In this Week's Box

When you get this week’s box home, put the cabbage straight into your crisper drawer; I don’t bag my cabbage until I cut it, as it likes a slightly less-humid environment than the other roots and greens. The salad greens go right in the refrigerator (they’re already in a bag), and the rutabagas, turnips, winter radishes, celeriac, carrots, beets, and rosemary should all go in bags and into the crisper drawer. There’s no need to keep them separate. The potatoes will prefer a dark, cool space with relatively low humidity; I keep my household spuds in a bowl on a shelf in the pantry, covered with a towel. Keep the onions in a dry location.

Baby Lettuce – From our greenhouses, we thought this crop had completely winterkilled, but it has come back quite nicely!

Red Cabbage – This is the last of the cabbage, and it looks a little tough, but it’s still delicious.

Rutabagas

Cipollini Onions

Yukon Gold Potatoes – This week’s spuds come from our neighbor Glen Elsbernd at G It’s Fresh. He’s a certified organic grower near Calmar. Growing potatoes on any kind of scale used equipment that isn’t readily adapted to other crops, and we are glad to have another hand at this.

Carrots

Purple Top Turnips

Black Spanish Winter Radishes

Gold Beets – A lot like red beets, but without the anthocyanin pigments that make them red; maybe a touch sweeter, and slightly less earthy in flavor. For years, gold beets all suffered from low germination and low seedling vigor, but breeding efforts in both the public and private sectors over the last ten years have finally resulted in some good, vigorous varieties. Hurray for good, old-fashioned Mendellian plant breeding!

Rosemary Bunches

Celeriac - Celeriac is the same species as celery, but bred for the swollen root rather than the fleshy stems. A more primitive version of the species, celeriac has contributed almost all of the modern pest resistance to modern celery varieties, another example of the success of old-fashioned plant breeding. It has the same flavor compounds, but they come through more strongly; the flesh is soggy-firm, and works best in cooked dishes, although this week’s celeriac salad recipe only briefly cooks the root and serves it chilled.