Twenty Bag | Feb 23

In the February 23 Twenty Bag: Bloomsdale spinach, spring onions, Cherry Belle radish, Tuscan kale, Italian parsley, lettuce mix, rainbow carrots and—sweet pea tendrils. Wow!

Thank you Harleston Towles and Rooting Down Farm!

How cool that, with all the work that goes into maintaining a farm and operating a CSA, the Towles team still finds the energy to bring us labor-intensive pea tendrils—again.

This week’s Bag looks like a great big bowl of salad to me. Perfect timing, as the temps are warming and lighter fare is looking pretty tempting.

Check out this simple Niçoise salad I tossed together based on a recipe from Food & Wine for France’s popular Pan Bagnat.

A quick search of sweetgrass + grits will take you to plenty more recipes—all curated with an eye toward the weekly Twenty Bag harvest.

Harleston’s storage tips: If greens of any kind begin to wilt at any point or at pick up, put them in a big bowl of ice water for 20-30 minutes.  Almost all produce is already washed and should go in the refrigerator. Remove carrot tops from root portion and discard or juice.  Put the root portion in a plastic bag and they will keep for a month or two at this size.  Remove radish tops and juice as well, or use in a salad or sautee.  Keep root portion in same bag as carrots and they will also keep for a while.  Spinach and lettuce mix can stay in their respective bags, along with pea tendrils.  Kale, spring onions, and parsley should all go in a plastic bag of sorts to retain leaf moisture.