Dried Coriander, Cucumbers, and More at the Arugula's Star Farm On-line Store for Wed. July 21st

Coriander, Basil, Summer Savory, Oregano, Cucumbers, Summer Squash and Zucchini, Dried Hot Peppers,and Eggs are the available organic items this week from Arugula’s Star Farm. 

You probably have never had local-organic coriander seed before so we would highly recommend the limited amount of coriander that we grew this year. The one fact that most do not know is that the dried ripe Coriander fruits(seed) comes form the plant of Cilantro. We harvested our Cilantro plants this year that fruited and have had them drying in the barn until just this last week when we starting hand removing all the dried seeds.  Coriander seeds are an excellent spice that sport a fragrant flavor reminiscent of citrus peel, sage, and are both sweet and spicy. Coriander can be available in groceries both ground and whole, but whole is always preferable as once the seed is ground the essential oils dissipate rapidly.  Whole coriander seeds are easy to grind by means of a mortar and pestle, spice mill, or an electric coffee bean grinder.  Coriander is a mainstay in chutneys, curries, and the spice blend called Garam Masala that many of you might be familiar with.  It makes a natural partnership with cumin and sweet spices like cinnamon, all-spice, cloves, nutmegs.  It also goes well with ginger, garlic, and fresh green herbs.  Coriander seeds are extensively used in cuisines of Asia, China, Latin America, Spain, and North African countries like Morocco.  The flavor of coriander combines nicely with zucchini, summer squash, beets, onions, potatoes, beans, cucumbers, and many most all meats. 

The greatest notion of using many herbs and spices in ones dishes is the aided nutritional benefits they can add on top of adding so much extra flavor.  The essential oils of coriander seed make it an effective carminative (a compound that relieves or expels gas), digestant, and stimulant. Modern scientific studies have focused on its antimicrobial properties, antianxiety properties, and cholesterol lowering effects.  These studies appear to confirm many of the historical uses. 

We have been using the coriander seed in many dishes lately that have been comprised mostly of squash, cucumber, other green herbs, eggs, and chicken.  One wonderful dish that was made was a Moroccan type of dish that incorporated lemon wedges, garlic, French Round Zucchini, Coriander, dried hot pepper, raw cheddar cheese.  I used one of those large Le Crueset  braising pots that I had used the night before to roast some of our chickens in covered with basil, which was great as it had chicken dripping in and on it.  I pulled the already cooked chicken from the night before off the chicken and pulled it into shreds and the set aside to add back into the dish at the end.  The lemon wedges I used had already been squeezed out and used in a cold squash and cucumber salad for lunch, so they had nicely marinated in the remaining lunch vinegar, oil, coriander, and chopped basil.  Basically all that remained was chopping the zucchini into cubes, mincing the hot pepper, grinding the 2 T of coriander, mincing garlic, and adding it all into the le creuset, along with a bit of olive oil, uncoverd on medium heat to stir, cook, and sautee about.  After all smelled aromatic and the squash was about at the desired texture, I added the shredded bits of chicken so it could warm and soak about the other flavors in the dish.  I served in a bowl and added some raw cheddar cheese and it was that fresh ground coriander that took us to another world! 

 The other wonderful herbs we have this week are Summer Savory, Oregano, and again the delicious basil.  All of these herbs have many positive medicinal medicinal effects as well.  Basil has been shown to be a digestive aid, mild sedative, helps in treatments of headaches, increases circulation, dilates blood vessels, an antibacterial, and an anthelmintic(antiworm).  Basil also contains orientin and vicenin, which are two water soluble flavonoids that protect cell structure as well as chromosomes from radiation and free radical damage.  As such, basil provides important anticancer benefits.  Oregano and summer savory share many of the same medicinal effects as basil, as they are as well in the Mint Family.  Oregano though has scored the highest in antioxidant of any herb or food tested, ranking even higher than fruits and vegetables known to be high in antioxidants.  Oregano as forty two times more antioxidants that apples, and four times more than blueberries.  The active component in oregano is rosmarinic acid, which , as its name suggests, is also found in rosemary as well as other mint family herbs.

With all this being said, you now should have the initiative to add as many delicious and in-season herbs as possible to at least one prepared meal a day, if not more! 

Please head to the Arugula’s Star Farm On-Line Store to add some of these herbs, spices, fresh cucumbers, summer squash, and zucchini to your weeks food repertoire.

Oh and as we are having more quantities than what are selling though our on-line store we started selling to Whole Foods in Green Hills last week, so if you do not get a chance to make an order with use for some reason then you might be able to find some weekly available organic vegetables and herbs from our farm at Whole Foods.  Nonetheless, it is always preferable if you make the effort to order from the On-line Store so we can see you in person on an ever so weekly basis.

 Thanks and have an enjoyable week.

Allison Mills Neal