This will be\u00a0our very last food box from our CSA here in New York City.\u00a0As a grand finale,\u00a0we have\u00a0Jonagold apples, ramps (wild leeks), golden beets,\u00a0Treviso radicchio, tatsoi\u00a0(AKA spinach mustard or rosette bok choy), purple top white globe\u00a0turnips, and chef potatoes.<\/p>\n

Perhaps we have unknowingly consumed them before, but we’ve certainly never heard of ramps<\/strong>. What we’ve learned about them is fascinating!\u00a0They’re scarce because they grow exceedingly slowly (four years!) and are only in-season a few weeks of the year. In recent years,\u00a0they’re all the craze among foodies and chefs: “The Church of the Ramp is one of the fastest-growing denominations in the religion of seasonality.” Due to a combination of the plant’s rarity and the explosion of enthusiasm for it, wild\u00a0ramps are wantonly overharvested. In Quebec, there are firm restrictions on commercial sales and harvesting more than personal consumption,\u00a0giving rise to an active black market for the coveted wild ramps. Smugglers bring bulbs to neighboring provinces including Ontario, where sales are legal… and they make a cushy profit. If you’re interested in learning more about the role of ramps in the food universe, here are a couple of amusingly written reflections on ramps from Huffington Post<\/a> and\u00a0TIME Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The other vegetable in our food box with which we’re less familiar is radicchio<\/b>. Radicchios aren’t lettuce or cabbage. They come from northern Italy and the varieties are named after towns within the Veneto region. We Americans are most familiar with Rosso di Verona radicchio while Italians most commonly eat Treviso radicchio. Now – late winter – is exactly when radicchios peak.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Looking back, our\u00a0first experiences with a\u00a0CSA has\u00a0been quite a fun and delicious culinary adventure! It’s provided us with months of experimentation, learning, and full stomachs for us and our friends!\u00a0Each week we’ve had the pleasure of produce that is fresh from the farm; we’ve tasted foods we’ve never purchased or even encountered; and we’ve discovered new recipes along the way. Even beyond the kitchen, we\u00a0support the overall concept of community-supported agriculture and the economically and environmentally sustainability that it facilitates. There is an obvious relationship between farmer and consumer with the sale of any kind of produce, but CSAs make that relationship more of a partnership that benefits both parties. Hopefully CSA models will become more common and more available – because it works!<\/p>\n

By the way, if you are familiar with any CSAs in the Boston area (that are reliable and have flexible terms)\u00a0please let us know!<\/p>\n

Until next time,
\nKathy May and Silas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This will be\u00a0our very last food box from our CSA here in New York City.\u00a0As a grand finale,\u00a0we have\u00a0Jonagold apples, ramps (wild leeks), golden beets,\u00a0Treviso radicchio, tatsoi\u00a0(AKA spinach mustard or rosette bok choy), purple top white globe\u00a0turnips, and chef potatoes. Perhaps we have unknowingly consumed them before, but we’ve certainly never heard of ramps. What … Continue reading This Week’s CSA: 4\/21\/2016<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":"","wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,8],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/IMG_5778.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1515"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1525,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions\/1525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kathymayandsilas.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}