What are some not-so-common or just plain different ways that you use or know of for cooking or preparing crops? And, are you selecting for using them in these ways?
I have oral allergy syndrome, which basically means that the enzymes present in a number of raw fruits & veggies result in a mild but unpleasant reaction (itching, burning, and redness to the mouth, throat, and lips). Deactivating the enzymes is easy enough: simply cook, ferment, or pickle them.
I had given up hope of ever enjoying melons again (I react strongly to the entire Cucumis melo family) until I learned that they can be made into jam. Hooray! I’m trying my hand at growing melons this year specifically to can them. I’m hoping to select the melons both for their ability to grow in my region and also for their taste as jam.
Fully-ripe tomatoes don’t usually cause me any issues, but I still prefer them slow-roasted with lots of aromatics and olive oil rather than raw. I lean towards varieties that develop rich umami flavors after cooking instead of the usual raw-eating varieties (sans cherries, those are best raw). It’s always a bit interesting to find I’m the opposite of most tomato lovers who all seem to prefer growing slicers for fresh use.
I’ve tried many different ways of cooking zucchinis with many different varieties; There was never a significant difference in flavor or texture between varieties for those cooking methods. One recipe I tried, a zucchini gratin, made me curious about potential differences. The recipe was great but would have been much better with a firmer, drier zucchini so I’ve been gathering zucchini varieties that mention those qualities to trial this year.
If anyone has any suggestions for cucumbers besides pickling, I’m all ears! It seems like they’ve all been developed for either raw eating or pickling - do any varieties specifically suited to cooking exist? I’m thinking they’d likely have flesh qualities similar to the zucchini varieties I’m bringing in this year.
Interesting! I looked up some recipes and it seems that some are served cold and others hot. I’ll have to give one of the served-hot recipes a try this year.
This is more of a specific application, but a cucumber-pineapple smoothie is incomparably good on a sore throat. Even managed to suspend symptoms of laryngitis with it on one occasion. The effect only lasted 10-15 minutes per sip, but that was plenty to get by on at the time. Also, check out Julia Child’s recipe for baked cucumbers. Never tried it, but it looks intriguing.
I really like the Zapallo del Tronco Maxima squash that you use like a zucchini. The skin is tender when it’s young and it’s about 6 inches across so makes a sufficient amount for stir fry etc. They set a lot of fruit. The fruit is firmer than a zucchini cooked but mild flavored. I let some mature so I could get seed for this year. It makes a hard winter squash at maturity that is deep orange in color and small pumpkin in size. If you like pumpkin seeds you can then also grow hull less seeded pumpkins without any cross pollination issues, because it’s not a Pepo.
That’s one of the varieties I purchased to try. I mostly grow Maximas with a different selection goal, so I’ll need to figure out some way to separate them from my others.
I’ve made melon jam! It’s yummy. Last year, I bought some melons that weren’t as sweet as they should have been, so rather than force myself to eat them when I wasn’t that enthusiastic about it, I decided they were the perfect subjects for turning into jam. I added some lemon juice so that I could steam can them; you could skip that step if you’re just making freezer jam.
Cucumbers can make good jam, too.
Can you eat fruit leather? I often like making fruit leather or dried fruit chunks to snack on later. Some vegetables taste great dehydrated into chips, too.
The squash leather tasted good. I spread out the puree on a dehydrator tray and sprinkled cinnamon over the top. On another sheet, I did the same thing and sprinkled cloves over the top. Both tasted quite a bit like a not-very-sweet pumpkin pie.
I didn’t use a squash that was particularly sweet or good for drying. I used a Black Beauty zucchini. It still tasted good dried with a dessert spice sprinkled on top. I bet a very sweet squash would be far tastier.
I read this blog post the other day, written by Nancy Harmon Jenkins, where she recommends NOT peeling fava beans and shows 3 sizes of developing fava beans with brief preparation suggestions for each size. I’ve never come across an American recipe that uses unpeeled fava beans - excited to try leaving the skin on though!
Neat! I’ve only roasted parsnips with a maple glaze. Their flavor is well-suited to sweetening so I can imagine the jam. The wine is an interesting one too!
For cucumbers, several Asian cultures have recipes for smashed cooked cucumbers. They are sort of gently smashed so they have nooks and crannies for the sauce. They can then be eaten hot or cold.
Try roasting radishes. And cooking the radish greens separately.
Can anyone share the way(s) in which they prepare radish greens? I anticipate having to consume some soon (hopefully lots), but I don’t know how best to make them palatable. They seem awfully scratchy for greens.
I would cook radish greens slowly on low heat for at least an hour. That’s how i cook greens. I know some folks who prefer to blanch greens or even eat them raw but i don’t digest them well that way. I would include plenty of fat. I like pork belly but they don’t sell that around here, so i add vegetable oil or butter. A lot of nutrients in greens are fat soluble.
I also like to mix up several kinds of greens together when i can, so you might try that too.