Category Archives: Greens

Taming The Wild Cabbage

Many moons ago, my beautiful girlfriend acquired a sprouter so we could raise babies for eating. It’s truly a wonderful thing to raise babies; then eat them raw in salads and the like. Do not be alarmed… I am NOT talking about baby humans or other animals!! No, no… those would be much too crunchy. Possibly illegal too I think maybe. Rather, the sprouter is a wonderful little kitchen gizmo that’s used to grow plant babies. Some of our favorites are mung bean sprouts and alfalfa sprouts. We often eat them raw but of course mung bean sprouts are very nice when added at the very last stage of cooking up a stir fry.

Several years ago my ravishing honey pie brought home a fairly large packet of seeds labeled “Broccoli for Sprouting,” which had a very colorful picture of a mixed greens salad on the front. I’m guessing there was about half a pound of the very small, round, black seeds in the packet. We sprouted some, but weren’t at all smitten with the results. The flavor was OK, but not anything that really tickled our taste buds. So into the refrigerator went the seed packet to live in harmony with all the garden seeds I keep in there. Our thinking was we’d give them another try some other day.

“Some other day” never arrived. A few years passed, and the big seed packet was all too happy just to sit quietly in the paper bag that houses all my left over seed from previous gardening years. Seems I almost always buy more seed than I ever actually plant, and I can’t bring myself to toss the leftovers. I’ve learned that if seeds are kept dry and cool, like in the refrigerator, they stay viable for several years. Consequently, a small part of the fridge is pretty much always occupied by my seed collection.

We’re not sure how many years the “Broccoli for Sprouting” packet shacked up with the seed collection. However, it became clear to me that these would never know the inside of our sprouter again, so I decided to plant some. I figured, hey, if it’s “broccoli for sprouting” maybe it will grow some broccoli for eating. So way back in 2010, I planted the seeds and waited for the wonderful broccoli to appear.

Seedlings appeared pretty quickly and from what I could tell, pretty much all of them grew into baby plants. As they started crowding up the bed, I did the usual practice of thinning them out and bringing the seedlings into the kitchen for several suppers. Once the plants had plenty of room to stretch out, my sweetie and I noticed that they were very vigorous and had much bigger leaves than we expected. Leaves were abundant but no florets were appearing; which was the whole idea in the first place. As winter neared, still no broccoli. Lots of leaves, but no florets.

All was not by any means lost though. Since both my lovely girlfriend and I both very much enjoy collard greens, kale, and the like; we figured if the plants won’t make broccoli we’ll just harvest the leaves for dinner. Little did we know we were in for such a treat!! The leaves were fleshy and robust like collards, but much more tender. The flavor was similar to collards, but sweet enough to eat raw. And when cooked for just a little bit they were simply delicious. We found a “new” favorite vegetable! Unbeknownst to us, however, was the fact that our “new” favorite vegetable has in fact been an important food plant for several thousand years. It was obviously from the same family as broccoli, but now we just had to know: what the HECK is this amazing plant??

Took me awhile, but extensive research on the interwebs got us the answer: it’s wild cabbage; and bears the Latin name Brassica oleracea. Click here to read more about —>Brassica oleracea. It’s almost unknown here in the US, but in Europe it’s been grown as a food crop for at least 4,000 years. In fact, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower all trace their origins to wild cabbage.

Above is a picture of some plants that survived the winter. Plants in the cabbage family are very tough, and survive our Michigan winters pretty much unscathed. If covered in snow, they can even withstand subzero temperatures with no problem. I can’t find any more seed for purchase anywhere except a website in Germany. So, being the seed saver I am, I’m gathering my own to do my part to preserve this wild cabbage. I even have enough to share some with friends and family! As it happens, I’ve found the same plant listed on the Seed Savers Exchange and it’s called German Smooth Kale.

I’ve been saving seeds every year since. And because they make so many seed pods, I don’t feel bad about harvesting young flower clusters for some springtime meals.

Here’s a picture of a flower cluster from a second year plant:

“OOOhh!!,” you might say, “That looks kinda like broccoli!! Only much smaller…” Well it kinda tastes like broccoli too. Yes boys and girls, I’ve decapitated several of the plants and we have enjoyed devouring their reproductive organs in several dishes since spring has sprung. We’ve had them raw, put them in our lunches to microwave them at work, and had several delicious stir fry meals with wild cabbage leaves and flower clusters.

Pretty darn yummy!

Bringin’ In The Greens

Here we are in mid November and there’s still some harvesting to be done.  Been getting some cold nights; several overnight lows in the 20s.  We know from experience that although some greens can take the cold, it’s best to harvest as much as possible before the severe cold arrives.

We love Swiss Chard because it’s so easy to grow.  Though more closely related to beets, the flavor is much like spinach but the leaves are much more robust.  They’ll produce delicious leaves all through summer and almost till the snow flies.  However, the leaves won’t do very well when the temperature stays below freezing.  That’s why we thought we’d better get with the program and pick the Swiss Chard today.  I knew the harvest would be pretty good so I lined my contractor sized wheelbarrow with an old bed sheet and started picking.  I got about 14 pounds.

To harvest, I carefully peel away the stem from the base of the plant.  Takes practice to do this without damaging the roots.  If I sense there’s too much resistance, I simply cut the stem as close the plant as I can.  Any dead or dying leaves or stems are removed first and tossed in the compost.  I leave a few leaves in the middle just in case we get warm enough weather to have more growth.  Also, after I’m done trimming the plants down; I mulch them around the stem with leaves to protect the root system.  I’ll leave the small center leaves exposed until the real cold comes; again just in case it’s warm enough to get another fresh harvest.  If the plant covered completely before the snow flies, they will winter over and make new growth in the spring.

If allowed to grow the 2nd season they will go to seed.  This year’s harvest came from seed I saved from two years ago.  I found out the hard way that when Swiss chard is allowed to seed, it needs LOTS of room!!

After picking I bring them inside, and blanch them in boiling water for about 15 – 20 seconds; after which they are dumped into a cold water bath.  For the boiling water we use a large Revere Ware pot; inside of which is a large stainless steel colander we got from IKEA.  I chop up a large handful of greens and toss them into the colander, then take a wooden spoon and stir them into the boiling water for a few seconds.

After blanching I drain water from the colander back into the pot, then toss the greens into a large enamel pot full of cold water.  The pot’s almost as big as our kitchen sink.  Final stage is to scoop the greens out of the cold water bath; drain, and put in gallon freezer bags.  It’s important to keep the water cold so we end up dumping it a couple times after the water warms up.  Then we fill the pot with cold water again and carry on.

Today’s harvest yielded 6 gallon bags of Swiss chard for the freezer.  We’ll continue to eat fresh leaves until the weather changes; after that it’s time to raid the freezer.

Dunno about you but we think Swiss Chard leaves are simply beautiful. Click on the thumbnail pictures below for better views.

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Greens For Lunch

Fall is harvest time here in West Michigan; and we sure do love it.  Right now the focus at our house is on the greens:  Swiss chard, wild cabbage (ancestor to kale, collards, etc.) and turnips.  The lower fall temperatures remove the bitterness that’s present during the summer.  And my how the greens are thriving these days!!

Nice thing about all of these is they can withstand temperatures that have already killed much of the garden.  They all survive the autumn frosts just fine; and can even be harvested in the dead of winter if protected properly.

Here’s a picture of some I picked today.  One of the wild cabbage leaves was pretty big!!  I put my Pyrex bowl, cutting board and chef’s knife in the photo for size comparison. Click the photo for a better view.

Greens with leftover chicken and broccoli

Of course, I’m also killing two stones with one bird:  I wanted to share how I make my lunch for work.  My “standard” cooking receptacle is a 4 cup Pyrex bowl with a vented lid; perfect for cooking in the microwave.  Tomorrow’s lunch will be very simple, yet very delicious:

1   small leftover broiled chicken breast (about 4 ounces), cut up into chunks

1/2 of a medium sized yellow onion

Chopped greens, enough to fill the bowl to the top.

And yes we eat the stems too!!  I sprinkle a little Kikkoman Gluten Free Soy Sauce to “kick it up a notch,” as Emeril might say.  Keep refrigerated until it’s time to eat, then nuke it for 3 minutes.  Mix the contents after cooking to toss the flavors all about.  MMmmmmm good!!

Greens-chicken-broccoli-onions

Diggin’ Them Crazy Taters

The potato vines are long dead, but I marked where they lived so I could remember where to dig.  Last several years I’ve been planting Adirondack Red and Adirondack Blue potatoes.  They are truly beautiful tubers both inside and out; and packed with more anti-oxidants than potatoes with white innards.  And of course, nothing beats the flavor of freshly dug potatoes.  These came out of the garden yesterday; I diced them up peels and all and fried them in butter.

Adirondack red & blueAlso made a scramble with chopped Swiss chard, onions, mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes; then topped it with cheese.  Onions, mushrooms, and peppers were store-bought; all the other veggies were picked this morning from the garden.   Well OK, all except the potatoes, that picking was yesterday.

Scramble supplies

Greens And Roots

Aturnip and some wild cabbage will make a very nice addition to my stir fry.

A turnip and some wild cabbage will make a very nice addition to my stir fry.

Here we are in October already!!  Summers in Michigan sure seem to whiz by quickly.  But I take heart that there are still several more warm days ahead.  By warm, of course, I mean above 50 degrees.  Even with climate change we’re not gonna see 70s or above any time soon.  All my friends know I love to garden, and at work I’ve been asked more than once:  “So Ken, your garden pretty much done now?”  “No,” I reply, “there’s still lots of food in there.”

I go on to explain that although the tomatoes are pretty much done, there are still lots of greens to be had.  I rattle off names like Swiss chard and wild cabbage and I get some puzzled looks.  Many have heard of Swiss chard, although not very many folks eat it from what I can see.  And when I try to explain that wild cabbage is an ancestor to broccoli, collards, and other members of the cabbage family, I often get that “deer in the headlights” look.  Swiss chard and wild cabbage both thrive in cool weather; and will actively grow right up till Jack Frost starts blowing his wintry breath on the ground.

Turnips are another of my favorite cool weather crops.  They do really well when planted from seed in late July.   I often dice up the large roots and throw them into a stir-fry.  After cooking they are often mistaken for diced potatoes by unsuspecting guests.  The greens, normally strongly flavored (almost bitter) in summer, are mellowed out nicely by the cool temperatures.   I also use those in stir fry dishes, as well as soups.

So yes, the garden is still going even in autumn.