Welcome to the Immune Booster Week 54 Newsletter
Thank you for signing up for this local, wholesome, immune-boosting CSA share. We have been blessed with a beautiful, early spring and hope that you have been taking advantage of the weather and the great outdoors. How lucky we are to live in a place with endless trails, beautiful parks and waterways that grant us inexhaustible outdoor fun. My favorite place is out on the farm with the sun on my back and my hands in the soil, helping Mother Nature grow robust and beautiful crops to share with you in this fine CSA share. This week we have some super tasty prepared foods on tap, as well as a comprehensive mix of fresh produce for you to test the culinary genius in you. The beauty of food is that it is boundless, and it brings us all together with family and friends. So enjoy this share in the knowledge that you are investing in wholesome, healthy, and real food, reducing your food carbon footprint and supporting our home-grown talents across the local food network. It’s a win-win for all involved! So with that, let’s get to it and see what’s inside this week’s Immune Booster box…
First up, we get things popping with Green Curly Kale from Goetz Greenhouse and Family Farm. This hoop house-grown, curly kale is tender and sweet because it has been sheltered away from the harsh winter, cozily growing in a warm hoop house. Kale is extremely nutrient dense, packed with antioxidants as well as vitamins C and K and is great for lowering bad cholesterol. My favorite way to consume kale is in a wilted salad. First, boil some water and then dip the leafy greens into the water for 20 to 30 seconds, lightly shake the excess water off and cut with scissors into a bowl. It is easier to work with one leaf at a time until you have the desired quantity. Add some toasted sesame seeds, a dash of soy sauce, stir well and you’re in business! Fried shallots, tofu, tempeh, or meat are also great additions for a more robust salad.
Next up, we venture out to my stomping grounds at Tantre Farm to gather up a sweet Carrot Mix of purple and orange carrots, as well as some Purple Daikon Radishes. This week we bagged up bunches of baby carrots for a change. They are sweeter than large carrots and great for snacking whole. Carrots are packed with beta carotene, vitamin K1 as well as a nice dose of potassium. This week my plan is to lightly steam them, then roast and glaze for a beautiful side dish. The Purple Daikon Radish is a last-minute addition to the menu, on the house. These radishes pack a nice dose of antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties and are perfect candidates for a quick sweet pickle or stir fry. They can also be roasted, steamed or even boiled, mashed, and combined into mashed potatoes for a little zip. So get creative with these not so well known tubers… Who knows, they may one day become as popular as kale!
Rolling right along, we have some spheres that may bring tears – organic Yellow Onions from Second Spring Farm. These orange to grapefruit-sized beauties are robust, filled with zest and great for reducing high blood pressure and improving gut health. These onions are so versatile, they can be used in endlessly different ways. Grill them, sauté them, slice and dice them, sandwiches, soups, stews… Any way you choose, you just can’t lose.
Pivoting to some spuds that sure aren’t duds, we have netted up a comprehensive bag of organic Potato Mix from Wayward Seed Farm. You will receive a delightful melody of red, gold and sweet potatoes; a mix that is sure to please those tender taste buds. These spud studs pack a punch of potassium and protein. Potato fries, hash browns, baked, broiled, BBQ’d or mashed, they are a guaranteed superfood hit.
Jumping into some deep local, we are elated to feature Broccoli Microgreens from Garden Works Organic Farm located right here in Ann Arbor. These baby plants are not only tasty, but are also full of powerful antioxidants, an outstanding dose of vitamin E, as well as iron and zinc. The sooner you consume them the better for maximum, immune boosting health benefits. These babies respire quickly and have a relatively short shelf life in the fridge. A delicious addition to pretty much any dish, from salads to pastas and sandwiches to wraps.
Just around the corner, we pay a visit to another deep local farm called Detroit Mushroom Company. This week, they will provide us with a beautiful Mushroom Mix. In your mix, you may discover Oyster mushrooms in canary yellow, blue or grey colors, Shimofuri mushrooms which tend to have a caramel colored cap with white stem, Lion’s Mane which is ball shaped, white and shaggy, or bronze-colored, Chestnut mushrooms that have dime sized caps and come in tight clusters. All varieties of mushrooms boast generous doses of fiber and vitamins B and D, and have been proven to improve the health of your brain. All mushroom varieties in your share should be fully cooked before serving and never consumed raw. So sauté them, grill them, toss them into soups, stews, pastas or risottos or whatever other fantastic dishes you have in mind. They are versatile and freshly picked Friday evening, the day before you pick up your share.
Wrapping things up in the fresh produce department for this week are Fuji Apples from Kapnick Orchards. Ripened in the last of the summer heat and into last fall, these apples were harvested and stored at just above freezing temperatures to retain their crisp texture and sweet taste. Apples are great for our inner gut function, as well as warding off free radicals and the onset of diabetes. The Fuji apple is great for table slicing and dipping it into a swirl of honey and peanut butter or baking apple tarts for the kids or the kid in you.
Kicking things off for the prepared foods this week, we start with a fresh baked Fig and Pecan Sourdough Loaf from Raterman Bread. This sourdough is composed of sea salt, flour, water, figs and pecans. The wild collected yeast method used by Raterman Bread is a slow 2-3 day ferment that really brings out the quality in this fine bread that has a crispy crust on the outside with a chewy inside. This bread has a unique flavor thanks to the fig and pecans, and pairs best with salads, breakfast dishes or just toasted as a snack. I’m sure you will also find creative ways to consume this tasty bread, so enjoy those endeavors and if this leaves you wanting more, we sell all varieties of breads offered by Raterman Bread each week on our Food Hub market table.
Fancy a slice of cheese for that bread and maybe toasted in the oven? Um, yes please! Well, you’re in luck, because we have a half pound Mozzarella Cheese Ball lined up for you from Zingerman’s Creamery. This fresh mozzarella cheese is crafted from a cow’s milk curd and then hand stretched into balls. Perfect for the Caprese salad lover in you and great on sandwiches, pizza and manicotti. So cheese it up with a big grin on your face, because that’s just what this cheese will make you do. Yes, it’s that good!
Now that we had a nice appetizer to get things going, let’s take it up a notch and bust out a vegan and gluten-free Mediterranean Bowl from Fresh Forage. Making their debut this week, we welcome Fresh Forage to the Immune Booster. This extremely colorful, salad bowl is composed of green curly kale, red lentil, organic tricolor quinoa, tahini dressing, spinach falafel, sweet potatoes, Wayward Seed Farm red beets made into a hummus, and Za’atar cucumbers. A pita bread is served on the side that is not vegan or gluten-free. I had the pleasure of sampling this salad, and I have to say it was delicious. The taste, texture, color and diversity are all well thought out and very stimulating both visually and taste wise. I can’t wait to see what other tasty dishes come our way from Fresh Forage in future shares based off of this awesome show stopper.
Rounding out the prepared food for this week, we come to the tried and true Ginger Deli with a Vegetable Yellow Curry and Basmati Rice that is vegan and gluten-free. You will receive one pint of vegetable yellow curry and one pint of basmati rice in your share. This tasty dish has a hint of heat and is composed of eggplant, sweet pea, carrots, potatoes, onion, garlic, fresh basil, fresh cilantro, bay leaves, olive oil, vegetable stock, crushed tomatoes, coconut milk, yellow curry and steamed basmati rice. This dish is a beautiful representation of South-East Asian cuisine, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when sampling it earlier this afternoon. This is healthy, clean food that is well balanced and so flavorful that it leaves you wanting more.
Closing out our share with a bang, we have set you up with an outrageously sweet treat in the form of a vegan and gluten-free Chocolate Sorbet from Go! Ice Cream. This decadent chocolate sorbet is composed of five simple ingredients: Water, cocoa powder, dark chocolate, sugar and salt. What’s not so simple is that Rob Hess, owner and entrepreneur of Go! Ice Cream, has taken many years to perfect this sorbet and he has done one hell of a job at doing so! Simply too good to be true, it is rich with a heavy-handed chocolate flavor, and so smooth and creamy in texture that it defies the vegan label. What a great way to close out this share and end it on a sweet note with this pint of awesomeness!
So there you have it. This local food box of love has induced a food coma on us with its bountiful spread. Now that spring is here, summer this week, back to spring next week, maybe share some of this fine food outdoors with a picnic in the park, kayak down the river or just in the backyard with loved ones. Thanks again for signing up to this week’s Immune Booster share, and we look forward to seeing your smiling eyes this Saturday at the Food Hub and Agricole pick up locations. Eat well, be well, do well.
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
Don’t forget to keep an eye out for our next email on April 11 regarding Tantre Farm’s Immune Booster CSA Share, Week 55 for pick up on April 17.
All the best,
Ryan Poe and the talented Tantre Crew
**We look forward to hearing your weekly feedback on the shares and welcome any suggestions on how to improve. Please understand that we try to give you an accurate listing of the produce in your box each week; however, since this menu is published before we pack the boxes on Fridays, we may sometimes have to substitute some vegetables for others. Mostly we are able to update you of changes in our Friday newsletter, but sometimes our decisions are made after the newsletter is published. Please let us know whenever you think you are missing anything, and we will try to find some way to make amends. Thank you for your patience and understanding, as we try to keep things as smooth as possible. Please contact Ryan and Zoe with questions or comments at immuneboosterbytantre@gmail.com.
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