Welcome to Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. My harvests lately have been all about the greens, since that’s what I have growing at the moment. I got a small cutting of collard greens last week, enough for us to get a taste of them. I planted three heirloom varieties this fall, and they needed more time to grow before cold weather arrived. Next year I need to set them out at least a month earlier. This cutting was from White Mountain, which is supposed to get three feet tall. My plants are barely a foot high, and since I’ve never grown them before I have no idea how hardy they are. The leaves were tender and tasty, and left me and my wife wanting more.
White Mountain collards
The kale is doing much better, and I’ve gotten several cuttings already. This week I tried a new one I’m growing called Casper. It didn’t color up quite as white as the photos in the catalog, but it is decorative nonetheless as well as good tasting.
Casper kale
I also made a cutting from one of my favorite kale varieties, the Wild Garden Mix. This open-pollinated kale makes plants with varying colored and textured leaves, but they are all fairly hardy and very tasty.
Wild Garden Mix kale
I did get one harvest that wasn’t a leafy green. I plucked two Senorita jalapeno peppers from a plant I had in a container and brought indoors. I used them to make a jar of Jalapeno, Cilantro and Lime Sauerkraut. Hopefully these mildly hot peppers will give a little zing to the kraut. If not, I can always add a few hot pepper flakes which will surely do the trick.
Senorita peppers
I loosely followed this recipe, skipping the lime zest and adding some sliced onion along with the cabbage, lime juice, peppers and cilantro. It’s fermenting away on the counter now, and I should get my first taste of it in a week or two.
Jalapeno, Cilantro and Lime Sauerkraut
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 of any size or shape you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And please be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting, or wishing they were harvesting!
We haven’t grown kale for ages – maybe we should.
I really enjoyed the few tastes of Yellow Cabbage collards that I got this year, too bad the rodents loved it too. The plants eventually got to be over 2 feet tall and would have grown more if I hadn’t had to take them out. The kraut sounds tasty, actually it sounds like it would be tasty as a fresh salad too.
I’ve got two of the Yellow Cabbage collard plants that are still small. The third one I planted is Jernigan Yellow Cabbage. I have made a note to get mine out earlier next year, maybe even in June. That should give them plenty of time to size up. I don’t generally harvest greens here in summer because I think the taste is stronger than the fall maturing ones.
Looks like you could use the collard as a wrap – dolmade style. The wild garden kale mix appeals to me, its very different to the kale we get here in the UK. The Jalapeno, Cilantro and Lime Sauerkraut has my mouth watering.
Great idea – it would be easy to stuff the collard leaves with a savory filling!
The Jalapeno, Cilantro and Lime Sauerkraut would be great on fish tacos.
Dave, do you leave your kale out in the elements or are they covered? I have some kale growing but I’m like you with the collards….I think that I should have started them maybe a month earlier. They are petite. Tasty but leaving us wanting more! I love the look of the wild garden kale mix! The variety of colors is just fun.
The kale I’m harvesting now is uncovered and in my main garden area. I do have a small planting in a cold frame bed that is somewhat protected, and I have about 10 plants in the greenhouse. I have tried covering the kale with a row cover material like Agribon, but aphids always thrive under the cover and eventually make the leaves unusable. With the uncovered plants, they aren’t a problem.
I’ve been experimenting covering with various things and have seen the aphid population grow as well. Next year I’ll hopefully get the kale established well enough to be out in the elements. We’ve had lots more snow so far this fall than normal. Welcomed after our drought… And thanks for all the fermenting pics and recipes. I’ve really expanded my repertoire with your encouragement. My favorite is the kimchi (though I just use my own pepper mix & don’t yet have gochugaru.)
The kale and collards look wonderful! I find timing fall crops tricky, especially when you throw in how different varieties behave and the unpredictable weather we’ve been having of late.
Your sauerkraut sounds delicious and it looks like you’re getting nice big leaves on your collards and kale. I’ve been cooking with radishes which have been interesting, and the greens seem to be surviving the cold so far.