Local Cucumbers and Garlic

The local garden cucumbers have just arrived. Garden cucumbers are graded by size, 1-3 inches makes a pickling cucumber, 3-5 inches makes a salad cucumber, and 6 inches and over makes an oversized relish cucumber. All the same vegetable from the same plant, just picked at different sizes.

Because the season has just started, farmers harvest their cucumbers at salad size for the first few weeks. It takes so long to go through the field to find those few first ones it is not yet economically viable for the farmers to pick pickling sized cucumbers. In a few weeks when production is up, they'll start in on harvesting the smaller cucumbers. Picking cucumbers is a prickly ordeal with the vines leaving scratches on your arms and hands, and the cucumbers themselves having prickles that sometimes sliver themselves right between your fingers. It's a job that I would not wish on my worst enemy. Thank goodness that we have such hard working farmers who slog it out for us all.

The local garlic season has just started!
I received my first shipment of locally grown garlic today. Juicy, aromatic, and much more pungent than its imported counterparts. Local garlic roasts into a sweet creamy paste that you can mash into potatoes or spread on bread. Really, if at this time of year you aren't consuming at least a clove a day....well I'll just feel sorry for you.

The garlic is still to high in humidity to store for winter use, but later on in the season when the garlic dries down, I'll let you know and you can store it for use throughout the winter.

Take Care
Erin