Seasoning peppers are pungent little packages of intense fruity pepper flavor with no (or extremely mild) heat. They look like scotch bonnets, and some folks assume that’s what they are, but these things have all the fragrance of the scotch bonnet with none of the pain factor. They ‘taste like the Caribbean’, as Farmer Luca likes to say. They are amazing to add to all kinds of dishes and sauces, and impart a smoky kind of flavor.
One of the great secrets to really tasty food preparation is just to start with really good fresh ingredients. If you do that, you can keep things very simple and they will taste incredible.
This Saturday’s farmstand, 10am – 12noon: welcome to February! Tomato incredibleness continues, with even more heirlooms (please don’t squeeze), loads of fresh sweet salad mix, teen arugula, baby ‘almost micro’ spicy salad mix, tons of figs, beautiful seasoning peppers, sweet bell peppers, assorted spicy hot peppers, no-peel baby ginger and turmeric, lettuce heads, various cooking greens, dandelion greens, endive, Italian basil, lemon basil, Thai basil, holy basil, cilantro, dill, garlic chives, a few bunches of parsley, sage, French breakfast radishes, baby carrots, butternut squash, Thai pumpkin (so so so good with edible skin), and zinnia flowers.
Early birds will also choose from a few bunches of scallions and onions, some watermelon, some cucumbers, and the first of our Hawaiian sweet corn.
Don’t shy from vine-ripened goodness! A healed split tomato that is not leaking juices is safe to eat.The split on a vine-ripened tomato is simply a record of weather and a mark of authenticity – you won’t find these in the supermarket!
We have been blessed with a few substantial rain showers over the last week. While this has been wonderful for replenishing our groundwater supply, soaking parched, sunbaked soils, and greening up the pastures and gardens, it also causes some fruits to grow faster than their skin can hold them.
Behold, the split tomato! You will never see these in a supermarket, because they require more delicate handling. When an unusual amount of rain strikes ripening tomatoes on the vine, the combination of percussive hammering from the rain itself and the rapid uptake of rainwater into the plant can cause the fruits to grow rapidly and the outer skin of the tomato to split. As long as the inner skin remains intact and the tomato is not leaking any of its juices, these are perfectly safe to purchase and to eat, and the cracks confirm that the tomato is a truly local and extremely fresh vine ripened treat. Some nutritionists would probably agree that split tomatoes are better for you because you are more prone to eating more of them immediately, replacing any junk food in your diet. 😉
What to go with your delicious heirloom, cherry, and slicer tomatoes this morning? Loads of sweet salad mix, teen arugula, teen spicy salad mix, kale, lettuce heads, red and green bell peppers, yellow squash, amazing pumpkins, loads of cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, loads of onions, scallions, radishes (three types), Italian basil, lemon basil, holy basil, dill, cilantro, parsley, lemongrass, rosemary, baby ginger root, wild cucumbers, zinnia flowers, marigolds, a few cosmos, loads of hot peppers, Indian chilies and serrano peppers, loads of Luca’s favorite not-hot seasoning pepper. And a few passionfruit.
From our partners we have I-Sha’s vegan ice cream and local fresh goat cheese from Fiddlewood Farm! Wanda the Honey Lady will be back next week, her eyesight has been successfully restored, friends, and she can see you quite clearly now! So bring your best smiles for her next week!!
We grew it here, tender, crispy and moist, on the dry and arid south shore of the island, just for you! All organic growing methods and just sweet stored rain water for irrigation. You can taste it in the food! Sweet, baby, regular spicy, and baby spicy salad mixes; baby arugula, arugula, a few cucumbers, onions, beets, radishes, purple yard long beans, cilantro, dill, parsley, garlic chives, Italian basil, cherry tomatoes, slicing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, sweet tree-ripened Mediterranean figs, and from our partner I-Sha we have all-homemade coconut-based vegan local fruit ice cream in a handful of fantastic flavors. We have spoons, or you can bring your own.A mysterious lone guinea hen egg rests in dry grass in a pasture at ARTfarm. Guinea hens lay social nests with 40 or more eggs, so this is either the start of a nest, or a discarded mongoose snack!
For today’s afternoon stand we have a plethora of delicious, tradewind cooled produce for you: Sweet salad mix, spicy salad mix, arugula, microgreens, cucumbers, loads of tomatoes all types, cherry tomatoes, Italian basil, beets, radishes, cilantro, mint, chives, dill, assorted chili peppers, kale, escarole, holy basil, lemon basil, lemongrass, lettuce heads, passionfruit, and zinnia flowers. Last chance to buy cherry tomato plants!
We have just a few of the wildly popular vegan coconut-based ice creams left including avocado and beet-ginger from I-Sha! Come and get them!We are grateful to greet lots of seasonal residents who are back on St. Croix at this time of year, including our beautiful monarch butterflies.
ARTfarm on St. Croix, USVI 