Magnus Blog

Today I got my first Ekolåda (roughly translated, Ecobox), and I’m really excited about it.

It contained lots of edible goodies, namely artichokes, avocados, beets, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, leeks, parsnips and rucola salad.

I’ve uploaded plenty of pictures to gaze longingly at, to flickr, check them out here.

The artichokes looked fresh (I of course tested them in the way recommended by AB in the Good Eats episode about artichokes), so they seem as very worthy specimen for me to try real artichokes, as I’ve only had canned before, and I can’t say that I liked those. These I plan to eat on their own, with some melted lemon butter.

The avocados (of the Haas variety, oh, and Haas rhymes with mass, in case you are to pronounce it) were not yet ripe, which for avocados is a good thing. You see, avocados never ripen on the tree, because the leaves of the avocado tree produces a hormone which prevents the fruit from ripening. Thus when the avocado is not yet ripe, means it is at least relatively fresh. The metabolism of the avocado can be slowed down by cold or depravation of oxygen (such as by putting it in a plastic bag, but that is not advisable, because they might rot) but only to a certain degree. I plan to use these in a guacamole (yeah, not very original, but good eats none the less).

The beets was the only thing I was a little disappointed with. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with them, it’s just that I had hoped that they would include the greens, which are of course tasty (why, swiss chard is the greens of a kind of beet). I plan to use these in a way shown by Good Eats. I’m gonna roast them with olive oil, shallots and rosemary. I could of course go on from there and have some real fun, and pickle them, but I don’t know… Oh, and speaking of good eats, I might some day build myself one of those faux root cellars he showed. Would be great not only for beets, but probably carrots, parsnips, and lots of other things as well.

The broccoli seemed pretty fresh, I haven’t tasted it yet, so I don’t really know, but it smelled fresh (I’ve smelled all the vegetables, that is the best way to know how fresh they are, this also applies to fish). Maybe I’ll use these for a broccoli casserole? Or perhaps I will just plain steam them.

The cherry tomatoes… Now this is were things got very interesting. These were indeed the best tomatoes I’ve bought. They actually tasted like tomatoes! Totally awesome I’m gonna try roasting some of them and the rest I’ll probably just eat as they are

The leeks were dirty, as should they be, so yes, I see that as good. They grow in dirt, therefore one can expect them to pick some of it up. I haven’t yet tasted them, but they looked and smelled nice. I’ll at least use one of them for a soup. Then perhaps some ideas from the Good eats episode ‘Sprung a leek’?

The parsnips also seemed nice, and there were plenty of them. They will also be used in a soup. Since they are a relative of the carrot, perhaps I shall also experiment with substituting them some time? Boiled parsnips with butter? It might be a hit!

The rucola salad was great. Totally great. It was the most tasty rucola salad I have ever tasted! Incredibly great, this will probably be eaten just as is

I certainly will keep buying from Ekolådan.