I’ve learned a few things from joining a CSA this year.

So far:

Organic, non-pesticide ridden fruit is about 3 times smaller than the stuff you buy in stores. It’s also about 3 times more tasty.

Sheep make a hell of a lot of noise.

Apparently, I eat about 4 times the amount a family of 4 does if 4 leaves of kale are considered a “bunch”.

People that work at CSAs/farms are exactly what you picture in your head. Flannel shirts, no makeup, quirky and extremely nice.

Currants actually exist in a form other than “dried”.

Who knew?

Ok, I guess I knew but honestly, I’ve never in my life actually seen them in a grocery store. Guess they’d rather stock the shelves with steroid pumped strawberries instead.

These blueberry lookalikes came last week for the first time and I was at an absolute loss at what to do with them. At first, I thought they were too tart to eat raw but the thought of turning them into a sweetened jam or sauce seemed like too boring and predictable of a route.

So I kept eating them one by one, hovering over the sink until I decided on a classic fruit + grain salad. To offset the tartness of the raw fruit, I’d sweeten and spice up the grain.

What resulted was a partially acceptable breakfast salad, a quirky dinner side salad or an excellent snack over plain yogurt. Take your pick.

Chewy, tart, sweet and minty.

It’s an eclectic little salad which seems totally appropriate considering it’s quirky, flannel loving origin.

For more chewy grain salads like this try these recipes

Bulgur salad — the sweet and tangy orange Dijon dressing makes this side dish or salad hard to put down.
Strawberry tabbouleh — another salad that uses bulgur wheat as the grain offering a sweet twist to a traditionally savory recipe.
Wheat berry salad — if you love wheat berries, this salad is the recipe that started this blog and still one of my favorites to make for a summer cookout.