thoughtful consumption

This pack is sent to everyone who purchases a sustaining membership for $100. Members also get online store discounts.

Here’s what was in my member pack.

• 2 peanut bars – so scrumptious! I’ll be ordering these from the online store for special occasions.
• 3 lip balms – peppermint, pink grapefruit, and honey
• goat soap sampler – 6 cute little soaps in different scents
• 8 oz Café Campesino coffee
• corn grits –whole grain and stone ground
• a handy tote bag
• 6 oz local wildflower honey
• CSA cookbook
• spearmint
• yellow polenta
• Carolina Gold rice
• tea clip and bags for making herbal teas
• herbal tea mix: chamomile, lemon balm, and catnip
• Three-Grain pancake mix

Whole grains

I was excited to see all the grains. I’ve really enjoyed cooking (and eating) them. I’ve learned that less-processed grains have great texture and taste. It’s not all just indistinguishable starch. For instance, I used to think of grits as the substance from Waffle House that’s best covered with cheese. But real grits are incredible with some butter, salt and pepper, and I’d never put cheese on them. (What? And cover up all that corn grit taste? No way!)

There are plenty of fancy recipes for making polenta, but it looks like corn meal to me and that means I’m going to make at least some of it into cornbread. I love cornbread and haven’t made any in a while. I’m sure it will be divine with this stuff although I may add a little flour if the texture seems too coarse.

The polenta and the rice come from Anson Mills in South Carolina. They grow heirloom varieties and mill them in old fashioned ways that protects their flavor and nutritional value. Read more about them at their website www.ansonmills.com.

For the rice, I’m going to use this recipe from the Anson Mills site. You cook the rice and then dry it the oven for a few minutes. Huh. I’ll give it a try.

Because these are whole grains and milled without heat or preservatives, it’s important to keep them in the fridge or freezer.

Herbs and tea

I appreciate the tools and instructions for making herbal teas. I drink a lot of regular tea, and I’ve always wanted to experiment more with herbal teas. I’ll use the herbs from the mix fresh for herbal tea, but I’m going to make the spearmint and the mint from this week’s box into syrup. I can’t imagine getting through this much mint fresh.

Making syrup seems pretty easy. Boil a cup of water and sugar for each cup of mint leaves. When the sugar dissolves, add the mint, remove from the heat, and let it sit with the leaves in it for at least an hour. Then remove the leaves and put the syrup in the fridge. Then add to tea in place of honey or sugar. I’m also hoping that you can just add some of the syrup to hot water with lemon and make mint herbal tea.