CSA & Market Report for September 30

It's October, folks.  This morning I turned on the heat in my office for the first time - only for a few minutes, but still.  I find I'm perfectly content to sit here in the cold (okay, 63 degrees), in my pajamas, for a few hours and then I get up and find I'm completely numb - fingers and toes.  Ah, well, it builds character.  This week was an abbreviated market day.  First of all, I was a little - er - tired from the Columbus Food & Wine Affair, it was raining, and I still had a few things leftover from last week in the fridge.  Furthermore, it was Market Day at the Worthington Farmer's Market and I remember from last year parking was a trial, and I couldn't find any of the farmers.

All of that to say, this week I stuck to the North Market.  My CSA is still going strong - this week it included mixed salad greens, mixed mustard greens with Swiss chard, arugula, garlic, sweet and hot peppers, potatoes? maybe, green beans, broccoli and eggs.  I am really going to miss that in the winter months.  I have no idea where my produce is going to come from.  After months of shopping my local markets, it's so weird to go to Whole Foods and see sugar snap peas in January, from Chile.  But!!  I, as always, digress.

Both of these week's pictures come from things purchased at Wayward Seed Farm.  Wayward Seed is new this year and they have been growing some of the most unusual items at the market.  They have finally won my heart when I strolled past yesterday and saw salsify.  Oh, you don't know salsify?  Well, you should.  Popular in European countries but almost unheard of in the United States, salsify is a rather ugly root vegetable.  It looks like a tiny, bumpy, black carrot.  But, oh, how delicious.  This is a variety of salsify known as scorzonera and hails originally from Spain, although I was told this particular variety is from Italy (after more research, it's probably more specifically from Sicily).  Salsify has a rich, almost sweet flavor and is divine simply sauteed in a little butter.  Perhaps it's because I first had it with a vanilla sauce that I think this, but it seems to shine when exposed to a little vanilla bean, even when used in a savory dish.  I will tell you more about it this week, when I stir some up for dinner:

Next up are sweet tomatillos (a tomatillo is a small, tomato-like member of the berry family used very widely in Mexican cooking.  They can range from tart and acidic to mild and sweet, like this one.  The flesh remains rather firm with a juicy interior.  They are used in Mexican salsas and even in many sweet Indian chutnies)!  Look how lovely and purple they are.  I was fed one raw and it was sweet and intriguing; it solidified the urge I had to purchase half a pound and combine them with a few leftovers from my garden (no, I can't tell you now - it's a secret until later in the week!):

Get out there while you still can ladies and gentlemen - we only have a few weeks of marketing left.  The leaves are changing, the Buckeye necklaces are out in full swing, and I am thinking about apple cider this week.  Autumn is officially here.