It’s time for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. This will be a quick post for me as harvests are pretty slim at the moment. However I dug some horseradish roots which provided a small but pungent addition to some of our recent meals. The bed is a couple of years old now, and I am finally getting decent roots. They don’t look like much, and if you haven’t grown horseradish you might not even recognize them. But peel away the outer skin and you have a pure white root that is hot and fragrant when grated. I mix it with a little vinegar after grating and put in the refrigerator where it will keep for several months.
horseradish root
We also got our first taste of the collard kraut last week. I packed whole leaves in a two gallon crock then covered with a 3% brine solution and let it ferment for two weeks. The leaves are not really that tender, so I chopped them up and cooked them much like I would the raw greens. They softened up nicely after cooking, and while I enjoyed the strong flavored kraut, my wife decided they weren’t an improvement over the fresh greens. I will experiment more with them in the weeks to come.
collard kraut
And last night I made bean enchiladas for dinner and used fermented collard leaves instead of tortillas for the wrapper. They had a great flavor, and I think my next experiment will be to use a cabbage roll type stuffing for the collards. I have a half gallon jar of them so I should have plenty to play with.
collard kraut enchiladas
In the sweets department, my wife baked a pumpkin pie for a carry-in dinner and used our neck pumpkin puree for the filling. She plans to make another one for our Thanksgiving dinner, and I am looking forward to it since I only got to look at this one!
pumpkin pie
I’ve decided it makes sense to take a break from the Harvest Monday posts until February. Harvests are few and far between this time of year, and I am enjoying a bit of downtime from gardening, as are many other gardeners in the Northern Hemisphere. I’ll be back with Harvest Monday on February 3rd. I will post about other garden news as it happens though!
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!
Oh that’s a shame Dave, I was looking forward to following your winter adventures. I will have to take a note of everyone who shares their harvests today so I can keep track, enjoy your break though and no doubt some winderful culinary adventures! : All the best – Steve
We have grown horseradish for years and have never harvested any as we were scared off by horror stories. I love pumpkin pie and the decorations on yours are beautiful – I’ve never thought of decorating ours.
My wife used a leaf shaped pastry/cookie stamp to make the leaves.
Have a blessed and peaceful Thanksgiving holiday! Thanks for all you do to inspire the rest of us gardeners! …BTW just wanted to share that my broccoli (that wasn’t planted as early as yours) has now made some smallish heads. So excited for that as I’ve never gotten decent fall broccoli. I have it in the garden and when we got the really really cold temps I triple covered it with agribon. Can’t wait to plant next year in our cattle panel greenhouse!
Enjoy your break!
The collard enchiladas are a great idea! They look yummy. And congrats to you wife on that tempting pumpkin pie. All the better since it has your own squash in it. Enjoy the break from Harvest Monday. I want to thank you for all you do for the gardening community.
Sad to hear that you’ll be taking a break from the harvest Monday posts until February. Who will prompt us in the meantime? *Cries*. that pumpkin pie looks fabulous, and a great idea to use the fermented collard greens – like a Lebanese ‘vine leaf’ or ‘cabbage roll’ dish, both of which are filled with a tomato & rice mixture. Enjoy your break, see you in the new year.
A well-deserved break for you. Thank you for connecting us to gardeners around the country and the world. I’ll probably continue to do Harvest Monday posts since my SoCal garden is ramping up for full production. I hope your readers will stop by.
I attempted to grow horseradish once when i lived in Glasgow, but never got to see if i succeeded as we moved down to Wales. I am absolutely loving that you used collard as wraps for your enchilladas, i am going to nick that idea, though mine will not be fermented. And final compliment goes to your wife and that stunning pumpkin pie, i hope you got to try one at Thanksgiving. Also Thank you so much for being such a fantastic and generous host of Harvest Monday, I look forward to joining in again come February – do give me a prompt, until then Have a happy Christmas and Wishing you a Happy New Year – will still stop on over from time to time though.