Hot Shots - April 22, 2022
Hot Shots - April 22, 2022
Severin R-B Danieli
Hello all,
Spring has given Disco a little pep in its step, and we are heading straight for the latter half of April. More local produce is showing up, the deciduous trees outside the office window are becoming greener and bushier by the day, the community garden across the street is starting to hustle and bustle, and we are waking up to blue skies!
I trust everyone's Easter was lovely, mine was good with two family brunches/dinners and then an engagement party out in White Rock for our two friends. I think the core reason I love holidays and long weekends so much is that they always include extra delicious and exciting food. That is always what I remember from growing up. The crispy potatoes from my Uncle, the homemade pesto from my Aunt, the (veggie) shepherd's pie from my mom, the spanakopita from my dad - the list goes on and on.
Before I found the program I enrolled in (agroecology & food sovereignty), I was simply googling schools that had Masters programs in food anthropology or the geography of food, and let me tell you, it was slim pickins. But still, the vision I had in my mind's eye every time I thought about the perfect program, was a group of people, sitting together as the sun went down, all seated around a long wooden table overflowing with food, plates, cutlery, flowers and candles, in a grassy field surrounded by bright green trees whose leaves were gently swaying in the wind.
I wanted to try and describe that feeling, the feeling of community, of communion with one another and our food. It is still a vision I think about often.
'Food is our common ground, a universal experience'
Let's dive in.
White turnip bunches!
These little cuties are super popular, are perfect to bake, boil or steam. Basically anything you would do with a potato! I am always on board for roasted root veggies, so try out that linked recipe and let us know how delicious it was.
First cultivated in northern Europe, these turnips were very important in the Hellenistic and Roman world. This root veg spread east to China and then to Japan in 700 AD. Turnips spend their first year in the soil growing and storing nutrients, and the second year they yield beautiful yellow flowers.
Now, these may look like a yellow zucchini to you, but technically speaking, they are a crookneck squash - also known as a yellow squash.
These crooks are generally harvested immature, as you see pictured above and what we are accustomed to seeing in grocery stores, as the longer these squash grow, the toucher the skin becomes and the quality degrades. You may have had one of these more mature crooknecks on your Thanksgiving or Christmas table as an ornamental squash.
One night in Italy, we were walking home and a friend of ours drove by and literally threw two ornamental squashes at us through their car window. I am a huge Christmas and Thanksgiving and general autumnal lovin gal, so this was a very exciting drive by fruiting (hopefully someone gets that reference...)!
Happy ornamental squash lady at the train station.
Pixie tangerines!
These golden beauties are a welcome citrus variety here at Disco, and are in season from late March to May. Easy to peel, seedless and juicy, they made the perfect snack. This specific tangerine was developed by Howard B. Frost, at the UOC Citrus Research Center in Riverside, California in 1927. The pixie is a cross between the king mandarin and the kincy tangerine.
I recently had a citrusy-gingery salad that had cut up bits of tangerine in it, and it was very tasty. This salad also had edamame, cashews, and crunchy chow mein noodles. Oh man, is it lunch time yet?
Nugget taters.
These taters are one of the main reasons I am in the produce industry - but seriously, they are! I think I've talked about it before, but I spent a few months during my program in Italy trying to figure out how I could do my entire thesis on potatoes. Luckily, I ended up in Pemberton for my thesis research, and was working close to a multi-generational organic seed potato farm (Across the Creek).
Needless to say, whenever new potatoes show up at Disco, it is an exciting day for me. These 20# yellow nuggets come from a local producer - Snow Farms.
Snow is run by Harvie and Susan snow, which is a family-run organic farm since 1995. Their current location, in Delta, BC, has been their home for 18 years, and the Snow's harvest 40 different vegetable varieties on their 110 acres.
In the coming months, we will be stocking our warehouse with their wonderful local and organic products - so ask a sales rep about Snow!
Radishes!
We have a few different varieties here, including red radish, easter egg radish and french breakfast radishes. These pictured above are from a local farm - Two EE's.
Two EE's got their name all the way back before WWII, when Emil and Elizabeth Kowalski ran a dairy farm and fruit stand - they sold their own milk, apples and daffodils. Then, in 1960, the land was bought by a man from the Netherlands, and then leased to his son-in-law Henk Schoen who had been trained in the Netherlands as a florist.
Two EE's kept its name, and was run by Henk and his wife Jenny. At peak production, the farm had 40 hives of bees and 2500 chickens, as well as vegetables. To date, the Schoen family has nine children from Henk and Jenny, as well as thirty grandchildren who have all worked on the farm with jobs varying from picking, cleaning, stocking and selling veggies.
In 2004, Two EE's achieved organic certification, and on their website, under 'Our Promises' outlines their promises to consumers:
Our produce is grown without synthetic pesticides. We do not use any synthetic herbicides, fumigants, or fertilizers.
Organic farming helps protect our air, soil, water, and food supply from potentially toxic chemicals and other pollutants.
Our produce is never genetically engineered or modified, and is never irradiated.
Organic farming conserves natural resources by recycling natural materials.
The organic way of farming encourages an abundance of species living in balanced, harmonious ecosystems.
Our produce is grown with a concern for the things we all value — the health of our families, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the future for our children and generations to come.
Just like Snow Farms, Two EE's produce has started to trickle into Disco, and soon we will be under a waterfall of amazing local organic produce! I can't wait!
Readycycle sugar snaps have arrived at Disco, and they look pretty snazzy if I do say so myself! They come in 8x12oz clams from Coke Farms in California.
Sugar snaps are an easy snack, dip them in some dressing or just munch on them raw. If you have a cast iron, or similar pan, frying these peas in olive oil (or preferred oil) until almost charred is one of my favourite ways to eat them. Sprinkle some salt flakes and enjoy.
If baking is more your forte, baking sugar snaps with parmesan is another great way to get these healthy green guys into a meal. Get your sugar snaps, rinsed and dried, toss them with olive oil (garlic infused olive oil is a great addition to this recipe), combine bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese, coat them well, then roast for 15-20 mins on 400F.
Last but not least, mangoes! More specifically, the ataulfo.
Sorbet? Salsa? Smoothies? All of the best versions of these have got some mango involved, and rightly so as mangoes are simply delectable.
It may be simple, but arguably the best way to eat this type of mango is sliced, diced and eaten. Sweet taste, smooth texture and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser, ataulfos can be leveled up by sprinkling some tajin, a chili & lime seasoning that comes from Mexico, on the cut up mango.
Pictured below is a delicious ataulfo mango sorbet with brown sugar tapioca that I had last night. Scrumptious.
Thanks for reading along and I hope your week back after Easter was easy breezy. I am heading to the Sunshine Coast this weekend, so that will be a nice change of scenery. Enjoy your weekend and we will chat soon!
Big love,
Severin R-B Danieli