Glass Jars, Kimchis, and what to do with those greens

We've been getting piles and piles of leafy greens in the CSA box, way more than we can handle honestly. It doesn't help that we don't eat much raw salad. However, faced with this problem, I've explored a few successful options, including adding a pile of greens to my beet chili recipe, as well as experimenting with a variety of kimchis. So far I've only made a "standard" chili kimchi and a curry kimchi (both from the recipe I posted previously), but those two made me realize how easy it is to use up a lot of salad greens with a healthy food that never goes bad.

You can essentially use any veggies/spices in your kimchi as long as you use a green with the consistency of cabbage as the base (my second attempt was with bok choy), and modify the amount you use to accommodate your supplies. Soak it overnight in some salt water, toss it all in a jar with your paste, the brine, and extra veggies, and let it sit out for about 7 days. Seriously, how easy is that? (The answer: extremely) Oh yeah, and did I mention cheap? If not, I should have. It's seriously hella cheap.



A word on glass jars. They are so handy for such a wide variety of tasks I would dare claim that no kitchen can be complete without a sizable collection. They're easy to clean, make great storage containers, are fantastic to pack a lunch in (especially if you're a cyclist like me and can't deal with spillage), and will almost certainly last far longer than tupperware if you treat them right. Besides that, you're cutting a major source of plastic out of your life, which is always a good thing.

Although you can certainly buy canning jars in the store for a fairly reasonable price, I would recommend trying to replace some of your current staples with ones packaged in glass jars. For example, I've been buying a local yogurt that comes in a glass jar rather than the yogurts that come in plastic containers (though those are wonderful in their own right). The extra money is worth it, as the glass is far easier to keep clean, you eliminate the risk of your food being tainted by plastic, you're throwing out far less plastic, AND you have some great containers to put all your tasty kimchi in (not to mention any stuff you'd like to pickle)! That, my friends, is how you win at winning.