Hey folks! Happy first day of the second half of the first month of the new year! It sure caught me by surprise, what about you? So, it's time to start thinking about 2015 right? No, certainly not. But, what it was time for earlier was enjoying the amazing spring-like day we had out in Sherwood today. I felt sorry for the people who were stuck in foggy Portland all day because it was absolutely gorgeous out on the farm. The sun came out at about noon, and from then on it was 50+ degrees and perfectly clear - the perfect day for packaging frozen blueberries and pre-harvesting some carrots, which, coincidentally, was exactly what we did. The morning was spent in the packing shed with the blueberries, but then once that sun burned through we were out in the field pulling carrots so they'd be ready to go for Monday's share. The remaining carrots were still doing ok out in the field, with the gopher and vole pressure definitely being the main issue. They just continue to chomp through those neat lines of roots we so kindly laid out for them. There's nothing worse than grabbing a handful of green tops and pulling out a great big bunch of nothing, (except for maybe unknowingly grabbing/squishing a fully rotten carrot between your fingers) but I feel like the gophers leave the tops sticking out on purpose just to mess with us. Anyways, we didn't get all the roots out, but the few we did leave should be fine until next week when they'll all be pulled and moved into our root cellar until they make the final move into yours and our stomachs.
Speaking of things migrating into our stomachs, this winter I've been devouring my share of hard squash and have finally began taking the time to use the seeds instead of just pitching them in the compost with the gunk. It's so easy to do and so good that it is now one of my favorite snacks, and all I have to do is keep eating squash and I'll have an infinite supply of seeds! So, because I've enjoyed them so much I thought I'd share how I prepare this crunchy, salty, protein packed snack. Recently I've been using seeds from the American Tondo pumpkin variety we grew last year, but as far as I know any hard squash seed can be used.
First, comes the most time consuming and slightly annoying part (but not annoying enough to make it not worth it). You have to clean the seed off. I just use a colander and my fingers under running water to get the gunk off and then I transfer them onto a towel and roll them up to dry them a bit. Don't worry, they don't have to be perfectly clean or perfectly dry.
Then, this is where the directions can differ from recipe to recipe. What I do is I like to let the seeds soak in a brine for 24-36 hours. I just fill a container with water (one with a lid) and then I add anywhere from 1/8th to 1/4 cup of salt (and spices if you wish) depending on how many seeds you ended up with and how salty you want the end product to be (experiment if you want). Some recipes skip this step all together and just add a sprinkling of salt onto the seeds immediately before baking, but when I did it that way I didn't get the results I wanted, so the brining did the trick for me.
After brining, the oven gets preheated to 325 and I roll the seeds up in a towel again just to get the excess brine off. Then it's onto a baking sheet, with the key being to try to keep it to one layer with as little seed overlap as possible. Then I sprinkle some olive oil over them, work it in with my hands so they're all nice and covered, and pop them into the oven. I let them bake for about 10 minutes and then check on them, give them a stir, and put them back in for another 10 minutes or so. At this point they need to be checked (and tasted) pretty frequently because there's a fine line between crispy crunchy and burnt, but as long as you keep an eye on them you'll have a batch of golden brown snacky goodness ready to store in an airtight jar on the counter, or just in your backpack like I've been doing for on the go munching.
First, comes the most time consuming and slightly annoying part (but not annoying enough to make it not worth it). You have to clean the seed off. I just use a colander and my fingers under running water to get the gunk off and then I transfer them onto a towel and roll them up to dry them a bit. Don't worry, they don't have to be perfectly clean or perfectly dry.
Then, this is where the directions can differ from recipe to recipe. What I do is I like to let the seeds soak in a brine for 24-36 hours. I just fill a container with water (one with a lid) and then I add anywhere from 1/8th to 1/4 cup of salt (and spices if you wish) depending on how many seeds you ended up with and how salty you want the end product to be (experiment if you want). Some recipes skip this step all together and just add a sprinkling of salt onto the seeds immediately before baking, but when I did it that way I didn't get the results I wanted, so the brining did the trick for me.
After brining, the oven gets preheated to 325 and I roll the seeds up in a towel again just to get the excess brine off. Then it's onto a baking sheet, with the key being to try to keep it to one layer with as little seed overlap as possible. Then I sprinkle some olive oil over them, work it in with my hands so they're all nice and covered, and pop them into the oven. I let them bake for about 10 minutes and then check on them, give them a stir, and put them back in for another 10 minutes or so. At this point they need to be checked (and tasted) pretty frequently because there's a fine line between crispy crunchy and burnt, but as long as you keep an eye on them you'll have a batch of golden brown snacky goodness ready to store in an airtight jar on the counter, or just in your backpack like I've been doing for on the go munching.
Well, I hope you try it out if you haven't already. It'll be hard to throw squash seed away in this household from now on, I just have to figure out how to save the seed from multiple nights of squash eating so I can roast them in bigger batches. Saving them and freezing them to roast on a later date perhaps? I'm open to suggestions. Also, if anyone has any questions about the "recipe" don't be afraid to leave a comment.
I hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll talk to you next week!
Don't forget to pick up your shares on Monday!
Louis
I hope you all have a great weekend, and I'll talk to you next week!
Don't forget to pick up your shares on Monday!
Louis
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