Spade Work : From Plot to Plate

Gypsy Red

Gypsy Red has a white outer wrapper and inner cloves with a light purple marking and a thin pale brown over skin.

Each bulb had 8 - 10 cloves and from what I'd read elsewhere I expected this garlic to be a firey hot number.

Not so with our crop which was mild and fragrant. Which all goes to show that garlic tastings are pretty subjective affairs.

I've enjoyed growing all the different varieties this season and I know that I'll grow some of the same varieties again next year but I'm not sure which ones yet.  

Safe to say though I'll definitely grow some hardnecks to enjoy the first scapes of the year. Eating these really was a revalation but it's not for the faint hearted. I've got six cubes of scape pesto left in the freezer so maybe it's time to get some out and re-live the intense garlicky taste scape pesto brings to pasta.

Vekak Czech & Colorado Black

Vekak Czech garlic on the left is very pungent on the nose but surprisingly mild tasting when cooked. Skin colour is striking - an intense purple that goes to the outer wrapper.

The Colorado Black on the right is cased in a white wrapper which when divided yields around 9 cloves with a deep, dark purple skin which may explain the black in the name. Stronger tasting than Vekak Czech, it's not so pungent when crushed.

Korean Red

Like any garlic, I suppose, this one gets you a seat in the library on your own if you eat enough.

It's a hardneck type on the smallish side but still producing 10 plump cloves that deliver a strong taste. Combined with olive oil and pimenton it did a good job of marinating chicken breasts.

Krasnador Red

This is a hardneck marbled purple stripe variety though you'd hardly guess looking at the outer skin.

Coming from Russia as the name suggests it's supposed to do well in cold climates.

The inner skin of each clove, 8 in all, is reddish purple and cooks will like it as they are large and easy to prepare.

I've read that hardneck garlic doesn't store as long as softneck varieties and this one has a life of 5 - 7 months. Time will tell. As I've more hardneck varieties this year maybe I'll experience a 'hungry gap' when I've no garlic left in store. Hope not.

Taste?  Garlicky and it livened up a roast hand of pork.

Uzbek Turban : The Morning After

My wife has a 'dry mouth scale' when it comes to rating garlic, so a twenty clove of chicken recipe (simple -stuff a chicken with twenty cloves of garlic and roast) is likely to overdo it.

Uzbek Turban scored 8 out of 10 this morning (up there with scapes) and that was from two small cloves in the sauce.

You're on notice - use sparingly! I wonder if its strength will develop or mellow over time?

Pea Tasting 08

I've several peas growing this year - the very tall Ne Plus Ultra, the very short Norli and Taiwan Sugar (pictured) which is already about 4 foot tall even though I've seen it described as a very short dwarf variety.

And it was from the last two that we had our first harvest of peas over the weekend. They'd been sown in gutters, overwintered in the green house and were planted out in February.

How did they rate?

Well both were sweet as you'd expect from a mangetout variety and delicious served raw in a salad. Both had a crunchy texture though there was a hint of stringyness to the Taiwan and I'll see if this develops as the pods mature. To be honest though I doubt if I could tell them apart in a blind tasting.

Where they really differ is how they look in the plot. Norli is very uniform and short with brilliant ice white flowers. But Taiwan wins on the pretty stakes - many flowers carried higher up in a variety of off-white, pinks and some mauves - a real head turner.

I would grow both again but I'll check how Taiwan develops as the pods mature.

The First Potatoes

These are the first potatoes out of the garden this season. I'd be lying if I pretended they were early earlies - I don't expect to be eating my Home Guard much before end of May or early June.

These were left overs I missed from last years harvest (quite how you can miss fairly large spuds is a mystery) and they stored in the ground pretty well until I dug over the soil this weekend.

Rhubarb rhubarb

Back from a very enjoyable ride from Seville to Salamanca, averaging 40 miles a day with the longest being 60 miles.

The Spanish really do like their meats (had some mouth watering secreto iberico, along with the chorizo, chuletons....) so it was something of a relief to get home to a bowl of home grown.

If you've only space for one variety of rhubarb then I'd go for Victoria. It's one  of the most popular and deservedly so. Thick reddish pink sticks and flavour wise it beats the Timperley Early and Champagne that I've got growing on the allotment. I don't stew it with sugar, instead I drizzle some runny honey in the bowl and serve with low/no fat yoghurt.

Winter Vegetables

This is one of the first winter vegetable harvests of the season - good old Brussels sprouts. I've already had some leeks off the allotment and snuck a parsnip earlier in the month but they go with colder weather than we are having at the moment. I think this is Seven Hills but I'll need to check. Some of the buttons are a bit small, others slightly blown but I'm looking forward to them.

BPs are one of my favourite vegetables despite my mother boiling them to death in ham water. I'm surprised I wasn't put off for life.

Now it's 5-6 minutes in boiling water, drain and serve plain (a knob of butter and some salt if you're allowed). Cooked this way they'll retain their colour and bite. They'll join some baked leeks this evening and roast Charlotte potatoes to go with grilled chicken breasts. I sense good things about to happen.

I've several plants of Red Rubine in the ground as well but they are taking a long time to develop. Will they retain their colour when cooked?

Winter Squash

I wonder if these butternut squash will ripen like the green San Marzano tomotoes I ripened on the window sill?

They are not at all like the buttery shop varieties. The books I've read all talk about letting the squashes ripen in the sun on the vine. What are the chances of these unripe looking fruits ripening indoors?