CSA Adventure: Orange is the New Green

This week we received cantaloupe, eggplant, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions and basil. When I was growing up the only orange produce I can recall was oranges. And yams. Evidently orange is the new green in the vegetable world.

Last week we received some orange (along with red and yellow) peppers. Some of the tomatoes we have received have been orange instead of the usual red. There was even one bright yellow on this week. The yellow tomato had almost no seeds compared to the red ones. I don’t know if that is because of the type of tomato it was that just happened to be yellow or if yellow tomatoes in general are seedless.

We received a watermelon last week that looked like a regular melon until I sliced it open. You guessed it….instead of the ruby red, watermelon aficionados are accustomed to the melon was a glowing orange color. Again, I don’t know if color effects perception but this melon seemed sweeter that the red fleshed ones.

Colorful vegetables make for inviting summer meals. The pale green of the cucumber salad, the bright yellow of the sliced tomato and the orange, greens and reds of the peppers stirred fried with a few white onions made for a meal that was a feast for our eyes as well as our taste buds. I don’t remember what type of meat I served with that meal but the riot of color from the vegetables is still imprinted on my mind days later.

Color may or may not effect perception of how vegetables tastes. One thing I have noticed since we have started our CSA adventure, everyone is at least trying the vegetable dishes I am making and we no longer have any leftovers after our meals.

I am tickled pink by this.