ORGANIC KITCHEN
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away. What a waste! Garlic scapes are a delicacy. Simply
chop them into pieces and use raw like chives or spring
onions, or wherever you might use garlic. How about a
garlic scape and carrot top pesto? However, if you leave
the scapes to grow, they develop an umbel containing
10-500 bubils (depending on the cultivar), and these
bulbils are also edible.Brassicaceae family
Broccoli – The unopened flower head is the bit we
commonly eat, but equally nutritious are broccoli
flowers, leaves (essentially another form of kale) and
stems. The latter has a texture like water chestnuts
andwhenchoppedintopieces,is deliciousina stir-fry.
Turnip and radish – Radishes tend to be eaten
raw and turnips are usually cooked but apart from
that the leaves are equally edible (they can be a bit
hairy in texture but cooking fixes this – hairs disappear
and you’re left with a wonderfully nutritious and
mildly peppery green). Radish seedpods and flowers
are also a gourmet treat.Cucurbitaceae family
Pumpkin – The leaves, though edible, are always
going to be a hard sell because of their texture but
the seeds are lovely roasted, spiced and eaten as a
snack. There are specific varieties for pumpkin “pips”
of course (‘Styrian Hulless’ being the main one), but
anyvarietyofpumpkinwilldothejob.
Zucchini – The flowers are a thing of absolute beauty
and when stuffed with soft cheese and fried in a light
batter, they taste even better than the fruit. An excellent
variety for flowers is ‘Long Florence’.Fabaceae family
Broad beans – In my view, these are hands down one
of the best, but most laborious plants to grow and harvest.
To get to the tender beans they must be podded, then
skinned – a time-consuming process, especially if you
have a bumper crop. To add more value for your efforts,
pick and eat the soft green shoot at the tip of the plant
once it has reached chest height. This helps prevent aphid
infestation in spring, plus, the shoots have a delicious
leguminous flavour. Try eating them steamed and tossed
withbutterorevenbetter,inanomeletteorrisotto.
Peas – Again the shoots are delicious (the Japanese
call pea shoots “green gold”), but what about the pods?
Obviously sugar snap and snowpeas are eaten pod
and all, but shelling pea pods are also sweet and
deserve to be used. They can be cooked and blitzed
as a fresh spring soup, or stuffed, battered and deep
fried. Somebody hold me back!Smoothie magic
The simplest way to make use of the
overlooked parts of vegetables and herbs
is to whiz them into smoothies. It works
especially well with those parts of a plant
that can be a bit coarse, such as stems, and
by adding fruits, seeds, honey and other
ingredients, you can devise some truly
unique, tasty and health enhancing recipes.
Fire up the blender and get blitzing!
Top: Stuffed zucchini flowers.
Above left: Pick broad bean shoots once
the plant is chest height.
PHOTOS: TOP: ISTOCK/CENTRE: ALAMY