Local Garlic, Raspberries, Carrots, Beans, Onions, Potatoes, AND CORN!!!

What a great time of year, the raspberries, carrots, beans, potatoes and onions are all in full season.  The corn season is about to begin this weekend, And the local garlic is here.  Really, what could be better,

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 if you keep your garlic in a cool dry dark place, it will dry down, and you'll be able to keep it all winter long and never have to buy imported garlic!


Erin's Yearly Corn info extravaganza!!!

Choosing local Corn
Forget everything that your mother taught you about choosing corn. Unless you have been in the corn farming business within the last 5 years, seriously, please do. Corn varieties and growing techniques have changed so much in the last 5 years that the old rules no longer apply.
My corn is hand picked each evening, put into a bin, topped with a hundred pounds of ice, and rolled into a blast cooler to be cooled to a temperature of 1 degree. If the corn that you purchase anywhere has a strong sweet corn scent....it means that the corn has heated, and the smell that you are smelling are all of the corn's sugars converting into starches. Cooling the corn nixes the smell, but preserves the sugars.
You want your cob of corn to be heavy for its size, the husks at this early stage should be green, with a barely visible fuzz on them (like a peach). With the dry hot weather that we have been having, I wouldn't be surprised if the husks may look dry, but this would in no way effect flavour. Variety of corn determines kernel size, kernel colour and sheen, cob size, and tip fill (if the kernels go all the way to the top or not). It is no longer true that smaller kernels mean a 'younger' cob of corn. It just means that it is a variety bred to have small kernels Please please refrain from pulling back corn husks. We ask for you to trust us. I know my growers, I know what varieties they grow, their harvesting, storage, and transportation techniques. I know that the Manitoba corn that you buy from me will be good. If you insist on pulling back the husks, please pull them down a full 4 inches, just taking a peek at the top will not give you a good idea of how the cob looks. Remember, tip fill is variety dependant, not age dependant.

Storing
Refrigerate refrigerate refrigerate! From the time that it is picked, if corn is not refrigerated, it will lose 50% of its sugars in one day! Imagine what it does sitting in the back of a truck in the sun all day.... If it is refrigerated to the ideal temperature of 35 degrees F. it only loses 5% of its sugars in one day. Most people only notice a change in taste after a 20 to 25% loss in sugars, so you have 4-5 days to use your corn after you buy it! Corn that is picked, and refrigerated, should last 5 days without ANY taste difference. I receive shipments of local corn on a daily or bi-daily basis meaning that my customers should have 3-4 days to keep their corn in the fridge before a taste change will occur. If you are heading out to the cottage, bring a cooler for the corn, or let it travel in the air conditioned front with you. If you do not refrigerate your corn, a sugar decrease and taste change can occur within 12 hours.

Cooking
Most people over cook their corn. Many people's mothers or grandmothers used to cook corn for 10-15 minutes. This kind of treatment would turn modern SS or SE (see variety info below) corn into tasteless mush! Today's local corn is so sweet and so tender that you really don't need to cook it at all, just heat up the kernels to eating temperature. Think of how small the kernels are, they are what you are cooking, not the centre of the cob. It takes hardly any time at all to cook those itty bitty sweet kernels. If you over-cook your corn, you may want to keep an eye out of your kitchen window for the Crampton's market corn police....

Boiling
Place husked corn into an pot of already boiling water. Time for 2-3 minutes as soon as you drop the corn in the pot. Serve immediately. I like to serve boiled corn with some lime butter spread over it.

Barbequing
Soak cob of unhusked corn in cold water for 10 minutes. Remove corn silks (stringy bits at top) so that they don't catch fire. Place on hot bbq. Time for 2 minutes per turn, turning 4-6 times. Remove corn from BBQ, and husk with oven mitts, point away from your face to prevent steam burns(it'll be HOT), serve immediately.

Microwave
As everyone's microwave cooks differently you will have to experiment with times.
Husk corn, wrap in paper towel, cook on high for 2-3 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Freezing Corn
Blanch corn (plunge in boiling water), for 1 minute. Let corn cool and dry on tea towels (some people like to plunge the corn in a cold water bath after the blanching, I find that this makes the corn a bit watery, but to each their own), cut kernels off of cob. Place in freezer bags in amounts suitable to your family's needs, freeze for up to 1 year. If you have the freezer space, you can feel free to pop the whole cob of corn into a freezer bag to have corn on the cob throughout the winter.


The inside scoop.....for all of you info junkies out there (also called Erin's yearly corn rant)

Varieties
There are hundreds and hundreds of varieties of corn that farmers grow for human consumption. They are classified in the seed catalogues as SS (super sweet), or SE (sugar enhanced). or S (synergistic). In just the past year new categories may have been developed that I don't even know about yet. Some corn varieties need to be isolated from other varieties of corn so that they don't cross pollinate. It's very technical business. When breeders are cross breeding and creating new varieties of corn, they make each new variety of corn into both yellow (all yellow corn), and bi-colour (corn with 2 colours, yellow and white). Some customer bases prefer the look of yellow corn, some bi-colour, so the scientists make certain that each grower has the choice to grow each variety in either bi- colour or yellow. So even though some customers insist that they prefer one to the other, current varieties mean that you could be eating the exact same variety of corn, with the only difference being colour.

So what about "Peaches and Cream"?
Well, 'Peaches and Cream' was the first variety of corn ever created that was of 2 colours. It is a bantam cob (very small, about 4 inches), and has a very low sugar content by today's standards. Some retailers have gotten into the unfortunate habit of calling all of their bi-colour corn 'peaches and cream' even though that variety has not been grown for 30 years or so. So if you like the look of 2 colour corn, look for my "bi-colour" signs. Many people have asked me why I don't conform and call it "peaches and cream" like everyone else does. I refuse to assume that my intelligent customers want to be fooled. When the sign above my cherries says B.C. it's because they came from British Colombia, when my sign says Local Bi-colour corn, it means that it is 2 colour corn from Manitoba. If any farmer ever chooses to grow the "Peaches and Cream" variety again, then I will change my sign. (I'm stubborn, I know)

So throughout the season you will see many varieties will pass by, varieties with names like Bodacious, Argent, King Arthur, Redemption, Sir Lancelot, or boring names like SE2150. I like to write the variety name, characteristics, and cooking time above the corn...that way you know EXACTLY what you are getting. My farmers stagger their corn plantings by about 7 days. That means that each week, the variety of corn may change. Early in the season we will be getting corn varieties that can build up sugars quickly, later on in the season, we will be getting verities which have had time to build up a bigger cob size before building up the sugars in the kernels.


THE HAND PICKED DIFFERENCE
All of the corn that I get in at the Market is hand picked. Larger farms, because of their scale, must machine pick their corn. The machine scrapes its way up the whole stalk of corn, scooping up the cob along the way. In order to make sure that the corn is not destroyed by this process, larger growers must grow varieties of corn that have smaller, harder cobs. The machine cuts the cob from the stalk, leaving a knife mark that oxidizes and turns the end brown. If the cobs are not positioned properly, one side of the cob may be scraped, causing broken kernels. Because of these drawbacks, Crampton's Market only carries hand picked corn. Smaller growers hand pick their corn, Hand picking is labour intensive, especially if the fields are muddy, or if it is hot outside (corn fields block any breezes from cooling off the workers). One stalk of corn only produces one cob, so the pickers must visit 12 stalks to get the dozen corn that you buy. Hand picked cobs are usually larger as there are no mechanical restrictions as to size of cob, and more tender varieties can be grown as there is not the squish factor of machine harvesting. Because the cobs are ripped off as opposed to cut, they have more greenery attached to them which helps it keep for longer in your refrigerator. Though it makes for huge labour costs, there is no comparison in taste, size, texture and overall quality to machine picked corn.


Interesting fact about corn
The silks at the top of the cob are actually flowers. Each silk leads to the individual kernel of corn that it pollinates. If you find a cob of corn that has spaces between kernels, it means that the silk was not pollinated.

Peas, Beans, Saskatoons, gooseberries, bunched beets, bunched carrots!

You may have been able to tell from the scorching weather right now, but it is most definitely summer. 
Just to cement that fact the local pod peas and green beans have arrived. 

Yesterday while picking peas and beans, 2 workers got heat stroke in the field.  It's slow going picking peas right now, the heat is incredible so clearly we've encouraged our producer to pay their pickers more.  The peas are expensive right now and we make no apologies about it.  There is no amount of money that you could pay me to be bent over in a field for 8 hours right now.  I admire these hard working people. 

So because of their hard work we get the joy of eating fresh peas in the pod which is very exciting!   With this hot weather, shelling peas and eating them raw out of hand is a little bit of heaven.  If you are one of those strange people who actually shell and then cook the peas, please don't over do it.  Just a few minutes steaming or boiling to heat them up will do.  (And really, they are so good raw, why would you cook them?)

The pea season will last an undetermined amount of time.  Peas like neither heat nor too much water and we have been getting both in spades.  The season could last anywhere from 2 weeks to a month, it all depends on the weather.

Green beans!!

The beautiful local green beans arrived today.  Crunchy, a little sweet, and oh so tasty. 
We make sure that all of our beans are hand picked.  Hand picked beans will have a barely visible fuzz on them (in fact if you stick a freshly hand picked bean to your cotton shirt, it will stick to you!) and they should last in your fridge for up to 7 days! 
Mechanically harvesting beans scratches the bean, these scratches rust within a day or two and cause the bean to spoil within 2-4 days after picking.  Though much cheaper than hand picked beans, they are no where near the quality.  That's why we always choose to sell hand picked beans.

Store your beans in your fridge for up to 5-7 days.

To prepare beans
Wash, snip off the stem end, and boil or steam until the beans turn bright green.  I like my veggies to be a little crunchy so I never end up steaming or boiling them for more than 2 minutes.  Some people prefer them a little well done so cook them up for 5-7 minutes.

Freezing beans is easy, just wash, snip the stem end of the bean off, blanch (plunge in boiling water) for 2 minutes, let cool, dry and then pack up in freezer bags sized for your family and chuck into the freezer to eat throughout the winter.

Saskatoons!!

Yippee!!



The local Saskatoon Season has now begun!!!

A prairie favourite and a health buff's friend, this indigenous berry is loaded with antioxidants and fiber....lots of fiber...if you know what I mean! This fruit is a member of the rose and apple family and has more to its credit than just a good family name. Saskatoons are fabulous eaten fresh, frozen, in baking, jams, jellies, syrups and preserves. Yummm!!! The season usually lasts from 7-14 days depending on the weather. We will be having pints and quarts and pails of saskatoons in stock starting today. If you would like to reserve multiple 4 litre ice cream pails for your own nefarious plans, just give us a call at the shop

(269-3355) and we can book large orders in.

Please do remember, saskatoons are incredibly high in fibre...feel free to indulge to your heart's content...but be prepared for the next day's results.

Store saskatoons in your refrigerator until ready to eat, up to 4 days. 

Saskatoons are native to the Canadian prairies and pack a nutritional PUNCH!

The Saskatoon has nutritional properties that are significantly higher in protein, fat, fibre, calcium, magnesium, manganese, barium, and aluminum than blueberries. Saskatoon berries are also a source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C.  It is thought that aboriginal peoples flourished on the prairies due to the Saskatoon berries which the gathered, ate fresh in abundance and dried for use throughout the winter.  Saskatoons are the only native prairie food to contain many nutritional elements essential to human survival.  

According to the journal of food science....

Saskatoons appear to be an excellent source of manganese, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, copper and carotene. A 100 gram serving of fresh saskatoons will supply 88 mg of calcium or 11% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance. Saskatoons can be considered a better source of calcium than red meats, vegetables and cereals.

Saskatoons are an excellent source of iron! 22.3% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance in a 100 gram serving. (Hope,1965) suggested that saskatoon berries may be a natural source of iron for anemic persons. Saskatoons supply 33.8% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance of manganese and 7% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance of copper.

Recent research indicates saskatoons have very high components of phenolics, flavonols and anthocyanins. Saskatoons are high in sugar, rich in Vitamin C, and also contain more than three times as much iron and copper in the same weight as raisins.

Strawberry season. Don't be caught short!

The word from the fields today, July 9th. 
Production is already starting to slow.  The berries are beautiful, tasty and still plentiful, but each day of picking will mean a few fewer pails from the field until the season ends.  If you need buckets of berries for jamming, canning or freezing, there is no time like the present.  We expect the berry season to continue on for another 10 days or so.   10 days goes by quickly though!  


Don't miss out!!!

Cheers
Erin

Potatoes and Cucumbers

It's very strange that the field Cucumbers and Potatoes are ready before the peas, but I'm not complaining.  I love new Manitoba potatoes.
The Manitoba potatoes that we have been eating until now have been stored from last year's harvest in September.  They have been getting gritty, wrinkly, and have been spoiling. 
Now the first of the season's potatoes are ready and they are a treat.  New potatoes have a very high water very low starch content.  That's why they taste to sweet and creamy.  Though I had people last year telling me "Dr. Oz said that you shouldn't put potatoes in the fridge", the man really wasn't talking about new fresh potatoes.  With such a low starch content, you MUST refrigerate them.  Leave them out on you counter for a day and they will turn black and wrinkle up. 
Ideally, store in a plastic bag in your fridge for up to a week.  But trust me, they won't last that long.

Size really doesn't matter when it comes to new potatoes.  As long as the skins come off of the potato easily with thumb pressure, they will have that gorgeous creamy taste.   Later on in the season our farmers separate the very small potatoes from the larger ones, selling the larger ones at a lower price.   As long as you posses a knife to cut up your potato into cookable chunks, the larger lower priced potatoes taste exactly the same as the smaller ones.  The presentation at the dinner table is just not as pretty.


Our growers have been staggering their plantings of potatoes this spring, planting new fields every week or so, meaning that we will have new potatoes in the shop until September.  If you were to plant your own potatoes on your garden, and plant them all at once, the potatoes would start to create a high amount of starches by early or mid August.   Potatoes are a tuber originally from South America.  They are collecting starch so that they can attempt to survive a winter in the ground to sprout again in the spring.  The poor potatoes don't know that they are being grown in Manitoba rather than Peru, where our -30 winters mean they don't have a snowball's chance in heck of surviving to grow the next year. :)

Cucumbers!
The very first of the salad cucumbers have started!
The same plant that produces those tiny cucumbers for pickling also produces larger sized cucumbers for fresh eating.  Growers pick only larger cucumbers until the plant is in full production and the poundage that it can produce warrants the harvesting of pickling sized cucumbers.
It's an awful job.  Cucumber plants are full of small bristles, and  the cucumbers themselves are covered in scratchy spines.  When you are eating your greek salad tonight, be grateful that you weren't the one picking those cucumbers out of the field.

Storage.
You must store your cucumbers in the fridge.  They will last for up to 5 days this way.  Out of the fridge and your salad cucumber will deteriorate within a day.
Once the pickling sized cucumbers become available, you must process the small cucumbers within 48 hours of harvest.  The thin delicate skins on pickling cucumbers mean that they stay fresh for only a very short amount of time.

Strawberry fields for the next 3 weeks

What a surprise.  I was told that the berry season would only start around July 5th, and here we were on Canada Day with a surprise delivery of 100 pails of berries.  Delicous.

Why the change in plans?  It got hot!  And those berry plants must have been just itching to get going because there is none of the usual starting off selling in pints and quarts.  Nope.  We have TONS of berries available for your devious plans.  The pickers can't pick in the rain but as long as it stops long enough for people to get in the fields, the berry season will continue on for the next 2-3 weeks.  The time to get busy with berries is NOW.

STORING
Store your strawberries, unwashed, with the green caps on, in your fridge for up to 3 days. With this years wet weather, storage time may be shortened. Eat them or cook with them as soon as you can.

USING
Wash your berries with the green caps still on, THEN remove the green caps, this keeps the berry from becoming water logged.

FREEZING
Clean your berries as listed above, then bag up in sizes to suit your families needs and toss in the freezer.
If you are feeling fancy, you can lay the berries out on a cookie sheet to freeze, then bag and put back in the freezer once they are frozen. This technique keeps the berry's shape but does not affect taste at all.
To freeze sliced strawberries, I just wash, hull and slice up a big bowl full of berries. Sprinkle sugar over berries (I use about a half cup of sugar for a 4 litre pail of berries), stir, once the sugar melts into the berry juice I place in freezer bags and chuck into the freezer.