For Xmas dinner 2007, I made nut roast with roast vegetables including two members of the Basellaceae family (known as the Madeira vine family). It contains the following genus: Anredera, Basella, Ullucus and plantlist.org also assigns Tournonia hookeriana (previously Basella) to the same family.
I also cooked some Basella alba (malabar or ceylon spinach) greens to serve with the dinner.
Is this the only time all 3 main members of the Basellaceae have been served together? ;)
With an even heavier frost threatened, I moved all my Ocas and Ullucos inside….but, until I clear space (seeds drying everywhere) they are blocking the entrance to my house ;)
I grow them on inside and harvest normally for Xmas!
Mostly annuals and biannuals tonight, but still 1/3 of the 41 ingredients are perennials!
So, is this a world record, Guinness? Oh, sorry you can’t even ID a dandelion can you, so no point asking you ;)
My claim is at 2.3m. Any better?
I had no idea skirret/sukkerot/Sium sisarum could get this high….
On the corner of a bed I planted Adenophora “Amethyst” over 10 years ago. I remember that creeping bellflower / ugressklokke (Campanula rapunculoides) was growing in the grass next to the bed and I tried to stop it invading… I thought I had succeeded…
In the last few years the “Adenophora” has started invading this bed aggressively and I decided to remove the plant….. It turned out not to be an Adenophora at all and was creeping bellflower (both in the same family). So, had the creeping bellflower in the grass gradually taken over without me noticing or was my Adenophora (seed propagated from a seed trade) actually always been creeping bellfower. The latter I think. It seems that it is often an imposter for Adenophora: http://tinyurl.com/j3kzq9k
I’ve dug it out, the roots were a decent size although a bit fibrous, so I cooked them and added them to tonight’s salad :)
I remember posting an article about a new material that had been developed inspired by the water repellent leaves of Lady’s Mantle (Alchemilla spp.). Another species with very high water repellence (so-called superhydrophobicity) is the root vegetable taro (Colocasia esculenta) . Here it is demonstrating what is known as the Lotus effect on my balcony! See more at https://en.wikipedia.org/
Well, not only Mandy’s plot, a group of local people in Ashburton, Devon got together to buy The Field a few years ago to grow vegetables communally! It is truly an inspiration to see how productive what was sheep pasture can actually be!! We need much more of this and I’m imagining the hills around covered in Andean tuber crops in a few years from now rather than sheep!!
It was great to meet you all and a big bonus that Owen and good lady made the journey up from Cornwall to join us!!
More pictures in the album below!
See Mandy’s blog of my visit here: http://www.incrediblevegetables.co.uk/stephen-barstow-visit/
Posted on Facebook on 4th December 2011: “I harvested my root chicory today (Di Sancino) and was pleased with the yield – very long uniform white roots. Only slightly bitter I’m sure I’ll be growing more of these in future. Chicories are easy to grow compared to other roots in that there are no pests that attack them and can therefore be grown organically without any protection!”
As some of you will know, chicories (sikkori) are just about my favourite veggies, in part due to their flexibility providing edible cooked greens, salad greens in an incredible array of colours and forms, coffee surrogate, edible flowers, winter forced chicons and some are even perennial. A big advantage is that they are easy to grow here organically. This is an old picture from four years ago of the Edible rooted chicory “Di Soncino”! It is also easy to grow your own seed and they mature even up here! I never cook this root cultivar on its own as a side vegetable, but add them to many fried dishes and soups…
