Hello Fellow Locavores!
Welcome to the Immune Booster Week 56 Newsletter, and thank you for signing up for this week’s share. We have curated a superb box of local goodness, featuring exciting dishes from an amazing lineup of some of the best local restaurants in town, as well as a lush bounty of veggies and fungi from an impressive collective of local organic farms. Let the prepared food dishes inspire the culinary genius in you and try your hand at new recipes with the fresh produce you receive. The culinary world is boundless, and our mission is to keep raising the bar each week as new produce items take over the Tantre Farm fields, and new prepared food vendors and artisans make their appearances in the share. If you know a local beloved restaurant, who may use or be interested in using produce from local farms, please do mention it to me (Ryan) at Saturday’s Immune Booster pick up, and I will be happy to inquire about featuring them in a future box. This project is all about community and sharing the love with as many local businesses as we can. So with that, let’s share some love on what’s in the box this week!
Fresh out of the gate and never late, we get things roaring with organic, hydroponic Lettuce from Sell Farms and Greenhouses. This crisp lettuce is grown in Ypsilanti, travels a couple miles over to the Washtenaw Food Hub and then rides home with you. It’s fresh as can be, with a maximum of nutrients as a result, and perfect for salads in the warmer spring days ahead. Eat clean and green!
Back with a bang, you know it’s a Carrot Mix thang from none other than the one, the only, Tantre Farm. In this mix you will get sweet orange carrots and crunchy purple carrots. Both varieties are great for slicing and dipping in your favorite condiments, roasting, steaming, boiling or mashing. This week, I’m heading down carrot cake lane with the sweet frosting, because sometimes it’s good to be naughty.
Passing the buck and you’re in luck, we move onto an organic Potato Mix from Wayward Seed Farm. In this mix of spuds, you will get red, gold and sweet potatoes. A triple combo that helps boost your immune system and your taste buds. So many delicious ways to prepare these super veggies! Boil them, mash them, bake them, fry ’em up, par boil and then roast them in olive oil for a roasted potato that’s crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Make sweet potato fries or sweet potato pies. Whatever you choose you just can’t lose, because potatoes are a super comfort food that chases away the blues.
Next up we roll into round orbs of mildly spicy, organic, Yellow Onions from Second Spring Farm. These robust spheres of awesomeness are super heart healthy and should be consumed daily if possible. Onions can be used in a myriad of ways from stir fries to BBQ grills, soups, stews, pastas, meatloaves, pickles and the list goes on… So rock and roll those onions right on down your neck. Your heart and lungs will thank you.
Cruising right along, and back by popular demand, we have organic Pea Shoots from Garden Works Organic Farm. These pea shoots are soil-grown in a hoop house just a stone’s throw away from the Food Hub where you pick up your share. They are full of immune boosting nutrients, vitamins, and minerals and are great as a salad in their own right, tossed on the Sell Farms lettuce for added texture and nourishment, sprinkled on cold or hot pastas, wraps, sandwiches, or whatever suits your fancy. One thing for certain is they are extremely good for you, and you should consume them as soon as possible for optimal health benefits before they begin to respire.
Mystic mushrooms make a triumphant return in a fabulous Mushroom Mix from Detroit Mushroom Company. Grown just outside of Whitmore Lake, these deep local mushrooms are harvested late Friday evening and are heading home with you early Saturday morning. They will be at their peak of nutritional properties and ready for your culinary visions. Varieties that may feature in your box include Lion’s Mane, Blue/Golden/Grey Oysters, Black Pearl, Shimofuri or Maitake mushroom AKA Hen of the Woods. All varieties should be cooked before consumption and never consumed raw. Mushrooms are versatile and they are extremely good for your health in many ways still being discovered by science. I’ll be the guinea pig, no problem!
Filling up our last produce spot in this week’s share, we have organic Red Enterprise Apples from Almar Orchards and Cidery. These old-fashioned, candy-apple-red globes are great for cooking into pies, tarts or bear claws for the adventurous or just hand to mouth for quick and easy consumption. Super sweet, super crisp and great at keeping your immune system super-charged. You know what they say…. An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Breaking into the prepared food, let’s commence by breaking some bread with a Farm Loaf from Zingerman’s Bakehouse. This bread is strikingly beautiful and offers more than just good looks. It is a naturally leavened bread made with organic wheat flour, malted barley, water, sea salt and a sourdough starter. It’s a perfect dance partner for the red curry and soup that are coming up next. It takes two to tango, so slice, dip and smile. It’s good for you and your palate.
Speaking of dipping, get your Farm Loaf ready for a swim in the delightful Lemongrass Vegetable Soup prepared by Ginger Deli for this week’s share. I had the pleasure of sampling this unique and wonderfully flavorful soup not once, but twice. I had to make sure you would like it, of course… wink wink. Rest assured, it’s really darn good! This vegan and gluten-free soup contains Tantre Farm carrots, potatoes, yellow pepper, tofu, lemongrass, garlic, white onion, leeks, tomato paste, Michigan maple syrup, paprika, chili powder, star anise, cinnamon, annatto seed, coconut juice, fresh basil, cilantro and lime. Once again, Ginger Deli has pulled out all the stops in slowly and expertly layering up the flavors in this dish with diverse yet complementary ingredients and methods that result in a one-of-a-kind soup. Impressive!
Next up, we roll out the red carpet with a Red Curry Bowl from Fresh Forage that is vegan and gluten-free, but does contain nuts. This dish is electric with color, super clean and undeniably healthy. Composed of white rice, purple cabbage, baby bok choy, red curry, rosewood tofu, bean sprouts, Tantre Farm carrots and daikon radish, salted cashews and garnished with cilantro, it’s a downright lip-smacker and oh soo tasty. If it leaves you wanting more, head on over to Fresh Forage for round two or to sample more of their tasty dishes, and tell them that Ryan from the Immune Booster sent you.
Need a little crunch to go with that Red Curry Bowl? Then look no further than Miss Kim’s Assorted Tempura Twigim and Mixed Vegetables, another spectacular vegan and gluten-free dish. Featuring a mixture of fried and battered-then-fried veggies (in rice flour and cornstarch), this dish is composed of potatoes, broccolini, cauliflower and firm tofu with a chili glaze dipping sauce on the side. There will be reheating instructions for you to follow so that the dish tastes like it’s right out of Miss Kim’s kitchen. I guarantee you will want more, so pay Miss Kim a visit and try more of her amazing Korean dishes.
Time to put the cherry on top of this week’s share with a creative and healthy sweet treat from Juicy Kitchen in the form of a Lemon Curd Chia Pudding with Granola Topping. Serving up healthy, clean and creative food is what Juicy Kitchen is all about, and this vegan and gluten-free pudding is definitely going to catch your attention. It’s a staple fan favorite over at Juicy Kitchen’s cafe and after one taste, you’ll understand why. The pudding contains organic chia seeds, fresh lemon, coconut milk, turmeric and fresh blueberries. The granola topping does contain nuts and is a house made vanilla almond granola with rolled oats, cinnamon, Michigan maple syrup, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil and salt. This is a combo made in heaven, and we ask that you share it kindly with your household, but we won’t blame you, if it magically disappears on the way home (bring a spoon)! Yummy!
Last but never least, we offer a self-care treat in the form of Orange Clove Lip Balm from Tiani Body Care. Beautifully scented and sure to protect those wind chapped lips from the snow this week, this lip balm offers a spritely fragrant dose of spring as well as nourishment for parched lips. This lip balm is composed of sunflower oil, coconut oil, shea butter, lanolin, cocoa butter, rice bran extract, rosemary extract, sunflower extract, vitamin E and a beautiful blend of essential oils that include citrus sinensis oil from valencia oranges, syzygiumaromaticum oil or also known as clove bud, citrus medica limonum peel oil from lemons, and finally cinnamomum zeylanicum leaf oil. As you can see, this small lip balm stick packs a healthy punch of lip-loving nutrients, so lay it on thick and get those kissy lips perked up. It’s soothing for them and good for your well-being. Tiani Body Care sells their handicraft wares every Saturday at the Kerrytown Farmers Market and we offer their line of bar soaps at the Immune Booster Market Table each week as well.
So there you have it! Another bonanza of local farm fresh produce, fresh baked bread, local mouth-watering prepared foods from an all-star cast, a pudding sweet treat and a lip-nourishing balm all created within our talented local community. We are blessed to have such a rich community of brilliant businesses and farms, and I am grateful for the opportunity to unite these skilled folks all in one spot – The Immune Booster CSA. My friends, eat well, do well, be well and we look forward to seeing you this Saturday at the Washtenaw Food Hub and Agricole pick up locations.
Here’s a link to Tantre’s treasure trove of recipes, where you can get some additional ideas for using this week’s share:http://tantrerecipes.blogspot.com
Don’t forget to keep an eye out for our next email on April 25 regarding Tantre Farm’s Immune Booster CSA Share, Week 57 for pick up on May 1. All the best, Ryan Poe and the Talented Tantre Farm Crew **We look forward to hearing your weekly feedback on the shares and welcome any suggestions on how to improve. Please understand that we try to give you an accurate listing of the produce in your box each week; however, since this menu is published before we pack the boxes on Fridays, we may sometimes have to substitute some vegetables for others. Mostly we are able to update you of changes in our Friday newsletter, but sometimes our decisions are made after the newsletter is published. Please let us know whenever you think you are missing anything, and we will try to find some way to make amends. Thank you for your patience and understanding, as we try to keep things as smooth as possible. Please contact Ryan and Zoe with questions or comments at immuneboosterbytantre@gmail.com.
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