Hot Shots - June 30, 2023

Hot Shots - June 30, 2023
Severin R-B Danieli

Hello all,

Hope everyone's week went well, my week went pretty quick, and it was filled with getting caught up into my normal routine after having spent a weekend in Pemberton at a friends wedding. The weather kept us on our toes, as it was a mix of heat, then rain, then heat again. There was some issues with the canvas top of the tent not fitting properly over the poles, but it all turned out okay. The evening was bright blue sky, fluffy while clouds and the table settings were a gorgeous colour scheme of sage, pinks, oranges and yellows. 

We spent some time at Laughing Crow Organics (where I worked during my thesis research) and Across the Creek Organics which are beside each other in the Pemberton Valley, and just a few minutes away from where the wedding will be held. 

Discovery receives brussels sprouts and rutabaga's from Laughing Crow, and a variety of potatoes from Across the Creek - Pemberton is known for their virus and disease free seed potatoes, and the Miller family has been farming those delicious potatoes for generations (literally). Their family has also expanded into The Beer Farmers which is their family brewery, headed up by the matriarch of the family, Brenda. If that wasn't enough, Bruce and Brenda's sons are now running a food truck with scrumptious burgers and fries made from their very own potatoes! It is definitely worth a visit if you are around the area, or, dare I say, a day trip up from the coast. 

Canada Day long weekend is going to be a busy one for us, as it is Jonathan's birthday on Canada day, and we have a whole host of social events from Friday to Sunday! It's going to be a fun, and very hot, weekend. 

Black kale. 

Local greens are one of the highlights of summer, and black kale may be my favourite green. I love the taste, the texture (not too curly), and you can use it in soo many dishes.

Breakfast: omelets, smoothies, frittatas, added into a hash!
Lunch & Dinner: kale pesto with pasta, in a salad (has anyone had a black kale caesar salad? yum), with roasted vegetables, in a soup, sautéed with olive oil and seasoning, on a pizza! The opportunities are endless. 

This kale pictured above is from Longview farms, located in Saanich on Vancouver Island. They supply us all summer long and boast quite the catalogue of vegetables: asparagus, arugula, various bean varieties, beets (gold and red), bok choy, cabbage (green, red, napa and savoy), carrots, chard (red, green, rainbow), corn, cucumbers (persian mini, pickling, garlic, kale (green, black, red), leeks, various types of lettuce, onions (red, yellow, shallot), peppers (hot and bell), peas (snow and sugar), radishes, spinach, various types of squash, strawberries (open pint and in stock right now!), sunchokes and turnips! Phew. I told you it was a lot.

Apricots. 

We've got them in stock here at Disco from Simply Grown and Homegrown Organics, both from California. 

Apricots have a slightly fuzzy skin, and a tart flavour. Usually eaten raw or dried, apricots are a part of the rose family. Which is closely related to the plum, peach, cherry and almond family. The name apricot references the land of Armenia, where the ancient Greeks believed the apricot to have come from. 

Cultivated in China and central Asia since 2000 BCE, and with the help of the Silk Road, these stone fruit made their way to Europe and then to the New World. Alexander the Great is credited with bringing the 'prunus armenaica" to Greece, and Kind Henry VIII's gardener brought the apricot to England from Italy. The apricot made its way to Virginia, via English settlers in 1720, and finally to the west coast of North America with Spanish missionaries in the 18th century.

English peas. 

Encased in a fibrous rich shell, english peas are pops of savoury flavour. About 5% of peas make it to market fresh, while more than half are canned, and the rest are frozen. 

Personally, we always have a bag of frozen peas in our freezer because Jonathan adds peas into everything! Especially in the cold months. We've had a few days of cooler weather, and he has made no less than 3 batches of chicken noodle soup with peas. 

These peas are from Coke Farms down in California, and we've also got sugar snap peas & snow peas from various California farms. 

One of my favourite jobs while working at Laughing Crow was making the trellises for the peas. Firstly, pea plants are simply pretty, and have a sweet fragrance. Secondly, it was slow, methodical work which I always enjoy. We placed multiple steel stakes in a row, and then wove rope back and forth between the stakes. 

Cilantro. 

This cilantro comes from Myers Organic Farm, and has fresh, vibrant green, bushy bundles. I know cilantro can be a controversial herb, with some saying it has a soapy smell and taste, but I am with the other group of people who love the smell and taste. 

Myers Organic Farm is located in Langley, about a 40 minute drive away from us here at Discovery, and has been family owned and operated since 1995. Starting with 2 acres, this farm now boasts 120 acres of certified organic product, and produce over thirty varieties of organic veg, blueberries and hops. 

In my first two summers at Discovery, Myers had a driver that delivered to us directly bright and early in the morning. I remember so many sunny summer mornings, I would get to work right around 7am for the first qc/receiving shift of the day, and the Myers driver would be patiently waiting on the dock. We would chit chat, probably talk about the weather and how we were doing that morning, and then we would begin to bring the pallets back into our wet veg cooler. 

Myers product, as anyone who has bought their vegetables or blueberries know, is top quality. Currently at Disco we have red leaf, green leaf and romaine lettuce, cilantro, green and red dandelion greens, bunched spinach, green butter lettuce and black kale.  

Milk. 

A revamped program of Avalon Dairy is making itself known at Disco, and our most recent post on Instagram, @discovery_organics, outlines all the details. 

We've got a big catalogue of dairy, and pictured here is our coffee cream 10% in the green cap bottles, and our whip cream in the pink capped bottles. Available to you, dear customer and reader, are various sku's of milk, cheese, eggs, sour cream, cream cheese, yogurt and butter. There is a triple cream honey yogurt that I am dying to try... so if I do I will absolutely report back. 

Warba nuggets. 

These early season beauties have made their 2023 debut at Disco, and they are ready to be eaten! I have made potato salad with warba's, and it was a huge hit. Now, I may try a recipe with warba's, cream, garlic and dill. I'll link it here, and conveniently you are able to get every item for this recipe from Discovery! 
 

2 lbs BC  Warba New Nugget Potatoes (Fraserland Organics)
(or use any Nugget Potatoes later in the season)
1/2 Tbsp salt for boiling potatoes
1/2 tsp salt for seasoning the sauce (your pantry, hopefully!)
1 Tbsp olive oil or butter (butter from Avalon Dairy)

1/2 medium onion finely diced (Heger, Coke Farm or Spring Fresh)
1 garlic clove pressed (Dovex, Sanes, Del Cabo, Thomas Fresh or Garlic Company)
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream (Avalon Dairy)
1/4 cup fresh dill chopped (Roots Organic or Cal-O)

Fraserland has this to say about their warba nuggets, "The Warba Potato is an early producing crop. Its skin color is white fleshed with pink around the eyes. They are very delicate and we harvest them before the skin has set. They are harvested early in the morning to protect them from the sun and they are washed and ready to ship within hours. After the Warbas are planted it takes approximately 53 days until they are harvested."

The warba photos above are from Fraserland's website, and they've got great recipes as well! I'll link the website here. 

Thanks for reading along & I hope your long weekend is relaxing and you see some friends or family. 

Stay cool & hydrated!

Big love,
Severin R-B Danieli