Fruit – The Holistic Chef: This Week’s CSA Box

I have been getting a weekly CSA box for almost 2 months now and I am seriously addicted.  I love having the opportunity to get fruit from close by and it helps me stay in touch with what is really in season here in California.  The fruit I get each week is far superior than anything I have bought at the grocery store.  A great benefit to getting the box is that I find myself eating fruit way more often than I ever did before.  And even better, whenever I cut up a pear, my fiance’ finds his way over and snags a few pieces too, (that guy never eats fruit).

I pick up my box at a house a few miles from my home which is super convenient.  There are usually at least 8 other boxes there with mine, I would love to see it grow to more.

As soon as I get my box home I open it up to see what I have.  This box included 2 kinds of pears, Warren and Hosui, and Fuji apples.  The Warren Pears are sweet and slightly crunchy and not at all mealy which is how I used to think pears were. The smaller Hosui pears have more crunch, almost like an apple, and are less sweet.

This might be too much of one kind of fruit for some people.  I haven’t had a problem with anything going bad yet and these pears are just THAT good.  Back when I was getting boxes full of peaches, I sliced many of them up and put them in the freezer to use in smoothies.  I can do the same thing with the apples and pears and use them later for muffins.  I got a great pointer from Jeff at the farm about how to know when a pear is ripe.  The skin right around the stem will get slightly wrinkly.  So even if the rest of the pear is nice and firm, those wrinkles mean it is ready to eat.

The best way I used my pears this week was to make a fruity red Sangria.  My favorite Sangria is made with red wine, although you can make it with white or a rose’.  This is not the time to use an expensive wine.  You are just going to add sugar and fruit and we are not looking for the best vintage. The $4.99 bottles at Trader Joe’s are perfect. Here is my recipe.

2 bottles dry, red wine
1/2 cup sugar, or slightly more if you like it a little sweeter
1 small apple, chopped small
1 nectarine, chopped small
1 large pear, chopped small
1 orange
1/2 cup sugar, or slightly more if you like a sweeter wine
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 cup triple sec, grand marnier or a fruit brandy

Pour wine into large pitcher. Add 1/2 cup sugar and stir until dissolved.  Add chopped apple, nectarine and pear.  Cut 4 thin slices from the orange, and add to pitcher. Take the remaining orange and squeeze juice into the pitcher. Discard.  Add cinnamon stick and triple sec.  Stir again.

Place pitcher in refrigerator overnight so all the flavors can fully develop.  Your sangria is going to taste much better the next day after the fruit has had time to soak.  If you want to add more sugar or anything else at this point go ahead.

Pour into glasses with some ice and enjoy!

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