The funny shaped unpollinated Tromb d'Albenga zucchini are equally delicious. Unfortunately the latest couple of cucumbers were a little bitter, not so bad that they were inedible, but they definitely lacked the sweetness of a warmer weather cucumber.
The Christmas Bell chiles that my poor neglected potted plants produced weren't as flavorful as they should be either. They weren't bad but they lacked the unique fruitiness that baccatum chiles can have.
The Tronchuda Beira on the other hand may be a bit holey from caterpillar munching but are very tasty. This is also called Portuguese cabbage or Portuguese kale. They taste more like cabbage to me, especially the stems, and my understanding is that they are actually a primitive loose leaf cabbage. My favorite use for them is the slice them into thin shreds and add them to soups. My latest soup that featured these greens had lamb, Pavoni beans (see last year's harvest here), dried Negro de Valle peppers (also from last year), Spanish Black carrots, tomato puree, cumin, a dash of cinnamon, and cilantro.
I pulled a couple more of the volunteer Spanish Black carrots. Those two cukes weren't bitter, at least not when they were paired with blue cheese dip.
One question last week was what is the interior color of the Spanish Black carrot and the answer is a pale yellow which doesn't come through all that well in this photo. These carrots are an old OP variety that hasn't been tinkered with to make them sweet. They have a true carrot flavor, not bitter at all, but not sugary like most modern carrots. I wouldn't necessarily want to snack on them raw, but they were delicious in the soup I mentioned before.
The cooler weather and shorter days have slowed the growth of the cilantro. The fall sown seeds are bolting now, but not terribly quickly like they do in the summer. I don't weigh my cilantro harvests any more, it's generally not enough to bother with.
Another handful of Golden Sweet snow peas matured so I finally have enough to serve the two of us.
The prolific Di Ciccio broccoli produced another round of shoots. The 4 plants that I set out this spring have produced more than 36 pounds of trimmed heads and shoots. Combined with the production from the overwintered plants from last year, the total production for the year is over 44 pounds. There's been no lack of broccoli this year! I do tally it with the leaves as shown below because I don't trim them off, we eat them.
There's a few things joining the tally this week that weren't photographed. I shelled the bulk of the Purgatory beans and all of the Floriani Red flint corn. The last of the Red Candy Apple onions hit the tally as well, the final tally for this variety of onion is 27.6 pounds and the tally for all the onions came to 89.3 pounds. I just placed my order with Dixondale Farms for next years onion seedlings...
Here's the harvests for the past week:
Purgatory beans - 1 lb., 11.4 oz.
Di Ciccio broccoli - 1 lb., 13.9 oz.
Tronchuda Beira cabbage - 11.7 oz.
Spanish Black carrots - 5.6 oz.
Floriani Red flint corn - 5 lb., 4.9 oz.
Green Fingers cucumbers - 15.7 oz.
Red Candy Apple onion - 1 lb., 4.1 oz.
Golden Sweet snow peas - 2 oz.
Chianti Rose tomato - 16.3 oz.
Jaune Flamme tomatoes - 11.2 oz.
Tromba d'Albenga zucchinis - 1 lb., 14.5 oz.
The total harvests for the past week were - 15 lb., 15.3 oz. (7.2 kg.)
Which brings the total harvests for 2014 up to - 1164 lb., 3.7 oz. (528 kg.)
Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne on her blog Daphne's Dandelions, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.
Lovely harvests. Sadly mine are coming to an end. I'm contemplating ordering from Dixondale this year too. Though what I really need are some people in my area to split it. The costs are high for a couple bunches, but really low when the numbers get higher.
ReplyDeleteI got almost 90 pounds of onions for my $11 bunch of seedlings last year, I think that's actually a pretty good deal. It's $11.35 this year, which still seems fair to me. True, if you can get someone to share a few bunches it's a great deal.
ReplyDeleteIt's too bad that those chillies were not as flavourful as expected. They sure are beautiful, as are those carrots. How do you cook up the broccoli greens? I tried incorporating some of them into a cream of broccoli soup, but the flavour of the broccoli was almost overpowered by the flavour of the leaves. I'm thinking they may be better if used in the same way as collards.
ReplyDeleteWe usually eat the leaves and shoots together, my husband and I like both parts equally. Sometimes I'll separate them, but generally not, especially if the florets are small. I've never really thought about one part overwhelming the other, but you're right, the leaves aren't as sweet as the stalks and florets. I do like to blanch and shock the leafy shoots before using them in a final preparation, it's the best way I've found to get rid of any critters that are hiding in there. The blanching may help to mellow the flavor of the leaves.
DeleteNice harvest, especially for late November. I have let my garden go fallow because of the drought.
ReplyDeleteThose broccoli plants were really superstars. I need to think about my onion plans for next year too. Mine are all gone and I miss them. You got 89 lbs from a mixed bunch? I would call that an amazingly great value!
ReplyDeleteIn reply to Mark's comment which I accidentally deleted in my morning caffein deprived state, the Christmas Bell chiles are usually one of my favorites, but that's when they receive the proper care and attention. I almost totally ignored them this year, plopped them in some pots and hooked them up to the drip system and then left them to suffer in the shade of taller plants, no extra food, no treatment for powdery mildew... poor things.
ReplyDelete