Archive for the ‘food’ Category

Spring onions

Written by: adekun on 11 September, 2009 5:08 pm - Filed under: food — 2 Comments »

Allium wakegi are sown this time of year. They seem much the same as spring onions or scallions. The dry stems are pulled off and the ワケギ bulbs broken apart so you can plant two or three together. Space every 15 cm, maybe two or three rows wide. They should be ready for harvesting in the spring!

Tags: garden, onions

Peppers

Written by: adekun on 28 August, 2009 6:44 pm - Filed under: food — No Comments »

The ubiquitous ピーマン (p-man) can be found in every veg growers garden over the summer. パプリカ (papurika), another species of Capsicum annuum is less common. As there are so many of the former about over harvest time, there doesn’t seem much point in growing them. It seems worthwhile tending the unusual and watching fab colours develop.

Tags: garden, peppers

Mesclun

Written by: adekun on 15 May, 2009 4:44 pm - Filed under: food — 2 Comments »

A little different to the more common salad mixes, hopefully the following will make good eating.

• ブロンズ 赤 – red buronzu?
• グリーンリーフ – green leaf?
• エンダイブ – endive
• サラダ菜 – lettuce
• チコリ 青 – blue chicory^*
• チコリ 赤 – red chicory
• クレソン – watercress

On the reverse it says; the chicories and endive are sourced from Italy, the lettuce from China and watercress from The Netherlands.
What is green leaf from America (USA?) and Korean red buronzu?

^* blue means green?

Tags: garden, seeds

Takenoko

Written by: adekun on 26 April, 2009 10:56 pm - Filed under: food — No Comments »

Not usually found growing in the garden, bamboo shoots are harvested around this season. We were lucky to be given a sack this weekend. The preparation takes some time. Once the outer layers have been removed the shoots are boiled in nuka (rice bran) for about an hour. To remove the acrid taste, they should be left under a running tap overnight.

Brussel Sprouts

Written by: adekun on 7 March, 2009 5:08 pm - Filed under: food — 8 Comments »

The last of the winter veg to come out were the brussel sprouts. Although there hasn’t been any craving for sprouts (めキャベツ), I wanted to grow some as they are uncommon in Japan. There isn’t any disappointment with what turned out to be far from a bumper harvest. The preparation, including the cutting of tiny crosses in the bases, took only slightly longer than their three minute cooking. They made a different accompaniment to rice and miso soup and gave no unpleasant side effects.

Tags: garden

You don’t win friends with salad

Written by: adekun on 10 December, 2008 10:32 pm - Filed under: food — No Comments »

The conga and chant made the episode “Lisa the Vegetarian” one of the most popular sketches. The Simpsons very rarely made more than a few minutes watching. As a teenager, I do remember the sketch and thinking rabbit food.
As with most things, growing some has really changed my opinion. Since there was some space between the spinach and cabbages, four different varieties of lettuce were planted. Every few days, prior to dinner the odd leaf has been cut, making enough with the addition of some spinach. I wish there was more. Eating a pile every day as a side dish doesn’t seem a bad prospect at all.

Tags: garden

…And Peanuts for All

Written by: adekun on 19 November, 2008 3:58 pm - Filed under: food — No Comments »

At the beginning of the month, the peanuts were lifted and left to dry in the sun. Toward the end of this period there was a lot less sun, so they were given a bit longer; I found that a previous sample batch came out soft even after half an hour at 200°C. Continue reading

Tags: garden, legumes, weather