If you think salad mixes are limited to prechopped lettuces entombed in plastic bags and shipped from California, think again. Sam Hilmer and Joanna Duley of Claverach Farm in Eureka offer wonderful medleys of locally grown baby greens. Flavorful, colorful and consistently good quality, Claverach’s greens are irresistible even to many restaurant chefs. A long list of local fine-dining establishments buys from these talented young growers.
“Our mix varies from week to week depending on what’s growing,” said Duley. These sprightly greens, picked at the most flavorful and tender stage, are diminutive, with most no longer than an index finger and some no wider than the bowl of a tablespoon. The blend’s year-round base is comprised of lettuces, frisée and the Asian greens mizuna and tatsoi. Additions follow the growing cycle: in spring and fall, spinach, bull’s blood beet greens and chards; arugula, sweet amaranth and sprigs of herbs like dill, cilantro and Italian flat-leaf parsley spark the summer mix. Hilmer and Duley choose the mixes each week; customers load up the amounts they need from a huge bin at the Maplewood Farmers’ Market.
But whatever the blend, spring through fall, expect beauty. The smooth, spoon-shaped leaves of dark green tatsoi stand out against the pebbly lime green of baby romaine. From the palest celadon of frisée to the forest green of spinach, the pinkish-red edges of leaf lettuce to the deeper-than-ruby-red of beet leaves, the range of colors is striking.
Shapes play a part, too. The spiky contours of mizuna contrast with the gently rounded cuts of oakleaf lettuce. Red Russian kale, with its deeply cut, medium-green leaf and purplish center vein, looks wild but tastes mild.
Anticipate exceptional taste contrasts, like the buttery flavor of red or green black-seeded Simpson lettuce against the peppery bite of arugula. Or the cool tang of spinach against a tart nibble of tatsoi. Sometimes, texture takes center stage, as with frisée. This feathery green looks fragile but has a toothy crunch and delivers a slightly bitter flavor punch. Baby bok choy presents a smooth-surfaced ladylike leaf and stem but adds an earthy, mustardy note.
Whenever you buy, the produce will be of the highest quality. “I never have to worry about the quality of their product. The greens are just amazing,” said Gerard Craft, executive chef and co-owner of Niche. “I can find myself sitting in the refrigerator, just snacking on their salad greens.”
Claverach works to deliver that quality consistently. Hilmer built hoop houses and growing rooms to moderate the effects of Missouri weather and employs floating row covers to keep out pests and to shade the tender plants in the field. The farm uses only organic fertilizers. Hilmer also puts a lot of effort into cultivating a healthy, nutrient-rich soil, from the standard practices of adding compost and using tilled-under nitrogen-rich cover crops to experimenting with a Japanese process that adds beneficial organisms to the soil.
When you stop by the booth at the Maplewood market to stock up on salad greens, look also for springtime offerings of sunflower, radish and pea shoots; spring onions; and asparagus. And consider chatting with Duley and Hilmer about their greens and farming techniques. Conversation with the two is like a spring tonic, brisk, delightful and energizing – just like their salad mix.
This article appears in May 1-31, 2007.