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Monday, December 10, 2018

Harvest Monday - December 10, 2018

The weather has finally settled into a more seasonable pattern of cool days, cold nights, and some rain, although the rain has dropped out of the forecast for the next week. Some of the harvests are looking more seasonable also.

I got another small harvest of Kalettes, this one is either Mistletoe or Snowdrop. I planted one plant each of three different varieties of kalettes that are supposed to have successive harvest dates and this was the first harvest from the second plant. I'm still learning how to grow this veggie and I think that next year I'll have to put in more plants to get a decent harvest. That harvest below was only 1.6 ounces which was barely enough for a single serving. They are really tasty and the rodents don't seem to be attracted to them so that makes them worth trying again next year.

Kalettes

Cilantro loses it's urge to flower during the shortest and coldest days of the year but it grows pretty vigorously so it's not unusual for me to get a big harvest like the one below. Now I have to find something to make that requires a large amount of it.



The celery is also loving the cool weather and rain. The knife in the photo is my No.10 Opinel which is 9 inches (23cm) total in length which should give some perspective of the size of the stalks that I'm harvesting now. Celery is also the subject of one of my latest fermentation experiments. I took a bunch of stalks and cut them into about 1/4-inch thick slices, placed them in a brine, and allowed them to ferment for about a week before putting them in the fridge for longer term keeping. They retained their crunch and have just a slight tang. The pink hue from the skins colored the brine and the flesh also picked up some of the color. I'm thinking that they would be a nice contrast in a potato salad or used instead of fresh celery in a classic Waldorf Salad. I've been making another salad lately that features celery, dates, pomegranate arils, Parmesan, and almonds and perhaps the fermented celery would be a nice addition to that. But they are also really good just eaten right out of the jar. I'm interested to see how well they keep in the refrigerator over the next weeks or longer. If they keep their crunch and good flavor for a long time it will be a good way to preserve some of the crop when the plants start to bolt in the spring.

Pink Plume Celery

I've started to clear out some of the plants that overwintered from 2017. That's the last of the Aji Angelo, Aji Golden, and Craig's Grande Jalapeño peppers from the 2017 plants. One Ethiopian Brown pepper decided to join the harvest but the plant remains in the garden and still has peppers that are ripening. The Aji Angelo plant still had a lot of green peppers left on it but after harvesting 10 pounds of ripe Aji Angelos this year I declared that enough is enough and removed the plant.

Craig's Grande Jalapeño, Aji Golden,
Ethiopian Brown, Aji Angelo

I cleared out the last of the sweet pepper plants from Fort Pepper and harvested more of the late ripening baccatum peppers.

Joe's Giant Aji Amarillo, Aji Cacho de Cabra,
Florina, Odessa Market, Topepo Giallo, Gogosar

That's the latest from my garden, head on over to Dave's blog Our Happy Acres to see what other garden bloggers have been harvesting lately.


9 comments:

  1. Wow on the 10 pounds of Aji Angelos! It's a much-used pepper here for sure. I think I can safely say I've never had to deal with a lot of cilantro at one time. I have made pesto with it when I had it, and lately I've been using store-bought with yogurt and lemon juice to make a sauce for salads and veggies. I'm hoping to get some more sown here soon.

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  2. The amount that you harvest from your garden yearround astounds me.

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  3. The Pink Plume celery must be gorgeous in a waldorf salad. Thanks for the reminder. I have celery on hand, apples from the garden and pomegranates. Cilantro pesto frozen in ice cube trays could be nice little flavor bombs when there is no cilantro.

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    1. Does freezing the cilantro change the color? It's the one thing that I don't like about freezing basil pesto.

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  4. Something that rodents don't eat and is so tasty as those kalettes has got to be worth growing more of!! We do sometimes have a glut of coriander leaf (cilantro) and use it like spinach in curry-style dishes, adding it towards the end of the cooking time to keep it fresh and green. Hope that idea is helpful

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    1. I made an asian style chicken and rice soup last night and added handfuls of chopped cilantro at the end. That worked very well. The curry-style dish is a great idea too.

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  5. I'm really envious of the cilantro( or as we call it coriander) Do you grow it outside and how hardy is it?

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    1. I do grow it outside. It will take some light frosts and the occasional overnight freeze and bounce right back. I'm not sure how well it would fare through extended periods of freezing temperatures.

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  6. Wow, that celery is huge! It would be nice if your fermented celery holds up well - I'm always excited when I find a new way of preserving the harvest.

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