Distribution - December 13, 2009

This distribution is full of sweets for the holidaze!

• apples: super crisp Ida Reds and sweet Mutsus from Fishkill Farms
  
• pickled beets, grown at Huguenot Street Farm
  
• carrots, carrots, and more carrots, from Huguenot Street Farm
  
• pear honey, pears grown at Glorie Farms
  
• frozen sweet red peppers, from Madura Farm
  
• potatoes from Huguenot Street Farm
  
• spinach from Madura Farm

Fishkill Farms' apples are not organic. They are not no spray, rather LOW spray, using integrated pest management. What that means is that they exhaust all other options before spraying. They spray less than commercial orchards, and with caution. And they're working toward becoming organic. In the meantime, wash these apples! (We did get some organic ones this year, too, ugly-beautiful things that were also hit by hail. We'll be making those into sauce...)

Beets are known as a great source of iron, but they're also filled with folic acid (for you pregnant ladies) and have tumor fighting properties. Because these are fermented, they're also great for your belly. You can drink the juice alone as a probiotic tonic. Don't be scared of that florescent color, it tastes great. This recipe is mostly just beets, water, and sea salt, but there's a touch of cider vinegar, agave syrup, mustard powder, and white pepper. The beets have not been canned, so please refrigerate.

I don't know if any of that stuff about carrots being great for your eyesight is real, but I do know that carrots are one the all-time best snacks in the world. Back when I didn't eat anything real at all (high school!), I still remember being impressed by my friend who always had carrots in his back pocket, ready for a snack. I still get angry about bags of "baby carrots" in the store, which are really just large carrots cut down and rounded, because apparently we're too lazy to bite and chew. This is what a real baby carrot looks like:

Pear honey isn't really honey, but is very pear-y. Read all about it here.

Use frozen red peppers any way you use fresh. Of course, I eat red peppers raw and whole like apples, and I wouldn't do that with frozen ones. But they can be used in anything you're cooking: soups, crock pot meals (veggie chili!), stir fries, on pizza, or, if you're fancy, roasted and made into a pretty and flavorful puree to grace the top of other dishes. These peppers give your food a shot of color and sweetness, but also some winter vitamin C.

Potatoes and spinach aren't sweet, but are good for you. Eat well and with color, and we'll see you after the holidays!