permaculture

[Pat Meadows <pat@meadows.pair.com>]

On Sun, 5 Nov 2006 19:00:31 +1100, you wrote:

>Hi Neshura
>
>Typhon sounds very much like a vegetable we call kohlrabi.  I found 
>confusion in botanical names for what appears to be the same plant:
>

I don't think it is kohlrabi, however.  

I've grown 'Typhon Holland Greens' (which is sometimes just called
'typhon').  It's a kind of turnip green, which resembles mustard greens or
collards more than anything else.  (I can't remember where I bought the
seeds.)

Typhon is a large plant (can be 3 feet tall) with coarse green leaves.  
The leaves are what are eaten (or used for livestock feed).  It does not
have a bulbous stem like kohlrabi.  

It is grown (on a home garden scale) like Chinese cabbage, except it will
grow larger and faster. It makes a LOT of greens per square foot of garden
area; making it a good green to grow for chickens, etc.  

The taste is OK (to me):  a bit strong, stronger than Chinese cabbage, but
OK when stir-fried.  I think it is more often used as livestock feed.

Here's a document discussing it:
http://www.agr.gov.sk.ca/agriarm/reports/ScottBrassica.pdf

It's very difficult to search for mentions of Typhon on Google:  evidently,
this is the name of an ancient Egyptian god.  Some ancient God anyway.

Pat
-- Northern Pennsylvania
'Every one of us can do something to protect and care for our
planet. We should live in such a way that makes a 
future possible.' - Thich Nhat Hanh