Just a quick addendum to the last newsletter to fill you in on a couple of things regarding this week’s shares. First, our wash team got a bit too aggressive with the fennel while trying to get all the dirt out of the nooks and crannies. It looked sparkling clean when it went into the cooler yesterday but while packing delivery shares today we noticed the fennel had turned somewhat yellow. Our hypothesis is the determination to get them clean damaged them a bit which made the fennel turn yellow. It should still be fine to eat but may not last as long in the fridge. Sorry for the mishap. Having a new crew every year makes training all the more important — and difficult. There is plenty of fennel in the field so we’ll have many more opportunities to get it right.
Second, we send out tomatoes typically under ripe. Studies and science has determined when tomatoes have reached the breaker stage a layer of cells forms across the stem sealing the tomato fruit off from its parent plant. “When this occurs, there is nothing that can move from the plant into the fruit. The tomato can be harvested and ripened off the vine with no loss of flavor, quality or nutrition.” So in our ongoing effort to use the best science available we have determined harvesting them under ripe will not degrade the flavor. This also lets us control the ripening process and makes delivery of the tomatoes less troublesome. To tell how ripe a tomato is you feel it. The softer it is the riper it is. If you’d like the tomato riper leave it on the kitchen counter for a few more days. Keep checking until it is the level of ripeness you’d like!
As always, do not hesitate to send in questions, comments, suggestions, etc.