Beans and Raspberries!

What a short strawberry season. Last year we had over 30 days of strawberries here at the Market, and this year my season was down to 12! Only 12 days!! The growers who I buy berries from are done pre picking for the season as it is just taking too long to harvest the now spotty patches of small berries, so they have given up the ghost. Better luck to us all next year I guess.

GREEN BEANS AND RASPBERRIES
As a wonderful consolation prize, the locally grown green beans and raspberries have started.
This is the time of year where I throw green beans (soon yellow beans too) into EVERYTHING that I cook.
Making a stir fry? Green beans
Chili? Green beans
Tossed salads? Green beans
Warm bean salad? Green beans
Soups? Green beans
Roasted veggies on the Bbq? Green Beans
Chocolate Cake? Green....okay, maybe not.

Everything is so delicious and fresh right now, this is the time to get your family eating more veggies.!!

Local BEANS
All of the beans that I carry at the store are hand picked. That means that they are a little bit more expensive than machine harvested beans BUT they will last for up to a week in your fridge! Hand picking beans means that the beans aren't hurt by the metal fingers of the mechanical bean picker so they last a lot longer in your fridge.
Beans naturally have a tiny fuzz on them not visible to the human eye. Hand picking keeps this fuzz on the beans, making them last longer, and making them stick to your cotton shirt if you give it a try.

STORE
Keep your beans in your fridge, in a bag, for up to 7 days.

COOKING
-You can stir fry until bright green, steam for a few minutes, boil until tender, or roast in the oven with other veggies.

I like my beans to have a bit of snap to them so I only ever cook them until they change to a bright green colour.

FREEZING
In a few weeks time, it will be the season to freeze beans for the winter.
To freeze simply
-remove stem end
-boil beans for 1-2 minutes
-let cool and dry on tea towels (some people like to plunge the beans in cold water after the 2 minute boil)
-package up in sizes appropriate for your family and pop in the freezer!

RASPBERRIES
The local raspberry season has now begun. Cool weather may be keeping the berries from ripening on mass but it's also keeping the quality high with firm berries that don't leak. When the weather gets super hot, the delicate little red droplets that make up the berry break down and juice out no matter what you do. This cool weather may not be great for getting crops to grow, but at least the raspberry quality will be high because of it (glass half full).

Early season raspberries will produce for about 2 weeks. Once they are finished, the fall bearing varieties start to produce. Fall bearing raspberries are usually larger, more firm and prettier than the smaller more delicate summer season berries.

And if we have learned anything from the strawberry season this year, hopefully everyone who wants raspberries will come to get them before the season comes to an untimely end.

Take Care
Erin