Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. The fall veggies are starting to come in now. I got a nice cutting of a Japanese turnip called Nozawana that is grown primarily for the greens. Mine is all greens right now, and after cooking them my wife and I both gave them two thumbs up. They were tender and mild-flavored, and I imagine they will be even sweeter after a frost – not that I am in a hurry for any frosts! The seed for this one came from Kitazawa Seed.
Nozawana turnip greens
I cut two heads of Diplomat broccoli last week, and side shoots from Artwork brockali. The heads of Diplomat were pretty much the same size as the Goliath I cut last week, about a half pound each.
Diplomat broccoli
The Artwork has been making lots of side shoots, and the fall planting has outperformed Apollo by far. I used these in a stir fry, leaves and all.
Artwork broccoli
I harvested two heads of cabbage last week, one of Farao that weighed around a pound and one of KY Cross that weighed in at 2.5 pounds. I used all of the Farao and some of the KY Cross to start a batch of sauerkraut, and I used some of the KY Cross in a stir fry. The cabbage had only minor caterpillar damage on the outer leaves, so apparently I have been keeping up with my Bt and neem oil applications. And there were no hidden snails inside – at least none that I know about!
Farao(L) and KY Cross(R) cabbage
Speaking of a stir fry, I got the first batch of the fall snow peas, and it was enough to go in the same stir fry with the cabbage and the Stocky Red Roaster peppers you see in the below photo.
snow peas and Stocky Red Roaster peppers
I got a little over a pound total of Aji Angelo and Aji Golden peppers last week, enough to fill two dehydrator sheets. Both these baccatum peppers have mild heat and a fruity flavor. Aji Angelo is such a useful pepper in the kitchen, and I use the dried ones to add to various pickles, kimchi, and for making into pepper flakes. The Aji Golden should be useful in much the same ways. After drying I packed the peppers in a quart jar and used the FoodSaver jar attachment to seal them up.
Aji Angelo and Aji Golden peppers
I got a few each of the sweet peppers Stocky Red Roaster, Corno di Toro Rosso and Jimmy Nardello. Those wound up on the grill, as a side dish for lunch one day. The Stocky Red Roasters took a long time to ripen this year, but I think they are a tasty pepper. Too bad they have been a shy producer for me the last couple of years, and I doubt they will be back next year. I think Cornito Rosso will be their replacement.
Stocky Red Roaster, Corno di Toro Rosso, and Jimmy Nardello peppers
I found another batch of hot peppers for smoking last week. I got quite a few of the green Not Celia Dulce peppers, plus some green and red Senorita jalapenos and four of the Fooled You jalapenos. The Fooled You peppers were a disappointment, having not only no heat but also no particular jalapeno flavor to them. I guess if you take away the heat then they’re just another sweet pepper. The Senorita peppers have been great though, a bit less heat than the usual jalapeno and plenty of flavor. After smoking I dehydrated the peppers, and most will be ground up later into chile and chipotle powder.
peppers ready for smoking
I harvested four Seminole pumpkins last week, the last winter squash alive out in the garden. They averaged about 1.5 pounds each, a little less than last year but still a lot of pumpkin. These are good keepers and I probably save them for use after some of the other winter squash are cooked up. There’s one more on the vine which I will leave a bit longer.
Seminole pumpkins
I had a great time Friday talking about homemade hot sauce on the WEHT Local Lifestyles show, while my wife did a segment on printing with leaves.. One of the other guests was a local farmer, Clint Kern from Aficionado Farms, who was on to talk about his CSA operation plus the Indiana Grown initiative. We had a nice chat before and after the show, and I picked up a few ideas from him for next year. He was packing Sun Gold, Supersweet 100, Black Cherry, Yellow Pear and Sunpeach tomatoes in a clamshell package for his customers, and I think he sold me on giving Sunpeach a try next year. It is a hybrid pink grape tomato that is a sister variety to Sun Gold. It was fun to hear all the things they are growing on the farm, which is about a mile from Happy Acres as the crow flies.
me and Lynda before the show
I wasn’t sure who would be game for tasting hot sauce on camera, but I managed to get host Ange and her meteorologist sidekick Ron Rhodes to join me in the tasting. I had cut up some homemade whole wheat bread cubes and stuck toothpicks in them so we could dip the cubes in the sauce. We were also joined by anchor Greg Parker and both the camera operators before it was all over. I left several bottles of my hot sauce for folks to take home with them. The video clip of the show is not yet available online, but I will post it here if and when it’s published. Meanwhile, my wife and I are booked to come back on November 4th, where I plan on talking about growing pumpkins and making pumpkin puree. I see pumpkin pie in my near future!
UPDATE: Here’s a link to the video from the show: Happy Acres Hot Sauce.
hot sauce tasting
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!
We picked our squash too last week. Sungold must be the most grown tomato there is. I wonder whether we could grow late sugar snaps without the pods going mouldy?
So fun with your TV spots, a great opportunity for the locals to learn some fun ideas about growing and using up veggies.
Your peppers are wonderful. I still find it fascinating to see what happens elsewhere each week out of comparison – although I still have plenty of peppers in the greenhouse, the outside plants succumbed to frost almost two weeks ago.
How nice that your local TV station recognises your expertise and is prepared to feature it. Pumpkins next, but kimchi and other fermented veg after that, eh? You could end up having a regular series! I’m thinking about those Turnip Greens: you don’t see that sort of thing over here – turnips have a very bad press at the best of times, and “greens” likewise would put a lot of people off, which is a shame. I think I would like them, but I know my wife wouldn’t so there’s no point getting / growing any, since we always eat together!
How do you cook your turnip greens? Nice snow peas, my fall planting did not do well due to neglect.
I braised the greens Southern style, in a little water, seasoned with a bit of local smoked bacon. I sometimes add a splash of seasoned pepper vinegar, but these were so flavorful they didn’t need the it!
Congrats on the TY appearance. Hope you got to plug your blog as well. I now have lots of jalapenos sitting around so I may try smoking them to use up a bunch. Unfortunately my Lemon Drop peppers did not make it to ripening before the frost got them.
Nice to see you rockin’ the Hawaiian shirt on TV, showing up the suits. The stir fry you describe sounds delicious. I always wondered about “Fooled You” jalapenos–sounds like decaf coffee.
The Fooled You peppers were a big disappointment for me. Thankfully I grew the Senorita too! Next year I plan on trying Emerald Fire.
Did your pepper sauces induce any tears from the crew? How fun to do another show, they love you. Turnip greens are an under appreciated veggie. I need to try to get some going, that’s one thing that I can’t buy and is worth defending from the critters.
One more comment, I was just at the Artisan Seeds website and found that they had had a Kickstarter campaign going recently to fund a new hybrid tomato project. Unfortunately they didn’t meet their goal so it’s unfunded, but they are offering a preorder for the seeds through October 22. They are incentivizing the preorder with offers of other seeds and such, depending on how much you want to pay. It’s their first offering of an F1 variety, a firm when ripe green cherry tomato they’ve named Green Bee. The funding was to pay for the hand pollinating that they will be doing to produce the seeds. I know you trialled a bunch of their tomatoes this year and thought you might be interested in this new effort of theirs. I ordered up some for myself, of course…
I trialed several of their hybrids, including one green one I am thinking is very similar to the Green Bee. I liked the green one a lot, and I would not be surprised to see them release other hybrids in time for the 2017 season. And they are making the Green Bee (and a couple of close relatives) available to us Collaborating Members next year.
Cool, you are way ahead of me!
Ange did make a call for some milk to clear her throat, but I think she was goofing around. None of the sauces was overly hot, although of course hot is relative!
And I agree – the ‘lowly’ turnip green is truly underappreciated! The Nozawana has smooth leaves typical of many of the Asian turnips, and to me that is a good sign of tenderness and mild flavor.
So many peppers still into October. Hope you have a late frost! The broccoli looks so delicious. I like to use the small leaves too. I just planted my broccoli this past weekend. Now to keep an eye out for cabbage moth worms.
Your local news sounds so much more interesting than ours. Congrats on your stardom! Your broccoli harvests looks fabulous. It’ll be awhile before there’s broccoli around here. Those Sunpeach tomatoes sound delicious. This is my first year growing Seminole pumpkins and they have done very well for me. They were slow to get started, but they have outlasted all the other winter squash.
Seminole has been a tough squash here the last three years. As for the TV appearance, it is obvious to me they’ll let anyone on the show! 😉
Wonderful harvests – those turnip greens are something! Even though I grew regular salad turnips, one of my favourite parts of the harvest is definitely the greens & I made sure to pack some away in the freezer for the winter.
Oh, that is just amazing – I’m so excited for you and your obviously successful jaunt into television. Looking forward to seeing the video!
I grew Seminole pumpkins as well, but I didn’t get any pumpkins at all from the vines. I’ll be trying again next year though, as I think our drought in the early part of the summer likely delayed the development of all the squash in the bales.
P.S. Thanks for the fermenting book suggestions – they all look great. I’ll be placing them in my Amazon cart by the end of the month 🙂
Your peppers continue to amaze! Beautiful.
I had a pack of turnip top seeds a few years back but never got round to sowing them…looks like it’s worth getting some more, yum.
Looking forward to the video clip. Also congrats on the November appearance. You should be on every month. So what does December bring?
Probably sauerkraut, though it could be ornaments made with garden material. I have several of those I have made over the years.
You have inspired me to attempt hot sauce, so thank you! After three days there is no sign of bubbles yet… maybe I am a being a bit impatient.
I wish we got some of these peppers in England but I guess I shall have to be grateful for those I can grow
Sorry did not get round to joining in this week, but am admiring your Aji Angelo and Aji Golden peppers – what splendid colours and shine. And congraulations on your successful TV, I look forward to seeing the video too