This Week at the Farmers Market – Red Orach?

by Alice Magdziak • September 1, 2014 • Garden State, Green Jersey • Comments (0) • 2196

We’ve been a part of the Westfield CSA (community supported agriculture) group for several years now. Check out what we got so you can see what your farmers will have this week! Since our farmer also delivers to local farmers markets, we think his shares are pretty representative of what other organic farmers will be bringing to their markets.

This week we got tomatoes, peppers, scallions, red orach, carrots, garlic, cucumbers and thyme.

What’s that crazy purple thing? Red orach, of course!

According to Recipes.Wikia.com, red orache (A. hortensis), also called mountain spinach or French spinach, is an annual leaf vegetable with a salty, spinach-like taste which can be used cooked or in salads. It was commonly grown in Mediterranean regions from early times until spinach became the more favored leaf vegetable of choice. The leaves can come in red, white and green leaves. The green leaves were once used to color pasta in Italy. Another common use of orach was to mix with the herb sorrel to balance out its acid flavor.