Edamame … finally!

Edamame – or fresh green soybeans – are a vegetable we always look forward to. But they take a long time! We seeded them in trays in the greenhouse in early May, transplanted them to the field a few weeks later, then waited until now to harvest them. That’s about 4 months! They should have been ripe & ready to pick a few weeks earlier but because it has been so dry they took their own sweet time to mature. The pods just hung there on the plants for the longest time without plumping up – we actually had about given up on them.

They say edamame has been around for 2000 years or more, first grown in China and then in Japan. There, it is a traditional bar snack eaten lightly steamed and sprinkled with salt.

Edamame are full of protein, fibre and loaded with vitamins & minerals – a very healthy vegetable. And they are easy to prepare. Simply boil the pods in salted water for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the water & drain. Then squeeze the pods to pop out the beans and enjoy as a healthy snack. Delicious! We like them sprinkled with lime juice and salt. Or they can be added to soups, stews, salads, noodle dishes …

In Asia they are sold by the plant with the bean pods still attached. We tried that one of the first years we grew them – it didn’t go over very well at market. Now we harvest the entire plant, cutting it off at ground level. We bring them into the barn where we can sit in comfort and pull the pods off the plant. It’s a cushy job – especially on a hot afternoon!

What’s in the box?

Edamame, blackberries, peppers, tomatoes, salad greens,

onions & garlic.

Extras – Hot peppers.

This week’s CSA box includes a paper bag of fresh edamame. It will keep in the fridge in plastic for about a week – but eat them right away for the best flavour (see above for suggestions).

Blackberries have come to an end – this will be the last week for them. A good rain would have prolonged the harvest but unfortunately that never came. Nevertheless it has been a great year for blackberries!

Sweet peppers, tomatoes (also almost finished!), salad greens, onions and garlic complete the box.

We are picking more hot pepper varieties now and these will be available as an extra for those who like a bit of heat!

_______________________________

Around the farm this week …

Everything was going smoothly with our sunflowers. A new planting was ready for harvest each week just as we planned. Then the heat of August hit and they matured faster & faster causing a sunflower overload. Then the birds dug up and ate the seeds of 2 plantings before they could even germinate! We stretched out some shiny, reflective ribbon for the last planting to try and keep the birds away- it worked! But we will have a sunflower gap at market for a few weeks towards the end of September before these are ready. Not everything goes according to plan!