Are We Now Growing More Exotic and Diverse Produce?

Today we are far more aware and familiar with world cuisine and tastes. We have travelled and experienced different foods and now through our allotments we are broadening our growing palette. 

The seed catalogues now contain some interesting vegetables often squeezed in between the pages of the more traditional ones. It is not just a case of being able to grow these new vegetables but knowing when and how to harvest them and use them.

Our allotment site is a mix of diverse ethnic groups with many ways of growing and types of produce grown. The traditional vegetables many have taken for granted are now competing with many ‘new’ ones and some we now see being adopted and grown by others. The melting pot of plot holders is extending to the harvest and cooking pot. We also now eat a far more diverse range of food than our parents and this again is driving our interest in different vegetables and fruit.

I recently read an article published in the late 80s on Oriental Brassicas and some I am familiar with but others I see growing in abundance on many of our plots, but I have yet to take on. This also applies to other vegetables from other areas of the world. Our seed and plant swaps help us all experiment with these but it’s not just about growing them. In some cases, it’s understanding how to prepare them for the plate.

We may be familiar with Chinese Cabbage, both the headed and loose headed varieties, and also with Pak Choi, but would we grow Komatsuna, Mizuna and Mibuna Greens, and know what to do with mustards such as Gai Choy or Amsoi?

Many of us love and cook stir fries but are the ones we are used to different from the traditional ones both in taste and ingredients? Oriental soups also can be very different, and how many of us have a Chinese hot salad?

When I was growing up in the 50s my mother used to cook us curries once a week. She had lived in India and was familiar with the tastes and ingredients which then weren’t in supermarkets or prepared in sauces, so she had to go to the Indian stalls in the city markets to bring back her ingredients. My friends used to want to come to tea on curry night and into the 60s her nephew, who later went on to be a chef used to travel up to us on regular basis to eat her curries.

There are ‘cut and come again seedlings’ which are cut when the seedlings are 5 to 10 cm high and are full of taste and nutrition and grown in wide beds. There are ‘cut and come again mature crops’ such as Chinese Cabbage and Pak Choi where if cut just above ground level at the right time will continue to produce. There are over winter crops that burst into life as soon as Spring arrives and where the outer leaves can be harvested, and the main plant continues giving. Then there are the sprouting seeds such as mustard and cress most schoolchildren are familiar with growing.

Below is a table which shows some of the many plants and their characteristics:

	Frost tolerance	Cut and come again	Sowing	Average days to maturity	Main Harvest season
Chinese Cabbage (Headed)	1	Yes	Summer, Autumn	65	Jul - Nov
Chinese Cabbage (Loose)	2	Yes	Spring, Summer, Autumn	55	Jun – Jan
Pak Choi	1	Yes	Spring, Summer, Autumn	45	Mar - Dec
Chinese Broccoli	1	No	Spring, Summer, Autumn	65	Jun - Dec
Komatsuna	2	Yes	Spring, Summer, Autumn	55	All Year
Mizuna Greens	2	Yes	Spring, Summer, Autumn	70	All Year
Mibuna Greens	1	Yes	Summer, Autumn	70	Sep - Mar
Mustards	2	Yes	Summer, Autumn	40-100	Aug - Mar

Notes:

1. will stand about 4 deg. of frost

2. will stand about 10 deg. of frost

We must remember that many of the vegetables we take for granted in our plots today were not native to Britain but brought back by the early explorers and adopted by us. I always remember the comedian Bob Newhart’s sketch about Walter Raleigh introducing tobacco and coffee to the English court. Again, it is not just about growing changing tasting and being able to use new produce.

If all we ever eat is ‘meat and two veg’, all we will grow is the old staple vegetables.