Your favorite truely gourmet varieties? Of anything

General Gardening
1

Wondering what your favorite truly gourmet varieties of veggies are? I mean really outstanding intense or rich good flavor. I had blistered fried shishito peppers for the first time last year and was absolutely astounded at how delicious they were. I had no idea a pepper could taste like that. Unlike anything I’ve ever had. It was as good and unique as the first time I had a very good California avocado. Got me wondering if there is anything else I’ve missed.

Fiddlehead ferns are the other surprise I’ve had. Thinking of growing those if I can create the right conditions below my spring on the west coast.

The only other thing I have to offer is the cocozelle variety of zuchini, although I would not consider that gourmet. But it is a little milder and nuttier and the plants are fun - huge leaves.

EDIT; if it’s a variety of a common vegetable please describe the flavor if you can. Sweet, tangy, bitter, umami, smoked etc. & My bad, I didn’t describe shishito or fiddleheads. Both have a strong umami flavor to me. Sort of like the after taste of a good asparagus does, but they don’t taste like asparagus. Shishito has a slight tang and both are slightly savory. I did have both fried with a bit of garlic. No bitterness in either.

7 Likes
2

I adore la ratte potatoes and sarpo miro potatoes. The first taste light and buttery with no butter. The second taste like they were flavored with bacon. Both are so delicious!

I also highly recommend the jester variety of delicata squash. They are miles apart in taste from a butternut squash.

10 Likes
3

be aware delicata is C. pepo though, which means squash vine borers, only reason i avoid it. Wish i could grow it but the concept of a vining c.pepo and keeping bugs out of it is truely nightmarish for me.

1 Like
4

Whoa. Nice! I suspect those flavors in a potato wouldn’t last in a shipping/grocery store process! Where do you find the starts?

1 Like
5

Lynnwood and Akers West Virginia tomatoes will redefine what a tomato tastes like. If you are dead set on a sweet tomato, Crnkovic Yugoslavian and Prudens Purple will put a smile on your face (hey, it is better than putting hair on your chest!).

Make a point of eating at least 1 really good watermelon in your life. If you can grow them, Ledmon and Yellow Moon & Stars will show what grocery store watermelons are missing.

6 Likes
6

I am a copia tomato shill to be honest. i love that tomato more than i love many things.

Otherwise havent landed on my must have variety yet for a lot of things so i will be watching closely… The watermelons def intrigue, ive only grown sugar baby so far, though its worth saying that imo seeded watermelons have so much more flavor and its hard to find seeded watermelons in store these days

7

There are so many varieties of watermelon it’s hard to even taste them all, but I grew Klondike Blue Ribbon one year and thought that it had a really good flavor.

1 Like
8

But why do you like it so much? Can you describe the flavor? Sweet, tangy, or rich?

9

But why do you like it so much? Can you describe the flavor? Sweet, tangy, or rich?

10

Akers West Virginia has a very rich intense flavor with a distinctive acid bite and relatively low sugar. It is almost overwhelming for most people who have only eaten store bought tomatoes. This is the flavor old timers (I might be one by now) describe from 50 years ago.

Lynnwood is a more balanced flavor medium size tomato on a highly productive plant. I personally have a preference for balanced tomato flavor. Very few can equal it as a slicing tomato.

Snarfing, Copia is a slightly milder version of a tart sweet tomato. If you want to try a few, see if you can locate Jaune Flammee, Green Zebra, and Goose Creek. All three are very tart by comparison. Jaune Flamme is bright orange from the beta carotene gene. Green Zebra is green with stripes. Goose Creek is a glossy pink golf ball size tomato. You may have difficulty locating true Goose Creek seed. The tomatoes should be glossy pink and distinctively tart. Also, would I be correct you love lemon?

4 Likes
11

Oh! Thank you! I’ve been looking for a tart-ish tomato flavor from the 60’s and 70’s :slight_smile: This year I’m trying Coustralee which supposedly has that intensity, although maybe not as tart. The fruits can get huge, as big as Hungarian heart- but HH isn’t very intense flavor wise. Really looking forward to trying them. Maybe Akers for next year.

12

Elba is similar Sarpo Mira flavor-wise but more buttery and floral. We prefer Elba, which we’ve also had better outcomes with growing.

1 Like
13

I do like tart. I find they make the best tomato sandwiches ive ever had. They have a complex fruity taste. The yield is good. Huge slicers. Very meaty and not too wet. Gorgeous. Heirloom so i can save seeds. Big winner. To me it almost tastes like itd be at home in a fruit salad

Ill look into these though. :slight_smile:

Ive had green zebra and it was alright. Too wet and i think copia is an improvement. I like a high flesh to seed /jelly ratio

1 Like
14

Morel and Chanterelle mushrooms… I harvest from my woods.

FIgs and Persimmons .. favorite fruits.

A nice Brandywine tomato with some apple wood smoked bacon in a BLT… Just awesome.

Okra, yellow crookneck squash, onions, potatoes… breaded and fried together… a true southern delight.

TNHunter

3 Likes
15

Fruits to me are best home grown since you can pick them dead ripe, unlike from the store or even most farmers markets. An actually ripe raspberry like Fall gold or Heritage will blow most people away.

June Gold peaches actually taste like peach rings, much better than Elberta or Redhaven.

Bluray blueberries, hung an extra week or two after blue, are incredible.

Alpine strawberries are probably the most “Gourmet” fruit I grow. So easy to grow that I think everyone should have a couple bushes. Could probably sell clamshells of them for a little more than yellow raspberries.

Vegetables

Homegrown tomatoes of any variety will trump store bought, but Rosella purple is probably the most unique and delicious. I prefer Lemon Ice, but most people like a red tomato. I made burgers with rosella purple one time, and people were looking for the bacon, but it was just the rich and smoky flavor of the tomato.

Fresh Asparagus is very different. Sweet, juicy and crisp. It loses that quality pretty quickly after picking, with the juice dripping out right away.

I guess superhot peppers are gourmet, since you can’t buy them in the store usually. Peppers in general have better variety selection homegrown, and better aromatics like most fresh produce. Aji Charapita is the most expensive pepper and pretty annoying to grow/ pick. I think they are meh, but I sold out of starter plants this year right away.

Fresh beans are amazing over store bought. The ayacote runners I grew had sweet, earthy and mushroomy flavor to them. Texture is also much better. Doubles as a green runner bean and a hummingbird magnet as well.

Lettuce is a PITA to grow over the summer. Any fresh lettuce is probably considered gourmet. I don’t think it is worth it since I don’t eat much salad, but people go crazy for it. I much prefer cooked greens like chard, which also can be picked small and tender for a salad green.

Gourmet is a weird category, since some people would consider any unique varieties to be gourmet, while others would factor in price or presentation.

2 Likes
16

The Sarpo mira I bought from Wood Prairie Family Farms, and the la ratte from Fedco. Both were great producers in my NW Iowa potato patch, although your mileage may vary.

1 Like
17

Huh, can’t say I’ve ever had a floral flavor in a potato. Sounds interesting enough to add to my plot if I can find any. :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like
18

Figs are such a good call. A ripe home grown fig is a life altering flavor. They are just as different perhaps even more so to the grocefy store fig as a home grown tomato is to the ones at the grocery

5 Likes
19

i love a buttery kind of sweet pear. bosc can hit that spot for me once in a while.

big figs are another thing. any bigger fig that’s juicy. an unnamed one at a friend’s house was the best ever

fiddle heads of course, I’ve been trying to get the ferns to take here for years now.

Rainier cherries are a favorite. i got enough last year that i still have jelly and jam left over from that picking.

i do enfleurage with lilac when mine blooms. gourmet fragrance.

shishito have been easy to grow here. i love San marzano tomatoes, for sauce, paste. i had a double rich yellow tomato last year that was phenomenal but the plant only made a few. love big yellow crookneck but that’s hardly gourmet. the little white pattypans are more delicate. i finally have ramps this year coming up where i spread bulbs and seed over the last few years

i also have had my Italian oyster mushrooms arriving now. it is too bad i can’t cultivate morel and chanterelle as easily, but they are good to forage here. where i last lived before here, i would go with my dog and find truffle also. i never sold any though i had several large finds, my dog was very keen on them and good at finding.

5 Likes
20

The wild growing morels, asparagus, fiddleheads, saskatoon and strawberries are really special to me.

6 Likes