Bok Choi, Broccoli, Cabbage, Daikon Radishes, Fennel, Lettuce Heads, Mustard Greens, Purple Turnips.

1/2 dozen small fennel bulbs, or 2-3 larger bulbs, cored and quartered
1 cup fennel fronds (not the stems, just the fine leaves), finely chopped
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 salt-packed anchovy fillets, rinsed, drained, and chopped
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper

Boil quartered fennel bulbs for 10 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.
In a frying pan, heat the oil over medium-low heat, and add the garlic, anchovies, and pepper flakes. Cook gently until the garlic has softened and the anchovies begin to dissolve. Add the fennel quarters and leaves and continue cooking another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot or at room temperature, with pasta or noodles.

Cabbage, Carrots, Grapefruit, Head Lettuce, Red Lasoda Potatoes, Swiss Chard, Tatsoi, Watermelon Radishes.

There’s no arguing that this leafy green is tasty and also very good for you. It contains lots of antioxidants, and is also rich in vitamins C, E, and K, beta-carotene, magnesium, manganese, folate, betaine, iron, vitamin B2, calcium, iron, potassium, vitamin B6, folic acid, copper, protein, phosphorus, zinc, niacin, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids.

Boiling or stir-frying spinach leaves tends to leach some of these nutrients, so for maximum strength absorption, eat it raw! If you tire of salads, spinach is an excellent addition to smoothies!

For spinach recipes, look under Greens.

Sometimes called “blood turnips,” beets trace their history to the second millennium BC, and have been popular from the Mediterranean to China.  While we tend to think of beets primarily for their roots, beet leaves were widely popular until the cultivation of spinach. In 19^th century Europe, beets became commercially significant once it was discovered that they offered an alternative to sugar cane. Today beets are cultivated commercially for table sugar.

At the CSA, we generally Bull’s Blood beets, known for their tender, sweet burgundy-colored leaves, and Chioggia beets with their recognizable red-and-white striped roots. Chioggias tend to be sweeter than other beets.

Beet leaves can be steamed or stir-fried. Roots can be boiled or roasted, or eaten raw, usually sliced or shredded. Beets can also be pickled. Save the pickling juice and use it to dye hard-boiled eggs, which is a tradition of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Beets can also be juiced in a home or commercial juicer, and drinking beet juice is said to make you perform better in sports, due to the abundance of nitrates.

It might make you perform better elsewhere, too: the Ancient Romans believed beetroot juice to be an aphrodisiac. The Romans also treated fevers and constipation with beets. During the Middle Ages, people ate beets to help with digestion and to enhance the health of the blood.

Beets are a good source of fiber, potassium, iron, and folic acid. The pigment betacyanin, which makes beets red, is an antioxidant. All that goodness in one remarkable vegetable? Makes you want to eat them all year. But maybe you shouldn’t eat them all the time: beets are high in oxalic acid, which is said to contribute to the formation of kidney stones.