Monday, May 2, 2011

Harvest Monday May 2

It is pretty much too hot by now for leafy greens. My mustard-types (bok choy, chinese cabbage, giant red mustard, and kale) have long since bolted. Endive is sending up shoots, though it hasn't put out flowers yet.

My tomatoes are in the ground, but I had to restart with more chile pepper seeds after my lighting set up collapsed and crushed the earlier seedlings, so they're not ready to plant out yet. Of course, it will be a long while yet before I have any solanum crops to harvest. My bean plants are just starting to come up (and be devoured by the slugs. I don't hold out much hope for beans this year).

Right now is the time for the crispy, crunchy delight of snap and snow peas. And my personal favorite: radish pods. I don't grow a special variety of podding radish, since they all have edible pods. I planted a bunch of white icicle radish seeds early this year. I ate a lot of them for roots, and left some to bloom. Of those, I will harvest most of the pods to eat fresh or cooked, like snap peas. Some pods will be left for next year's seed.

Here is a bento featuring my garden radish pods and peas, stirfried briefly in teriyaki sauce, alongside some katsu chicken and rice-quinoa onigiri.


Fresh, radish pods have a pleasing crunch and a "green" flavor somewhat like snap peas, but less sweet, and some radish heat. Cooking reduces the heat without losing the radish flavor and seems to make them taste a little sweeter.


I imagine the level of heat has something to do with the variety, but I think it mostly depends on care. Some of the plants this year were in my garden proper, and got regular water and care like the rest of the vegetables. Others sprouted from spilled seed in the sideyard and were left to fend for themselves. They grew right up against an eastern facing wall, and the reflected heat, along with the general lack of water, made the pods very, very hot. The variety is the same as the garden pods, collected from the same plants last year, so only the level of care was different. If you like milder pods, coddle your radish plants.

1 comment:

  1. I've yet to grow radish pods. I always harvest them all and eat the radishes. Maybe some year I'll try it.

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