Los Angeles Times
March 24, 2005
SPRING GARDENS ISSUE
What’s for dinner? Look out back
More people are growing edible plants, and they aren’t necessarily
garden-variety. Among the food choices: eggplant, sweet cucumber and even a
sugar substitute
By Tony Kienitz, Special to The Times
Throw on your grubby clothes, folks: The warm season is just offstage and
out in the kitchen garden, the cool weather crops are setting seed and the
compost pile is raring to go. Once again, it’s the season for planting
tomatoes, beans, papalo, sunflowers and good old corn.
Hold on. Papalo?
Papalo is a Bolivian herb that tastes distinctly like cilantro. If you’ve
grown cilantro, you know that it goes to seed as soon as the temperature
reaches 80 degrees. Hence, cilantro is short-lived here. By planting papalo
in the spring instead, you can toss together homemade chilaquiles and
garnish them with homegrown spice in the dead of August.
Well into my second decade of following the gardening maxim, “something old,
something new,” I’m wholly devoted to unearthing fresh things to grow. I’m a
gardener first and a farmer not at all, so I can play with my food. My list
of indispensable plants expands every season. And apparently, I’m not alone.
“People, I think, since 9/11, are starting to use their yards like they did
100 years ago,” says Jimmy Williams, owner of Hayground Organic Nursery.
“The interest in homegrown, edible gardening has quadrupled in just the last
year. I see young people, young teenagers, growing unusual tomatoes these
days. And I got a lady growing rat tail radish, which has a beautiful
flower. Not many ornamentals are prettier than that. We’ve got people trying
all kinds of different things. I’ve got a new, rare kohlrabi from Sweden.
Grows to 10, 20 pounds.”
Creamy-white Casper eggplants actually look like eggs. But if it’s truly
exotic eggplants you’re hankering for, such as the 6-foot-tall,
head-thumping, African Tree eggplant, talk to Williams at the Hollywood
Farmers Market on Sundays.
In the “something old, something new” philosophy, “old” might refer to the
Armenian cucumbers you’ll raise again this year. Great choice. But why not
try pepino dulce? Pepino dulce (meaning “sweet cucumber”) has a flesh that
reminds the taste buds of cantaloupe and cucumber, and an amber skin
squiggled with violet-purple graffiti. The fruit, close in size to a Roma
tomato, is a classy addition to both your garden and your plate. What’s
more, pepino dulce is vastly easier to grow in this town than thirsty cukes
are.
The amaranth you let go to seed seven or eight years ago will, as it always
does, poke up in the garden wherever it sees fit to. If it’s thoroughly out
of place, pluck it up and add it to the manicotti. Otherwise, let the
“keepers” grace your land with their gaudy summer plumes of burgundy and
gold, picking a few leaves, as needed.
Quinoa, like amaranth, is a South American grain crop possessing leaves you
can cook as a potherb. Planted from seeds available straight from the bulk
bins at Whole Foods, it requires semi-arid conditions for growing, which is
exactly what we’ve got. Quinoa is a goofy-looking plant and it gets fairly
tall, so inter-plant it with something traditional, perhaps Russian
sunflowers (whose young leaves you can cook up too).
Stevia, a non-caloric sugar substitute, embroiled in an ongoing debate as to
whether it is 200 times or 300 times sweeter than sugar, is a must-have
herb. Experts do agree that stevia grows quite nicely here (nicely enough to
be sold at hardware stores) and that it’s wicked cool to use a sprinkling of
stevia leaves in your homegrown, herbal iced teas. For example, this spring
pinches of new growth from your Camellia sinensis (a petite, white flowered
camellia) can be steamed and dried, then steeped with stevia for a delicious
pot of white tea. Your summertime choice might be the Long Life Tea, brewed
from the leaves of gotu-kola, a shade-tolerant groundcover. According to
“Cornucopia II, a Source Book of Edible Plants,” gotu-kola tea “was
regularly consumed by Professor Li Chung Yon, who reputedly lived 265 years
and married 24 times.” Who wouldn’t want some of that? Sweetened with
stevia, no less?
Jerusalem artichokes, commonly dug up and eaten by the Founding Fathers, are
often overlooked today. They’re not from Jerusalem and they’re not
artichokes, so, in a way, it’s fitting that they should be described as
“nutty.” The tasty rhizomes can be eaten raw, steamed or baked. Again,
starter roots can simply be bought from an organic market. They’re invasive,
so plant them in a big pot and thrill at the extra bonus Jerusalem
artichokes provide: flowers ~W jillions of little sunflowers. These plants
can tolerate light shade so they can also be used to brighten an otherwise
dappled corner of your world.
And, naturally, you’ll want tomatoes in your garden. To not plant tomatoes
in the kitchen garden is a scandalous act, an embarrassment to the
neighborhood. I’ll plant my old stand-by, Mr. Stripey, because I have grown
the lightning-struck fruit every year since discovering it at an heirloom
tomato sale. But there are new ones to try, ‘Black From Tula’ could be this
year’s choice if you are keen on the complex, smoky flavors of black
tomatoes. You’ll find all the tomatoes you need at Tomatomania, a weekend
festival at three different Southern California locations in April (see
above) but these days most nurseries carry a healthy selection of heirloom
and hybrid varieties. It’s almost too easy to find tomatoes in newfangled
shapes, sizes and hues.
David Diaz, whose nursery, Bountiful Gardens, sells heirloom tomatoes as
well as a whole slew of other hard-to-find flowering plants, believes that
“people are looking for the old flavors, the tastes they remember from when
they were kids. So, customers are planting what they can’t find in the
supermarket. It makes them happy.”
Maybe it’s just that. Maybe we experiment with dishes from other cultures,
plants from faraway lands, fruits from times long ago, because to do so
makes us happy. Is there any other reason necessary?