Cooking Up A Mess Of Greens

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Jay White

Cooking greens is one of my favorite fall and winter activities. I can’t wait for the first good

A mess of collards on the stove with smoked pork

cold snap so I can go out to my garden and bring in a “mess of greens”. I grow and cook collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, kale and chard. While cooking up a “mess of greens” is thought of as a Southern tradition, it is beginning to catch on all across the country. The health benefits associated with “greens” are encouraging both professional and amateur chef’s to add these traditionally Southern treats to their regular menus. Here’s how I do it.

I wait until after the first frost to harvest my greens. The freeze is supposed to remove some of the bitterness. For my first harvest, I cut a few stalks from each of the plants. I then bring them in, strip the leaves from the stalks and wash them. After they are good and clean, I set them aside and proceeded to make a stock. This stock is often called pot liquor (or pot likker) and it is what makes the greens taste amazing.

Collards from the potager served with our homemade pepper sauce

To make the stock, I chopped up one whole yellow onion and four pieces of thick cut bacon. I cook the bacon and onions until the onions become soft. If you have some vegetarians in the house (as I often do), substitute three tablespoons of EVOO for the bacon. Next, add three cups of water and 1 teaspoon (tsp) salt, 1 tsp Zattaran’s Cajun spice and fresh ground black pepper to taste. Bring it all to a boil. Let it boil for about 3 minutes then reduce it to simmer and cover.

While the stock is simmering I put another big pot of water on to boil. I fill this pot half full of water and add 1 tablespoon (tbsp) of salt. While this is coming to a boil, I take a small handful of greens and roll them up like a cigar. I cut the roll into about 1/2” strips. Once the green are all cut up I add them to the rapidly boiling salt water. I boil them for three minutes and then pour off the water. This removes some of the bitterness associated with the greens. Finally, I added the drained greens to the stock and let them simmer for an hour. OMG!!!!! These things are wonderful.

Country As A Turnip Green

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Jay White

Turnips from my potager

If you listen to Mark Chestnut’s song “Daddy’s Money” you will discover that his girlfriend is “country as a turnip green”. Well, if liking turnip greens makes you country then I am definitely “country”. I love turnips and I love their greens (fresh and cooked). They taste great and they are good for you. The root is high in vitamin C and the greens are loaded with vitamins A, C, K and calcium. How many other vegetables do you know that can provide you with two sides for a single meal?

People (and not just country people) have been enjoying turnips (Brassica rappa) for a very long time. The Romans loved them. Since they were a staple of the Roman diet, we can surmise that they have been in cultivation for well over 2000 years. They were also staples in the Irish diet long before the potato arrived. The tradition of the “jack-o-lantern” started with the turnip. Legend says that an Irish thief named Jack tricked the devil out of taking his soul. When Jack died, he was too sinful to go to heaven but, because of his deal with the devil, he couldn’t go to hell either. So, he was cursed to wander in darkness forever. On All Hallow’s Eve, the Irish would carve out a turnip and place a small candle or ember inside to help this crafty folk hero find his way to the after life.

Turnips are very easy to grow. Around September, I plant my first row of turnips. I add

A two course meal

another row in October and still another in November. This will keep me in turnips and greens right up until March. To plant, I dig a shallow furrow with a long screw driver, scatter the seeds, cover and water. Within a few days, they sprout. In fact, so many little plants pop up that I am convinced they have about a 110% germination rate! Once the true leave form, I start thinning them to about 4” apart. Their thick, green, leafy tops make a very attractive border in my potager.

You can eat every part of the turnip. The young greens add a sharp taste to fall salads. The more mature greens are wonderful cooked (if you like greens) and the root tastes an awful lot like a potato (with a little extra zip). Because of our nation’s new found interest in healthy living, turnips and turnip greens are enjoying renewed popularity. Many top restaurants (not just Southern restaurants either) now regularly serve greens to their well healed customers. I have even seen bunches of turnips and their greens for sale at Whole Foods. At this rate, greens won’t be just for country folk much longer!

If you would like to see how I prepare my greens, be sure to read the next post.

Green Strawberries (or fun with ethylene)

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Jay White

Have you ever purchased a green strawberry? We buy green bananas all the time. Sometimes we even buy green tomatoes. But why haven’t you ever bought a green strawberry?

All fruits (and many vegetables and nuts) fall into two categories based on their ripening characteristics: climacteric or non-climacteric. Climacteric fruits will continue to ripen after the fruit has left the plant. Non-climacteric fruits stop the ripening process the minute they leave the plant. That is why you have never bought a green strawberry. A green strawberry will always be a green strawberry. It will never turn red, it will never get juicy and it will never taste good. Strawberries are the quintessential non-climacteric fruit.

Bananas, on the other hand are the quintessential climacteric fruit. Bananas are the most consumed fruit in America. According to a 2006 report by the USDA, each American eats a whooping 25.14 pounds of bananas per year. This is amazing when you think about how perishable bananas are and the distances they have to travel to get here (the top producer and exporter of bananas is India). An understanding of the science behind this climacteric/non-climacteric thing is what allows us Americans to eat so many things that come from so far away.

Ripening is controlled by several variables. One of these is ethylene. When fruits start to ripen they produce ethylene. Knowing this, we can hasten ripening by exposing the fruit to ethylene or we can slow down the ripening process by chilling the fruit (which suppresses ethylene production and is how they keep bananas fresh for so long).

The last of the yupneck’s 2010 tomatoes

O.K. I know you are thinking “This is a pretty cool horticultural fact and all, but what can I do with it?” Well, it can help you save your fall tomato crop, that’s what. Tonight, it is supposed to get down to 28 degrees at my house. I am fairly certain this is going to finish off my fall tomatoes. I have nursed them through two light freezes already. Each time a little more of the foliage got burned and I had to cut it back. Not much protecion left for the tomatoes that are still on the vine. So, tonight I am going home and picking what is left of my green tomatoes. I will then take them in the house and put them in a brown paper bag with two or three ripe bananas. I will fold the bag shut and leave it for three or four days. When I open it up this weekend, I should have a bag full of red tomatoes! The ethylene that is being released by the bananas will save my fall tomato crop!

Poinsettia grown by me in my Greenhouse Management course taught by a real Master of Horticulture, Dr. Terri Starman. Our poinsettia’s were wrapped in brown paper sleeves for shipment.

Here is another useful ethylene tip. If you bring home flowers or potted plants this holiday season that are wrapped in plastic or paper (this is common with poinsettias), un-wrap them ASAP. You see, those plants are producing ethylene as well. The wrappings will trap the ethylene and your flowers/plants will drop their leaves/petals pretty quickly if you do not get them out of their protective coverings.

Now that you have the facts about ethylene you can use the handy chart below to determine which fruits you can buy while they are still “green” and which fruits will never get ripe for you once they leave the plant.

Climacteric	Non-Climacteric
Apples	Bell Pepper
Apricots	Blackberries
Avocados	Blue Berries
Bananas	Lemons
Cantaloupes	Limes
Figs	Oranges
Nectarines	Grapefruits
Peaches	Raspberries
Pears	Summer Squash
Persimmons	Egg Plant
Plums	Pumpkin
Tomatoes	Strawberries
Watermelon	Grapes

Tatume’ – The wonder squash with many names

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Jay White

Some of the best things in the world happen by accident; Post it Notes, potato chips, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and my discovery of Tatume’ squash. While three of these accidental discoveries yielded vast quantities of money for their inventors, my discovery yields pounds and pounds of a fresh, flavorful, and versatile squash.

Between work, grad school and the remodel of my house, my garden has not received the time and attention it normally gets. Since it was a little late in the spring when I built my potager, I decided to speed things up a bit by purchasing established vegetable plants for my garden. I bought my plants from the left over’s of the Texas A&M Horticulture Club’s Annual Plant Sale. I bought several varieties of tomatoes, egg plant, watermelon, and fennel. When I went looking for squash though, there were only two types left; white summer squash (we call it UFO squash in our house) and a variety that I had never heard of called Tatume’. I grabbed the last summer squash and two of the Tatume’.

Tatume' vines and flowers in my potager

I soon realized that Tatume’ was no normal squash. In a little over a week it has sent out vines that were over six feet long! Everywhere a node lay against the ground, it rooted and sent out more shoots. In two weeks time, half of my garden was over run by these two aggressive plants. I was afraid it would cover the entire garden but I was comforted by how lovely it was. The vines were covered with beautiful big yellow flowers. Once it flowered, the growth rate decreased. I decided to do some research and see what I had gotten myself into.

Most of the squash that we grow come from the species Cucurbita pepo. Tatume’ is a variety of this species. C. pepo is a native of Meso-America and archeological evidence shows that gardener’s there have been growing varieties of it for the past 8,000 to 10,000 years. In America, squash is generally divided into two categories based on when they are harvested. Summer squashes like yellow crook neck, zucchini, and pattypan (UFO) are harvested in their immature state. Immature squash have a soft skin, seeds and flesh. Winter squash like butternut, spaghetti, and acorn are simply squash that are allowed to ripen fully on the vine before they are harvested. Winter squash have a thick hard skin and their flesh is generally firmer and sweeter than summer squash. Tatume’ is one the rare varieties of squash that can be harvested as either a summer or winter squash.

Young Tatume'

Tatume squash is an open pollinated variety (heirloom variety) so you can save the seeds from year to year. The fruits are round or oblate in shape. Their skin is stripped green and they resemble a small watermelon or pumpkin in there immature form. It is best to harvest Tatume’ when it is about the size of baseball. If left to mature, their skin will become a mottled deep green and they can grow to almost the size of a soccer ball.

Tatume’ appears to be the squash of many names. Many seed catalogs list it as Tatume’ or Tatuma but I have also seen it listed as round zucchini and Mexican zucchini. In the markets of Mexico, it is most often called calabacita (little pumpkin).

Whatever you call it, it is a very versatile and flavorful little squash. It is a staple of Mexican cuisine. Mexican cooks use this squash in soups, breakfast dishes, casseroles and as a stand alone side. This year, my wife and I have used it in lieu of yellow squash in all of our squash recipes. We have fried it, baked it, boiled it with onions and made it into a casserole. We even harvested and sautéed the blossoms. However, our favorite thing about Tatume’ is the way that it cooks on the grill. Tatume’ is more flavorful than yellow squash and its flesh is much firmer. Its round shape and firm texture allows it to be cut into thick round patties that are perfect for the grill. A little EVOO, garlic salt, season salt and fresh ground black pepper make for a simple but delicious summer side dish.

A ripe Tatume' ready for the grill!

Tatume’ is a squash variety that posses all of the traits that make squash one of my favorite summer vegetables to grow. It is hardy and productive. Its long vines produce a fabulous show of big yellow flowers that draw bees into the garden. It is tasty and versatile in the kitchen. My accidental experiment with Tatume’ has convinced me to add this to my keeper list. I highly encourage you to try it in your garden as well!

*This article was published in the June 2010 issue of “Hort Update” (http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/newsletters/hortupdate/2010/jun/)

Cheap Tomatoes

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Jay White

A friend at work told me that she wanted to start growing her own vegetables as a way to cut down on her grocery bill. I encouraged her to start a small garden but I warned her that she probably would not be saving money by doing so. She was not to be deterred. She had done the math! She would grow tomatoes in hanging baskets that cost $19 each. Since each plant would produce 10 pounds of tomatoes her cost would be just $2 per pound. Any fool could see that was cheaper than what Whole Foods was charging for a pound of organic tomatoes.

After a couple of weeks I checked in on my friend to see how her hanging tomatoes were doing. She was pretty pleased with all things horticultural, but she was a little dismayed about how much she had spent. The two hanging bags set her back $38, soil and tomatoes were another $20. Then she had to figure out a way to hang them. Since her patio did not get enough sun, she fashioned a rolling support out of galvanized pipe and fittings and a patio umbrella stand. This cost her another $100. My friend had learned a very important lesson. Gardening can provide you with many things. Unfortunately cheap food is not usually one of them.

I am happy to report that my friend did not allow her initial start up costs to deter her gardening efforts. In fact, she has now expanded her gardening operation and is successfully growing herbs and veggies in giant pots in her yard. She no longer tries to justify her hobby as a money saver. She now gardens just for the fun of it! She is growing her own food, spending time out doors, reading books and talking to other gardeners. She has definitely caught the gardening bug.

A lovely pot of chard and parsley at Thompson and Hanson’s in River Oaks

Watching my friend get so excited about gardening put me in a reflective mood. I started wondering, “What is it about watching things grow that makes me, and countless others like me, kind of nutty?” What exactly does gardening provide that makes us return to this pursuit year after year? I know this, gardening provides me with a link to my past. As I get older being connected to my history gets more and more important. I also get the majority of my exercise and all of my sore muscles and back aches in the garden. It gives me a place to express my creativity and it provides me with a window into the wonder of life. Gardening relaxes me, humbles me and keeps me ever watchful and hopeful. It is place where I gather and pass on my knowledge. I have talked to many gardeners and they all seem to agree. The garden is a place where we invest our time, talent and resources. We all receive many gifts from the garden. Unfortunately, cheap food is not generally one of them.

Here are the links for the vendors mentioned in this article:

http://www.thompsonhanson.com/

http://www.gardeners.com/Outdoor-Planters/OutdoorPlanters_Dept,default,sc.html

Gourds-The King of the Cucurbits

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Jay White

I love gourds. I mean I really, really love gourds. I am not sure where my obsession comes from. I know that my earliest plant memories involve gourds. I remember watching them grow beside the road leading to the cattle pens at my Aunt Sarah and Uncle Tom’s farm. I also remember him teaching me to use a 12 gauge shot gun. He would throw some old gourds into the air or float ‘em on the tank and let me shoot until my shoulder hurt. My Aunt Sarah always kept the really big ones. She would drill holes in those and hang them up for the birds. She also kept the “interesting ones”. She would put those in baskets on the table or up on shelves for everyone to admire and marvel at.

I am fairly certain that I have never planted a garden that did not include gourds. I do not understand why more people don’t grow these natural marvels. You can’t kill them. They can grow literally feet in a day. They will cover a fence or a yard with lovely vines bursting with big showy flowers. Kids love them and so do the bees.

I am not particular about what type I grow. I love all of them equally: bottle, kettle, egg, luffa, apple, dipper, or decorative. In fact, there are so many types of gourds I can grow a new variety every year for the rest of my natural life and never get to the end of the varietal list.

Gourds are members of the Cucurbitaceae family. This family contains most of the vine crops that we crow in the South (or the world for that matter). Melons, gourds, cucumbers, squashes and watermelons are all cucurbits. In fact, there are 125 genra with 960 distinct species. Agriculturally, this is one important plant family. Last year the US produced 4 billion pounds of watermelon alone. That amounts to 15.4 pounds of watermelon consumed by every man woman and child in America.

Luffa flower on my garden fence

Now a days gourds are used mostly for decorative and craft purposes. A quick Google query of “gourd art” will bring back pages and pages of truly amazing art being created with gourds. I love making gourd crafts. I have made the obligatory bird house. But, I have made so much more. I have carved them, I have stained them and wood burned them. I have painted them and glued seeds to them. For a while I was so into my gourd crafts that my family bought me a very nice wood burner that they knick named “The Gourd Burner 2000”.

Last year, my wife Sally and I grew luffas. After we harvested them we dried, cleaned and bleached them. We put some seeds in an envelope and attached it to the “bath sponge” with a red ribbon. The luffas were so popular that we ran out and still have a list for next year. This year, we are growing apple and egg gourds. Our kids are going to use the apple gourds for decorative items in their houses. My wife’s second graders will use the egg gourds to make Christmas ornaments and Easter eggs next year.

Some of the gourds I decorated using the “Gourd Burner 2000”

I feel that gourds are an under appreciated vegetable in the Southern garden. They are easy to grow, attractive and useful. What more can you ask of a plant? I highly recommend that you try running a few of these over one of your garden fences!

Building a Potager

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Jay White

I have a problem. Actually, I have two BIG problems; black clay and coastal Bermuda grass. These two things have been a pain in my gardening side since the first time I tried to till a portion of an old coastal field and turn it into a vegetable garden. I live on a patch of blackland praire in Washington county Texas between Brenham and Burton. Over the years I have tried everything to tame the grass and improve the clay. All of my efforts have fallen woefully short. The clay is still either sticky or hard as a rock, and the grass always returns.

Two years ago, I began experimenting with raised beds. I tilled up the clay and added about four inches of mushroom compost. This improved things somewhat but I still could not keep the grass out of the rows, and ultimately the beds. At this point I should point out that I try to be an organic grower. I am not yet 100% weaned off of my traditional ways, but I am now using about 90% organic methods to try and control my weeds and bugs.

My first raised beds

Last year, the additional organic material really started to pay off. The vegetables were great. I simply planted and applied a heavy layer of hardwood mulch. Then I declared war on the weeds and that sticky mud that invariably happens when you water around black clay. I laid down weed paper in the rows and covered this with bricks. I also tilled in beds around my garden fence. I filled those beds with daylilies and petunias and large planters. I also added the weed paper and hardwood mulch to these outside beds. The bricks worked great for controlling the mud. But the Bermuda came back with a passion. Evidently Bermuda and many other weeds, enjoy a little organic matter as much as the tomatoes.

I was now thoroughly frustrated with my grass problem. However, I did note my two big successes. The additional organic material was definitely paying off and the bricks had solved the sticky mud issues. Now I was determined to figure out how to get the weeds under control.

I started reading and I came upon two concepts that I hoped my help me solve both of my problems: square foot gardening (the Mel Bartholomew method) and potagers. Mel Bartholomew and his method of creating super rich soil and close quarter plantings seemed to hold some promise. As I read more about both topics, I began to feel that combining Mel’s ideas about soil and close quarter plantings with the French concept of a kitchen garden might finally give me dominion over the weeds and the mud.

A real French potager

The term potager comes from the French term jardin potager. The potager is designed to provide all of the vegetables, herbs and flowers for a household. The potager is not just functional; it is expected to be beautiful as well. Because of this, annual and perennial flowers are grown right along with the vegetables. Plants in the potager are often selected as much for their form and texture as they are for their nutritional value.

Another thing that I have learned about gardening (or any other endeavor for that matter) is that it helps to have a plan. Since the creation of my potager would require an investment of time, talents and money, my wife insisted I have a detailed plan. I was lucky on this one. I am currently taking a Landscape Design class with Casey Krueger at Texas A&M. With his help, I created a very respectable and doable design for my potager.

Day 1 – Armed with my plan and an army of future son-in-laws (I have four daughters so I really do have a small army of future son–in-laws), we literally dug-in and started to build. First, we built the forms for my raised beds. This required a few carpentry skills, a few basic math skills, and a lot of manual labor.
Day 2 – Since the beds were now in place, we began to dig out about five inches of soil from the bottom of all of the walk paths. After this was done, we covered the walk paths with approximately 8 layers of newspaper and five inches of decomposed granite (take that weeds!). We then laid the bricks. Once the bricks were in place, we added a thin layer of decomposed granite to the top and used a broom to work the granite dust into the gaps between the bricks. After a good watering, the unplanted potager was ready to go.
Day 3 – This was the day for soil preparation and planting. To prepare the beds I used a modified version of Mel Batholomew’s formula. Since my clay has no problem holding water, I left out the suggested vermiculite and peat moss. What I did add was compost peat, cotton bur compost, farm style composted cow manure, mushroom compost, and an alfalfa and humate mix. I bought all of these items from the Plants N Things nursery in Brenham, Texas. We mixed all of these ingredients together on a couple of big tarps. Once it was mixed we wheel barrowed it into the raised beds. Finally, we used my Mantis tiller to mix it all into my existing soil. Now it was time to stick things in the ground. I planted tomatoes, squash, watermelon, and bronze fennel that I had purchased from the Texas A&M Horticulture Club’s Annual Plant sale. I also planted Contender bush beans, Swiss chard, sunflowers, apple and egg gourds, Chinese long beans, and Hyacinth beans for the trellis. One bed stayed intact throughout the build. In it I have onions, shallots, radishes and lettuces. Once all of the seeds are up I will again put down about six inches of hardwood mulch.

My unplanted potager

I am very excited about the promise my new garden. I am hopeful that the granite base and the bricks will keep the weeds and the mud at bay. I also believe that if a few weeds do pop up in the raised beds they will be easy to pull. Remember how I said I was about 90% organic? Well I hope to keep that percentage. However, after all of the time and effort that went into this potager, I have decided that organic or not, at the first sign of a weed invasion I am buying weed killer!

A version of this article was published in the May 2010 issue of “Hort Update” (http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/newsletters/hortupdate/2010/may/)