Homestead mailing list

[sjc <indexer AT fairpoint.net>]

EarthNSky wrote:
> I may be going to the store tomorrow. I will get two beets..one will 
> be grated into salad, the other will get roasted. I've never eaten 
> kohlrabi, what is that like? I have seen the broccoli rab...is that 
> actually a hybrid or not? Do you roast kohlrabi, too?
Not usually, I prefer it raw: slaw, sticks for snacks, sliced in 
sandwich instead of lettuce which of course I don't have in winter.  
Tastes mildly cabbage-like, maybe a sort of mix cabbage/celery.  It's OK 
steamed but to me no better than raw.  And I like the crunch of it, esp 
this time of year as the crunch factor gets rare....

About broccoli raab, have tried it twice but gave it up as almost as 
much trouble as broccoli without being nearly so good as....we have an 
unbelievable variety of greens available, so I admit being spoiled in my 
greens choice.  Also, have been influenced there by my SIL again, and 
really like a lot of the very small, long-season or season-stretching 
Asian greens and half or more of my greens now fall into that category.
> When we had the deep fryer up and running and we fried some sweet 
> potatoes like French fries, I sprinkled them with cayenne and I 
> thought that was good..I'm sure the flavor would enhance it roasted, too.
Sounds good to fry and  use hot seasoning.  I never bother with frying 
as it takes a lot of oil, hard to produce here in any quantity, and 
quickly spoils once it's been so hot, so I guess it's been 20 years 
since I fried anything.  I have had fried sweet potatoes though and boy, 
they were good, for sure.  I'm drying sweet potatoes this week, as have 
plenty here that aren't going to be usable much longer, so the whole 
batch going in the dryer.

Bev (and others using turmeric), as to turmeric:  the local 
Chinese-medicine fellow says that to get the good out of it, it must be 
heated with fats, it should be used with other foods as part of the 
diet.....I haven't followed that up, but it was one of the things I 
heard him mention at the coop last week when he gave a short talk on the 
traditional medical uses of various spices.   Might, or might not, be 
worth looking into.  The guy is new here but so far he seems OK.

SJ