Newsletter & Bag Contents: Summer Share Week 3

Hi there!

We are headed into Week 3 of your Summer Share. If you're only just joining us, welcome to the Fork! To check out the newsletters from Week 1 & Week 2, please click here .

We're cruising into June with a decent amount of heat and rain, and typical of this time of the year the bag contents are bright and green-- kale, lettuce, garlic scapes, and even early season zucchini. You'll all also get a head of kohlrabi-- click here for a tutorial on cutting it up. And the greens keep going, even in the meat! All the Omnivore Shares will get a pack of our juicy, fresh Green Onion Bratwursts. Check out our Sausage Guide for notes on cooking.

And this weekend for Father's Day, why not pick up some locally-grown goods as a perfect last-minute gift? From our online store , you can order a Double-Up (get two bags), or we have lots of grillables for sale if that's more their bag: ribs, burgers, brats, veggies and more. And if you'd rather send over a gift card so they can have a full or partial Summer Share, just reply to this email and we can set you up with a digital gift card (any denomination, but a minimum of 2 share weeks.) And if you'd rather take them out on a shopping date, bring them to Ohio City Provisions: 3208 Lorain Avenue, open daily from 10-7.

Featured Instagram post of the week from @FoodSpechtaCLE with their awesome-pre-pizza set up. We loved looking at all your beautiful pies and crumbles, breakfast dishes, mixed grills and pizzas this week. Keep up the good dinners, everyone!! We hope you're starting to get the hang of your shares and are using your bag to mix up your cooking each week.

A LITTLE STORY ABOUT OUR GUERNSEY DAIRY FROM TREVOR....

The Golden Guernsey Dairy that we sell-- as milk, yogurts and cheese--is really something special. If you've tried it, you can probably taste the difference. Guernsey cows are renowned for their quality of milk. Old timers and artisan cheese-houses love them.They don’t produce as much milk as modern Holsteins, but the milk they do produce is rich in butterfat and protein, and is a “true whole milk," which means the butterfat percentage in the milk is whatever comes out of the cow when she is milked. Most whole milks actually contain a calculated formula of fat, usually around 3.25%. Why you might ask? Well, if a dairy puts a nutritional label on the side of the carton, then every carton has to have the same exact nutrition. If the milk changes in butterfat from milking to milking and throughout the year, then your label isn’t always true. So what dairies do is separate the milk first then mix cream and skim milk back together to make a 3.25% butterfat milk.

This Guernsey milk product is not separated in any way. In fact, right now it is testing between 4.5 and 4.7% butterfat. It has a very rich flavor, and because this milk is from grass-grazed cattle, the fats are loaded in good Omega 3 fatty acids, including CLAs. This milk is an excellent choice for toddlers and young children who need the extra fat and nutrition.

As I continue to nerd out about milk, I’m also very excited about the quality of this herd. First, milk proteins. Milk proteins are measured as an indicator of the quality of the milk and what the milk is worth. 2.9 to 3.2% protein is normal. This herd is at 3.7%, which is very high and desirable. Second, Somatic Cell Count is an indicator of sanitation and health of the animal. The somatic cells are antibodies that fight off infection in a cow's teet. If the cell count is high, then there is a chance that the cow is sick with an infection. The industry commonly accepts 500,000 cells per milliliter as healthy. This herd is always at 100,000 cells or below.

Finally, A2A2 Beta Casein. I’ll try to stay high level here because you really need to be a biochemistry major to understand all this. There is a milk protein called beta casein. There are two variations of the protein based on the orientation of the 67th amino acid in a string of 290 such acids. The orientation has everything to do with genetics and nothing to do with diet. Think of it as blood type. Some cows are A1 and some are A2. If you cross an A1 with an A1, you get A1/A1. An A1 with an A2, you get A1-A2 (I know this explanation is a little inaccurate because of non-dominate genes, but stick with me).

Anyhow, a very small percentage of dairy cows, older breeds like the Guernsey, are A2-A. This herd has been tested and the milk we are receiving is only from A2-A2 cattle. Why care? Significant amounts of research, particularly in Australia and New Zealand, has been done demonstrating a correlation between A2 milk and decreased prevalence of Type 1 Diabetes, Heart Disease, Autism, and most directly, general dietary comfort that some folks feel when drinking milk or enjoying dairy. The result… some lactose‐intolerant folks can drink our milk!

A young cow at Paint Valley Creamery managed by Edward Keim, just up the road from Wholesome Valley Farm.

Some reminders from our office:

JUNE MONTHLY PAYMENT

We'll be sending out the June Payment Reminder today. If you do receive a bill, it's just a friendly reminder to please sign into your account to make a payment or bring payment to your stop this week.

We do not automatically charge your credit card on file -- that feature is just available for you to place a Special Order quickly and easily, and we do not have access to that information. As always, if you have any questions about your account or your June Payment Reminder, please just give us a call or write us an email.

TAKE A MOMENT TO CHECK YOUR BAG

We have an awesome packing crew for this summer, but they are packing literally thousands of share bags each week and occasionally they'll miss something. Before you leave the stop, take a minute to check through your bag to make sure you have everything you should be getting in your share. Please reference the Bag Contents sheet on the Greeter's table for the most up to date list of items. That way, if you're missing something, you find out before you've driven all the way home!

As you have likely discovered, fresh fruits have essentially no shelf life. If they're not gobbled up right away, you'll want to preserve them.

To make the most of your fruit, try a technique known as maceration. Simply chop the fruit into small pieces, sprinkle with sugar and toss with a splash of alcohol. This will soften the fruit and preserve it some: the water will be drawn from the fruit by the sugar, intensifying the flavor, & the alcohol will help it keep. Grand Marnier works well with strawberries: for a quart of strawberries, 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp alcohol will do. Use in a cocktail (or on top of ice cream!) within one to two weeks.