Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. The harvests here are starting to get a bit sparse. I made a cutting of Prizm kale from the cold frame beds. This dwarf, curly kale is a 2016 AAS winner, and has proven to be hardy as well as tasty. Some of it wound up in the pot of Minestra Maritata (aka Italian Wedding Soup) I made last week, and some joined up with cauliflower from the grocery for a cauliflower/kale mash I made for a side dish. It had a few aphids hiding under the leaves, but other than that it was clean and quite lovely for a mid-December harvest.
Prizm kale
Another fresh harvest came from the greenhouse, where I cut more of the Mei Qing and Vivid Choi pac chois. They went in a stir fry side dish I made. I usually do a simple treatment on these, cooking a few mushrooms first then adding some grated ginger and the chopped greens to the wok and cooking just until wilted. I gave them a splash of umeboshi vinegar, a dash of toasted sesame oil and they were done. I also sometimes add a bit of garlic, but I skipped it this time.
Mei Qing and Vivid Choi pac chois
We are doing some taste-testing on the sweet potato varieties I trialed here this year. That’s Barberman on the left and the red-skinned Garnet on the right. Both have moist, orange flesh. I baked them whole, and my wife and I tasted them straight up with no seasoning to obscure the flavor. Both were good, but we rated Barberman as being a bit sweeter and more flavorful. Neither were terribly productive for me so it is doubtful I will grow either of them them again. I still have a few more new ones to taste before I do a full-blown review of them.
Barberman(L) and Garnet(R) sweet potatoes
My other fresh harvest also came from the greenhouse, this time from one of the salad boxes. It’s a mix of different lettuce varieties, and this batch was headed for some bean tacos I made for dinner. I snagged some cilantro micro greens for that meal too. I have to add it has been handy having cilantro growing inside under the lights. For my next experiment with micro greens I am sprouting some popcorn seeds, so I can grow corn shoots. I’ve never eaten those, but if they are as tasty as the pea and sunflower shoots they will be a welcome addition to our meals.
lettuce from salad box
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!
I’m not contributing to Harvest Monday this week, Dave. I think people have seen enough of my Parsnips! Best Wishes for Christmas. I shall be using the holiday to formulate plans for next year’s garden – as I’m sure you will too! “See” you in the New Year…
I really would like to be able to grow sweet potatoes. This year we planted a sliver cut from a tuber bought at the greengrocers and it grew into a small trailing plant,
Corn shoots are something new to me. I can’t wait to hear what you think of them. Have you ever tried cilantro in your greenhouse in the winter? We just had a couple of nights with temps down to 28ºF in the garden and the cilantro bounced right back as soon as it warmed up.
Cilantro does well in the winter greenhouse. I have some growing there now, but it got a late start and it is growing more slowly than that indoors.
I am really envious of your kale, my favourite greens!
My link shows off some homegrown herbs, not much else. I also wanted to say Best Wishes for Christmas Dave and a Happy New Year.
Ooh lovely, interesting that the sweet potatoes are almost excactly the same size and shape.
Happy Christmas to you and everyone else as well ~<:{D (meant to be a Father Christmas face, sort of, anyway)
Any harvest in Indiana in the winter is amazing. I got nothing but cauliflower this week. My clay baker should arrive next week. I am excited to be able to try it.
Lovely harvests, Dave! That stir-fry sounds delicious, I’ll have to give a try when my bok choys are ready for harvesting, somewhere in 2017 😉