Veg Zone
Most of the vegetables we put in
our boxes will be familiar to the majority of our customers. Sometimes, though,
we include the odd item that raises peoples’ eyebrows, so here we include some
brief information about some of our less familiar produce.
 Celeriac:
This is a root vegetable closely related to celery, but in our opinion with a smoother and more subtle taste. To prepare, peel and then grate or slice very thinly. It can be used raw in salads, or cooked in soups and stews, or served as a vegetable dish in its own right such as celeriac gratin.
 Chard/leaf beet:
These leafy greens can be treated much the same as their relative the spinach, but they grow more reliably here and over a longer period. Some forms such as chard have a thick white mid-rib which can be cooked and eaten separately (use as an alternative to celery), while others come in very decorative colours. A simple way to cook them is to heat butter or olive oil in a large pan, add some minced garlic and then shortly afterwards the chard. Turn the heat down, cover and cook for a few minutes until soft - delicious!
 Jerusalem artichoke:
A relative of the sunflower family with edible tubers. Scrub or peel, then boil, steam or bake, or slice and stir-fry.
 Kohlrabi:
A member of the cabbage family eaten widely in Germanic countries but less well known here. The main edible part is the swollen lower stem, which looks oddly like an old-fashioned spaceship! To prepare, peel and either cook whole in boiling water for about 30 minutes or slice thinly and cook in vegetable
recipes much as you would cook carrots.
 Pak Choi:
An oriental leafy green with white mid-ribs that can be eaten raw in salads, steamed or cooked in stir-fry recipes.
 Romanesco cauliflower:
A decorative form of cauliflower with a superior flavour. Treat as cauliflower or broccoli.
 Salad leaves:
In the summer we mainly put whole lettuces in the boxes, but in the winter we grow a variety of salad plants in our polytunnels which go in the boxes as cut salad bags. The bags include familiar local varieties like lettuce, rocket and spinach, but also a wide range of Oriental leaves that perhaps are less well known: shungiku, komatsuma, tatsoi, mizuna, and various Oriental mustards. Some of these leaves have quite a strong taste, but the bags are generally popular with customers and add a nice splash of greenery in the
midst of winter. If you find they're too spicy for your taste they can be tamed by cooking briefly as part of stir-fried or steamed dishes. The leaves are not pre-washed, so we recommend that you wash them before eating.
 Sugar snap peas:
The peas we grow are the mangetout 'sugarsnap' variety, in which you can eat the pod as well as the peas inside. There is no need to shell them!
 Squash:
This relative of the cucumber and melon is becoming more widely eaten, but is still not as well known in this country as we think it deserves to be. There's a huge variety of winter squashes which keep well, add colour and taste great.To cook, cut in half and scoop out the seeds from the centre. The squash can then be brushed with oil and baked, or peeled and sliced and added to soups and stews.
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