From the Farmer’s Perspective

Well, we got a little rain earlier this week….  I was awakened by the thunder Tuesday night, and the strength and duration of the storm started to make me nervous.  I couldn’t sleep, so as soon as the sun began to rise, I headed over to River Road to check out the fields.  I was amazed by all of the flooding I saw!  Check out these photos I took:

Getting that much rain in such a short amount of time did cause some damage – namely it caused fertilizer and top soil to be washed away.  Some plants, too, were simply overwhelmed by the flash flooding and won’t recover.  The good news is that this water will be absorbed into the ground, and it will help replenish our aquifer.  We started harvesting just before noon on Wednesday, and the strangest thing was happening all around.  Bubbles were coming up all over the submerged fields.  At first, I didn’t know what it was, so I dug around in the soil, and the bubbles wouldn’t stop.  Then, I realized that the water was just soaking into the parched sub-soils below.   So, despite the damage, I am thankful for this significant rainfall because it will help replenish our groundwater supply and provide needed soil moisture for our Spring plantings.  It’s crazy that we got so much rain given the historical drought we have been experiencing – but that’s farming in Austin, TX for you!

While our fields are busy soaking up the rain, our greenhouses are filling up with more and more seeded flats.  Greenhouse #2 already has over 80,000 transplants growing in it right now!  Given all of this early seeding, we will be well prepared for Spring planting and our annual organic transplant sale the first weekend in March.  Thank you to JBG staff for putting in all the work needed to get these seeded flats ready.

1) Farm News

* Calling All Fundraisers! JBG Needs Your Help
* Week of January 23rd CSA Box Photo & Contents List
* Attention Home Delivery Customers: Schedule Changes
* The Nitty-Gritty: Sauerkraut

2) Updates, Meetings, and Events

* Help JBG Provide Vegetables to Children in Need
* Annual Citrus Sale Continues

3) Recipes, by Dish a Licious

* in the DISH kitchen: We’re hot.  For hot pot!

1) Farm News

Calling All Fundraisers! JBG Needs Your Help

barn raising: n., A social event in which members of a community assist in the building of a new barn.

As many of you know, we have been working for now months on designing a new barn and cold storage facility next to our fields over at River Road.  Such a facility is greatly needed as we are bursting at the seams over here on Hergotz; however, we do not have the capital we need to build this barn alone.  Like an old-fashioned barn raising, we want to make the building of this barn a community effort.  If you have experience running a capital campaign or with fundraising and would like to give JBG a hand with this, please email me at farm@jbgorganic.com.  Thanks so much for your consideration.  -Brenton

Attention Home Delivery Customers

Many thanks to all of our home delivery customers for making this service such a success!  We’ve had so many sign-ups for this convenient way to get your vegetables that we need to expand from two to four delivery days.  This expansion will enable us to fit in more homes without having to deliver well into the night!  Delivery days will continue to be determined by zip code.  If your day has been changed, we will call or email you directly within the next few days.  As always, if you have any questions about your schedule, please call the farm at 512-386-5273 or email us at farm@jbgorganic.com.  We thank you so much for helping make home delivery a success!

Week of January 23rd CSA Box Photo & Contents List

Week of January 23rd Box Contents

Salad Mix
Carrots
Spinach
Chard
Broccoli
Scallions
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Bok Choy
Beets

Sauerkraut

Last week I talked about mustard being one of the many things that are easy to make yourself. This week, I like to remind you of yet another one – sauerkraut.

Making sauerkraut requires as little as three ingredients: cabbage, salt and water. On top of that, you’ll need a few tools: a food grade container (a five gallon bucket works well), a weight (a full one gallon water jug will do) and a cheese cloth or plate to create a barrier between cabbage and weight.

The process that turns cabbage into kraut is called lactic acid fermentation. As the shredded cabbage leaves break down, the carbohydrates and proteins in the vegetable disintegrate. Lactic acid emerges. While lactic acid acts as a preservative, it seeps out too slow to prevent the vegetable from putrefying. This is why you need salt. Without salt, yeasts would form and the fermentation process would lead to alcohol rather than pickles. However, between .8 and 1.5% of the vegetable’s weight in salt holds off the rotting process until the lactic acid can take over.

The temperature range for optimal fermentation is sixty-four to seventy-one, which is an easily achieved environment in most of the world. Hence the widespread popularity of pickling in many cultures. Although sauerkraut is popular throughout most of Europe and North America, Germans have long loved it the most. This might be partially due to the fact that Germans also have long loved and perfected sauerkraut’s best friends – sausage and beer… . Being from Germany myself, I can only attest that I indeed was served a lot of sauerkraut (with sausage and later on beer) when growing up. Even today, 85% of Germany’s cabbage crop goes into commercial sauerkraut production, compared to only 20% in the US. In Sichuan province in China, kimchi, the asian version of fermented cabbage, eaten together with rice is considered a perfect breakfast. The bland rice contrasts nicely with the saltiness and spiciness of the kimchi. Basically, the pickles are flavoring the rice.

Below is a recipe for a simple kraut. Start with it and once you get a hang of it, move on to more elaborate recipes and flavors. I also attached a recipe for Kimchi as well as for a chocolate cake, that contains – guess what? – sauerkraut.

Basic Kraut

Ingredients:
Cabbage
Pickling salt or kosher salt
Brine (water and salt)

Shred your cabbage as thinly as you can. Use 3 TBSP of salt for each 5 lb of cabbage. Put the cabbage and salt into your bucket and mix thoroughly with your hands. Put your weight on top.

Within 24 hours, the cabbage should be submerged in its own brine. If it isn’t, dissolve 1 1/2 TBSP of salt in 1 quart of water and pour enough of this brine over the cabbage to fully cover it. Check the sauerkraut every day or two to see if scum has formed. If it has, it’s not a big deal, just remove it and wash your plate and weight before putting them back on.

Start tasting your sauerkraut latest after 2 weeks. It will be fully fermented in 2 to 4 weeks at 70 to 75 ? F or 5 to 6 weeks at 60 ? F. The kraut produces more vitamin C if it is fermented at a lower temperature. When it’s done, it will be pale gold with a tart, full flavor. But really, there is no hard rule about when your kraut will be done. It’s done whenever you like its flavor.

Store the finished kraut in the fridge or properly can it in a hot water canner for 20 to 25 min, depending on your jar size.

Jamie’s Quick and Punchy Kimchi

Ingredients:
1 Cabbage, approximately 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs, sliced, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
5 TBSP sesame oil
3 dried red chilies, chopped
2 star anise
1 tsp Szechuan peppercorns
2 TBSP sugar
5 TBSP vinegar, white wine or rice wine
2 to 3 cloves garlic
fresh ginger, a thumb-sized piece
salt

In a frying pan on low heat, gently heat the sesame oil with the chilies, star anise and spices for about 5 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the sliced cabbage in it for about 1 min. Keep the lid on. Drain and scatter the leaves on a baking sheet to cool.

After about 10 minutes, put the cabbage in a bowl and mix with the flavored oil, sugar and vinegar. Grate in the garlic and ginger and add a good pinch of salt. Mix everything well. Your kimchi will keep in the fridge for about 3 to 4 days.

Chocolate Cake with Sauerkraut

Ingredients:
2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/3 C sugar
1 C sauerkraut, pureed
2/3 C cocoa powder, unsweetened
1/2 C butter, melted
1 1/2 C water, hot
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and cocoa. In the bowl of a mixer, combine the melted butter, hot water and vanilla and mix well. Add the pureed sauerkraut to the wet ingredients, then mix in the dry ingredients in in several parts. Bake the batter in a prepared Bundt pan at 350 F for 55 to 60 minutes. Cover in chocolate frosting or simply sprinkle a little cocoa, cinnamon or powdered sugar on top.

Sources:
The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich
Salt, a world history by Mark Kulansky
Jamie’s America by Jamie Oliver
Weight Watchers
Wikipedia

2) Updates, Meetings, and Events

JBG Hosts Annual Citrus Sale

JBG is now hosting its annual bulk citrus sale. Organic oranges and grapefruit are available for purchase at a cost of $10 per 10 lb bag.  These delicious oranges and grapefruit are grown in the Rio Grande Valley by G & S Groves, a certified organic grower in McAllen, Texas.  To order, please click here or go to our website at jbgorganic.com.

3) Recipes, by Dish a Licious

This week in the in the DISH kitchen:

We’re hot.

For hot pot.

Otherwise known as nabe, hot pot is the ultimate in Japanese home cooking.  A super quick, easy, one-pot meal.  And perfect for using up those CSA veggies you might be neglecting.

The rules are simple.  You’ll need:

1.)  A hot pot.  Grab a nabe, clay, or cast iron, from just about any Asian market.  They’re inexpensive and will last a lifetime.  If not, any pot will do really.  Don’t let that stop you from cooking.

2.)  Ingredients of your choice.  Vegetables.  Meat.  Shrimp. Noodles.  Tofu.  Just remember that they’re all cooking together in one pot, so try to cut them in pieces that will cook in the same amount of time.  Big chunks work well because they’re easy to pick up with chopsticks.

3.)  Broth.  Use any flavorful liquid you want.  Chicken stock.  Beef stock.  Veg stock.  Or, you can use the traditional Japanese dashi broth, which is super easy to make.  Here’s how:

Soak 1 piece of kombu in 2 quarts of cold water for 30 minutes.  Then heat the pot over medium until small bubbles appear on the sides of the pot, usually about 8-10 minutes.  Do NOT let it boil, this is important for the clarity of the stock.  Remove from the heat and add 2 cups of bonito flakes.  Let it stand, still off heat, for about 15 minutes.  Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean pot and bring it back up to a simmer over medium heat.

4.)  Sake.  Ok you don’t need sake, but it does fit the theme…

All that’s left now is to arrange your vegetables nicely in the hot pot, pour in the hot broth and lid it.  Bring it up to a simmer for 5-8 minutes, or long enough to cook all the ingredients, and you’re ready.

Gather around the table, lift the lid and dig in.  Family-style eating at its finest.  Get together and get cooking!

Got any cooking quandaries you want us to tackle?  Let us know at info@dishalicious.com