Substitutions

[thistlebloom]

not sure if i've ever done this here, but have you tried raw turnips? they're close to same texture and taste like a wimpy cabbage. the bigger the turnip you can just chunk it up and then discard the bits that have peels still left on them (or save them for cooking)...

I had to smile when I read this...
@ninnymary asked me a year or two ago if I would like her to pick some seeds up for me when she visited the Baker Creek store on her next visit. I looked through the catalog for something unique that I had never tried. Saw the Petrowski turnips, the description said sweet and crisp. Okay! That's what I want! Sounds good!

They grew fantastically, we put some of the greens in our green smoothies (which we don't expect to taste delicious) and tried the roots. Tasted like turnips to me, which apparently is not a flavor I was born to enjoy. Tried small roots, large roots, roasted roots... still turnips.
Nowhere would I have described them as sweet. Crisp maybe, but I was so overcome by turnippy that I guess I didn't notice.
Mary did wonder why I wanted her to get turnips, haha.

The moral of the story is to beware how much of the seed catalogs description you believe.

 

[ninnymary]

I think turnips have a funny taste that I’m not crazy about.

Mary

 

[digitS']

And then, I wanted to grow a "leaf" turnip last year and ordered seed from Kitazawa, I think it was.

After several of the plants died and I had sprayed them yet again with Spinosad, they finally grew! The flea beetles loved them to death ...

A young lady asked me yesterday about growing Brussels sprouts. I said the aphids love them! But, I don't really. She informed me that her toddler likes Brussels sprouts .

I'm beginning to understand something about @flowerbug 's taste in vegetables. "wimpy cabbage" ... I'm having chicken curry for lunch right now - made with shallots. I think FlowerBug may have described shallots as "wimpy," also. He much prefers garlic, apparently .

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

I’m still trying to find a radish that is not too spicy. All the ones I’ve tried are to hot for the kids.

I love how fast they grow. We could be eating a lot of radishes with dipping sauce!

Mary

i eat the sprouts more than anything, they're not so bad ...

(since turnips didn't make the cut )

 

[flowerbug]

I think turnips have a funny taste that I’m not crazy about.

Mary

yes, they are not for everyone... Mom doesn't like 'em either (says they are bitter) which is why i grow just a few here or there (mostly as worm food it seems). i have had some get as large as basketballs. haven't eaten those, instead i chop them up with a shovel and let them feed the worms. a few i leave for the flowers because i love the yellow blooms from them. and free seeds for sprouting new ones in random spots the next round. not that i really need them, the localish grain elevator sells them by the pound for a few $.

once in while when she's away i'll pull some and fry 'em. my favorite way to eat turnips is pan fried so they get some brown on them like potatoes. to me they are somewhat bland but i like that slightly burned taste. i would probably like them roasted too, but as of yet i've not done that. when cooked i have to keep them in a very air-tight container or Mom will say they stink up the fridge.

I had to smile when I read this...
@ninnymary asked me a year or two ago if I would like her to pick some seeds up for me when she visited the Baker Creek store on her next visit. I looked through the catalog for something unique that I had never tried. Saw the Petrowski turnips, the description said sweet and crisp. Okay! That's what I want! Sounds good!

They grew fantastically, we put some of the greens in our green smoothies (which we don't expect to taste delicious) and tried the roots. Tasted like turnips to me, which apparently is not a flavor I was born to enjoy. Tried small roots, large roots, roasted roots... still turnips.
Nowhere would I have described them as sweet. Crisp maybe, but I was so overcome by turnippy that I guess I didn't notice.
Mary did wonder why I wanted her to get turnips, haha.

The moral of the story is to beware how much of the seed catalogs description you believe.

yes, i learned that during my tulip craze... colors and pictures may vary from what you get.

And then, I wanted to grow a "leaf" turnip last year and ordered seed from Kitazawa, I think it was.

After several of the plants died and I had sprayed them yet again with Spinosad, they finally grew! The flea beetles loved them to death ...

A young lady asked me yesterday about growing Brussels sprouts. I said the aphids love them! But, I don't really. She informed me that her toddler likes Brussels sprouts .

I'm beginning to understand something about @flowerbug 's taste in vegetables. "wimpy cabbage" ... I'm having chicken curry for lunch right now - made with shallots. I think FlowerBug may have described shallots as "wimpy," also. He much prefers garlic, apparently .

Steve

flea beetles get you that bad? we have some here that make holes in the beans when they are young, but eventually the beans outgrow them or something else is catching up with their numbers. as noted above turnips can grow very well here in places, if thinned out so they don't overcrowd each other (their relative rutabags were also impressive in their growth, but i don't like them as much as the purple top globe shaped ones).

re: wimpy, i suspect you are right... note: i say nothing about eating radishes or horseradish. i eat a little here or there but mostly i grow radishes for a few sprouts and for a cover crop (diakon radish seeds are also sold by the pound for a few $).

as for garlic, yes, i'll sit in the dirt and eat green garlic and fresh garlic. the type i grow here is hot enough to numb your tongue/gums if you chew on it.

my garlic consumption is way down the past few years but if i'm cooking i'll usually start with a dozen or two cloves and eat a few as i'm peeling (which likely makes me un-a'peeling ). no effect on skeeters or flies. vampire-free zone...

i've not seen aphids on the few brussels sprouts we've grown. i think there might be a greyish green type of aphid that goes after that family of plants, but as chance goes i've only seen those here once and i promptly pulled and buried the plant because it wasn't a cabbage like it was supposed to be anyways. lady beetles did not seem to go after them... which is other reason for promptly burying... any cabbage i've grown gets heavily munched on by the cabbage worms and i won't ever bother to spray or net them so also don't grow them. turnips are close enough. some day i may get bok choy or some other cabbage like plant to grow, but that is a distant priority... brussels sprouts may be the only one we've grown with any success here as of yet (besides turnips and rutabagas).

two winter's ago i left the daikon radishes alone in the fall and the snow cover was good enough to keep the greens. in the middle of the winter when not much else was green for the deer they ended up eating not only the greens but any of the roots sticking out of the ground. the proximity to the unprotected strawberry plants probably didn't help either. this past fall i chopped them all up with the shovel so the worms would get a crack at them. them and turnips smell like beer when they are rotting. i'm not really a huge fan of beer any longer, but as far as smells go i can tolerate that in comparison to various animal poos i've stepped in...

 

[digitS']

Individual tastes but also local environments ...

I cannot understand the youngsters and their current appreciation for IPA and porter. There are bitter things I like ... maybe ... but, it's not my beer!

Bugs have local populations and interests. Flea beetle can turn a planting of radish to an unappetizing, grey-green confetti. Aphids are often difficult for me to deal with on kale and some of those things that I like to grow. I have to get down and look under leaves not stand around like the lord of the manor and admire the garden beauty. Too often, my next step is to bring out the sprayer.

At one time, I thought that green eggplant was my way to avoid the bitterness of that veggie. Oh, the sprinkling with salt and time in a colander helps, too. However, growing stress is a big factor in eggplant bitterness. We would all be bitter to see potato beetles scurrying towards us to take a bite!

Sure, they eat potatoes but eggplant is a real magnet. It actually seems to help to secret the eggplants in amongst other plants of non-nightshades. And, it wasn't all that easy for me to find an effective organic spray.

Steve commonly carrying Spinosad around in the garden is probably part of the reason for such a limited number of cabbage worms along with the beaten back populations of beetles, of one type or another. The Bt specifically for the caterpillar seldom comes off the shelf as a substitute. Of course, the quail, song sparrows, etc. are my special assistants in the effort, also. The beetles might be too bitter for their tastes.

Steve