There's something entirely new in my harvest basket this week - Mini Purple Daikon radishes.
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| Mini Purple Daikon Radishes |
I wasn't really expecting this planting to do much of anything. These were seeded back in February along with the radishes that I pulled a couple of weeks ago because they were all bolting. These looked like they were doing ok then, no signs of bolting but no signs of bulbing up either. And then on Saturday I noticed a couple of them were pushing the tops of their roots out of the soil so I pulled them and they turned out to be beautiful! And they are mini, for daikon radishes, those two together weighed in at 4.5 ounces after trimming off their tops.
The rest of the harvests are pretty much the same as in previous weeks.
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| Robin Hood Fava Beans |
More fava beans, which Dave dutifully peeled.
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| Batavia Broccoli Side Shoots |
More side shoots from the winter sown Batavia broccoli plants.
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| Syrian Medieval Chard Shoots |
This is probably the final harvest of Syrian Medieval chard. The plants were all sending up tall flowering stalks. I cut the tender tops of the stalks and all of the leaves but I've kept what's left of the plants in the garden to see if any more shoots will grow to harvestable size before I have to clear out that space. The flowering shoots turned out to be quite edible. I blanched them, with leaves still attached, briefly, only about 10 seconds in boiling salted water, cooled them quickly in ice water, dried them, dressed them with some olive oil and grilled them over a medium hot fire (the temperature gauge on the Big Green Egg registered around 400ºF). The stems weren't too tough or stringy and the leaves became just a bit crispy, all easily dealt with on the plate with a regular table knife and fork. I served them with a Mint Salsa Verde (the recipe for which came from
Everything I Want To Eat by Jessica Koslow). Dave and I both judged the experiment to be a delicious success. It's always gratifying to make use of something that I would generally relegate to the compost!
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| Syrian Medieval Chard Leaves |
The stems from the chard leaves went into another couple of jars of pickles and the leaves were blanched and frozen.
Harvest Monday is hosted by Dave on his blog
Our Happy Acres, head on over there to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.
Our broad bean plants were battered by hail and there are no flowers yet. We've never grown daikon does it taste the same as the usual radish?
ReplyDeleteDaikon radishes tend to be less spicy than smaller radishes, but I actually haven't tasted these yet so I can't say for sure.
DeleteOh wow, those radishes are beautiful. I don't envy Dave the task of peeling the fava beans. The Syrian Medieval chard sure has a cool name. How is it different from other chards?
ReplyDeleteThe chard is a rather primitive strain of chard. It's pretty much all green, smaller than modern versions, and it bolts much more readily. But the flavor is great. I really like it.
DeleteI forgot to say that the name was chosen because the chard resembles the type of chard that was grown in medieval times.
DeleteThose mini diakons are lovely! And what a delicious way to serve up the chard - I'll have to remember the blanch/grill combo.
ReplyDeleteAren't those pretty? That's the first time I've seen any radish that color before and I would grow them again just for that.
DeleteThose daikon look just perfect! Kathy
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathy!
DeleteI have a hard time telling when radishes are ready, especially those that are mostly underground. I am growing a mini purple Daikon called Sweet Baby this spring. Mine are truly babies still, but I hope they bulb up before summer heat gets here. I've really come to appreciate the daikon radishes in the kitchen, where I use them raw, stir-fried, roasted and fermented.
ReplyDeleteThe shoulders lifting out of the soil was a great clue that there were some nice roots there. I think that is pretty typical for daikon, to push up out of the soil, I've seen it with regular white daikon in my garden.
DeleteGrilling greens sounds wonderful, maybe that'll work with kale. Your broccoli and fava beans look amazing.
ReplyDeleteIt should work with kale. I've seen it done with rapini which is what gave me the idea to do it with the chard shoots.
DeleteThose radishes look lovely! I've never tried the flowering stalks of chard. I always assumed they were bitter.
ReplyDeleteThose ones weren't bitter at all, but perhaps it depends on which variety you are growing. I tasted them raw first and they were good.
DeleteBeautiful harvest!! Love those purple daikon radishes!!
ReplyDeleteThose grilled greens sound really, really good. I've never tried grilling greens before, I should give it a try!
ReplyDeleteThe daikon is so interesting. very nice color!
ReplyDelete