A Peek at Our Summer Harvest

Blog post by Elizabeth Packer, Box Project Intern

Summer is in full swing here at Brainfood. At Box Project, we're busy putting the finishing touches on our third box of the summer and preparing for our 15 clients to come pick them up. This week's box theme is Hungry Hungry Hippie, which means lots of veggie goodness. And the best part about cooking in the summer? The abundance of delicious produce the season brings. 

I'm spending my summer at Brainfood both working in the garden and assisting with Box Project, and it's nice to see our youth incorporating vegetables from our garden into the food they prepare for our clients and themselves. Throughout the week, our young chefs have had the chance to visit the garden and harvest a range of ingredients, from herbs like basil and parsley to veggies like eggplant and dragon tongue beans. The walk from our kitchen to the garden takes about 2 minutes—it doesn't get more local than this! 

Take a look at some of the beauties we currently have growing in the garden, and stay tuned as the season progresses to see what else we're harvesting. 

These lovely squash blossoms will be the secret ingredient in a cooking challenge for Box Project participants this Friday...whose cuisine will reign supreme? 

We harvested these banana peppers yesterday to make a batch of zippy banana pepper mustard, which will be included in client boxes alongside mushroom farro burgers. 

A splash of sunshine, and a good sign of things to come: our first ripe sungold tomato of the season! 

P.S: Do you know how to check if a green bean is fresh? Stick it to your shirt—a freshly picked bean will stay stuck! Here's Madelyn, who's working for Homegrown this summer, demonstrating the technique. She just picked some dragon tongue beans, so they're nice and fresh.