Immune Booster Week 14, June 20, 2020

Tantre Farm CSA Newsletter
IMMUNE BOOSTER (Week 14) SHARE
June 20, 2020  

If needed, please contact Ryan Poe or Peter Ways at 2510 Hayes Rd. Chelsea, MI 48118 e-mail: immuneboosterbytantre@gmail.com phone: Ryan: 949-232-2800 or Peter: 734-216-1795 website: www.tantrefarm.com

WELCOME TO THE “IMMUNE BOOSTER” SHARE!

Hello fellow Locavores,

This Friday we close out spring for 2020 in the Northern Hemisphere and gladly welcome our Summer Solstice.  As the sun reaches its highest arc across our northern skies here in Michigan this Saturday, the crops are feeling the energy as we celebrate the light, life and potential for an exceptional harvest. This is a fantastic time of the year when bushel upon bushel of produce weighs down the vines, crates of strawberries get stacked high, potatoes and tomatoes are on the horizon and the garlic will be pulled from the earth and begin drying in the barn rafters. Tubers of every shape and color begin to bulb up and peas by the bucketful fill our walk-in refrigerators. The acceleration of all crops racing towards maturity is a very exciting and sometimes frantic time of the year for us farmers. The abundance of crops during these longest days of the year are magical to those of us who share this labor of love called farming. It’s a time when we go from steady picking to full on supersonic speed harvesting! We hope you get out and enjoy the longest day of the year too. Soak up the goodness of the sun, marvel in our planet’s beauty and reflect on how this all became.

****Pick up is 9am to 12pm this Saturday, June 20th at the Washtenaw Food Hub – 4175 Whitmore Lake Road, Ann Arbor MI 48105***

Without further ado, let’s get this week’s Immune Booster share laid out before you…

Leading the Tantre produce line-up, we have Kale. High in vitamins A and C, kale has the highest protein content of all cultivated vegetables. It has a sweet, mild, cabbage flavor and is interchangeable with broccoli, mustard greens and other hearty greens in any recipe. It can be used in salads, soups and stir-fries. Maybe get creative and try your hand at making kale chips! 

Second in line, Kohlrabi is making an appearance. A delicious purple or white bulbous globe that typically ranges from golf ball to tennis ball size, kohlrabi is a member of the cabbage family. An excellent source of vitamin C, potassium and fiber, kohlrabi is great for your digestive health. To consume this beauty, peel off the skin with a paring knife to reveal the crisp, apple-white flesh beneath. Some people enjoy eating them raw, like an apple. My favorite way to eat kohlrabi is similar to a fried potato; peel and cut the bulb into quarter inch thick slices, pan fry in olive oil and garlic cloves and serve with a side of whole grain mustard, soooo tasty!!!

Next on the menu, delicious and tender Garlic Scapes! Aside from the well-known garlic bulb, we can also eat the garlic’s flower – a.k.a. the scape. Slender green stems, often curled, with a slight bulge at the bottom where the flower would blossom, garlic scapes have a milder flavor than mature garlic. Delicious chopped into salads, roasted, sautéed, incorporated into soups and my personal favorite, quiche! Garlic scapes boast many of the nutritional benefits of garlic cloves, including high antioxidants to boost immunity, decrease inflammation and protect against heart disease.

Moving on, nothing beats the heat like a fresh, crisp and refreshing summer salad courtesy of Tantre’s head of Lettuce. This week’s box has an assortment of other veggies to complement these beautiful lettuce greens, so load up your plate and give your body a healthy dose of wholesome plants to energize and rejuvenate.

Red Radish globes feature next, and are the perfect match for the above-mentioned crispy lettuce salad. Extremely popular in the U.S., we Americans consume 400 million pounds of radishes every year! They are also tasty seasoned and roasted in a pan with other roasting veggies, steamed or – my personal favorite – pickled in a sweet vinaigrette. A pickled radish thinly sliced on a sandwich adds a little crunch and a little kick that shifts the culinary experience from ordinary to extraordinary! 

Rounding out Tantre’s produce list for this week, we have delectable Snap Peas. Super green pods lined with sweet peas that are sure to please, my kids can eat these by the bushel with ease! Notice how the edible pods’ shape resembles the smile on your face when you crack it open and devour the tasty little morsels inside. Snack away – they are amazingly nutritious, full of vitamins, iron, fiber, antioxidants and protein. If they make it past snack time, they can also be eaten briefly cooked – steamed, blanched, stir-fried or sautéed. Only 5 percent of the peas grown are sold fresh, which means our Tantre peas picked off the vine and immediately placed into your share box are an absolute rarity. Enjoy!
http://www.tantrefarm.com/

Not quite a micro green, not quite a macro green, but somewhere in-between, the Pea Shoots from Garden Works Organic Farm are nutrient dense with chemoprotective agents such as folate, carotene and antioxidants that help the body fight free radical and DNA damage. They are crisp and full of flavor, perfect for topping a salad, sprinkled on an omelet or tossed on top of any pasta dish. 
https://www.localharvest.org/garden-works-M5602

With tastes of Italy permeating our prepared dishes this week, we decided the rustic simplicity of Raterman Bread’s Original Sourdough Loaf would fit the bill nicely. Infused with the toasty flavor of white sesame seeds, especially after it has had two full days to ferment and rise in wild collected yeast.  Marrying the flavors through this process delivers a top-notch loaf that goes hand-in-hand with the food that follows.
https://www.facebook.com/RatermanBread/

Traditionally an Italian meat dish, Magdiale and his dedicated team at Harvest Kitchen have put their plant-based stamp on this Vegetable Carpaccio, Oregano Oil & Collard ‘Linguini’ with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto. The carpaccio is composed of thinly sliced hakurei turnips and heirloom radishes. This dish offers a fusion of layered flavors and is a perfect cool and crisp dish to beat the summer heat. It is also vegan, gluten-free and nut-free.
https://harvest-kitchen.com/

No need for words this week to describe Ginger Deli’s Grilled Tantre Vegetables & Savory Marinara dish. This sketch from owner and head chef, Te Phan, says it all. (NOTE: If the sketch does not appear here or as an attachment, here are the ingredients: MARINARA SAUCE – crushed tomatoes, red onion, garlic, black pepper, sea salt, basil, white wine, maple syrup, olive oil. GRILLED VEGETABLES: broccolini, swiss chard, spinach, cherry tomatoes.)
http://www.gingerdeli.com/

In keeping with our Italian spin this week, we decided that nothing speaks Italian like Mozzarella Cheese This beautiful mozzarella is freshly crafted from cow’s milk curd and expertly hand-stretched into balls by the cheesemakers at Zingerman’s Creamery. Mozzarella is perfect with a ripe, juicy tomato, in a caprese salad, on sandwiches or pizza, and perhaps served with this week’s prepared dishes by Harvest Kitchen and Ginger Deli… Delizioso!
https://www.zingermanscreamery.com/

Nothing celebrates the beginning of summer like fresh-picked, sun-drenched strawberries that are loaded with natural sugars from the sun’s heat. When witnessing the abundance of fruit at the u-pick farms, we all feel a hankering to make jams, jellies, strawberry shortcake, smoothies, tarts and pastries. This week Keegan and crew at the Lakehouse Bakery have whipped up a Strawberry Ginger Sour Cream Cake that pairs perfectly with a cup of tea or coffee to finish off your tour of Italy. 
https://www.thelakehousebakery.com/

A final bonus sweet treat originally absent from our preview email – Strawberries. With our fields blooming full of red juicy summer hearts at Tantre Farm, we just had to share the delight with you. Enjoy!

Here’s a link to Tantre’s treasure trove of recipes, where you can get some additional ideas for using this week’s share:http://tantrerecipes.blogspot.com

We look forward to seeing you all on Saturday, June 20th from 9am to 12pm at the Washtenaw Food Hub, 4175 Whitmore Lake Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for Sunday night’s email regarding Tantre Farm’s Immune Booster CSA Share, Week 15.

All the best,

Ryan Poe and the Tantre Farm Team

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