The Clean Food Network LLC Weblog

Slow Food

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:56:07 -0500

INTRODUCING! Slow Food:

SLOW FOOD IS LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD FOODIES!!!

Slow Food is a global organization that started in Italy as a movement against fast food. Celebrating local (slow)food traditions that are about community good food, good eating. Slow food is now preserving local food traditions such as traditional cheese making that comes from a particular region, or traditional techniques for food preservation, sustainable farming practices. One of the farms in the network, Sand Mtn. CSA Participates in 2 of their programs RAFTand Ark of Taste which identifies foods that are at risk of disappearing. Working in Conjunction with Native Seed/Search and Seed Savers Exchange, Slow Food has distributed rare seeds and plants to sustainable farmers to grow and save seed and propagate to get them back on peoples plates. Sand Mtn. CSA a network farm has also teamed up with a good friend and seed saving buddy Charlotte Hagood who has saved seed for 25 or so years, and has founded the Sand Mtn. Seedbank, many of the varieties that the Ark of Taste and RAFT have sent we have been propagating for years. We look forward to you eating them.

So we are very excited that the first meeting to form a Slow Food Covivia (chapter) in Huntsville has happened. Monty Williams at 801 Franklin Hosted a dinner and wine tasting to kick it off. They have been buying produce from us and has shown a commitment to local agriculture, and sustainable farming methods. A local doctor was spearheading the meeting and looking for 5 founding members and 20 supporting members. Please contact him if you are interested in becoming a member: Joe Brasco MD

jobee35@aol.com * * office phone:256-519-2900**

Slow Food is the bridge we need between the community and the farmers who serve them. Slow Food, food events are certainly a community affair and always a good time. Help us build a local food system! As an economist once said a diverse economy is a healthy one, and a diverse environment is a healthy one. Find pleasure in cooking, eating with others. Salute’

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.html

USING HERBS

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:33:34 -0500

Jay and I started using herbs in the kitchen when we decided to quit eating fried foods. Turned out food had little flavor when it wasn’t fired. So to add flavor, Jay started cooking with some of the common herbs and it worked. We found it was best to keep it simple and light at first. Start with a small amount of herbs added to your usual recipes. If you overpower the dish you’ll think you don’t like herbs. You can always add more next time. Jay uses a tea ball for herb blends. He puts the tea ball in the roasting pan and then removes it when the meat is done, so there aren’t any leaves and stems in the juice, but the flavor is there.

+Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme +
A song lyric, a traditional herb blend, and “parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme” was used to stuff mattresses in Roman times, when bathing was a luxury. What great aroma therapy. Make the blend with 4 parts parsley, 2 parts sage, 1 part rosemary and 1 part thyme (fresh or dried). Add a teaspoon this simple dried blend to your corn bread recipe to have herbed corn bread with your salad. Use it on chicken or pork-just rub oil on the prepared meat, then rub on the blend along with paprika (cayenne if you like it hot) and salt and pepper. If you use fresh, remove from the stems and cut into small pieces to place them on the meat. Find the herb flavors you like and experiment a little. Try new flavors when you are out (pot lucks are great for this) and then try them at home. We’ll give more tips soon.

Feedback

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:05:48 -0500

We all farm and sell our products in any one of a number of ways. With our season in full swing and many of our days are 12-16 hr. long, this time of year is especially hard. Because we are doing our fall planting and harvesting, packing our wares and selling them. The garden waits for no man and must be picked at least twice a week to keep it bearing weather you have a place to sell it or not. It is the time of year us farmers hit the wall and wondering what were we thinking when we were looking at the seed catalogs in January and bought all these seeds! It is so good to hear your words of thanks and encouragement especially at this time of year when we don’t think it will ever end. It confirms for us why we do this, and drive ourselves to be better. So we wish to thank all of you for your support it means a lot.

We see things from our perspective as growers or producers. We know what it takes to produce what we do and sometimes think others do as well until we are confronted with some one who asks us questions about why we do certain things or why pastured eggs have such a deep color, or are amazed that all tomatoes are not round and red. Or what it really takes to bring a crop to market. This is also why we need your imput on what to grow if there is something you really want us to grow, any insites into how to make our process better. This all makes us better farmers and helps us connect with the community better. So we do appreciate your feedback whatever it might be. We can’t please everyone but we will do our best. Thanks Your farmers

Excess

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:29:30 -0500

We are now delivering bags of produce to the CASA, (a nonprofit who works entirerly off private donations giving assistance to elderly people, to keep them in thier homes longer). They get non perishable food items and now they are getting clean healthy food. ASAN (Alabama Sustainable Agricultural Network) has provided the funds to support this. Hopefully this will become a regular part of what we do. Seniors are the ones who desperately need the nutrition but usually don’t have the means to get it.

We should have corn next week and melons should be here soon we have a few ready now.

Recipe; Fingerling poppers by Joyce Rodgers 1-2 pounds fingerling potatoes 1-4 tablespoons crab boil 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional) Wash potatoes. Put them in a pan and cover with water. Add crab boil, the more crab boil the spicier the potatoes will be. Cook until fork tender. Rinse and enjoy.

Hope you all have been enjoying your food and experimenting with what you are getting, what fun. Talk to you next week your farmers

New Farmers

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:20:30 -0500

There are 2 new vegetable farmers that have become members of CFN. The Bright Earth Farm is in Bremen Alabama. They have gone thru the process of being certified Organic, Just awaiting their certificate. They have 1 acre in production and 5 total that is certified Organic. They have squash, okra,tomatoes,and cucumbers. Purple hull pink eye’s are on the way. They are excited to be growing.

Gypsy Ranch is the other farm in Alltoona Alabama, close to us here in Albertville, they have completed their application for certified naturally grown, they still need to be inspected. They say they have a magic well that makes things grow fast and big. They hope to expand their operation to include fruits and double vegetable production next year. You will be able to see these farmers at the Madison City Farmers Market as well. We are excited to have them.

RECIPE: A woman at the farmers market told me about this and I have not given it a try yet. She puts several cucumbers in a blender skin and all, puree’s that and adds the juice of six lemons, sweeten to taste and you have a cooling refreshing drink. Cukeaide or something like that. PRAY FOR RAIN! We have not had any measurable rain here in about a month.

More Info.

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:52:56 -0500

It was brought to my attention that some people do not know that cured meat like ham and bacon are preserved with sodium nitrate (salt peter). All processed meats in the grocery stores have nitrates and nitrites in them. It is on the label. When I was a kid and we were processing our meat and making sausages, corned beef,smoked hams, bacon. We weren’t even selling it we were told we had to boil our sausages (which we usually hung and smoked in the smoke house)and it was law that we had to add sodium nitrate to our cure mixture or we would be hauled into court. In the past couple of years I have heard of 2 slaughter houses that were using a non-nitrate cures. One in south Georgia and most recently Brickyard slaughter house in Cullman. These are state licensed slaughter houses,which means they can process meat as long as it isn’t for retail or taken across state borders. Meat has to be slaughtered at a USDA meat processing plant in order for it to be sold retail or taken across state borders. There are 2 such facilities that meat producers have access to in N. Alabama. One in Pittsburg Tennessee. and Blackwater processing which is on the Mississippi, Alabama border about the middle of the state. They do not cure meat with non nitrate cures. Our meat producers have to truck their animals 3-4 hrs. to a slaughter house and back to get the meat. Now I see that Bryan or Oscar Meyer is making hotdogs that are nitrate free. Don’t know how that happened.

I am sorry that I took it for granted that everyone knew that all cured meat that is for sale is cured with nitrates. So yes our bacon and ham do contain sodium nitrate (salt peter) but I think that is the only one used out of the assorted nitrates and nitrites found in processed commercial meat products. So you will know and if anyone does want to get non-nitate cured meats you can get them at the Brickyard slaughter house in Cullman.

On another note, we have another week of blackberries. Eggplant and peppers will be here next week and so the summer season progresses, hopefully sweet corn and okra as well.

Recipe: Baked stuffed Zuccini 1 large zucchini, minced 1 onion, chopped 1/4 c. fresh basil/parsely/swiss chard leaves 1 c. spaghetti sauce 3 cloves garlic 3 T. olive oil 1/2 c. grated Romano cheese Preheat oven to 350. Cut zuchini lengthwise and scoop out the insides and dice. In a skillet; put olive oil, garlic and onion, sautee’ until almost tender. Add the cut up zucchini herbs and cheese and stir until slightly softened and well coated. Stuff the shell of the zucchini. Pour sauce on top, sprinkle with cheese and bake for 30 min. Or until the texture you like. Happy eating!

New Additions

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:12:00 -0500

We have many varieties of potatoes coming out of the ground, and if you have never had freshly dug gourmet potatoes you don’t know what you are missing. Like most of the grocery store produce commercially produced potatoes have lost much of their flavor. You woun’t believe the difference and there is also a difference between varieties.

Blackberries are making their entrance as well as the farm that grows them, Jay’s Garden Variety, located on Sand Mtn. in Henegar. Boy have we been waiting, They make a great shakes, oh heck they are great with anything.

Peaches are also being offered by a small farm in Flintville Tn. Called Destinies Acres.

We wish to provide our members with as much information as we can so you can make an informed decision about your food. The peaches have been sprayed once this season, much less than other orchards. Stone fruits are hard to grow and many say you can not grow them here without being sprayed because of the curcullio (a worm that evades other control methods) Our grower has tried very hard to grow them this year without spraying them but finally had to in order to have a harvest. You make the decision if you want to eat them or not. We felt we would offer you the opportunity for peaches grown as responsibly as can be. We don’t know of any peaches available that have not been sprayed.

Comming up we will have some heirloom tomatoes available,green beans, peppers and eggplant. As we shift into all summer produce the greens fade away until the fall and winter. Have a great 4th and we are thankful to all our farmers for the hard work and wonderful products that they grow, we thank all our eaters or foodies that appreciate and suppoprt the sustainable farming community. Thanks to all!!

Name that Produce

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:39:50 -0500

There are some who have gotten CSA boxes, who didn’t know what a few things are. Escarole & endive look like lettuce, but is a member of the chicory family and has a bitter taste that mellows out at the back of your tongue. It is used in Italian wedding soup and stands up in cooking well. It is packed with nutrition. I like bitter things so it does well in salad for those who like that kind of thing.

Kale is a member of the cabbage family and we have 3 different varieties, one is Black Tuscan or “dinosaur” kale because of the savoyed leaves. One is Red Russian my favorite which is close if not the same thing as the wild it has a typical blue green cabbage look with purple veins and margins, last but not least is Scottish blue which is sky blue and ruffly.

Swiss chard is a cousin to the beet and does not form a bulb like turnip greens grown for greens do not. It is like spinach and has an earthy taste. Chinese cabbage and bok choy can be used the same way, the greens can be steamed and the ribs can be used like celery.

The Celery that is offered this week is related to the original and has an intense flavor so a little will go a long way. The heads are unbleached and smaller than the commercial varieties.

News from the farms is Pray for rain! On Sand Mtn. we have not had a drop in about 3 weeks and have been irrigating. Other farms in the valley have had rain. A hail storm pummeled our small transplants so we have had to replant most of the tomatoes so our farm will not be the first with tomatoes. All in all we have had a good spring and are very grateful for the rain we have had. Hope all is well and you are cooking some fantastic meals. Share some of your recipes with us, we all get tired of our own cooking sometimes, and need some inspiration. Thanks Your farmers. p. p.

Seasonal Shift

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:54:39 -0500

Summer produce is comming into season and the cool weather greens are phasing out. Potatoes and Tomatoes have arrived! So has squash and basil. Cucumbers will be listed next week. The cool weather greens like Head lettuce, cabbage, turnips are on the way out. Raspberries are here for a short time, so get them while you can.

Recipes

Fri, 30 May 2008 12:37:44 -0500

If you have a recipe that you would like to share with everyone, please send it to our e-mail. I am tired of mine, and need a refreshing recipe for all these greens we are getting. The following is a simple but tasty dish done in just a few minutes.

*Steamed Kale & Carrots with Lemon Tahini Sauce: 1 Clove garlic Juice of 1/2 lemon splash of Tamari 1 T. honey 1 bunch Kale 1 carrot sliced 2 green onions sliced Black sesame seeds (optional garnish) Blend garlic, lemon juice, tahini, tamari,and honey in a small dish until creamy. Add water in increments to make a smooth, pourable dressing. Adjust flavors by adding a little more of the ingredient you like the most. Let stand for 15-20 minutes for flavors to develop.

Steam the kale and carrots together for 5-8 minutes, until tender and bright in color. Remove the vegetables to a bowl or serving plate, toss with dressing. Top with green onions and garnish with the black sesame seeds if desired. Serve warm.

Happy eating Your farmers