Fresh from Wellspring Charitable Gardens - February 20, 2025

Fresh Today… Romanesco, Napa Cabbage, Assorted Head Lettuces, Arugula, Broccoli Shoots, Fennel, Carrots, Kale, Salad Turnips, Watermelon Radish, Green Onions, Parsley, Cilantro, Grapefruit, Lemons, Mandarins, Blood & Navel & Valencia Oranges

Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno

Romanesco is closely related to cauliflower. They can be substituted for each other in recipes.  Cooking Romanesco or cauliflower whole makes for a beautiful presentation when serving. This method also keeps the fractal pattern of the Romanesco intact. If you are in a hurry, you could cut the head into florets, season them with the butter and herbs, and roast it in half the time, but it doesn’t take any more work to cook it whole. Lining the Dutch oven with parchment will save time with clean up, so I recommend this.

Whole Roasted Romanesco

1 head Romanesco cauliflower

¼ cup melted butter or oil

1 clove garlic minced

1 teaspoon lemon zest

2 tablespoons chopped fresh

     parsley

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon fresh ground

     black pepper

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

     cheese (optional)

* Preheat oven to 400°F. Trim leaves from Romanesco head and cut the stem flat so that it sits upright. Line a Dutch oven with parchment paper and place the head inside. Combine butter, garlic, lemon zest, parsley, salt, and pepper. Brush mixture on top of the head. Cover the pot with the lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid, sprinkle on parmesan cheese and continue cooking until the cheese is browned and crispy, about 15 minutes more. Remove from the oven and serve.

Beauty Unfolds in Failure

Romanesco, a hybrid of cauliflower and broccoli, derives its striking beauty from its persevering buds. Its fractal structure - the spiral bud pattern that reaches upward and outward – develops through the plant’s determination and endurance. It forms a bud that tries, but fails, to unfold and flower. These failed flowers then sprout new buds to make new flowers, which also fail to fully form. Upward and outward perseveres Romanesco through the failure that creates its spiral floret pattern. So, Romanesco’s unparalleled beauty develops in its striving, not in its succeeding.

Fibonacci Sequence

Romanesco’s spiral pattern beautifully displays the Fibonacci Sequence, a recursive pattern of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding (e.g.: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34…). As the sequence develops, the numbers become larger and the distances between them greater as the ratio between them approaches, but never quite reaches, 1.618. That ratio was called the Golden Mean by Aristotle, the Golden Ratio by Euclid, and the Divine Proportion by Leonardo da Vinci. For them, it represented the ideal form for beauty related to size and proportion.

Citrus Marmalade…

Citrus fruit has pectin in the rind and pulp that makes a simple marmalade without added pectin. I like to use a blood orange in the citrus mix citrus because the marmalade turns a pretty shade of pink. You can process the finished marmalade in a water-bath to preserve, but it will keep for several weeks in the fridge.

Easy Orange Marmalade

2 large oranges or 3-4 small

1 Meyer lemon

1/3 cup water

2 cups granulated sugar

* Wash the oranges and lemon, thoroughly scrubbing the peels. Cut off the stem ends and then cut each fruit into 8 pieces. Discard seeds. Place the citrus pieces in a food processor and pulse/chop until the rind is in very small pieces. You should have about 2 cups of processed fruit. Add citrus to a saucepan over medium heat. Add water and sugar and stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a low boil and simmer, stirring often, for 30-35 minutes until thickened. The temperature should reach 220°F. Pour into jars or containers with a lid. Allow to cool to room temperature. Store in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks or freeze for up to 3 months.

Metaphors of Soil & Soul…

Boundaries by Design

Ronda May Melendez & Keith F Martin

Quince is in full bloom, and how beautiful are its blossoms! I wish I could draw near and fully embrace its beauty, but “embracing” isn’t something one does with quince with its long, sharp thorns. Those thorns have purpose. They protect it from aggressors that would harm its blossoms and damage its fruit. Despite its prickliness, when we respect quince’s sharp boundaries and approach carefully, we can enjoy its beauty and delight in its flowers and fruit.

Quinces make good hedges. They are beautiful and formidable, lovely models for defined boundaries that recall God’s original design. Boundaries have been from the beginning: Light from Dark, Day from Night, Morning from Evening, Water from Land, “Shall” from “Shall Not.”  They are not consequences of the Fall, but like cultivating the ground and birthing babies, they are now sharper and more severe because of it. Certain boundaries declare that life and beauty are sacred and must be defended. 

Quince’s thorns are arrayed for that purpose. Painful to careless or aggressive intruders, the thorns guard its fruit bearing, life-sustaining energies, but they aren’t designed to control others. That responsibility falls on them. Quince isn’t discouraging any who desires to get acquainted; it welcomes engagement and shares its beauty and bounty generously. When I approach it with care and respect, I may safely harvest its delicate blossoms to beautify my table or its ripe fruit to prepare a tasty jam. When I ignore or disregard its boundaries, I proceed at my own detriment. Quince is unapologetic when enforcing its sharp boundaries. There is pain in every pointed reminder it that guards its life and beauty earnestly. 

We can learn much about our design by closely observing God’s creation. Let us, like quince, confidently set and enforce boundaries that protect the beauty and fruit in our lives. Let us urge others to engage and enjoy them with care and self-control. That is LORD God’s design in the beginning and will be until the end.

“Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’ — therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So, He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.”     Genesis 3:22-24