The Ish shel Lechem bakery is taking a short summer break in a couple of weeks. There will be no bread baking on August 13 and Wednesday 15th. Those who wish to increase their order next week, please inform us or DIY via our order system. Wishing everyone a happy vacation!
New goodies from Udi’s sprouts! These amazing sprouts are now available in big (11/4 liter) packages. This is the perfect opportunity to enjoy this product all the more. Udi and his colleague from Moshav Achituv grow excellent-quality sprouts in this scrumptious array of varieties: alfalfa, peas, broccoli, kale, radishes, mustard, sunflower, Chinese sprouts, wheat grass and small leafless sprouts.
Check out the detailed list in our order system, and order today!
________________________________________
Over the past weeks, Chubeza’s lubia has begun ripening in nice quantities, making a formal announcement that summer is at its peak. If you’ve been wondering why the latest green beans you’ve been receiving are so strange and coarse, well, it’s because they’re not green beans but rather… Thai lubia (yard-long beans), which arrive “gift-wrapped” in your boxes, all tied up with a rubber band, for a rather strange and unique present. But don’t expect it to be a green bean, because it simply is not…
Thai bean/lubia (V. unguiculata ssp. Sesquipedalis) is a relative of the common bean, chickpea, soy, fava bean and other members of the Faboideae family we so love to nibble on. Like them, the Thai lubia wears two outfits: the green dress, eaten in long green pods, and the dry ensemble where only the dry seeds are consumed.
In English, Thai lubia is known as the yard-long bean, bora beans, long-podded cowpea, asparagus bean, pea bean, snake bean, or Chinese long bean. All names relate to the bean’s various characteristics: it originates in Southeast Asia, hence the “Chinese” or “Thai” title, and can reach the hearty length of one meter (though it’s generally harvested young, at approximately 30 cm. long and 1 cm thick). Lubia is reminiscent of the asparagus in diameter and length, and because of its flexibility may resemble a green snake (to those of you with overactive imaginations). Its taste ranges between that of green beans and fresh green lubia, whilst the texture is more akin to lubia, less crunchy than the green bean and more flexible.
The Thai yard-long bean needs more heat than the green bean, and manages quite well throughout the sweltering months of summer (which certainly cannot be said of green beans). It is seeded in late spring, and we trellis it like peas, on poles with a net spread between the stalks on which the young plants climb adeptly and efficiently. Blooms begin within three months with a couple of beautiful flowers on each pole, resembling two butterflies. A pair of beans ripens from those two, adjacent to each other at the ends, like a couple of twin green worms. (I just managed to think up a new name!)
These beans must be harvested with care, as the bloom pole continues to develop flowers throughout the season. Contrary to green beans or peas, the Thai lubia grows slowly and yields pods only after more than three months (compared to two or less). But this has its advantages: – we can harvest the lubia on and on, till the temperatures drop in wintertime.
The Thai yard-long bean can be harvested, like at Chubeza, at a young stage at less than 30 cm long and 1 cm. thick, and be used the same way as one would prepare a fresh lubia or green bean. You can also allow the pods to mature on the plant and use the black, red or white (depending on the variety) seeds as you would dry lubia pods or any dry bean.
The Thai yard-long bean can be used in recipes calling for green beans or fresh lubia, including soups and quiches. In China, it is easily stir-fried, and is actually the original bean to have been used in stir-fried dishes. It tastes wonderful with fish and even pickled. The yard-long bean is rich in Vitamin A and contains a good quantity of Vitamin C as well.
The lubia recipes featured on our website range from easy to complicated, all delicious, of course. But if you don’t feel like firing up a cooking flame in this scorching heat, just help yourself to a long snake bean and nibble away!
Enjoy a week full of summer abundance and a true feeling of vacation,
Alon, Bat Ami, Dror, Yochai and the entire Chubeza team
___________________________________
WHAT’S IN THIS WEEK’S BOXES?
Monday: Bell peppers/cherry tomatoes, slice of pumpkin/ Amoro pumpkin, Thai yard-long beans, cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes, New Zealand spinach, corn, potatoes, parsley/coriander, lettuce.
Large box, in addition: Butternut squash/melon, okra, onions/scallions
FRUIT BOXES: Bananas, pears, nectarines, mango.
Monday: Bell peppers/butternut, slice of pumpkin/ Amoro pumpkin, Thai yard-long beans, cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, parsley/coriander, lettuce, cherry tomatoes.
Large box, in addition: Okra, onions/scallions, New Zealand spinach,
FRUIT BOXES: Bananas, pears, nectarines, mango.