east side market: heirloom tomatoes and no bacon

[heresluck]

It is perhaps a measure of how busy I've been lately that I didn't post a farmers' market report on Saturday. (It was a pretty standard haul, in case you were wondering - nothing new or unusual except a small butterscotch melon

Comments

[laurashapiro]

I think I need a tomato icon.

::salivates::

Here's a basil question: how do you keep everything in your fridge (milk, butter, yogurt, etc.) from smelling and tasting like basil once you put a fresh bunch in there? I'm not saying that basil butter doesn't have its lovely uses, but I don't want it with *everything*. And basil-scented milk is pretty weird on my cereal in the morning.

I know if you get roots-on basil you can put it in water on a table top, like a bunch of flowers, but they don't usually sell it like that at my markets. Advice?

[heresluck]

I thought you might appreciate this post. *g*

I've always stored basil in the veggie drawer in a closed plastic bag with as much air pressed out as possible. Ziploc-style's one option, but I just use a regular plastic veggie bag, tied tightly at the top. The basil needs to be quite dry -- I spread it out on a kitchen towel to dry off if the stems are still wet or whatever.

I have no idea whether this is the proper way to keep basil, but it stores beautifully for a week or more, and I've never had the colonizing-everything-in-the-fridge effect that you describe. (Used to have it with onions occasionally, though.)

[xaelle]

This is why I read you!

Love the pork story. Charlotte's web. Lol.

[heresluck]

Thanks -- I love knowing that someone else gets a kick out of my vegetable inventories. *g*

And hey, did you see the (a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/heres_luck/67191.html">risotto recipe I posted a couple weeks back? I don't know if you're still dealing with chard at this point, but that's one way to go...

[xaelle]

Oh, yes, that punnet of rainbow chard was probably on of the best returns for investment we've ever done - we will be harvesting it 'til we retire if current production is anything to go by.

I have actually found the advice that it can be substituted for any spinach recipe to be very useful info. Sometimes what we need most is that push to think in a new direction.

Cheers!