The Weekly Newsletter of Chubeza Farm
THANK YOU!!
Have a Great Date!
We proudly welcome this year’s long-awaited, delectable dates from Kibbutz Samar! As they now join the incredibly tasty dates from Elazar Farm, Chubeza officially declares the opening of this year’s organic date season. Enjoy, enjoy!
The Elazar Farm (located in Paran in the Central Arava) grows plump, sweet Medjool dates, nutty Deglet Noor, and the caramel-flavored Barhi dates. The Elazar Farm’s specialty is harvesting just a little earlier – producing soft, juicy dates. Kibbutz Samar (in the Southern Arava) is a veteran date powerhouse, growing plump, sweet Medjool dates; Barhi – the “toffee of dates” – very soft and sweet; the caramel-flavored and drier Deglet Noor, as well as a distinctive Deglet Noor still attached to the branches, and the small, honey-like Zahidi dates.
Add these healthy, delectable treasures to your Chubeza vegetable box via the Chubeza Order System
Even after more than 20 years of harvesting carrots at Chubeza, we’re still thrilled at the sight of this fiery orange root with its wild green crown peeking out of the soil in all its glory. As this season cools (yes, it’s still warm, but cooling…cooling…), the carrot claims its rightful place of honor in your boxes, for winter is its moment. Carrots don’t fancy too much heat and thrive in the chill, growing safely even beneath a blanket of snow. In Chubeza’s fields, from late summer throughout the winter, we plant beds of carrots every few weeks. After several months, we harvest them bed by bed, week by week, yielding long, juicy, orange root treasures.
Carrots (Daucus carota) belong to the Umbelliferae family, home to such vegetables and herbs as celery, fennel, parsley, dill, and coriander. Wild carrots grow across five continents: in the Mediterranean, South Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. They were likely first cultivated in Afghanistan and Turkey. The Arabs introduced the carrot to Spain, from where it spread throughout Europe. Early domesticated carrots came in such varied colors as red, purple, yellow-green, yellow, and white. In 18th-century Holland, the Dutch began growing orange carrots (matching the official Dutch “William of Orange” royal family color), now today’s most common variety. In Israel, orange carrots have been grown since early Jewish settlement. The Arabs used to grow dark purple carrots, now making a comeback as a “boutique” crop, primarily for its beauty. (Personally, I find those less tasty than the classic gingie).
The carrot plant is usually biennial. In their first growing season, they develop leaves and a root. Once mature, the carrot plant requires a good dose of winter chill to encourage the development of a thick stalk in the second season, growing upwards. The stalk branches out, ending in an umbrella-shaped flower cluster (as befits the Umbelliferae family). Each dry fruit contains a single seed, holding an essential oil that provides a distinctive scent. But when we grow carrots for food, we want a crisp, juicy taproot – not an old, woody, tired root that’s already produced flowers and seeds. So, we harvest the carrot before the flowering and the seed production begin.
The carrot root develops in three stages: just after germination, it becomes a long, thin, slender root. In Stage Two, the root continues to lengthen but also thickens and takes on its orange color. In the third stage, it stops growing longer and only the root continues to thicken. The root consists of a central cylinder, core, and xylem vessels.
A carrot’s quality and sweetness improve when the central cylinder is relatively thin compared to the cortex tissues. Under harsh growing conditions, or as the plant ages, the core becomes woody, and the carrot is no longer suitable for eating. Irregular irrigation or stress (such as drought) may cause the outer xylem tissue to grow unevenly, and the carrot splits.
The carrots now appearing in your Chubeza boxes were sown around three-and-a-half to four months ago. They sprouted slowly. (What’s the rush?) At first, two long “ears” emerged from the soil – the cotyledons, the first leaves. In time, they sported “true leaves,” resembling parsley or coriander (their cousins). These leaves we call carrot tops, beloved by every rabbit owner (and rabbit).
Carrots need breathing and growing space, both deep and sideways – ideally four directions of air. But their seeds are teeny-tiny, and it’s very hard to sow them precisely with enough spacing. So as soon as they start growing, we begin thinning – removing many tiny carrot sprouts to allow the remaining ones to grow into thick, respectable roots.
Carrots are famous for their bright orange hue, a sign reflecting their remarkable health benefits. This vibrant vegetable is highly acclaimed for its cancer-fighting properties, heart health benefits, immune system function, eye health promotion, skin care protection, and growth and vitality support. Carrots’ healing power comes from their yellow-orange carotenoid pigments: alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, and beta-carotene. Beta-carotene, the carrot’s most researched and popular pigment, belongs to a group of carotenoids that convert into vitamin A in the body (thus called pro-vitamin A). Vitamin A (aka “retinol,” due to its importance for retinal function) is essential for normal vision. Vitamin A deficiencies can impair photopigment function in the retina and cornea, leading to blindness or night blindness. Vitamin A also helps maintain skin health and plays a vital role in proper fetal development. What’s more, Vitamin A is crucial for learning and memory processes by contributing to the function of the brain’s memory center. It also plays a vital role in immune function. Vitamin A deficiencies increase susceptibility to viral infections, worsening illness severity and increasing susceptibility to viral infections. Traditional Chinese medicine considers the carrot a tonic for the spleen and blood, as it aids iron absorption and relieves anemia symptoms.
Ample vitamin A intake in the diet has been linked to reduced risk of many cancers, including eye, breast, colon, prostate, skin, and liver cancers. Carrots also contain a substance called falcarinol, a natural pesticide which carrots produce as a defense against harmful fungi. Falcarinol inhibits the production of substances that allow fungi to grow. Similarly, it inhibits production of substances that allow cancerous tumors to develop.
Carrots are also rich in such “classic” nutrients as potassium, B vitamins (including folic acid), vitamins C, K, and E, and dietary fibers. In short, carrots are packed with goodness. Give those carrots a place of honor on your plate!
Warning: Excessive carrot consumption can cause carotenemia – a temporary yellowing of the skin, caused by excess beta-carotene consumption from raw carrots. The phenomenon is not dangerous, only a little strange looking, and it fades away several weeks after one goes cold turkey on beta-carotene consumption.
CARROT TIPS:
- If you receive carrots in a bunch, complete with greens, remove the green tops before storage. Otherwise, they will draw water from the root and shrivel them.
- Store carrots in the coldest place in the fridge, in a sealed container in the vegetable drawer or in a plastic bag.
- Better not to peel the carrots. You can lightly scrape the skin, or not at all. Carrot peels are tasty and nutritious.
- Like tomatoes, cooked carrots are more nutritious and healthier than raw! Cooking, and even a light scraping, increases vitamin A content. It’s best to cook carrots in a small amount of water or by steaming, so vitamins are not diffused or wasted in the cooking water.
- Cooking or seasoning with oil increases absorption of antioxidants. Adding a piece of carrot to frying oil maintains the oil’s quality, thus the oil absorbed in the food is healthier. The carotenoids prevent oxidation of the oil and keep it fresh.
- Combine carrots with foods containing vitamin E such as peanuts, pumpkin, leafy greens, and whole grains.
Storebought carrots are meticulously sorted to select only those with the “right” sizes and shapes to be placed on the shelf. (The rest often become baby carrots…). But in the field, carrots grow in a fun, wild variety of shapes, revealing the true charming carrot who loves to dance, hug, hang out, and make funny faces.
The classic Israeli story of "Eliezer and the Carrot," is seemingly just an entertaining children's story, but when you think about it for a moment, it actually contains immense hope - Even when something feels stuck, overwhelming, and impossible to change, by combining our efforts and strength, embracing those who are different from us, joining toward a shared goal, and trying again and again, the carrot meets the challenge to emerge!
We continue to hold onto hope for the return home of all the hostages,
Alon, Bat-Ami, Dror, Einat, and the entire Chubeza team
