Introducing the Veggie Mobile Sprout!

After months of construction and preparation, the Veggie Mobile team is excited to introduce the newest member of the fleet:  the Veggie Mobile Sprout!

 

 
As you might imagine, the demand for affordable, quality fruits and vegetables is always high. People must eat - so we got on the task and built another truck. The Sprout is focusing its stops within Rensselaer County - which means that we get to focus in more on the needs of our immediate community. It's a commercial utility vehicle, so it's smaller than its older cousin, able to get to spots where the Veggie Mobile couldn't quite fit. We've designed and outfitted it to stock a large variety of produce - people are surprised when they see how much we've fit into it!

As always, we try to build for the long term - so we installed a scale, an EBT (food stamp) machine, and interior lighting all powered by solar panel! And of course, the equation wouldn't be complete without the best in good tunes from 19-before-you-were-born and beyond.

Stay tuned for more posts on the Sprout! We'll be taking you on a tour through the building process, our times on the truck, and perhaps a bit of Troy itself. And if you're in Troy or nearby, we'd love to see you on the Sprout!

Cranberry Relish for Thanksgiving and Fresh Ginger Tea for Pending Winter Colds

Last Week's Taste and Take Recipe was Cranberry, Orange and Ginger Relish. Not only is it a time-honored complement to Thanksgiving dinner, this version is no-cook, which translates to less time in the kitchen and more time at the dinner table with family. We relish (get it?) in the smell and taste of fresh ginger root so much we're offering a bonus ginger root recipe. This one for Fresh Ginger Tea is the ultimate cold remedy, but don't think a runny nose and sore throat is a prerequisite. Ginger Tea is the perfect tea every day and, if you make it in big batches, put the extra in the 'fridge for Ginger Iced Tea the next day.

Cranberry, Orange and Ginger Relish
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons chopped peeled fresh gingerroot
1 large navel orange, including the rind, chopped
12-ounce bag of cranberries, picked over
3/4 cup brown sugar, or to taste

Directions:
Mince the gingerroot and orange in the food processor. Then add the cranberries, and pulse or run the food processor until it’s all chopped up fine. Put the mixture in a bowl and add in the sugar. Chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes and serve! It should keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

Ginger Tea

Directions:

Peel ginger root with either a small knife or the edge of a spoon (it really works!). Bring a small piece of ginger (about 2 inches) and 4 cups of water to a boil, then simmer for about twenty minutes. Remove the ginger root. Mix the tea with fresh lemon juice and honey to heal a sore throat or to treat colds.



New Produce, Extracting Pomegranate Seeds and the Triangle of U

Take note! The Veggie Mobile is now offering
 new produce! 

You can now find the following on the truck:

• sundried tomatoes
• snowpeas
• pomegranates
• rutabagas
• ginger root

Last week's Taste and Take featured one of our new items: pomegranates. These beautiful fruits are natives of Persia, but today they are grown all over the world. In the US, pomegranates are grown primarily in California to make pomegranate juice--a drink popularized in America for its high antioxidant content.  Getting those pom seeds (called arils) out can be a pain, but fear not. The Veggie Mobile offers you the following fail-proof method for extracting maximum amount of arils in minimum amounts of time.

Step One: Halve pomegranate
Step Two: Smack back of pomegranate half with the back of heavy metal spoon.
Step Three:  Be amazed at how easy it is to extract pomegranate arils and how fun/weird it is to say aril.

Another of our new items, the rutabaga, also deserves a brief mention at this point. First of all, did you know that a rutabaga is a cross between a turnip and cabbage? Well, it's true. We know because earlier today we stumbled across what is quite possibly the most amazing product of scientific pursuits--Brassica evolutionary theory. The theory is officially referred to as the Triangle of U and describes how members of the Brassica family, like rutabagas, came to be. In short, the theory identifies three closley related species: Brassica rapa (turnip, Chinese cabbage), Brassica nigra (black mustard), and Brassica oleracea (cabbage, kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower) and proposed that while these three are indeed separate species they are genetically close enough to interbreed. And so they did. One late night turnips (Brassica rapa) and cabbage (Brassica oleracea) got together. The result?  Rutabagas and rapeseed (re: canola oil). Exciting stuff, right? Or only exciting to nerdy vegetable-lovers? You vote.