Sasquatch Sundays!

In honor of National Co-op Month, we are introducing a new membership benefit -- Sasquatch Sundays!

Beginning in October, members will receive 10% off their entire purchase on the last Sunday of every month. In addition, the shopper that finds the hidden sasquatch figurine in the store increases their discount to 25%!

Be sure to come in on Sunday the 28th to maximize your membership.

 

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We're excited to welcome Haley Murto as the new cashier at the co-op!

Haley grew up and went to school in Florida and recently completed her yoga teacher training in Sarasota. She's passionate about running, herbalism, and bullet journaling.

Haley just recently moved to Friday Harbor and is looking forward to being part of a smaller community that supports agriculture, ethics, and healthy living. Please welcome her to the island and the co-op next time you're at the register!

Aurora Farms:  Romanesco green beans, arugula

Blue Moon: carrots, leeks, shallots, celeriac,

Dancing Seeds: Curly endive, kale

Dog Island: shiitake mushrooms

Federico Farm: micro-greens, sugar pie pumpkins, spinach, arugula

Horse Drawn: cilantro, chard, kale, purple & amarosa fingerling potatoes, cabbage, salad mix, spinach, blue ballet & kabocha squash

Mama Bird: greens

Maple Rock Farm:  delicata squash, beets

Mitchell Bay Farm:  Asian pears, quince

Nootka Rose: kale, chard, carrots, lettuce mix, gailon, red, yukon gold & fingerling potatoes, spinach, purple bell peppers & sunshine squash

 
Sweet Earth: Macintosh, Jonathan, Mutsu, and Royal Court apples, hubba hubba & kabocha winter squashes, padron peppers  

Old Copper Farm:  garlic, butternut & blue hubbard squashes

Pear Point Farm:  "candy corn" pumpkins

Zach Chan: butterhead and cegolaine lettuce, savoy & red cabbage, white cauliflower, Italian eggplant, waldron kale, broccoli, & parsley

Andersen Organics, Othello, WA:  acorn squash

All Seasons, Langley, BC:  crimini & portobello mushrooms

Cascadia Mushrooms, Bellingham, WA: chanterelles (!!)

Siri & Sons, Clackamas, OR:  scallions

Hopewell Farms, Everson, WA: brussels sprouts,

Maywood Farm, Corning, CA:  Black Mission figs

Osprey Hill, Acme, WA:  collard greens, fennel bulbs, chiogga radicchio, mint

Boldy Grown Farm, Burlington, WA: treviso radicchio

Local Roots, Duvall, WA: Romanesco cauliflower

Top Hat, Salem & Scio, OR:  shiitake mushrooms

Ralph's G reenhouse, Mt. Vernon, WA: carrots, parsnips, leeks
 

Ralph's Greenhouse:   200 acre field of leeks, just south of Mt. Vernon

Avocado
Bananas
Grapes
Grapefruit
Oranges
Lemons
Pomegranate
Mango
Papaya

 

Back

1.5 lb. bags of frozen blueberries are due this week from Bow Hill Blueberry farm

 

New

3 new teas from Traditional Medicinals:  Turmeric, Ginger Aid, and Seasonal Sampler -- just in time for the winter cold season.  

Twin Sister Whatcom Blue Cheese through Samish Bay Creamery

Halloween candy due on Tuesday:  Candy Corn and Pumpkin Pops

Back on the HABA Shelves:

Himalaya Organics ayurvedically based adapatogenic herbs and herbal blends:

StressCare

Ashwagandha

Triphala

ComfortCleanse

Not long ago, people relied on preserving foods their families produced or foraged during the growing season to sustain them from equinox to equinox and beyond. There are many people among us who remember helping out in their families' Victory Gardens during the hard times of World War II, growing as much of their own food as possible. 

In our time of full service grocery stores when seasons are forgotten, when half of everyone claims not to know how to cook food much less grow it, and when restaurants and families can serve whatever they fancy any day of the year, it's not just folks with garden surplus who like to continue the traditional household methods of preserving the tastes of summer for the rest of the year and for gifts and celebrations. Practicing the old ways gives comfort and satisfaction, a sense of continuity, and a measure of food security and self-reliance.

There are many ways to preserve foods.  We are planning a series about canning, freezing, drying, jamming, pickling, fermenting, salt curing, and root cellaring to bring the year to an end. 

 

 

  To open the series, we begin with a rerun of last year's column about fermenting:

 

Ferments
    
Our gardens aren't sleeping yet in spite of the fast-approaching winter solstice. There are some good looking cabbages hereabouts and lots of other good produce.  Many people like to preserve foods the old way by fermenting. Here are recipes offered by people we all know and love. 
 

My recipe for Sauerkraut

I use 2.5 tsp of salt and 1 tsp caraway seed for every pound of cabbage.

I use very sharp knife to slice the cabbage on a wooden cutting board.

I then use stainless steel bowl.
And I knead the cabbage by hand, for as long as my hand can take it. This is to get as much juice out of the cabbage as possible.  

Then I put it in quart jars and really pound it in to make sure the juice covers the cabbage.  I use yogurt lid into the jar to cover the cabbage and sometimes anything that can be used as a weight on top of yogurt lid. Then put the lid on, not too tight, air must escape. Leave on the counter for 10 days, and then refrigerate.

I have used local sea salt, I have used smoked sea salt. But plain salt and caraway seed is my favorite.

"30 years ago my friend Mabel Kegel from Colville Washington taught me how she made Sauerkraut."

Sauerkraut
By Guard Sundstrom
12/16/17

Fresh Cabbage
Crock (I use a 10 gallon crock) (Be careful with the crock as mine is old and expensive to replace maybe irreplaceable)
Kraut cutter or mandoline
Pickling salt
Glass platter
Glass gallon jar
White towel or sheet
Used towel
2"x4" cabbage masher (I use a clean board that I hang in the pump house each year)
Wine (for drinking)

 In October or September I make inquiries of local producers, I purchase 50 to 100 pounds of fresh cabbage; my 10 gallon crock holds 100 pounds. 100 pounds is a lot of cabbage and makes a lot of sauerkraut.

I make enough for friends, neighbors, and enough to last my family two or three years. (I hate to run out of sauerkraut.)  Sauerkraut makes an excellent "pot luck" dish.

I trim the cabbage of the outside leaves and they go to compost.

I and friends quarter and shred the cabbage, including the stem (be very careful not to cut your fingers).  I have an old kraut cutter, but sometimes use a modern kitchen mandoline.  It does not have to shred a large volume of cabbage at a time.

With the crock being one quarter full of loose shredded cabbage, sprinkling small amounts of pickling salt on the shredded cabbage. IT IS VERY EASY TO OVER SALT.  I begin to mash the cabbage with up and down and twisting motion of my favorite cabbage masher, eventually cabbage brine will appear. DO NOT MASH TOO HARD AS NOT TO BREAK THE CROCK.

I continuously taste the shredded cabbage and the brine for proper salinity. If its taste is too salty, I add more cabbage until the taste is less salty. It is best not to over salt the cabbage as you will have too salty sauerkraut.

Continue shredding and mashing the cabbage and adding small amount of salt. You can mix the cabbage and salt with your clean hand and continue tasting for salinity until the crock is full or you have no more cabbage to shred. You will have generated enough brine to completely cover the shredded cabbage.

I have a special platter that just fits inside the crock to hold the cabbage under the brine. THE BRINE MUST COVER THE CABBAGE. I fill the gallon jar with water (for weight) and place it on the platter to assure that the brine covers the cabbage.

Be careful with the heavy crock, it is best if you can fill the crock where you will leave it for at least 6 weeks. I like to make sauerkraut outside on a fall day. I store the crock on a towel in my old milk house, where the temperature is constant and dark. I cover the entire crock with a white towel or sheet for cleanliness. The salted cabbage will begin to ferment in two to three days and continue for several days or weeks and may overrun the brine. I remove most of the mold during the fermentation and prior to processing for long term storage.

After 6 weeks I prepare to process (canning) the sauerkraut in one-half pint jars: blue ribbon at the San Juan County Fair. Sometimes it is more than two months before I process the sauerkraut. It is ready to eat, yum.

    
   

Thornbush Farm Kimchi

Based on a Sandor Katz recipe:
Makes 1 quart

sea salt
1 pound bok choi and/or mizuna
8 ounces of daikon radish
1-2 onions, leeks, a few scallions, or shallots
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 TBS chili flakes
3 TBS fresh grated gingerroot
1 TBS fish sauce (without preservatives)

Mix a brine of 4 cups water and 4 tablespoons of salt.

Coarsely chop the greens, slice the radish, and let the vegetables soak overnight in the brine, covered by a plate or other weight to keep the vegetables submerged.

Prepare the spices: grate the ginger, chop the garlic and onion. Add the chili flakes and mash it all into a paste.

Drain brine off vegetables after soaking, reserving the brine. Taste the vegetables for saltiness. You want them salty but not unpleasantly so. If they are too salty, rinse them. If you cannot taste the salt, sprinkle in a couple teaspoons and mix.

Mix the vegetables with the ginger-chili-onion-garlic paste. Mix everything together and stuff it into a clean quart jar, pressing down until brine rises. If necessary, add a little of the reserved vegetable-soaking brine to submerge the vegetables. Weigh them down with a small jar filled with water, or visit daily to push down with your fingers and taste for ripeness. Cover the jar to keep out dust and flies.
Ferment in your kitchen or other warm place. Taste it every day. After about a week, when it tastes ripe, move it to the refrigerator.

 

  Katy's Kombucha

Kombucha is a variety of fermented, lightly effervescent sweetened black or green tea drinks commonly intended as functional beverages for their supposed health benefits. Kombucha is produced by fermenting tea using a "symbiotic 'colony' of bacteria and yeast" (SCOBY). Wikipedia

When making kombucha, it is important to have clean utensils clean hands and clean conditions, to keep out any unwanted bacteria.

For making kombucha in a gallon size jar:

Boil 3 quarts of water in a nonreactive pan. Make a tea with three tea bags of black or green tea of your choice. Add 3/4 cup sugar. When cooled add to it kombucha baby plus a cup of liquid from the previous batch. Cover with a cotton cloth, put the jar on a high shelf for 1 to 3 weeks, depending on how strong you like it. If the resulting baby has blemishes or a strange color or a strange smell toss it out and start over with a new baby.