Share Contents and Kitchen Notes for Week 5

This week, we stand at the precipice. Early Summer crops are slowly phasing out and we will be moving into mid summer crops. Some of you have already enjoyed tomatoes, which should make their first appearance in the Single Shares next week as the plants begin to produce more and more. We will also see the arrival of peaches in a week or two, as well as early apples not too far off.

This week's shares include:

Single
Onion
Pickling Cukes, 1.5 Lbs
Kale, Bunch
Lettuce
Zucchini
Cabbage
Garlic
Cilantro, Bunch
Kohlrabi

Family adds an additional Onion, Head of Lettuce, and Kohlrabi as well as:
Patty Pan Squash
Tomato
Yellow Squash
Raspberries, Pint
Bok Choy

Notes from the Kitchen

This week, we'd like to talk a little bit about Garlic. Most of us have enjoyed our scapes, the flower stalk of the garlic, from the early shares. Now, just a few weeks later, the benefits of removing
the flower stalk can be had. Larger bulbs and fuller flavor, as well as increased numbers of micronutrients are the main benefits.

Garlic's history dates back to the beginnings of recorded history, and certainly stretches back far before. The ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids consumed large quantities of garlic to maintain their energy levels and health. It was crushed and added to wine to stave off disease during the renaissance, and was used to prevent gangrene by soldiers in World Wars I and II. It also keeps away vampires. :)

Cooking with garlic couldn't be simpler. I pretty much put garlic in every main dish I eat. Take a clove from the bulb for each person I am serving, remove the papery husks (easiest by squashing them with the side of the knife and then peeling the husk away), and then either dicing it into tiny pieces or leaving it whole but giving it a good squeeze to break the cells and release all the juices. I then toss it into some hot olive oil in a skillet along with my diced onion. Saute over medium heat until the garlic browns and the onions become translucent. Then its time to add whatever else. This week, a splash of olive oil, three cloves of garlic and half of my onion, then I'll add half of my head of cabbage and reduce to medium-low heat and cover. Then I'll start a pot of water to boil. Add some egg noodles or perhaps a quinoa pasta (for those staying away from gluten). The cabbage should be browning when my pasta is ready to strain. Good old fashioned cabbage and noodles. Maybe I'll add some curry or red pepper flakes for a bit of spice, or if I'm feeling frisky, I'll throw in some cinnamon and cardamom to shock my wife.

There are of course, other things you can do with garlic. In Brasil, where I lived for a year, several cloves were added to the black bean soup that everyone, no matter how rich or poor, ate for lunch every single day. They swore that it was the key to fighting off gas, and I don't think I ever farted that entire year. And I ate a LOT of beans.

I also like to add garlic to balsamic vinegar and olive oil for a salad dressing. If I have a nasty cold coming on, I'll swallow two or three cloves whole (chewing them is awfully spicy). It cuts my colds
in half I've found. A friend once made a tea from pressed garlic and added it to his neti pot to fight a cold or flu. He swears it worked and will do it again.

The key to garlic's wonderful flavor and medicinal properties is at least partially in its concentration of hydrogen sulfide. It's the same as the byproduct of oil refining or what you smell when you visit
a hot spring - in high concentrations, it smells like rotten eggs. The body actually produces a little hydrogen sulfide on its own by recombining various chemicals from the food we eat and the air we
breathe. Researchers from the University of Alabama Birmingham added garlic juice to human red blood cells, and the effect was an immediate release of hydrogen sulfide.

Although garlic has not consistently been shown to lower cholesterol, research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine recently injected hydrogen sulfide into mice and then induced a heart attack. The effect was a complete prevention of damage to the heart. Pretty serious stuff.

Garlic has numerous other confirmed health benefits. It can prevent heart disease by reducing Atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), and reducing blood pressure. Several studies have shown it to have cancer fighting powers as well, especially colon, liver, and pancreatic cancers. Garlic has also been shown to kill cancer cells outright in test tubes according to the University of Maryland. And men with enlarged prostates, you'll be relieved from some of the pressure by eating a diet that includes garlic.

One important side effect of garlic that should be mentioned is that it acts as a blood thinner, and should not be eaten before surgery. It will strengthen any other blood thinning medications you might take as well, such as aspirin or other prescription thinners.

That's all for this week. Enjoy your shares, and please be patient as we approach mid summer's fruits.

Warm Regards,
Nick