Magnesium 101, The Miracle of Magnesium

Magnesium is essential to more than 300 biochemical processes in the human body and over 3,700 magnesium binding sites. The functions the need magnesium include:

• Blood pressure regulation
• Protein synthesis
• Neurological function
• Blood sugar control
• Energy metabolism
• Antioxidant production

Most of the US population is deficient in magnesium.

This post is about magnesium rich natural food sources...

What is a Tomatillo?

What is a tomatillo? We get asked all the time what a tomatillo is. They are not commonly grown this far north but you can find them in the produce section in most grocery stores. They are an interesting ingredient in a fresh salsa. They taste like a citrus flavored kiwi, but not so sweet. They are not hot and are very meaty.

They have a husk on the outside that is removed before chopping them up or cooking. They have a little sticky coating on the inside of the husk that can be washed off before use. They sprawl out a little more than the tomato plants and yield pretty good. They yield keeps doubling each week until frost as the plants are heavily branched. They are in the solenacia family the same as peppers and tomatoes.

This year because it was so dry and the tomatillos are about 1/2 mile from the house. I couldn't water. I noticed that plants started to drop their fruit. We got a rain about a week ago and they look like they are back on track.

The plants will reseed themselves the next year and you can thin them out and keep the biggest ones if you'd like. We move them around so don't usually do that.

You haven't had fresh salsa until you add in a couple of tomatillos. You can also make a vibrant green salsa using all tomatillos.

A Simple Fresh Salsa Recipe

A salsa kit contains all the vegetables that it takes to make a great salsa. Once the tomatoes start we offer this weekly. It can vary a little from week to week early in the season, don't worry about the exact proportions, about anything works. The kit typically contains the following:

• Tomatoes
• Bell Peppers
• Jalapeno
• Sweet Onions
• Tomatillo
• Garlic
• Cilantro
• Salt and Lime to Taste (not included)

We suggest you add salt and lime, but we don't grow those so they aren't included.

It would typically be about twice the cost to gather up all the ingredients separately so this is a pretty good deal. Makes 1.5 quarts of salsa.

A Simple Fresh Salsa Recipe

Instructions to assembly your salsa. It is easiest to use a food processor, but you can make salsa with just a sharp knife.

Chop up the garlic, cilantro and jalapeno first (if you want it hotter, leave the seeds in, otherwise remove the seeds). Add bell peppers, tomatillo and sweet onions and pulse the food process several times to chop. Cut tomatoes into quarters and pulse again to chop. If you want chunky only pulse a couple of times. If you want a smoother salsa, pulse a few more times.

Enjoy!

Kick it Up:

• Add some of Petersen's sweet corn, cut kernels off the ear (a great way to use up leftovers)
• Add black beans
• Add chipotles
• Add more Jalapenos
• Double the recipe size with your own tomatoes or buy some extra