That is a variety called ‘supersmeltz’. It seems to generally stay tender despite the size. This one was excellent. The key is to keep them in active growth- they like moist high organic matter soil. When they stall out, they start to get tough and fibrous. I had one ‘supersmeltz’ last year that was easily 20-30% bigger than this one. I brought it to someone’s house to make a big batch of slaw for a gathering but there was already too much food. I left it for them, but they wound up hucking it in the compost because, in their view, “big vegetables are always tough” and “they didn’t know how to peel it or prepare it”.
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I have grown a variety called Giant Winter kholrabi (described as a Czechoslovakian heirloom by Southern Exposure seeds) and they generally run between 3-5 pounds each here in hot/humid Virginia. I’m told they’ll get as big as 20 lbs in northern areas, but our summers come on too fast to have enough time for that. They stay tender even when huge. Last year I chopped up the greens and froze those in one bag and then peeled and cubed the big ball part and froze those in another. I used them to make my favorite kale soup during the winter, substituting the greens for the kale and the cubes for potatoes to make it less carb filled and lower calorie. It was great and is so much easier to process one huge kohlrabi than to peel and chop a bunch of smaller ones.
Here is Ziggy for scale with one of them after I cut off the greens.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get them started this spring, so I’ll have to wait until fall to grow them again. Although known as a European vegetable, it is interesting to me that a number of the Bangladeshi growers at my community garden have discovered them and grow them regularly.
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Sorghum is a warm-season crop. My average total summer rainfall is less than 0.2 inches/5 mm. Many years, we get no rain at all between May and October, so to grow anything during that period, I will have to irrigate.
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Does anyone grow seakale? I have one small (30cm) seedling from last year in a pot and am weary of planting it out because flea-bugs usually devastate anything cabbage related here.
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I grow seal kale. Its a favorite of mine. Beautiful plant and quite a tasty vegetable too. Man is it tough. Dont coddle it. Flea beatles and the like don’t bother it in the least.
If you’re growing for blanched shoots, as was traditionally done, grow them in rich soil and give them a shot of fertility as early as you can. I use doubled up 6 gallon buckets- theyre taller than regular buckets. Youre not in the states, so take that for what its worth. You really need to exclude as much light as possible to get the long tender petioles sans leaves. Another overlooked vegetable is the “broccolis” before the flowers open. Theyre tender and sweet and can even be eaten raw (dont try that with the petioles). When the flowers open, they exude the most wonderful honey smell in the whole garden for days. Its a great nectary plant too!
Its easy to propagate- almost too easy. Any portion of lateral root will grow a whole plant. It also self sows, though the seeds, which resemble chard seeds somewhat, are a bit tough to germinate.
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This seems more like a traditional crop for food security to me, unless the seeds readily replant themselves easily and you can store them where they are planted over winter, like Turnips.
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Acorns contain tannins (tannic acid) that tastes bitter and are unhealthy. Are there acorns that don’t contain tannin?
it would be if not for its red headed stepchild “also ran” status. few stateside seem to realize its so tasty, easy to grow, nutritious and productive.
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White Acorns contain less tannins. But even red acorns can be leached in water to remove them. Various tribes did so in cold water creeks especially.
Chunk them in and get them out in 3 weeks or so. Ideally you would add bags for regular use . I just use a covered 5 gallon bucket and change the water every 3 days.
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I planted sea kale two years ago and it seems to be doing well. I haven’t had any issues with flea-bugs or cabbage moths. Here’s a photo from today:
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Speaking of which:
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It’s nice to see grain amaranth mentioned. It’s one of the ones that was in the process of being domesticated by early Native Americans before they switched over to the already fully-domesticated crops radiating from Mesoamerica. Pretty much everything we associated with Native American agriculture, corn, squash, beans, turkey, were actually domesticated in Mesoamerica first. Native Americans had a bunch of other crops they were growing, but having started later, theirs weren’t as well-domesticated yet, so they quickly abandoned those crops as soon as the stuff from Mesoamerica arrived.
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There are some early agricultural sites near me that were excavated and documented. One in particular Im familiar was a sort of pit house or granary that contained seeds of several species. It was apparently before the introduction of maize, and the most abundant crop found was some type of bedstraw. Presumably it was grown as a grain of sorts
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Would that have happened to be little barley, Hordeum pusillum? I know that’s one of the ones in the Eastern Agriculture Complex that predated the introduction of Mesoamerican crops.
I dont think so. The site in question, Skitchewaug, is just north of me. I think the excavation was mid woodland period or so. I think the eastern agricultural complex was not as established here as it was south of here a bit. Maize did eventually arrive here and was grown by the Abenaki. Its hard to find details on the spot, but Im fairly certain it was a Galium, ie bedstraw. This is describing another site in the Champlain valley:
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Didn’t know you could eat Mulberry leaves. I had one growing out of control and cut it down. Too big for my little land.
To be clear, that doesn’t say they found any evidence of those being grown, just gathered and stored. That being said, that’s step one on the road to domesticated crops.
yeah, I believe thats the case. The dig Im familiar with happened in the 90’s on a floodplain field near the banks of the Connecticut River in Skitchewaug, a long time Indian site in present day Springfield, VT. The meandering of the river’s path through fluvial erosion exposed a pit house that was dated to something like 1000 AD, before the introduction of maize to the region. I don’t believe the role of cultivation vs foraging is very clearly delineated for that time period. If anything, the dig probably added substantially to the relatively small amount of information from which such interpretations might be drawn. I just found it interesting that a Galium appeared to be a staple. The two Im familiar with are Galium mollugo, a forb known for it’s pernicious bully habits in hayfields and pastures and Galium odoratum, a fairly delicate woodland wildflower. Its hard to imagine subsisting on something of the sort. Comparatively, maize is obviously a powerhouse
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of course, the floodplain site would strongly suggest agricultural activities, and presumably the western Abenaki transitioned to growing corn relatively seamlessly following its introduction. Other groups who foraged and hunted more exclusively never managed to adopt maize and other mesoamerica. crops. Given that there is a documented Indian presence in the area going back to circa 11,000 BP, its pretty likely that a lot of those developments happened well before the introduction of maize.
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I’m curious not being experienced in herbs and grasses. But was there a variety of dandelion for better roots? I would like to try Dandelion Coffee.