Substitutions

[digitS']

Do you use substitutes?

@Grizla 's idea to use Cocona in place of lemon in the kitchen made me reflect on this notion I had for a substitution for my favorite tea herbs.

Lemon verbena is tasty by itself but with anise hyssop, the tea is wonderful ... to my tastes .

The anise hyssop volunteered in my garden year after year. Well, the tractor guy was too efficient and last year there was only 1 anise hyssop plant. Not enuf for my tea! Obviously, I should be rescuing these plants for keeping in the greenhouse through the winter, I guess that would work. Or, growing them where the tractor guy can't get at them. But, here is another idea (of something i'd need to protect )!

The anise hyssop is somewhat closely related to monarda. Some people are happy with monarda as an herbal tea but it has a bitterness. However, there's a lemon monarda that is somewhat commonly used for tea. That leaves me with TWO lemon flavored herbs .... But, there's an anise verbena!

It's a Lippia alba and is a native in southern Texas. Richters in eastern Canada has the plants (click) but it apparently is also available as seeds. I may just get one of these things going one of these first days !

Do you use substitutes from your garden in recipes? ... at tea time?

Steve

 

[digitS']

Weeeell ..?

Here's a substitution! What can I do about the crunch in stir-fries without the water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis)?

My answer was a radish . At first, I thought that for the plant to be used in its entirety, I should find a variety without the "hair" on the leaves. I found one, a Russian variety. Only later did I decide to use a more common radish after reading that some North American gardeners cook and eat the leaves. The hair disappears in the cooking process! Oh well . Tastes about like some of the other vegetable ingredients in a stir-fry. Maybe, it doesn't quite have the water chestnut's flavor but it has pretty close to its crunch.

Steve

 

[so lucky]

Do you put the radishes in at the last minute, Steve, or stir fry them along with the rest of the vegetables?

 

[Grizla]

I some times use sliced radishes in place of crackers- it's really good with savory flavors like cheese or hummus. (Wouldn't recommend it for peanut butter though!)

 

[ninnymary]

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

 

[digitS']

I don't have any recommendations on that, @ninnymary .

Cooking them mellow the flavor but kids are impatient.

Carrots are popular with kids .

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

have you tried peeling them? i know a lot more work, but might mellow them out some...

 

[ninnymary]

have you tried peeling them? i know a lot more work, but might mellow them out some...

I haven't but that's a good idea. Unfortunately preparing lunch is when I'm very busy and that would be too time consuming.

Mary

 

[HmooseK]

We quarter them and fry with onions. Just like you would home fries. Doesn't taste as good as taders, but for low Carb dish not bad.

Like most lower Carb dishes, it's not as good as the original, but as long as you ant expecting a Tader taste, pretty good.

 

[flowerbug]

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)...