We had a fun and restful Labor Day away from the farm. But our summer crops don’t take a day off as their fruit is growing, ripening, and waiting to be harvested every single day.
We continue to have a steady harvest of cherry and heirloom tomatoes. But one crop has been missing from our normal summer harvest this year, tomatillos. This spring we had a pest, the three-lined potato beetle that just loves the tomatillo so much that it eats all of its leaves, stressing out the little plant until it dies. So we ended up losing our first planting of tomatillos to this hungry pest. After doing some research on how to handle the three-lined potato beetle, which only has one love in its life, the tomatillo, we figured out a solution. A combination of hand removing the beetles we saw and using a diluted biological spray of spinosad (a fermented bacterial based product) seem to do the trick. Luckily our second planting of tomatillos has been growing well and this past Friday we had our first harvest.
If you are not familiar with tomatillos they are also known as the Mexican husk tomato. Tomatillo is a plant of the nightshade family (same as the tomato) bearing small, spherical, and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. The fruit is surrounded by an inedible, paper-like husk. Tomatillos originated in Mexico and were cultivated in the pre-Columbian era. They are eaten raw and cooked in a variety of dishes. Tomatillos are usually cooked to bring out full flavor: Roast in the oven or simmer for 5-10 minutes in a pot of water, then use in salsa verde, and other sauces or dips.
So we now have tomatillos available by the pound. And … drum roll please … tomatillo salsa! With the arrival of tomatillos comes a fan favorite, our Tomatillo Salsa aka salsa verde. We make it using our tomatillos plus hot peppers, onions, garlic, cilantro, kosher salt, and black pepper; that’s it, no fillers added. Use it on just about anything we especially like it on tacos, eggs, or just dipping tortilla chips in it. The taste of fresh salsa puts the bottled salsas to shame. No preservatives are used, so it must be kept refrigerated or can be frozen for later use.
Head over to our online shop to pre-order some of our delicious Tomatillo Salsa which is available by the half pint, pint, or quart container.
With so many beautifully delectable heirloom tomatoes coming out of the field we had to highlight them. This Saturday’s special will be Tomato Garlic Scape Pesto Quesadilla. This show-stopping special is our garlic scape pesto spread over a flour tortilla topped with a blend of cheeses and slices of heirloom tomatoes then folded in half, cut into fours, and garnished with pico de gallo (which contains more of our heirloom tomatoes). You can add an egg to it to make it more breakfast-y or add bacon to give it a more BLT vibe. We hope to see you this Saturday at the Easton farmers’ market to get your share of all this deliciousness!