Good afternoon all,
We're having a good morning washing produce and packing CSA Shares. Almost everything is going smoothly! Everything except the swiss chard. Ben went out this morning to harvest and said that the edges of the leaves are burnt, due to the intense heat from this past weekend we're certain. We won't be including swiss chard this week as it's quality is not up to our standard.
Instead, we will be including Lemon Basil! It's grown primarily in southern Asia and Northeastern Africa for culinary purposes. You'll notice when you bring your CSA Share box into your house this week, it's very fragrant!
There are a few ways to use this. It's popular in baking because of how strong the lemon flavor is, you don't need to use lemon extract. It's also popular in savory dishes. It's not really a type of basil that can be substituted for anything else, try to make sure if you find recipes that they are geared towards lemon basil specifically.
I really like making Lemon Basil Garlic Butter because you can use it on top of potatoes, chicken, bread, etc. It's very versatile! Check out the recipe here:
Here is a fun way to try this herb and include it into the main dish! Lemon Basil Chicken
We also included the first of the SLICERS this week! That's what we call the traditional cucumbers because if we say cukes, it could mean either pickles or slicers :) Just a couple in the CSA Shares this week, next week I suspect we'll have some more for you!
