What did you eat today - that you grew?

Tofu and onion probably make the filling soggy when cooked. My family use shredded carrot instead of onion, and some people uses grounded chicken instead of pork. They are best when fried, cooled/stored, and fried again when ready to eat.
I am not a good cook so I just be really nice to my sisters. The one in San Diego always freezes some of the fried ones for me when she makes them. I just defrost in the microwave, then fry, or put directly on the rack of the toaster oven. If you don’t defrost, the inside may still be not hot after the outside turns crispy.

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Dave,
My Shiro last year looked like this. J plums are not crunchy or very firm. When ripe, they tend to be soft

![i[image|690x920](upload://vwDk1wJZjri27FWAI1wsNQGyodk.jpeg)

On the ither hand, Asian pears are crunchy and I like them like that.

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Thanks for the tips!

We used to special order 100 of them from a restaurant when we would go to visit my mother in law in the DC area. We would freeze them in bags of 10 and then take them out later to eat. A 350F oven will defrost and get them semi-crisp in about 20 minutes, so we just put them straight from the freezer on a cookie sheet.

So when we came back from DC we would always have bags and bags of frozen cha gio in our suitcases!

But my mother in law is moving up here to the Boston area to be near us so we will have to make them ourselves more often.

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A lot of Vietnamese places sell cha gio made with the egg roll wrappers. Some of the younger kids like them better. My sister makes them with rice papers but she said they are unpredictable, even with the same brand, sometimes they fall apart while frying, so you may try that to make it easier.
Whenever my son went home, I always ordered the crab and shrimp cha gio for him to bring back. I really couldn’t identify any shrimp or crab pieces but they taste very good, even my picky in-laws like them. That place is the only place I know that use new oil for frying every time, so I never ask for the price when order and just pay.

never could grow to like kale but i grow it and stinging nettle for the chics. worms and all they love it!

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Try mixing the kale with dandelions. Or turnip greens.

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It’s one of the few greens I still do not like to this day.

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Yeah, all the Vietnamese places around here use the egg roll wrappers. I think they are much better with rice wrappers, but using them is for sure much more difficult and they tend to break open while frying much more often. Plus I don’t know that most customers care that much. We don’t have a big Vietnamese community here so there isn’t demand for it I guess.

There used to be a Cambodian/French place called Elephant Walk which made cha gio with rice wrappers (they called it something else, forget what it was). But it was a fancy restaurant so it cost like $18 for two cha gio. When we eat them we want like 6 each so that was not workable :slight_smile:

You reminded me: we also had crab in our filling. So shrimp, crap, tofu, mushrooms, noodles, and veggies. The last of the leftover ones got eaten yesterday; they don’t last long in our fridge. My wife likes to eat them cold right out of the fridge first thing in the morning, which I think is weird.

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Made some cherry syrup and jam for the winter months :slightly_smiling_face:

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I agree with @blueberry that it’s best mixed in with other greens. It can be pretty overwhelming by itself, but provides nice texture and flavor contrast in a mix. A restaurant I used to work at would sautee a mix of Swiss chard, collards, and kale in olive oil with a little garlic and soy sauce. Exceptionally good that way. It also goes well in pasta or soups, especially when paired with salty/meaty flavors like soy sauce, miso, ham, or sausage.

I think I like kale raw better than cooked, especially the more tender varieties. Nettles are definitely better cooked, though. Few vegetables taste quite as “meaty” as nettles.

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I’ve yet to try nettles.

(But I have nibbled on blueberries already today)

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She probably didn’t want to wake the kids up with the whole house smelled like cha gio, and had to share/serve them for breakfast. :wink:

Mine have barely started turning yellow:

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Small bite of Flavor Delight aprium. Not much for me to eat. I put it next to Orangered apricot. I take OR any day for both size and taste.

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Harvest in the am and pm during beetle patrol and one from last week with my last bit of broccollini somehow making it into the heat

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It could be Early Golden. That one ripens around when Methley ripens or even a little earlier. Does it get any orange to it as it ripens further on the tree?

Ate first red fleshed apple of the season…a Niedzwetzkyana that had fallen from the tree.
A rotten spot in the side probably the cause of the early drop. Other apples on tree not ripe.

This particular apple probably the best tasting specimen I’ve eaten to date from Niedzwetzkyana… sorta’ dry, sour but not bad, and the tannins were under control.
It likely pollinated by Redfield…and I am saving seed. Flesh redder than an over-ripe tomato but not quite burgundy.

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Pick of the day

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Today I got to try my first ever Byron’s Gold plum. I was so excited because they were so beautiful and the yellow color is unique and really sets off my fruit gift boxes I love to give away because almost all my other plums are some shade of purple/red. But I was deeply disappointed in the taste. And I let it hang until it started softening a good bit. I also tried one that was still firm. I didn’t like either one much! Oh well. Can[t win them all, I’ll probably keep it for the color.

I also got to try my first flavor grenade pluot ever today. Of course it to is sort of a yellowish color. In fact I’m wondering if that might be what is in @IL847 's photo above- those look just like my flavor grenades? Well, this was a whole different story/report. I honestly believe flavor grenade pluot may be one of my new absolute favorite fruits. Not just favorite plums or even favorite stone fruits, but its near the top of my flat out favorites. Just sweet as sugar and wonderful. Sadly, a LOT of mine had split pitt. Is that common for FG?

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