Spring Greens!

I’m moving my nutrition practice to the 63^rd Street Farm for the summer! What a lovely place to sit and talk about food and our relationship to it, while making a direct connection to where the food comes from. I’m so excited to become a part of this amazing permaculture community.

I will be contributing to their CSA newsletter over the course of the next several months with recipes, tidbits about nutrition and the latest in the local-food-meets-natural-medicine realm. I thought I’d share my articles here as well. I think the recipes and information will be relevant whether you are a CSA member of any farm, an avid shopper at the farmers market or just getting interested in local food.

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I love when the spring greens finally pop through the soil and suddenly there is food again! Spring can be the sparsest time of year for farmers as storage crops dwindle and the new crops haven’t begun to fruit.

Spring greens have a lovely sweet flavor. The cool weather of spring, or the cold weather of winter if the greens have been “over-wintered,” causes the plants to produce more sugars to help them survive the cold. The plant sugars are the equivalent of anti-freeze for the plant. Hence, sweet greens for us! In the hot weather of summer, greens tend to be more spicy or bitter as they produce compounds to help the plant produce seeds.

I invite you to notice the changes of flavors over the CSA season. The flavors represent compounds that help plants adapt to the environment and in turn, they pass these nutrients on to you. Eating seasonally has many benefits and this is just one: local food helps your body adapt to the environment in which you live.

Ginger Dressing

This dressing was inspired by Serina’s deconstruction of the ginger salad dressing at Breitenbush Hot Springs in Oregon.

1/4 cup unrefined sesame or extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/3 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1-2 tablespoons chives or spring onions, finely chopped
1-2 tablespoons cilantro, stems removed and finely chopped

Put all ingredients in a jar, put the lid on tight and shake to mix. Use as a salad dressing or a sauce for braised greens. Also makes an excellent marinade for meat or vegetables. Store extra in the refrigerator.

I made this dressing the other night and added a couple teaspoons of miso. I used it as a marinade for some pork chops from Rocky Plains. Yum!