CSA Week 12, Jamaican Pumpkin is a Local Staple
If you've ever driven through Little Haiti you've seen the people who set up pop up fruit and vegetable stands on the side of the road and this time of year you'll see that their tables, trucks and shopping carts are overflowing with beautiful earth toned pumpkins. Jamaican pumpkin also known as Caribbean pumpkin or Calabaza is a variety of pumpkin that grows in the tropics; it is a traditional staple in parts of Africa and all over the Caribbean. Haitian and Jamaican food cultures in Miami are prominent in the Little Haiti neighborhood and these pumpkins are no where to be found in the super markets so it makes sense that street vendors push them so hard. I've heard Jamaicans and Haitians say that their moms would cook pumpkin soup once a week. The decadent, slightly sweet flavor of this pumpkin is unique and pairs well with the ingredients traditionally used in the Caribbean. Coconut milk, coconut oil, scotch bonnet peppers and allspice make this soup unique, but it also calls for typical western soup ingredients like herbs, chicken broth, celery, carrots, onions and garlic. There are millions of recipes on line, but after looking around I think I like this one. I also found many recipes for Jamaican pumpkin rice; I love rice so it caught me attention. It's basically rice cooked in a liquid pumpkin broth, yum. Try some of this and get on the Jamaican bandwagon!
IN THE SHARES THIS WEEK:
Small Share |
Farm |
Large Share |
Farm |
Spicy salad mix |
French Farms |
Spicy salad mix |
French Farms |
Rainbow carrots |
French Farms |
Rainbow carrots |
French Farms |
Spring onions |
French Farms |
Spring onions |
French Farms |
Gem lettuces |
French Farms |
Gem lettuces |
French Farms |
Kale |
Cool Runnings Farm |
Kale |
Cool Runnings Farm |
Jamaican pumpkin |
Cool Runnings Farm |
Jamaican pumpkin |
Cool Runnings Farm |
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Eggplant |
French Farms |
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Herb bunch |
Our fields |
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Extra spring onion |
French Farms |
This week's salad mix includes arugula, mizuna, red mustard, purple pak choi and tatsoi. A perfect blend of flavor, spice, color and texture that Chris has been honing through trial and error. This mix is so good it barely needs to be dressed or accompanied by anything else for a bowl of salad. The only catch is that you should try to eat it within the first few days of the week for optimum freshness.
Spring onion season is a fun one for us because they are really the only type of onion that can be successfully grown here during our winter growing season! The storage onions with the papery outside you buy at the store need a full season of long summer days followed by some cold and then some time curing in a dry chilly place before they taste and look like the onions you recognize. But farmers in South Florida can buy seed for "short day" fresh onion varieties and after a grueling 150 days of weeding, watering and watching... viola! fresh spring onions. You'll notice your eyes don't water as much when you cut these, that's because they haven't cured and their flavor is more mild, which makes them great for use raw. You can also use their green tops like scallions, either raw or cooked into sauces or stir-fries.