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Choy CommonsChoy CommonsOrganically Grown Frisée

1 head

This organically grown frisée is a curly, frizzy-leafed salad green from the chicory family, not a true lettuce, with a pleasantly bitter, peppery, nutty flavor. Growers block light from the inner leaves for a week or two before harvest, and without light to feed their green color, the heart turns pale, tender, and noticeably sweeter than the darker outer leaves, which carry most of the bite.

Toss the frizzled leaves with a warm bacon vinaigrette, the classic match for its texture and bitterness, build a salad around a soft poached egg, or wilt it briefly into warm dishes, since the leaves hold their shape even cooked. It pairs especially well with bacon, egg, Dijon, and shallot.

Local
Organically Grown
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Choy CommonsChoy Commons

Chester, NY

Choy Commons is a nonhierarchical cooperative of Asian-led farms working together to build a more connected and equitable food system in the Northeast. Founded in 2021 by farmers who met through the Asian Farmers affinity caucus, Choy Commons grew from a shared desire to build community and explore what it means to be Asian American within the food and climate justice movement.

Their name reflects that vision. “Choy,” the Cantonese romanization of 菜, means leaf vegetable, evoking the East Asian foods and agricultural traditions that connect their farmers to their heritage. “Commons” speaks to their commitment to reciprocity—with the land and with one another—and to sharing food, resources, labor and knowledge.

Choy Commons supports small farms through collaboration, grows ancestral foods for their communities, redistributes resources to provide food to those in need, and creates space to practice and adapt cultural traditions. By weaving together farms, community organizations, mutual aid groups, food purveyors and cultural practitioners, they are cultivating not just food, but a shared sense of belonging, interdependence and food sovereignty.