This week’s bag highlights the currant tomato, the closest descendant to the wild tomato. Think of them like cherry tomatoes, but smaller. They have a sweet-tartness due to their high sugar and acid profile when ripe. In combination with the juiciness of this tomato, they’re perfect for eating out of hand, scattered onto salad, canning, or preserving. Consider leaving them whole during culinary application to experience its full flavor profile.

Currant tomatoes have higher lycopene, vitamin C, phenolic acid, and antioxidant capacity than its cousin – the commonly cultivated domestic tomato. The fruit hangs in clusters resembling red currants which gives them their name. Because of their disease resistance and habit of producing fruit in long clusters, currant tomatoes have been cross-bred to create many of the cherry tomato varieties we enjoy today.

The red currant tomato is native to the western coastal areas of Peru and Ecuador, where they can still be found growing wild in coastal South America. Although, their natural habitat is radically declining under the pressure of urbanization and intensive agriculture. 

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It’s a new growing season! You’ll find Ewa sweet onions, the younger cousing of the beloved Maui onion, in this week’s bag. This onion is available during spring, starting April through October.

Sweet onions are a milder variety of onions, making them super versatile and a favorite in the kitchen. They have a low sulfur content, a higher sugar and water content, thus less pungency than other onions.

Because of these characteristics, they are delicious even on their own. You can slice them raw for a sandwich salad or pizza. Try roasting them with your potatoes and carrots that you also got in this week’s box. Or cutting them into thick slices, brushing with oil, and grilling it with other vegetables. Sweet onions are also great for caramelizing – low and slow – to be added to steaks or burgers. Additionally, they bring a sweet and savory-ness to soups and dips.

To keep your onions fresh, store them much like potatoes – somewhere cool, dark, and dry, away from other vegetables. A refrigerator also works well. Cut onions can be wrapped up and stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. They do have a higher water content, so try to use them quickly!

Sweet onions contain vitamin C, vitamin B-6 along with copper, manganese, phosphorus, folate, potassium and magnesium.

What else is in the bag?

Mixed Carrots
Twin Bridge Farms

Japanese Cucumbers
Ho Farms

Lemon
Kahumana Organic Farm & Cafe

Lettuce
Kunia Country Farms

Red Potatoes
Twin Bridge Farms

Sweet Onion
Aloun Farms

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Oh, the lovely carrot.

Though usually orange in color, this root vegetable can range from white, yellow, purple, and even black. The carrot we know today has been domesticated from the wild carrot which was originally cultivated as for its leaves and seeds as medicine. It was then selectively bred for its more enlarged and more palatable, less woody-textured taproot. Some close relatives of the carrot are still grown for their leaves and seeds – like parsley, coriander, cilantro, fennel, dill, anise, and cumin. Carrots take anywhere from 70-120 days to mature from seed. They are an excellent source of vitamin A as they are loaded with beta carotene, a natural chemical that the body changes into vitamin A. Carrots are also a good source of vitamin K and vitamin B6.

You can prepare them in various ways. Try them raw, as a colorful addition to a salad, roasted or stir fried. They can also be juiced or cooked into a soup. Even the greens of this versatile vegetable are edible – they make a great, earthy addition to a pesto!

Farms that grow carrots

• Kahumana Organic Farms
• Keiki and Plow
• Twinbridge Farms

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Preparation

Everything you want to know about long beans:

• Long beans will keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, best in a closed plastic bag.
•  To prepare them, trim away the stem end and slice into desired lengths on the diagonal or straight across. Long beans are best trimmed before stir frying.
• Long beans can be stir-fried, stewed, braised, sautéed, shallow fried, and deep fried. With cooking, the long bean’s bean flavor intensifies.
• Stir fry until just tender crunchy.
• Steam or for 3-7 minutes until just tender.
• Braise for 20 minutes with other vegetables and meats, best in a garlicky or oniony braising liquid.
• Long beans can be served raw in salads or added to soups or stir-fried dishes.
• Long beans are low in calories, about 45 calories per cup, and rich in vitamin A and also contain vitamin C and potassium.

 

Farms that grow Long Beans 

• Ho Farms

Recipes 

Glazed Chinese Long Beans

Spicy Stir-Fried Long Beans with Peanuts 

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Oranges are a fruit favorite around the world since as early as 300 BC, and are best known for their delicious juice and as being an incredible source for vitamin C. In fact, orange trees have been found to be the most cultivated fruit tree around the world and account for 70% of the world’s citrus production (according to a wikipedia source.) It’s health benefits are numerous, including benefits for internal systems like immunity, cancer-prevention, general anti-inflammatory properties, and aid with stomach ulcers and kidney health, just to name a few. It’s also very beneficial for the skin and hair, providing natural sun protection and reversal of sun-damage through vitamin A and C, collagen production, and positive effects on acne, hairloss and dandruff. (Source)

A fun local fact – a type of valencia orange called Kona was introduced to the big island in the late 1700s and become one of the leading exports of Kona region for many decades of the nineteenth century.

Preparation

Peel the skin off using your hands or a peeler to eat individual pocket slices. You can also slice in half and consumer like a grapefruit using a citrus spoon, or cut in slices long ways. You can also zest prior to removing rind to use for flavoring.

What else is in the bag?

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