Spring Vege Bag - Week 7
Click on any vegetable that has a link to see previous posts with recipes and cooking tips. You can also browse and filter the whole vege bag archive by vegetable here.
Final winter stores
We’re coming to the end of our heartier winter crops. Storage spuds and pumpkins were finished over the last couple of weeks, and we’re getting just about finishing up with carrots and beetroot.
We’ve been doing carrots pretty much non stop since for most of the year. We’re coming to the final overwintered carrots - next week will be the final week (and likely not enough for a full share for everyone).
Both ahoaho and Crooked Vege have new sowings in, but they probably won’t be ready for harvest until November/December. We sowed more than 50,000 carrots at the end of summer to have supply running through as much of winter as possible - from April through to late August, you can’t really sow them due to soil temperatures.
We’re also on the final winter beets from Crooked Vege (and this weeks share has been topped up by our friends at Live2give organics).
We’ll have a good supply of beetroot and a few other hearty brassicas (e.g. broccoli) from Live2Give over the next wee while, in addition to the quicker spring crops (e.g. radish).
This week we have:
Lettuce Mix (Ahoaho māra kai)
Mesclun (Ahoaho māra kai)
Salad radish (Ahoaho māra kai)
Purple Carrots (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)
Beetroot or Kohlrabi (Crooked Vege Ōtaki/Live2give Organics)
Silverbeet (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)
Microgreens or Parsley (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)
Leeks (Live2give Organics)
Vege highlights/suggested uses
Kohlrabi
Background
We’re disappointed not to have grown a very successful winter kohlrabi crop. A learning for next year, but we probably sowed it about 2-4 weeks late. We were aiming to have it in vege bags once or twice a month from August through November, but we got the timing wrong. Ideally they’re a lot bigger, too.
An uncommon crop in Aotearoa, Kohlrabi often becomes a favourite once people try it. Sometimes known as “German Turnip,” it has a crisp apple like crunch and juiciness to it. It tastes a bit like the sweeter parts of a broccoli stem. I sometimes describe it as a “savoury apple.”
Using it
You definitely want to peel/cut off the thick outside skin! Otherwise it's a very versatile vegetable that can be used raw, fried or roasted.
Last night I made a really quick and delicious salad by thinly slicing kohlrabi, radish and apple (you could grate it too), and tossing it with some of Ahoaho’s rocket from last week and some toasted seeds. Use any dressing you want (I did tahini, oil, lemon juice).
Our other favourite way to use it is to roast or fry it! You can always hide it in a curry or a stir fry, but in a salad or roasted makes the most of it’s great texture and light flavour. It also pickles nicely.
Finally, we leave the leaves on because they’re useful, in much the same way you use kale! Interestingly, it seems to be valued in some places for the leaves at least as much as the bulbs. We have a few 1980s Indian cookbooks at home, where there are multiple recipes for kohlrabi leaves and none for the bulbs themselves.
Ka kite,
Jon
