Farm news
One aspect of CSA farming that I find difficult is keeping the newsletter fresh with new information and new insights. But this approach forgoes the fact that every year we have new members of the farm. So what can be old news for those who have been here awhile can be fresh and exciting to those who have never participated before. It has been suggested that we require new members to read all past newsletters and follow-up with an on-line test of their comprehension prior to their first pick-up. I don’t have a problem with that. It would save me having to explain things I’ve already explained before. The downside is the information may not be still relevant. If, say, we had an article about the tomatoes we grow there could be a few we no longer grow and a few new ones since the article was written. So we’ve eliminated the requirement to read past newsletters as possibly problematic.
I was reminded of the new member problem a few weeks ago when I was asked how best to store Bok Choi. I could refer people to this article from the past where I published storage tips for many of the vegetables or this article that refers to the other article but in rereading the article I realized we didn’t cover bok choi! How could we miss this vegetable? The only idea I could come up with is the bok choi is so tasty that we ate it so fast we never had to store it. But for those who may have other plans for dinner I figure it is probably a good idea to give general storage tips that you can use to cover just about any vegetable.
But first some background info. When storing vegetables for the short term (say a week or two) there are two primary paths to vegetable ruin: rot and dehydration. Much like the story of Goldilocks, with vegetable storage we don’t want it too wet or too dry but instead just right. But unlike the story of the three bears, in our situation we have many different Goldilockes. So having a one size fits all approach is difficult. Some veggies like it damper than other veggies. So the question is, “Why?” Why do some veggies like it moist and others like it dry and still others are in between?
The quick answer is those who like it moist most likely transpire in storage and will take the path of dehydration as their means for shuffling off the mortal coil. Those who like it dry don’t transpire. Transpiration is like perspiration but with plants. Plants transpire moisture from inside the plant to the surrounding environment. When the plant is attached to the ground the roots can take in more moisture to replace the moisture the leaves transpired. Once we disconnect the the plant from this water source — the earth — we have to figure out some other way to either replace the transpired moisture or slow the transpiration process.
One way to slow the transpiration process is to create a moist, humid environment. The more humidity in the air the less moisture will be transpired — air can only hold so much water. To create a more humid environment we can either add moisture, prevent moisture from leaving the environment or both. One way to prevent the moisture from leaving is to put the veggie in a plastic bag. The bag traps the moisture close to the vegetable and prevents it from floating off into space. If the air in the plastic bag is saturated the plant can no longer transpire and will therefore not dehydrate! Adding additional moisture to the bag will increase the moisture in the environment which will then reach the saturation point faster and viola no more transpiration!
But what happens if there is too much moisture for the given veggie? One word: rot. Most veggie pathogens like moisture. The more moisture the better. With sufficient moisture around the veggie the pathogens can grow and start to rot the veggie. Some veggies, like dry onions, like it dry. If there is any significant moisture around them they will rot. That is why they store best in a cool dry environment. Lettuce likes it moist but not too moist– the goldilocks principle. If it is in standing water it will proceed down the rot path.
So where does this leave us? The rule of thumb: if it is leafy store it damp in an open or perforated plastic bag. If it is rooty (is that a word?) like carrots cut off the leaves. If it is fruity (not from a taste standpoint but if the vegetable is a fruit, like say zucchini) store it dry and in a plastic bag if you want it to last more than a week (no moisture added). If it is dry when you get it store it dry. So to finally answer the original questions, bok choi being leafy should be stored in a open or perforated plastic bag. For more veggie specific information be sure to read this post.
Hey farmer Chris, you didn’t cover what temperatures to store the produce. Doesn’t temperature have an effect of storage? Great question, and thanks for asking. The answer is “Yes”.
What will we have this week?
It seems like we have everything but bok choi. I’ll try to list it out here: lots of onions, lots of potatoes, lots of tomatoes, fewer than usual eggplants but still a lot, some beans, some cherry tomatoes, some tomatillos, some okra, some fennel, some beets, some broccoli, a few cauliflower (more to come in the future), some kohlrabi, some cabbage, some cucumbers, some zucchini, some green peppers, and the herb of the week is lemon balm. Oh and some basil too.
It is a ‘Shroom, Fruit, Flowers and Egg week.