i hope you eat good food, grow beautiful things, and have more love than you know what to do with.
Ah, dandelions (Taraxacum officionale), the bane of America’s sterile and homogenous grass lawns. It’s a pity people dislike it so much because it really is a wonderful plant, and in many parts of the world like Italy, it’s a common vegetable green. High in fiber …
A lot of sources will tell you that Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is only reliably perennial from zone 9 upwards, zone 8 pushing it, and zone 7 should be wintered indoors. This is where a location’s microclimate as well as choosing cold hardy varieties come into …
Italian parsley is grown as an annual/biennial culinary, which means that it usually dies in its second year after it sets seed. That doesn’t make it suitable for my particular application of a perennial food forest so sometimes I decline to grow it, even though a lot of recipes call for it. In comes Mitsuba Parsley, sometimes called wild Japanese parsley, which is a hardy perennial (down to zone 4) that comes back year after year with a similar taste (mitsuba and Italian parsley are cousins) and similar application in cooking. It’s low growing (1 – 3 feet) and suitable for a groundcover, especially since it loves shade and moisture. I have it in my perennial herb box in mostly shade where it happily grows (except for when my ducks were eating it.)
It tolerates a wide range of soils but does need it to be able to hold moisture. Any hotter than zone 9, and the plant gets stunted and will likely die. It’s found in the woodlands of Japan, hence its name. Right now my plant is small, but I’m hoping it will gain some size in the coming years, and I can propagate it by root division (it will also set seed as well.) Unlike Italian parsley, mitsuba stems are tender and also edible! It really is a useful cut and come again herb.
I am a fiend for sprouts, and I especially love alfalfa, which I often sprout at home during the fall and winter times. One of my absolute favorite ways of eating it is replacing lettuce in sandwiches with the delicious, slightly peppery bite of alfalfa. This can …
Almost 2 years ago, I had been craving alfalfa bad. I was pregnant with our second and the desire for those delicious greens was hitting me hard. But as a pregnant woman, you’re not supposed to buy sprouts at the supermarket because it often has …
I adore natto, the Japanese dish of fermented soy beans often eaten for breakfast or a quick meal. There are actually all-you-can-eat natto restaurants where you can sample different styles and flavors. The reason I began eating it is actually because it’s very similar to another fermented soy bean dish from my dad’s home province of Szechuan. The stinkier, they say, the better.
Natto has a very specific enzyme that is found only in natto aptly called nattokinase. It has been shown to thin the blood and even break down blood clots so incorporating it into your diet is a healthy move.
I and my toddlers love it for the taste, and it is definitely acquired as it’s pungent, reminding of people of spoiled food. It comes in neat little single serve styrofoam packages with seasonings (original flavor is with a soy sauce base and mustard). As you mix it, the natto gives off stringy mucous that turns frothy and slimy. Pour over a bowl of hot rice and you have a delicious breakfast.
Some people use scallions or chives, but I myself much prefer it with shiso.
Ingredients:
1. Open natto package and empty seasonings into it. Stir quickly with chopsticks until frothy.
2. Pour over bowl of white rice and garnish with minced shiso.
3. Enjoy!
My sister (follow her on Instagram), who is a chef working at an upscale Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, gave me three hamachi kama (yellowtail collars) the other day when I went to visit her and my parents where they live in Queens. I was daunted …
I was so excited when I saw a goji (Lycium chinense or Lycium barbarum) plant for sale at my local nursery, ladened with fruit. The first time I tried it, after the initial burst of sweetness, it became so bitter I spat it out, and …
This is the story of how I started out with one horseradish plant (Armoracia rusticana) and ended up with over 20. Horseradish is one of the few condiments that I can’t do without when eating raw clams or oysters. It’s also a delicious compliment to roast beef or a thick, juicy slice of prime rib.
It’s a hardy perennial down to zone 2 and, as I found out, can be invasive if you aren’t a big horseradish fan as any little piece of root regenerates itself into an entirely new plant. I found this out when moving my original mother plant to a new area in the garden–baby horseradish are still popping up yearly where the original was because I don’t dig deep enough to get all the pieces. The roots also snap fairly easily, so while I may have gotten the main root, some offshoots always remain. It is tolerant of both frequent and infrequent watering, and tolerates a wide range of soil acidity and conditions (had it in both sandy soil and compost heavy soils–but sandy soil makes it easier to harvest.) I’ve had it in both sun and shade and the only thing that seems to bother it (but not hinder it) is the caterpillars (cabbageworms) of those white butterflies that are often fluttering around my garden.
One thing to note is that there is a plant called “curly dock” that looks very similar to horseradish–same leaf shape and root system. The way to tell the difference, aside from the hallmark pungency of grated horseradish, is that the roots of the curly dock has yellow flesh, while horseradish roots are white fleshed. They also have different flowers.
I had been wondering what to do with the sundried tomato in olive oil I had prepared some days ago, knowing that I will have to use it up soon or risk botulism (no matter how small) when I came across fresh mozzarella pearls in …
