View Full Version : Fruits and vegetables off the beaten track
As we've cruised the aisles of the farmer's market and various ethnic markets over the years, we've found a few favorite items that are not mainstream but which we enjoy nonetheless. An added bonus is that these items very often are less expensive than similar but more popular items.
I'm wondering which lesser-known items of produce you like and how they stand in for better-known kinds of produce. I'll start:
- Purslane (aka verdolagas). I've made this a few times now, with cucumbers in a yogurt-based dressing and, this week, with onions and Indian spices in a curry which I will serve either with brown rice or tofu cubes. I like the heatless tang.
- Malabar spinach (sometimes called water spinach). This can be used pretty much anyplace hot spinach would be used; it can be a bit mucilaginous (goopy, like okra), so I tend not to use it uncooked. Keeps its color better than spinach, too.
- Opo or moqua. These are Asian melons/squashes which can be used pretty much like big zucchini. Mild flavor, like zucchini.
- Beet tops. I know beet tops are pretty much Swiss Chard, but they come free with the beets, so I try to buy bunches with the tops still in good shape.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but that gets us started. How about you folks?
I think you are right about the beet tops. Notice they don't sell turnips with their tops on?
Napa cabbage, bok choy, Chinese broccoli (kai lan) and other Asian greens sell for $1/bunch at our local market, while their relatives kale, broccoli, and cabbage sell for $2-3/bunch.
Radish leaves are also edible, as are broccoli leaves... all related to cabbage.
iris lilies
8-5-13, 11:55pm
DH grows Malabar spinach. It's ok. The value of it is that it produces during hot weather when regular spinach is done, it's also pretty as it climbs up as a vine.
It is very strange but I can't bring myself to pick and eat purslane. I am not a picky eater and I love all greens and salads. Guess I've just spent too many years attacking that as weeds.
A crop that you northerners won't get: okra. We grow a lot of okra.And a lot of Swiss chard.
DH loves his kolrabi, we eat it raw.
It is hard to change perspective on things on purslane and chickweed and plantain.
Although it may be mainstream to other cultures, I have recently been using prickly pears in different ways. I love to go to the huge Asian market here and peruse the vegetables to try - mostly greens and roots. We have been eating beet greens for some time now - they make a great salad lightly steamed with cooked/roasted beets, red onions, mandarins and balsamic dressing.
I'm going to make beet greens pesto today!
We moved this summer and our new place has a couple of Asian Pear trees that are just spewing fruit. Google search shows they are edible, but anyone have any suggestions for what to do with them? Hard to tell if they are ripe as they don't seem to soften much.
I put purslane, dandelion greens, lamb's quarters etc. into green smoothies -- "weedies" my husband calls them -- because their nutritional value is pretty sky-high.
Some things I grow that people always say Huh? about are
French sorrel - really spectacular included in a creamy sauce for fish and chicken
Collards - southern folk often see this as common and northern folk know nothing about it, but I love this stuff. I also use this in pesto!
Chervil - an herb that isn't often used, but has the most delicate and lovely flavor
Garlic scapes - a by-product of course, but after I cut them I mince and use them in pestos, stirfry dishes, and omelettes
Yossarian, when we see decent Asian Pears, we treat them pretty much as we would apples. They're good for eating out of hand; they can be baked pretty much like apples; I'll guess they'll make a good pie (we don't eat pie) since they don't tend to mush out. Like apples, they could be used in a Waldorf salad or dipped in caramel. I would peel them, however, since the skin is not smooth like apple skin.
puglogic, yes, collards (and turnip greens; don't care that much for mustard greens). And garlic scapes, which keep remarkably well considering their short season. I tend to use scapes like I would scallions.
I'm also reminded that we love pea tips/pea shoots/pea tendrils, the beginnings of (snow) pea plants which (tendrils removed) make tasty greens enjoyable even to people who don't otherwise care for greens. DW does not like greens in general, but she welcomes pea tips. They're catching on here, so they're no longer the bargain they once were, but they're still inexpensive compared to popular greens (and much cheaper to make simply at home than to enjoy at a Chinese restaurant).
We've seen amaranth leaves and sweet-potato leaves a few times at the FM. Both of them have been good. Hard to find reliably here, though. Hard to find good radish greens, too. The radishes are gorgeous little radiant red orbs; the greens a soggy yellow-green clump. :(
iris lilies, when I first encountered purslane, all I could think of was the list of "unwanteds" they reel off during Roundup commercials, and I thought it was as likely I would eat it as I would crabgrass or thistle. But then I realized that I like artichokes and they're just big thistles. And being a city boy, I have no memory of trying to eradicate it from the homestead, so I tried it. It's been good eating for me. :)
Speaking of weeds, I've tried dandelion greens a few times now and just can't get past the pepperiness or bitterness (they were organic/untreated, too, so I can't blame excessive herbicide). Cold, hot. Hasn't made a difference. Has anyone made them in a way that's more palatable (besides smoothies)?
Chervil, yes! I add it to steamed green beans.
I JUST cooked okra for the very first time last night, IrisLily...it came out well. Followed the recommendations by America's Test Kitchen to saute at high heat very quickly with garlic. I liked it...it was still crunchy. They say the things to remember are to use 3-in. or smaller okra, don't cut it up, and to cook it fast. Then you don't get the goop.
We moved this summer and our new place has a couple of Asian Pear trees that are just spewing fruit. Google search shows they are edible, but anyone have any suggestions for what to do with them? Hard to tell if they are ripe as they don't seem to soften much.
If you decide to can them, please research it, because they are very low acid.
Steve, on dandelion greens, I treat them a lot like broccoli raab (rapini) and blanch them for a minute in boiling water before adding to a dish. It removes about 80% of the bitterness, reducing it to a pleasant bite (in my book). I like them sauteed with caramelized onions (and sometimes a little bacon or pancetta) after blanching.
Broccoli raab is another thing that people find odd - they offer their condolences that my broccoli heads aren't forming properly :)
I have sweet potatoes growing this year for the first time....I wonder if I should try the leaves?
Steve, on dandelion greens, I treat them a lot like broccoli raab (rapini) and blanch them for a minute in boiling water before adding to a dish. It removes about 80% of the bitterness, reducing it to a pleasant bite (in my book). I like them sauteed with caramelized onions (and sometimes a little bacon or pancetta) after blanching.
Thanks, puglogic! We always seem to have a bumper crop of dandelions in the yard, which we don't treat (other than pulling them out by the roots somewhat unsuccessfully). I'd be game to collect them and blanch them first.
I have sweet potatoes growing this year for the first time....I wonder if I should try the leaves?
I would, if you like greens in general. I don't remember them being particularly bitter or ... well, memorable. But it's better than just plowing them under again. As I mentioned, I don't see them often at the Farmer's Market, but, then, I don't usually see acres of sweet potatoes, either. (White potatoes of all varieties, however, are easy to come by).
Related to this topic a movie that sounds interesting:
http://www.eyesteelfilm.com/fruithunters
Aren't sweet potatoes in the nightshade family? Wouldn't they be toxic? Also, don't you wait for most potato leaves to turn brown and wilt before harvesting the tubers? Wouldn't they benefit from the leaves being left intact for photosynthesis purposes?
found this on the web under "Asian greens":
Sweet Potato Leaves are a popular vegetable in Chinese and Taiwanese cuisine where they are stir-fried with garlic and spices, and cooked in soups. The leaves are dark green and pitchfork-shaped
PEA SHOOTS (Pisum stivum): From the Leguminosae family. Correctly referred to as pea pod leaves, these are the tendrils and top few leaves of the snow pea plant. An important ingredient in Shanghai and Vietnamese cooking. Pinch leaves from stems, and use the tenderest tips. The delicate pea flavor comes through when they're used raw in salads, steamed, or stir-fried for a minute with a little ginger.
Read more at http://www.saveur.com/article/Techniques/The-Asian-Greens-Guide#LHCiC01KfWLcy0xs.99
COOKING SWEET POTATO LEAVES - Like most Asian greens, sweet potatoes are typically eaten cooked. The dish above is an easy family favorite. The greens are simply washed, boiled in a large pot of water for several minutes until tender, and then drained and topped with a few shakes of oyster sauce and lots of chopped garlic which has been flash fried in several tablespoons of oil. The garlic and garlic-flavored oil both are poured onto the tender cooked greens
Aren't sweet potatoes in the nightshade family? Wouldn't they be toxic? Also, don't you wait for most potato leaves to turn brown and wilt before harvesting the tubers? Wouldn't they benefit from the leaves being left intact for photosynthesis purposes?
From wikipedia: "The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are a root vegetable.[1][2] The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of Convolvulaceae, I. batatas is the only crop plant of major importance—some others are used locally, but many are actually poisonous. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum) and does not belong to the nightshade family."
ok, thanks....I probably still wouldn't eat them myself.
I've just eaten one of my favorite farmer's market picks, not uncommon but many people haven't tried them: Golden beets. I am not a regular red beet fan, don't hate them but don't go out of my way for them either. A golden beet, on the other hand, is a different animal altogether. Without as much of the "rootiness" of regular ones, but with a sweet complex flavor that has me looking forward to them by mid-winter.....sadly none to be had until the following summer.
I roast them, which brings out their sweetness even more, and make a salad with roasted beets, toasted walnuts, orange segments, and goat cheese. Amazing vegetable.
Golden beets are about the only ones I buy. Not so much for the taste but because they don't stain everything they touch like red beets do.
Around here (probably elsewhere, too), there is a variety called Chioggia beets. This variety is sometimes called "candy cane beet" because when it is cut latitudinally, it displays alternating red and white rings. Pretty. Tasty, too.
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