What to Do With Your Share---Week 13

Well we're not on the brink of exhaustion, but we can see it from here. Mid-Summer is as busy as it gets. While there are problems to deal with, and Fall plants to get in the ground, it is a good thing for the harvest to keep you busy too. Some of the crops seem to see the brink too though, so we will have to see how smoothly our transition from Summer to Fall crops turns out.

One of the items in this week's share is a favorite of mine, the Tropea onion aka Cipolla Rossa Lunga di Tropea. The genetics of this onion go back millennia. The website Naturalmente Italiano gives  the whole story of this wonderful allium. Known as a sweet onion, it is a bit more spicy when grown in Missouri soils rather than those of Calabria. It is good, nonetheless, both raw and cooked.

Recipe
Last Sunday Emily Akins and I taught a class on pressure canning at Bad Seed. One recipe we prepared was Spicy Tomato Soup from The Ball Blue Book. We both really liked the soup, and so I am in the process of making a double batch for Rebecca and me. There is no need to can this recipe, just make the soup and eat it.

Spiced Tomato Soup
4 quarts chopped, peeled, cored tomatoes
3 ½ cups chopped onions
2 ½ cup chopped celery
2 cups chopped sweet red peppers
1 cup sliced carrots
7 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon whole cloves
1 clove garlic
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons salt

Combine all ingredients except sugar and salt in a large saucepan. Simmer until tender. Puree in a food processor until smooth. Return to saucepot. Add sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat 15 minutes. Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1 inch headspace. Adjust caps. Process 20 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a steam pressure canner.

Rainbow
There was a sight in the field on Monday morning that greeted us with a feeling of awe. A giant, full rainbow filled the western sky as the sun came up in the east, and rain threated from the west. Magnificent.