Veggies this past week

It's raining, again. I have a spare moment out of it to let you know about some surprises in your box!

A few people got Jimmy Nardello sweet peppers (an heirloom, long pointy and wrinkly) and a few got Mild Jalapenos (they look like regular jalapenos, only they have no heat). We still have no sign of red or yellow sweet peppers, and feel lucky the green ones are finally getting a little larger. I'm not sure what the 4 days of temps in the 60s / 40s will do to them, or the other heat-loving crops.

Hot peppers are sparse. Any in your box will be in a ziplock bag marked HOT. I try to have some extra at the Market or set out for CSA people here. I got a report of a very hot jalapeno!

The tomatoes are getting worse and worse. All the tomatoes put in your boxes this week were sorted through for blemishes or blight and all looked good going in. However, some of the large ones I had set aside for shares picked up on Friday and Saturday started deteriorating overnight. I'm sorry if yours has. It is absolutely the worst tomato crop ever, in 38 years of growing them. And that's the word from just about everyone. Even people with nice looking tomatoes (no blight) say the flavor is not good. Tomatoes need heat and dry weather to develop the best taste, concentrate the natural sugars. Commercial growers are having to spray spray spray to keep some of their crop.

Here's more on Jimmy Nardello:

Jimmy Nardello's Sweet Italian Frying pepper

• This variety of pepper was originally from Basilicata, a southern region of Italy. It takes its name from seed saver Jimmy Nardello, who brought the seeds from Italy while immigrating to Connecticut in 1887. The Jimmy Nardello's pepper is sweet and light when eaten raw. It is considered one of the very best frying peppers as its fruity raw flavor becomes perfectly creamy and soft when fried.