First CSA of the Year!

 'Tis the season folks!  I got my first box o' veg from Alstede Farms yesterday, and it was definitely a good start.  It's sorta hard to tell from the picture, but it contained:

• 3 enormous leeks
• 1 enormous head of red leaf lettuce
• A bunch of radishes
• A bunch of asparagus
• A bunch of scallions
• A bunch of cilantro
• A mint plant in a pot
• A greenhouse tomato

And, best of all,

• A jar of raw local honey!

We're honey nerds at this house (to wit: we just bought a 1/2 gallon of blackberry honey from The Bee Folks at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, it's like candy), and local stuff is supposed to be good for people with seasonal allergies.  All that ought to hold us until Rosh Hashanah!

One of the keys to getting the most from a CSA is storing things properly as soon as possible: you're much more likely to eat things up if they're easy to grab, so starting ASAP gives you a whole week to sit back and enjoy.

In this box, that meant washing the lettuce, trimming the radish tops, and wrapping the scallions and cilantro in paper towels.  I timed myself: it took 15 minutes to wash, check, dry, and store the enormous head of lettuce, plus a bit of romaine that was lying around in the fridge.  I wrapped the more-or-less dry leaves in paper towels and crammed them into a large ziploc bag.  If you don't have a salad spinner, get one: it cuts down on drying time and is fun for little kids who want to help in the kitchen.

Speaking of ziploc bags, I just signed up for Amazon Prime and one of my first purchases (besides two new steel bottles for QE!) was a set of Flip and Tumble reusable mesh produce storage bags that arrived today.  We went through a lot of ziplocs last year and I didn't want to do it again - plus these are a good size for big heads of lettuce or a dozen tomatoes.  If you get a lot of loose stuff the way we do, they'll help keep your fridge organized.  If you don't get a CSA, just bring them to the farmer's market!

This is just the first box, from the very beginning of the growing season, so there's less stuff (and less variety) than there will be in July.  But we immediately put it to good use: the radishes are highly snackable, BSB used the lettuce for his lunch salad, and I put a handful of the scallions into a batch of egg muffins I made last night.  I'm planning potato-leek soup for Shabbos, and some kind of cilantro pesto chicken.  Last year I let too many bunches of fresh herbs go unused, I'm determined to pesto-ify and freeze them more promptly this time around.

CSA Tip #1: Wash, bug-check, and store things the day that you get them.