store food is truly a science. Supermarkets spends billions a year to improve food storage. They know every head of lettuce that wilts before they were able to pass it on to you means money washed down the drain.
It is really frustrating to go through lengthy planning, careful choosing only to have to toss that unrecognizable heap of mush into the bin. I know I absolutely hate it.
It is estimated that the average American family throws away nearly $500 worth of produce a year.

What can we do to prevent you from having to throw out one more piece of fruit, vegetable or any other food item. Let’s look at storage and educate ourselves.


A couple of points to consider:

1. If you routinely throw out lots of food - you may be buying too much. Slow down at the store and try to make a plan before you shop. Guesstimating costs an awful lot of money.

2. In your plan-making, leave gaps. I don’t know about you, but I know that if my plans are not flexible they won’t work for me. A big part of cooking well and on a budget is all about using leftovers and there has to be space for these in your menu for the week. So leave some meals - lunches and dinners blank and that is where your leftover meals will fit.

3. Also make a point of positioning dishes that use produce items that spoil quickly at the beginning of the week. Example: it does not really matter whether you make a potato salad on Tuesday or on Saturday - if you do your shopping on a Sunday - but if you are planning on a spinach salad I would not want to wait all the way until 6 days later to eat raw spinach that is now clearly past its prime.

4. If in doubt how to store an item imagine where and how it was located in your local supermarket when you bought it. Onions will never be refrigerated and neither will be potatoes - how about green peppers, lettuce or broccoli? Close your eyes imagine - the answer for the above items was one: no refrigeration, two: yes three: yes - and that is how it should be!


5. The refrigerator is your biggest helper when it comes to food storage - but it has to be clean - and you have to see what is in it! If your fridge is so full that you have no chance of seeing everything you also have no chance of using all that food. A refrigerator should be cleaned once a week - yeah not a typo - every week before you go shopping you have to know what is still in there from last weeks shopping! So, everything has to come out - things that have to be used immediately go in a crockpot or soup pot and while you clean out the fridge - wiping everything down - takes about 15 minutes really - you can already put together your meal for when you get back from your shopping trip - convenient and cheap!

6. One spoilt apple will spoil the barrel! So true and not only for apples. There are people in the supermarkets constantly picking over the produce trying to pick out the rotten apples and such. Another reason to clean out your fridge once a week - germs spread and infect other food. Spoilage needs to be nipped in the bud.

7. Store bulk grains in airtight glass containers - old spaghetti sauce containers work great. Grain moths can be a rather persistent problem - store a small dried habanero pepper in the glass jars, but don’t forget to remove it before cooking otherwise you will have a spicy surprise!

8. Raw nuts - which are by far the best nuts your money can buy - should ideally be stored in the refrigerator. Make sure they do not become humid - you use container with a tight seal and buy only as much as you can use up in a month. Do not waste your money on broken nuts - they will almost always be all rancid and severely lacking in nutrients. Also nut flours are easily made in a blender - it literally takes seconds to grind up nuts.

9. Dried fruit can be kept in the fridge and stays fresh longer that way - zip-lock bags work great.




If we divide our fruits and vegetables in sections:

+ Always refrigerate

+ Never refrigerate

+ you could refrigerate - especially once fully ripened

+ ripens nicely on the countertop - in a brown bag

+ eat asap - won’t last no matter what you do

Let’s start with fruits:

Always refrigerate: 


Apples - put in a bag - paper with a plastic bag inside, always choose apples that smell good and have no bruises - check on them often since one apple does indeed spoil all the others

Cherries - refrigerate immediately - and use asap - you only have a couple of days to enjoy them at peak flavor - and cherry season is horribly short!

Coconut - both fresh Thai and brown - should be refrigerated where they will last a couple of weeks - a bit less for the fresh ones


Grapes - should be refrigerated in plastic - but should be dry - wash them only immediately before eating.
 They can last for a week in your fridge


Never refrigerate:

Bananas - they will turn dark brown instantly - just arrange in a fruit bowl and buy at various stages of ripeness to have a constant supply - don’t throw out overripe bananas but freeze them for smoothies

Mango - never - it will kill the flavor

You could refrigerate: 



Citrus - if you are trying to make it last more than a week - otherwise it would be fine on your countertop


Kiwi - if you are trying to hold on to them for up to a month - otherwise they will be good on your countertop


Melon - if they are whole, refrigeration is optional - especially if they could use a little ripening - keep them on the countertop until they develop a bit of aroma (water melon excepted which will not have any scent) - then you can refrigerate, cut melon of course has to always be refrigerated and should be eaten asap

ripens nicely on the countertop - in a brown bag: 



Apricots - can be bought hard - will ripen on countertop - if bought ripe enjoy immediately or keep in fridge for couple of days - tops

Nectarines - can be bought hard and ripened at home - in a day or two - when fully ripe you can refrigerate them and they will last another day or two


Papaya - if you bought it green - leave on your counter until they have color and aroma then you can transfer them to the fridge where they will keep another couple of days, but should be used asap


Peach - same as with papaya - will ripen well on the counter in a brown paper bag - once you have the characteristic aroma you want to eat them asap - but you can refrigerate for another day or two


Pear - another one for the countertop - if you want to slow down the ripening process- refrigerate 


Pineapple - looks beautiful on your counter and that is where it belongs - until you get the wonderful aroma which could take a week or longer - then cut it up and store it in the fridge in a closed plastic container - it will pick up other aromas and will last only a few days

Plums - will ripen in a brown paper bag - once ripe they will keep in the fridge for a few days


Pomegranates can be kept at room temperature for a week or longer, but can also be refrigerated where they will last several months

eat asap - won’t last no matter what you do: 


Berries: I know you can refrigerate the hardy blueberries or blackberries for a couple of days - but buy local, go crazy when in season and eat right away and stay away from all not local berries the rest of the year and go for frozen if you have a craving. Out of season berries - are simple tasteless and never worth the money. Never wash fresh berries until absolutely ready to eat and berries will never ripen after they are picked!



Vegetables:

Always refrigerate:

Artichokes - up to one week - choose firm globes, stay away from opened leaves

Asparagus - couple of days tops - look for tight and dry tips and a bright, fresh green color throughout

Beans - string or snap - in a plastic bag, do not wash until you are ready to use them - if they are slightly wilted you may be able to revive them in a bowl with ice cold water

Beets - buy with tops only - cook with a bit of stem and cut only after cooking, to not lose the nutrients into the cooking water - use the greens like salad greens


Broccoli - stores well right in the plastic bag it came from the store - make sure there is a little moisture - like from the misting that happens in the store - keeps well for at least a week


Brussels Sprouts - keep well in the fridge for at least a week


Cabbage - will keep for many weeks in your fridge - when you don’t want to use the entire head of cabbage at once - it is worth to simple peel off the outer leaves and leave the rest of the head intact - the rest will keep for another meal that way 


Carrots - will keep in the plastic bag you bought them - if you bought ones with the top on - twist it off - it will draw the sweetness out of the carrots - and use carrots with green tops sooner - you can revive limp carrots in an ice bath


Cauliflower - store in the plastic bag it came in keeps well for a week and beyond - watch for black spots and use immediately if they appear


Celery - refrigerate - will keep crisp for at least a week


Celery root - will keep for many weeks in your fridge - in a plastic bag to keep in moisture


Cucumber - refrigerate only for a couple of days 


Eggplant - will store in plastic bags for several days 


Ginger - will last for a couple of weeks in the fridge


Leeks - will last a week or more - store dry in a plastic bag


Mesclun greens - will store well if refrigerated - however if you purchased them loose by the pound - transfer them out of the loose plastic bag into a plastic container - tupperware works - otherwise splurge on a mesclun mix in a hardshell plastic container and keep that for repeated use since it was designed by the growers to keep loose leaf lettuce, it does a fine job in keeping your greens fresh - always keep them dry and pick out any wilting leaves immediately


Whole lettuce heads - should be kept in a plastic bag and should be slightly moist - it will keep three to five days at peak freshness

Mushrooms - never store them in a plastic bag - paper bags only and add a slightly damp sheet of paper towel - use asap they really don’t last


Peppers - should last up to a week - dry in a plastic bag - wash right before use


Spinach - store in fridge right away - do not wash until ready to use, but even if stored perfectly you will only get a couple of days - so use it soon


Sprouts - parish quickly - store in refrigerator and use within a couple of days


Summer Squash - store in unsealed plastic bag


Swiss Chard - store in open plastic bag in the fridge - will keep for a week


Never refrigerate!: 


Garlic - moisture is an absolute killer - keep it in a dark, cool place on your countertop - and don’t waste your money on the pre-chopped stuff


Winter Squash - unless it has been cut - store in a dry dark place and winter squash will keep for a couple of months


Tomatoes - never ever refrigerate! - even if ripe - it just kills the flavor - make gazpacho and salsa if you have too many ripe ones


You could refrigerate: 



Corn - but only for a short time and you should really eat it asap

Onions - some people recommend refrigeration others condemn it, I guess it depends on how good your storage is outside the fridge - you want a cool, dark, dry place away from potatoes and apples


Potatoes - other than the very thin skinned new potatoes - potatoes usually do not need to be refrigerated they should be kept in a cold, dark, dry place

And - that's all folks!

Organic produce, organic produce on the wall - who is the fairest of them all?

Our friends at the Environmental Working Group have updated their “Dirty Dozen List” of the most polluted and pesticide laden fruits and vegetables brought to you by the friendly and concerned folks at Mega Bucks Agriculture - so if you want to indulge and make sure you have the maximum exposure to pesticides please choose only from these twelve foods, and while you are at it work on your tan at noon not wearing any sun screen whilst sipping Coca Cola out of a PBA lined plastic bottle (which you will not recycle).
If you are one of us - however - and feel you should have some say in which poisons you will subject your body or your children’s bodies to - pay attention - you should be able to rattle off these twelve fruits and vegetables flawlessly even if I came to your house and woke you up in the middle of the night.
There are pediatricians and nutritionists out there who will go as far as recommending NOT to give any of these fruits or vegetables to your children ever, period!


I will give you the list at the end and the link to the full list can be found here, but for those of us who have been using this list faithfully for years after some research I was able to figure out what had changed.


Dropped from the twelve most contaminated list:
potatoes - dropped to #15

spinach - dropped to #14

raspberries dropped to #20.

Newly on the watchlist:

Kale!!! at #8 - way too high for my taste - and will be bought organically from now on

Lettuce - at #9 - not much of a surprise for me - has been on my private watch list forever

Carrots - at #11 - they just moved up from #13 so they were too close for comfort anyway - not such a big surprise and if you buy the big 5 pound bags the price difference between conventional and organic carrots becomes almost negligible.

Also, on the other side of the spectrum - the twelve safest fruits and vegetables - there was a bit of a shakedown - Broccoli, Cauliflower and Bananas, all were pushed out of the twelve least contaminated produce slots and seem now a little less safe at slots #13, #24 (!) and #21 respectively.


On the bright side - Pineapple - Cabbage and Eggplant have taken their spots.

Here are the lists:


Dirty Dozen: Most Pesticide Contaminated Fruits & Vegetables:

You should buy only organic: (from worst to best)

1. Peach
2. Apple
3. Sweet Bell Pepper
4. Celery
5. Nectarine
6. Strawberries
7. Cherries
8. Kale
9. Lettuce
10. Grapes - Imported
11. Carrot
12. Pear

and just for completion sake: if the money allows!



13. Collard Greens
14. Spinach
15. Potatoes (used to be much higher on the list)
16. Green Beans
17. Summer Squash
18. Pepper - (hot ones - I presume)
19. Cucumber - ( I usually buy the English variety - at least they come sans wax)
20. Raspberries




The consistently clean conventional produce - buy these non-organic: (from best to worst)



1. Onions

2. Avocado

3. Sweet Corn - Frozen

4. Pineapple

5. Mango

6. Asparagus

7. Sweet Peas - frozen

8. Kiwi

9. Cabbage

10. Eggplant

11. Papaya

12. Watermelon

13. Broccoli

14. Tomatoes ( now if they only tasted like tomatoes…)

15. Sweet Potatoes ( great alternative for regular potatoes - cheaper and more nutritious)


Also, a quick reminder - know your PLU codes = Price Look-Up codes - that is the code that the cashier will put in before they weigh and price your produce. It will either be on the sticker, on the rubber band holding the produce together - like in broccoli bunches or sometime tattooed on the fruit itself.

PLU Code Type of Produce:

4060 4 digit code - conventional broccoli
94060 5 digit code starting with a “9” - organically grown broccoli

84060 5 digit code starting with a “8” - genetically engineered broccoli
( why do we worry about mouse genes in our oranges - well, it is all the rage in Europe… read up here)

2nd Pick-up at the CSA

Second pickup was another success. Having been a member in different CSAs for almost 15 years, I know that they start off relatively slow and then the pace changes to a furry, where you can almost not handle the thought of having to bring home another 10 pounds of tomatoes etc. But still, I think the bags are quite full now - the quality is of course amazing, and I can't wait until the self picking begins!

Here is the list for this week:
2 heads of lettuce $2.79
1 bunch edible flowers $1.99
1 bunch winter savory $1.99
1 bunch chives $1.99
1 bunch lovage $1.99
1 bunch thyme $1.99
1 bunch oregano $1.99
1 bunch sage $1.99
1 bunch tarragon $1.99
1 bunch mint $1.99
1 bunch sorrel $1.99
2 bunches radish $3.00
2 heads of bok choy $5.58
3 pounds of kale ( there was extra)$14.94
1 1/2 pounds baby lettuce $5.98
-------
$52.19 Woohoo!
It is really satisfying to see that something that feels so right also makes economic sense!
When it comes to the kale - I went with the average price per pound - between the big chain store and their price per pound of $1.99 for organic kale, and the health food store price of $3.99 for a bunch, that weighed in at half a pound. Note also that the big store only advertised the price of organic kale and did not have any available both times I checked.
So I am penciling in $52.19 for this week's haul and the total for the season is now $95.83!

List of my CSA pick up May 27th

Here is the list of produce picked up compared to in store prices:

1 pound Kale $ 4.98 ( I found Kale from 3.99 for 1/2 a pound to $1.99 per pound)
1/2 pound mustard greens $ 3.99
2 heads lettuce $ 2.79
2 bunches radish $ 3.00
1 pound asparagus $ 4.99
2 bunches arugula $ 5.98
1 bunch lemon balm $ 1.99
1 bunch lovage $ 1.99
1 bunch winter sorrel $ 1.99
1 bunch mint $ 1.99
1 bunch tarragon $ 1.99
1 bunch thyme $ 1.99
1 bunch oregano $ 1.99
1 bunch sage $ 1.99
1 bunch garlic chives $ 1.99

Total: $ 43.64

So, I am putting down $43.64 down for this week's booty. Let's see how it will turn out next week.

First pickup at the CSA!

I am really psyched about my first pick up at the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture - if you really have to ask).
I have been looking forwards to it ever since I signed up in February. I really learned my lesson from last year, when I tried to sign up in March but they were sold out - in March mind you! This year they sold out again and it’s been really hard waiting for the first pickup.

I will actually document my pickups - so you can see if this is something for you in the future. I know that for a lot of people it is a huge leap of faith to dole out anywhere from $400 to in my case $855 (wow - I went with the ‘bells and whistles’ - $775 full share plus $80 optional berry share) in advance without any guarantee - so I will actually do the math this year and dutifully tally up at the end of the season in November.
I know that that does not actually include intrinsic values such as - doing a great service to your immediate environment, and reducing your environmental footprint enormously and of course the nutritional superiority of produce that has been picked the very day you eat it - but I am just curious - how close money-wise I can get to coming out ahead, financially speaking. I’ll keep you posted...