Green Thumb Farm Huntington CSA

Happy Summer!

Only ONE jar of Honey left (I ordered 10 extra just because and there’s 1 left) available for purchase at the CSA today. $10 per 1 lb jar (cash only) if you’re interested.

FYI – Our CSA is on Thursdays (except the week of Thanksgiving where it’s on Wednesday) from 3:30pm to 7:30pm (if you need to come after 7:30pm call the CSA at 631-385-1079 on Thursdays from 3pm to 7:30pm to make last minute arrangements for alternate pickups).

Wood chips anyone? CSA member Sonam Kushner (and Homeopath extraordinaire) has about 10 yards of wood chips for the taking. Take what you want on a tarp in the back of your car, or rent or drive a truck for larger quantities! If interested, respond to this email and I’ll put you in touch with Sonam. She’s suggesting it’s good for around trees or in a playground area.

Any holistic moms out there? Vickie Muller, our CSA member who started the Holistic Moms Network’s Huntington, NY Chapter, is looking for one or two women to be co-leaders of this terrific group. If you’re interested, or can think of anyone who would be, please respond to this email and I’ll get you in touch with her (or go to the next meeting tonight…see the events listings…or next month) and you can talk to Vickie about the details of what would be involved.

Bulk Certified Organic Paste (Roma) Tomatoes available from our farm…$45 per 20 lb box (to place an order, call the farm at 631-726-1900 between 9am to 5pm and be ready to pay with a credit card).
Here’s some Tomato talk from the folks at the NYC Greenmarkets…
Forget proper storage, eat this fruit immediately! We suggest tomato sandwiches, mozzarella and tomato salad, tomato soup, tomato pie, salsa, gazpacho, tomato sauce, tomato juice, fried green tomatoes and plain old tomatoes eaten as is, or with a dash of salt. If you get a little overwhelmed by this steady diet, follow the lead of Greenmarket staff and host a tomato canning party at your house. Each September we pile into our co-worker's Brooklyn backyard and set up an assembly line to scald, peel, seed and can as many flats as we can get our hands on. If a perfect, local tomato is a treat in September, it's a bona fide treasure in the middle of March!

We could use a LOT more CSA members! If each of us (we’re now 56) managed to find three more members our farmer would be VERY happy. We now have till the week after Labor Day to accept new members. After that, we’re talking April of 2013. If each of us got one more member to join, that would be great, and if THEY got one more member…you get the idea. Even ideas of where to leave CSA brochures or posters, and where to do lectures about CSA would be helpful. So far this season I participated in the 1st LI CSA Fair, the 2nd LI Small Farm Summit, and a health fair at the Vitamin Shoppe in Melville, gave a lecture to the Holistic Moms Network about eating local and just put an ad (VERY reasonably priced) in the brochure for a charity auction for the local Montessori School. I said I would do this last year and didn’t so, I’ll be walking the streets around the UUFH and leaving brochures with a cover sheet that’s an invite to visit the CSA in people’s mailboxes. The exercise will do me good  ! At the moment, I’m waiting to get confirmation as to if and when Dines Farm is returning before I print up any more CSA brochures or place any ads. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated and considered. Another thing that was talked about last year and not done that will be done this year is putting an a paid ad in The Beacon, the newsletter of the UUFH, for several issues.


This week’s email includes…

1. Your CSA does not need you this week, however…
2. Happy friggin’ Organic Harvest Month!
3. Bags and you
4. This week’s list…subject to change without notice (farming is like that)
5. Request for coupons and all things baby related…
6. Fun, Cool & Interesting Stuff to Do (new events added weekly)
7. Click here and help change our world!
8. Still have that Bitter Melon sitting around? Or, wonder what to do with it if you try it the next time it shows up?
9. What you actually got last week
10. And now…for something completely different


1. Your CSA does not need you this week, however…

You can ALWAYS stop by the CSA a little before 3:30 or 5:30 to offer to help in case someone doesn’t show up (or is late) without letting anyone know…life happens! 

If you didn’t get a confirmation email from Judi (occasionally it’s me), you’re not scheduled to work this week.



2. Happy friggin’ Organic Harvest Month!

New study published (and why did they choose this month to release it???) on whether organic food is better than “conventionally grown” food or not…way flawed but what else is new. I could go through point by point going over this but…
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/science/earth/study-questions-advantages-of-organic-meat-and-produce.html?src=me&ref=general
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/health&id=8796630&cmp=emc-wabc-Health_Headlines-090412-top1-8796630

Decent rebuttal…
http://www.anh-usa.org/new-junk-science-study-dismisses-nutritional-value-of-organic-foods/

I’ve noticed that a “study” comes out similar to this about once a year (if not more).



3. Bags and you

The short story is make sure to bring bags to pack your CSA food as the CSA does not provide them.

Suggestion…put bags (paper/plastic/cloth) in EVERY vehicle you own. Put them in the glove compartment, trunk, wherever, and make sure to replenish them when the supply is running low or you’re out of them. That way it will be hard to forget them.

And, if someone is picking up for you, please remind them about bringing bags with them.



4. This week’s list…subject to change without notice (farming is like that!)

Week #20
September 6, 2012

1. Tomatoes, Mini – 1 pint
2. Squash, Summer
3. Peppers, Sweet
4. Cilantro
5. Snap Beans, Green
6. Scallions
7. Tomatillos* – 1 lb

Total Items: 7 (?)

*
Salsa Verde
1 pt Tomatillos**, cooked and drained
¼ cup Cilantro, chopped
2 cloves Garlic
1 small Onion, coarsely chopped
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Lime or Lemon
chopped Green Chili Peppers, like Jalapeno (use your own judgment on quantity depending on how hot you like it)

Combine ingredients in blender and blend till smooth. This sauce may be frozen.

**
To cook Tomatillos, remove husk, wash in cold water for 20 seconds (as you should every produce item), place in cold water and bring slowly to a boil to prevent the skins from splitting and then bring the heat down to a simmer and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, strain and drain the cooking water.

But this gal says to boil for 5 minutes…I’d probably go with her advice…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRpkiMyYAkg

Don’t want to boil/blanch your Tomatillos? Here’s a broiled Tomatillo version…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/health/nutrition/13recipehealth.html

More info (boil 5 minutes to blanch or till soft) and more recipes…
http://whatscookingamerica.net/tomatillos.htm



5. Request for coupons and all things baby related…

Lucille, who shares with CSA member Joanne Schenendorf, could use any coupons related to any items connected to babies…diapers, formula, baby food…whatever. AND, also possibly any baby clothes, furnishings, etc. She’s a hands on philanthropist working with young girls with babies in the Huntington area. Leave any coupons at the CSA sign-in desk and we’ll make sure to get them to Lucille, to help with her good works! As far as clothes and furniture, etc…contact me and I’ll get you in touch with Lucille.



6. Fun, Cool & Interesting Stuff to Do (new events added weekly)
.
Saturday, September 1st to Sunday, September 30th

The 3rd Annual NY Locavore Challenge!
For more info and to register:
http://www.nofany.org/events/ny-locavore-challenge

Challenge yourself to eat more local foods and get active, or more active, in the locavore world that’s all around you!


Thursday, September 6th

7pm

The Power of Magic: Transformation with Feng Shui
Holistic Moms Network Monthly Meeting (Huntington, NY Chapter)
Elwood Public Library
1929 Jericho Tpke (on the northeast corner of Jericho and Elwood Rd…in the strip mall where a Blockbuster used to be)
E Northport
FREE
For more info:
www.holisticmoms.org
Email: huntingtonhmn@aol.com
Check them out on Facebook…
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Holistic-Moms-Network-Suffolk-County-Huntington-Area-NY-Chapter/399399243443967

Join CSA member Vickie Muller (co-founder of this chapter) at this month’s meeting where Master Feng Shui practitioner Agnes Beleznay teaches us how to manifest wealth, health, love and happiness!


Friday, September 7th

6pm to 10pm

NY Open Center Open House
22 E 30th St
NYC
FREE
For more info:
http://www.opencenter.org/fall-open-house/

Go to workshops on Rudolf Steiner (father of Biodynamic Agriculture), Enhancing Your Digestion, Sugar and Gluten Free Eating and Ayurvedic Healing!


Saturday, September 8th

Noon to 6pm

Cool Cravings & Hot Startups
379 Broome St
NYC
$20 per session/$120 for the whole day
To buy tickets and for more info:
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3932235422

Cool Cravings & Hot Startups features homemade ice cream, brewed ice pops, soft serve with mounds of fruit and more! All made with fresh, local and small-batch ingredients. The Hot Startups portion features startup founders leading discussions on what it takes for an entrepreneur to run a successful business. Each session will provide insight on a different ingredient: product development, social media, food sourcing, production and more. Cool Cravings & Hot Startups boasts Brewla Bars, SkyIce Savory & Sweet, Soft Serve Fruit Co., Purely Elizabeth, NibMor, Stogo, Krumville Bake Shop. Presented by Clean Plates, Openhouse and Yumspring with Hint Water. A portion of the proceeds goes to Wellness in the Schools
3pm

Commercial Organic Greenhouse Tour
Marion Gardens
540 Rocky Pt Rd
East Marion
$5 NOFA Members/$15 General Public

Tour a commercial organic greenhouse operation, and see how organic plants are grown behind the scenes. Summer may be gone but whether you’re a backyard gardener of a commercial grower, fall is ideal for growing many crops. Learn how to take advantage of the season to prolong your harvest or plant fresh and tour this 28,000 square foot commercial organic greenhouse.
Marion Gardens has 300 varieties of herbs and certified organic vegetable plants, and has been a family business on the LI North Fork for more than twenty years.


Sunday, September 9th

10am

6th Annual North Fork Foodie Tour
Peconic Land Trust’s Agricultural Center
Charnew’s Farm
3005 Youngs Ave (between Rt 25 and 48)
Southold
$25
For more info:
http://www.northforkreformsynagogue.org/calendar/events/foodie_tour_2012/dteailed_information_about_our_foodie_tour_2012/

Come celebrate the North Fork's Bounty! A Festival of tours, visits and events celebrating the unique artisanal foods produced on Long Island's beautiful North Fork. Meet the folks who dedicate their lives to producing local foods and learn how they do it! Visit farms that grow vegetables, fruits, eggs, lavender, goats & cattle; vineyards, a bakery, and a jam & preserves producer.


Monday, September 10th

7pm

Dirt Candy Cookbook Party
Housing Works Bookstore Café
126 Crosby St (between Broadway and Lafayette)
NYC
FREE (but heck…buy the cookbook – it’s only $20)
For more info:
http://www.housingworks.org/events/detail/the-dirt-candy-cookbook-launch-party
http://www.dirtcandynyc.com/

Dirt Candy is considered the best vegetarian restaurant in NYC. Free booze and food. Nuff said!

Check out the trailer for the cookbook directed by chef Amanda Cohen’s husband Grady…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1u7GfLGNG3s

PS – CSA member Maxine Wetanson’s daughter interned at Dirt Candy, and my fella Dylan knows chef Amanda’s husband Grady (he’s been a speaker at the Cinema Arts Centre as he’s an expert regarding Asian movies) and I now know chef Amanda (she rocks).


Tuesday, September 11th

7pm

Huntington Food Share – Food Not Bombs
Fairground Ave and E 6th St (outside of All Weather Tires)
Huntington Station
For more info and to get involved:
http://www.lifnb.com/chapters/huntington_food_share

Distribution of food and clothing to all who attend and are in need.


Wednesday, September 12th

7:30pm

Planeat
Cinema Arts Centre
423 Park Ave
Huntington
$10 Members/$15 General Public (includes reception with food tastings)
For more info and to buy tickets (it will sell out):
http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/event/planeat/

The Cinema Arts Centre’s Let’s Eat: Food on Film series (co-presented with Slow Food Huntington…co-founded by CSA member Ann Rathkopf) is presenting the movie Planeat…the story of three men’s life-long search for a diet, which is good for our health, good for the environment and good for the future of the planet. With an additional cast of pioneering chefs and some of the best cooking you have ever seen, the scientists and doctors in the film present a convincing case for the West to re-examine its love affair with meat and dairy. The film features the ground-breaking work of Dr. T Colin Campbell in China exploring the link between diet and disease, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn‘s use of diet to treat heart disease patients, and Professor Gidon Eshel‘s investigations into how our food choices contribute to global warming, land use and oceanic deadzones.
Guest Speakers: Bob Dibenedetto of Healthy Planet, Chef Bhavani Jaroff of iEat Green, and Chef Okima Wilcox, from Live Island Cafe

Thursday, September 13th

10am to 11am

iEat Green
http://prn.fm/shows/lifestyle-shows/i-eat-green/

iEat Green is hosted by Slow Food Huntington’s Bhavani Jharoff. Listen to this internet radio show either live or if you miss this show, you can listen to it on the archives and it’s available for downloading on iTunes for your iPhone.

Today’s guest will my guest will be Sherry Ackerman. Sherry is the author of "The Good Life", a guide to finding personal freedom and a blueprint for a sustainable and fulfilling lifestyle.

6pm

iEat Green’s Farm to Table Cooking Series: Fish
Old Westbury
$89
To register email:
Bhavani
Bhavani@iEatGreen.com


Monday, September 17th

7:30am

Millions Against Monsanto Rally
Good Morning America Studio
Times Square
44th and Broadway
NYC
For more info and action…
http://organicconsumers.org/monsanto/index.cfm
And to get on their email list…
gcu_manhattan@occupy-monsanto.com


Wednesday, September 19th

6pm

The Educated Eater: What’s Behind the Label
The New School
Wollman Hall
65 W 11th St.
NYC
FREE
To RSVP and get your ticket:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/251020

Our decisions about the food we purchase are governed by a variety of factors: taste, price, ethics, safety, and more. What do labels like 'organic,' 'natural' and 'hormone free' communicate about how that food is raised or grown, and how do farmers determine which, if any, certifications are right for them? This Greenmarket Educated Eater panel discussion will delve into the questions of what certifications mean for small family farms. Greenmarket producers will expound on popular certifications such as Certified Naturally Grown and organic, why they did or did not choose to become certified, and how it affects their growing practices.


Saturday, September 22nd

Farm Aid
Hersheypark Stadium
PA
$37.75 to $101.46
For more info:
http://www.farmaid.org/site/c.qlI5IhNVJsE/b.2723605/k.C7B8/Concert.htm
For ticket info:
http://www.farmaid.org/site/c.qlI5IhNVJsE/b.5307325/k.93C0/Ticket_Info.htm?msource=concert

So far it’s Willie, Neil, John, and Jack Johnson and Dave Mathews…and more!

1pm

Backyard: Fruit from Small Gardens
Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture
630 Bedford Hills Rd
Pocantico Hills, NY
$18 Member/$20 General Public
For more info and to get tickets:
http://www.stonebarnscenter.org/products/backyard-fruit-for-small-gardens.html

Join fruit master, Lee Reich, in a lecture about how to include fruit in a growing space as small as a city apartment balcony to a small suburban backyard.


Saturday, September 29th

10am

9th Annual LI Garlic Festival
Garden of Eve
4558 Sound Ave
Riverhead
$3/Children under 6 FREE
For more info:
http://www.gardenofevefarm.com/garlic-festival.htm

Food, crafts, music, theater and….GARLIC!

7pm

Gary Null…How to be a healthy vegetarian!
Healthy Planet
Sweet Hollow Hall
Gwynne Rd
Melville
$???
For more info, reservations and directions:
631-421-5591
http://www.healthy-planet.org/


Sunday, September 30th

10am

9th Annual LI Garlic Festival
(see Saturday, September 29th)

5:30pm

Potluck Across New York
Glenwood Church
70 Grove St
Glenwood Landing
FREE (bring a dish to share…it’s a potluck)
For more info:
https://sites.google.com/site/seacliffcooperative/home/events

As part of the 3rd Annual NY Locavore Challenge (organized by NOFA-NY), Slow Food Huntington (co-founder is CSA member Ann Rathkopf), Sustainable Sea Cliff Cooperative, and the Glenwood Arts group organized a potluck! Please join us for an evening of conviviality and lively discussion. Topics will include our industrialized food system, GMO's, fracking, our own community garden and how we can create and support a healthy, local food system.


Wednesday, October 3rd

6pm

Let Us Eat Local
The Altman Building
135 W 18th St
NYC
$175 (before October 3rd…after $200)
For more info and to get tickets:
http://luel.eventbrite.com/

This event is a benefit for Just Food, the group that organizes CSA in all five boroughs of NYC, in addition to being involved in the City Chickens project, City Farms and getting more local food into food pantries as well as being involved in fighting hunger in NYC. They do great work and are a great bunch of folks. This will be a locavore’s delight if you see the list of participating restaurants.


Saturday, October 6th

2pm to 5pm

Growing Backyard Fruits, a Workshop and Tasting
387 Springtown Rd
New Paltz, NY 12561
$35
To register:
Mail a check to Lee Reich at the above address and include your email address and phone number in case of the need to cancel due to severe weather
Questions:
Email Lee: leeareich@gmail.com
Call Lee at 845-255-0417

Join fruit master, Lee Reich, in his garden. You can harvest DELECTABLE, ORGANIC, NO-SPRAY FRUITS right in your own BACKYARD. This workshop will cover which hardy fruits are best and easiest to grow, and how to grow them. Participants will also get to taste luscious fruits such as pawpaws, persimmons, hardy kiwifruit, and whatever else is ripe (grapes?, pears?, aki-gumi?, lingonberry?, medlar?)!
Check out his blog and website for other events…
http://leereich.com/
http://leereich.blogspot.com/


Wednesday, October 10th

6:30pm

Plant a Healthy School Lunch…
The NY Coalition for Healthy School Food’s Fall Gala
NY Academy of Medicine
1216 Fifth Ave (at 103rd St)
NYC
$100
For more info about NY Coalition for Healthy School Food:
http://www.healthylunches.org/
For more info about the gala:
http://www.healthylunches.org/events.htm

Ex-Long Islander Amie Hamlin is the Executive Director of this organization, and Joy Pierson (of Candle Café and Candle 79) is their board chair. A lot of the food at this event will be organic, local, vegan and raw (check the website and look who’d providing it).


Saturday, October 12th

8:30am

Holistic Moms Network presents…
9th Annual Natural Living Conference
Chicago, IL
$80 Member/$90 General Public/$45 child over 3 (lunch included)
For more info and to register:
http://register.holisticmoms.org/2012_HMN_NLC.pdf

Celebrate holistic parenting with special guests Andrea Beaman (natural foods chef, author, tv host and Top Chef contestant..and she cured herself of thyroid disease thru diet and natural methods) and Barbara Loe Fisher (National Vaccine Information Center Co-Founder). Learn…share…connect!


Tuesday, October 23rd

6pm

Taste of the Harvest
Crest Hollow Country Club
Jericho Tpke
Woodbury
$295
For more info and to buy tickets:
http://www.islandharvest.org/page.aspx?name=fundraisingevents&eventid=123

Island Harvest is celebrating 20 years of service fighting hunger and touching lives, and honoring Stop and Shop.


Thursday, October 25th to Sunday, October 29th

Salone del Gusto & Terre Madre
Turin, Italy
For more info and to get tickets:
http://salonedelgustoterramadre.slowfood.com/

This is Slow Food’s biannual international event in the land where the organization Slow Food began…Italy! CSA member Ann Rathkopf (one of the founders of Slow Food Huntington) will be attending, and she’s been there before, so ask her if you have any questions.


Saturday, October 27th

7pm

Dr. Helen Caldicott…the medical and political implications of Fukushima
Healthy Planet
Sweet Hollow Hall
Gwynne Rd
Melville
$???
For more info, reservations and directions:
631-421-5591
http://www.healthy-planet.org/


Sunday, November 18th

9am

The NAVAL Expo
Huntington Hilton
Melville
$20
For more info (if you look at the last one they had in May you’ll get an idea of what they’ll have in November) and to buy tickets:
http://www.navelexpo.com/expo.php

All day alternative health expo with many lectures, demo, samplings, etc including Steve Meyerowitz, the Sproutman! More info TBA.

Afternoon (more info TBA)
Turkey Free Thanksgiving Dinner/Lecture
Healthy Planet
Sweet Hollow Hall
Gwynne Rd
Melville
$???
For more info, reservations and directions:
631-421-5591
http://www.healthy-planet.org/



7. Click here and help change our world!

Tell Congress you want your tax dollars to support organic farming in the upcoming Farm Bill…
http://action.ewg.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=1959&tag=2012GoodFoodWelome3

Tell the USDA to reject genetically engineered Apples…
http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/1881/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8279

Tell the USDA to keep Agent Orange Soy off your dinner plate!
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/stop_agent_orange_soy/?rd=1&t=9&referring_akid=613.29820.MUAEDq



8. Still have that Bitter Melon sitting around? Or, wonder what to do with it if you try it the next time it shows up?


Laura McKellar’s Bitter Melon Juice Recipe…
Apple
Carrot
Spinach
Bitter Melon (only about 2 - 3 inches)
Ginger
And I bet a clove of garlic would be interesting there….or beets instead of carrot…and maybe with Grapes as a sweetener too

suzanne’s Bitter Melon Cook Up…
Olive Oil (or Canola Oil)
1 or 2 cloves of Garlic, minced
½ to 1 Onion, ½ inch dice (or whatever way you choose)
½ of a Bitter Melon, ¼ inch dice
1 Hot Pepper, fresh (minced) or dried…or not if you don’t like the heat
1 or 2 Sweet Pepper, chopped
¼ inch of Ginger, minced
1 tsp to 1 tbsp of Soy Sauce (or Shoyu)
Sesame Seeds (toasted or not) to taste
Eggs (2 or 3), scrambled
Brown Rice, cooked

The amounts of the ingredients are flexible depending on what you like. The only thing that’s NOT so flexible is the amount of Bitter Melon. Start off with a half of one and work your way up (if you get to like it) to as much as you’d like.

Heat up your sauté pan, add Olive Oil and heat on medium heat. Add Garlic and cook about 1 minute or till it gets fragrant and add Onions and cook till Onions are translucent. Add Bitter Melon and cook till the color changes but not cooked throughout and add Pepper (Sweet and/or Hot). When Peppers are almost cooked, add Ginger. Cook for another few minutes and add the Soy Sauce and Sesame Seeds. At this point everything should be cooked (especially want the Bitter Melon to be tender and cooked throughout). Add the scrambled Eggs and stir till the Eggs are scrambled dry and form what I call “nubbins”…little bits of cooked Eggs. When the Eggs are cooked, add this cook up on top of your Brown Rice, stir it up, taste and see if it needs more Soy Sauce or Hot Sauce and eat! Sorry this is all very vague but you have to understand I haven’t had access to a kitchen for 6 years (long story  which some of you know) so this is from memory and the best I can do till I get back in a kitchen again. But you can get the idea that you cook a lot of what are considered aromatics (Garlic, Onions, etc), cook the Bitter Melon thoroughly, add Eggs (protein and fat that helps lessen the bitterness…you could also use minced Beef or Pork) and you’re done. And if you like hot food, add whatever kind of heat you can to kill the bitter flavor if that’s what’s required! 

Restaurants that serve Bitter Melon…to learn how to cook, a great way is to eat!

Thai USA
Huntington
It’s not on the menu but ask for Bitter Melon and they may have it (eat with Brown Rice)…it’s a side dish of it sautéed with black pepper and eggs

The Orient
Bethpage
It’s not on the menu…ask for Bitter Melon and you can get it with Black Bean Sauce or Pork (a big honkin’ plate so be ready for leftovers or bring adventurous eaters)

Dosa Diner
Hicksville
Bitter Melon Uttapam (big rice flour pancake with slices of Bitter Melon on it…you don’t really taste it much at all)

House of Dosa
Hicksville
Health Salad…blanched Bitter Melon in a salad…haven’t tried it yet but it’s on my list

C & L Imperial Taiwanese
59-14A Main St
Flushing
Went there last weekend and had the oddest Bitter Melon dish yet! It was under Salads but there’s nothing on the menu in English to tell you it’s the salad section except two other dishes are called salads so I ordered the “Bittle Mellon” (they don’t speak much English here) and what I got was blanched Bitter Melon strips (you’d take a wide vegetable peeler and make wide and long strips the length of the Bitter Melon), shocked in ice water, dried off and drizzled with the spicy mayo that you get in Japanese restaurants! This is NOT a traditional Chinese dish (I don’t think) but it was good and hardly bitter at all! Again, to eat is to learn is to cook. I bet anything I could reproduce this…easy peasy! The have other Bitter Melon dishes. I’ve tried their Putz Bitter Melon (I’m not kidding here) and it’s really good.



9. What you actually got last week

Week #19
August 30, 2012

1. Tomatoes: Red and Paste, Yellow – 2 lbs - $5.00
2. Squash, Summer: Costata Romanseco, Eight Ball, Gold, Patty Pan- Yellow, Yellow, Zucchini – up to 2 lbs (weighed with the Peppers)
3. Peppers, Sweet: Gold – up to 1 lb - $7.25 (combined price for the Peppers and Squash)
4. Basil – 1 bunch - $2.50
5. Okra – ½ lb - $3.00
6. Cucumber – 1 - $.50
7. Eggplant, Italian (looked like Asian to me but I’ll ask our farmer) – 1 - $1.50
8. Bitter Melon * - 1 – no charge

Total Items: 7 (with an optional 8th)
Total Amount: $19.75 (We pay $17.50 per week to our farmer for the food we get every week. Today we’ve gotten $2.25 extra, making the total extra that we’ve received from our farmer [over and above the $17.50 we pay per week] for the year so far $22.50 – doesn’t include Aug 9th)

*Information about Bitter Melon…the most medicinal and amazing vegetable on the planet!
IF pregnant…don’t eat it as it can possibly cause a miscarriage. However, not seeing how much it would take to do this and….
http://www.drugs.com/npp/bitter-melon.html

this advice looks more reasonable and…
http://www.juicing-for-health.com/bitter-gourd-benefits.html

here’s another opinion that it could be useful for gestational diabetes…
http://pregnanteats.com/2010/05/05/eating-for-a-healthy-pregnancy-bitter-melon/


Oh yeah, I forgot it also slows down the growth of, and kills, breast cancer cells (and not surrounding normal cells) as an extract in a Petri dish…
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-02-24/entertainment/27057193_1_breast-cancer-melon-cancer-research
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100223131956.htm

They want to take the natural extract, turn it into something chemically produced and costing a fortune. I’d rather eat it and pay for the vegetable.

Recipes and chats about Bitter Melon (darker the Bitter Melon…more bitter it is)…
This is a scream…my new favorite cooking show…Cooking with Dog! That dog looks awfully close to the burner!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp-a5y8rY28&NR=1&feature=fvwp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5bwWHImhUA (I’d take the pith and seeds out and don’t eat with bread…ugh…rice would be nice)
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/07/seriously-asian-bitter-melon-stir-fry.html
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/324491
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/asianveg/msg0818541820091.html
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/vegetablesrecipes/r/bittermelon.htm
http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,bitter_melon,FF.html

Recipe discovered by CSA member Lisa McInnis Lonigro…
http://amisvegetariandelicacies.blogspot.com/2011/07/bitter-melon-salad.html

Bitter Melon (spellings are more how to pronounce than correct…)
Goya – Japan
Kerala – India
Mah-Lah –Thailand
oh-Wah - Vietnam
Pahvahkah – India, in Kerala

General Info…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_melon
http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69138.cfm#Warnings

I had no idea! The National Bitter Melon Council…
http://bittermelon.org/



10. And now for something completely different…

An interview with Pulitzer Prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold (and he mentions Bitter Melon as a very challenging food to eat and like…it’s everywhere!!!)…
http://www.believermag.com/issues/201209/?read=interview_gold

###