Tips & Tricks: Your Winter Produce Guide

Hello All and Happy Friday!

The bins are looking great for next week! Winter produce is beginning to sprout. As the fall season comes to an end, we wanted to share our favorite tips, tricks and recipes for some our favorite winter produce items! Feel free to add your favorite recipes on Facebook!

Winter is great for hearty greens, root vegetables, juicy grapefruits and oranges, delicious squash, and much more!

Pears

Anjou pears have a mild flavor and a firm texture, while still being sweet and juicy. Ripe Anjous will, in fact, drip quite a bit if you eat them out of hand – so be sure to have a napkin ready!

Our favorite winter pear recipe: Mushroom Pies with Pear Salad

Fingerling Potatoes – This week’s delivery will be from Western Washington!!

Fingerling potatoes have a creamy, almost sweet flavor that makes them a nice alternative to white or red potatoes. Their unusual elongated shape, which slightly resembles fingers, will give your plate a different look.

Just as their name suggests, fingerlings somewhat resemble fingers. Knobby, slim, firm, and short, these heirloom varieties are mainly found at farmers’ markets or specialty gourmet shops. Fingerlings have distinctive flavors, usually nutty or earthy. Pictured left are Russian Banana and French, two of the more abundant types generally available. Both happen to have a waxy yellow flesh, but the French, underneath its red exterior, can sometimes show a streak of red. Other varieties to look for include LaRatte and Purple Peruvian. Roasting keeps these diminutive, uniquely shaped potatoes intact, but they’re versatile and can be cooked any which way.

– from A Visual Guide to Potatoes

Our favorite fingerling potato recipe: Cod Chowder with Saffron and Fingerling Potatoes

Savoy Cabbage – New This Week!

With ruffled, lacy, deeply ridged leaves, Savoy cabbages are perhaps the prettiest cabbages around. The leaves are more loosely layered and less tightly packed than green or red cabbage, although its uses are similar. it is delicious thinly sliced in salads or quickly stir-fried. Or, try it braised in butter.

Our favorite savoy cabbage recipe: Stuffed Cabbage Soup

Delicata Squash

Delicata squash is small, oblong, and cheerfully striped in bright yellow, dark green, and orange. The peel is exceptionally thin and is, in fact, edible (although many, including me, choose not to partake). Because of its thin skin, however, it does not store as long or as easily as other winter squash. Check Delicatas for bruises, cuts, and soft spots before buying. The flesh is sweet, nutty, and a bit drier than other squash with a distinct corn-like flavor. It is particularly delicious roasted with butter or stuffed and baked.

Our favorite delicata squash recipe: Delicata Delish

Broccoli

Like many cruciferous vegetables, broccoli can be grown year-round in temperate climates so we’ve forgotten it even has a season. But, like the rest of its family, it tastes best (that is, more sweet, less bitter and sharp) when harvested in the cooler temperatures, like winter!

Our favorite broccoli recipe: Cream of Broccoli Soup

What’s great about winter produce is that so many items are perfect for soup. When all else fails, make a soup! They can be simple, but paired with a good piece of crusty bread, it can be turned into a filling meal. Check out these great soup recipes!

 

What’s New This Week: Along with savoy cabbage and our local fingerling potatoes, we will also be having more local carrots. Baby bok choy will also be available for subs and for purchase this week!

Have a question or comment? Feel free to contact us directly! You can also post on our Facebook wall or Tweet us!

Holiday Tip: If you are looking for a great gift for someone who has everything, consider a Gift Certificate from us! You can purchase a gift certificate in any amount, by calling us during business hours, M-F, 8-5pm

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