Weekly Share Nov 16th -22nd

Hickory King Cornmeal
Golden Ball Turnip
Montevano Baby Fennel
German Butterball Potatoes
Red Meat & Misato Rose Winter Radish
Red Mustard or Collard Greens
Escarole
Garlic

Encompassing most of the Mississippi River watershed north of the delta, Cornbread Nation now features a wonderful mingling of African and European food traditions along with remnants of indigenous traditions. The rich soils, wet climate, lush habitats, and place-based cultures of this region have generated an astonishing variety of heirloom vegetables and fruits, as well as heritage breeds. Its white corns are used for hominy, grits, spoonbreads, johnnycakes, and a myriad of other specialties. Pride in local and regional food traditions is rampant, producing seemingly endless variants of cornbread, barbecue, burgoo, and other stews. Nevertheless, rural out-migration has weakened many of Cornbread Nation’s celebrated rural traditions, so that at least seventy-five of its traditional foods are now threatened or endangered.
The yellow and white strains of Hickory King may be the finest hominy corns that North Americans have ever known. They are eight-rowed, large-grained, small-cobbed landraces of the Old Southern Dents, a group of corns that came directly from Mexico into Cornbread Nation around A.D. 1500. Since that time, they have been selected to excel as roasting ears and as hominy, milled grits, and cornmeal.
– Renewing America’s Food Traditions, Gary Paul Nabhan

Many of you may remember the grits and cornmeal we made last year from our Truckers Favorite Dent corn. Well being that we are part of the Cornbread Nation and all, we have become smitten with growing field corn. Our farm dinner two months ago used the last of our 2014 harvest to make true corn masa for tortillas and they were absolutely wonderful, stole the show in fact. Its amazing to realize what corn actually tastes like, as the corn we have been eating most of our lives is flavorless comparatively. This year we grew white Hickory King dent corn as a trial. Two weeks ago we harvested our crop which was ravaged by our October monsoon followed by the early October frost, so our yields are low, but what we have looks beautiful and we imagine it is going to taste great. We have been drying the corn on the cob in our greenhouse and it seems ready to shell. Tuesday Brian will shell it by hand and grind it on Sub Rosa Bakery’s stone mill. This will be the freshest cornmeal you can find and we encourage you to check out this Serious Eats article here about the history of Southern Cornbread and give their recipe a try. You will not be disappointed, as the mellow corn flavor will blow your mind. Enjoy the share….Brian and Autumn

Southern Style Unsweetened Cornbread

Braised Collard Greens With Cranberry Beans and Andouille Sausage

Mediterranean Rice-Stuffed Escarole

Roasted Turnips with Parmesan

Leek, Potato and Fennel Soup With Bacon

Bitter Greens With Shaved Radish, Almonds and Anchovy Vinaigrette 

Collard Greens and Turnips with Ham Hock and Pepper-Vinegar 

Watermelon Radish, Orange & Goat Cheese Salad