Landisdale Farm CSA, week 13. Sort of.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Last week Landisdale Farm canceled the delivery of CSA shares due to the tropical storm deluge.  And that was really good timing for me: I was leaving for a business trip to San Francisco on Tuesday morning (more on my local food hunting, San Francisco-style, another time).  Share deliveries resumed today, and this is what was in the share:

• Two small watermelons
• 8 green apples
• 2 small heads of Napa cabbage
• 2 half pint boxes of basil
• 5 sweet potatoes
• 2 bags of spinach
• 6 tomatoes

Cat not included (that’s Mayor McCheese, one of my cats - he seemed very interested in the spinach).

Sadly, the tomatoes are not particularly firm and will need to be dealt with immediately.  I’m thinking maybe catsup.  The cabbage will get chopped and frozen.

It’s the fruit that continually leaves me scratching my head.  I did make watermelon barbecue sauce and watermelon rind relish with the last batch of watermelons.  There are still lots of options for watermelon, since neither one of us particularly love watermelon just plain.

And the apples...they’re a bit too hard and tart to use for fresh eating.  I could make applesauce or apple butter, but I’m looking for something more interesting.  There’s always the option of making apple pie filling and canning it, but I rarely bake pies.  While I’m not hot on making jam or jelly (because we’re not really jelly people), I am intrigued by the idea of four pepper apple jelly, and spiced apple rings are always sort of comforting.  Ideas? Suggestions?