It’s been almost 10 years (!) since I last updated my “Unusual Greens” series — I haven’t been exploring markets like I used to and the places I shop almost always have the same few greens (chard, kale, rapini, etc.). Today’s featured greens are Moringa oleifera leaves (a.k.a. drumstick tree, horseradish tree, Tree of Life, […]
Finding Kale Boring Or Uncool? Try the Next Big Things: Cauliflower Leaves and Broccoli Leaves
Updated 8/23/15 Are you sick of seeing kale everywhere? Kale salad after kale salad. Kale green-smoothies. Kale chips. Dehydrated kale dust garnish. Or are you worried that kale’s recent entry on to some McDonald’s menus, will make it totally uncool? Broccoli leaves and cauliflower leaves could be the alternative you are looking for. They are […]
Cutting through the slime around “okra leaves”
(Updated 11/26/16: fixed broken links) During my series on unusual greens in 2006, one of the entries focused on what I had been told were “okra leaves.” Two astute commenters, however, pointed out that the identification I have been given by the farmer was probably incorrect. In the first comment, Katie, noted that some farmers […]
Unusual Greens, Part 7 – Lamb’s Quarters
[Updated below] A few weeks ago at the Farmers’ Market I spotted yet another unusual green: lamb’s quarters (Chenopodium album, also known as goosefoot, pigweed, wild spinach, fat hen) at the Full Belly Farm table. Chenopodium album grows all over the world, including in European trash heaps. The Oxford Companion to Food explains: “This plant […]
Unusual Greens, Part 6 – Orach
Updated 10/3/16: Fixed broken links At the Saturday Berkeley Farmers’ Market a few weeks ago, I saw a vegetable at the Happy Boy Farm stand that I had never seen before. It was a large bundle of arrowhead-shaped leaves with reddish-brown stems. It looked like amaranth greens, but the sign said “orach.” Orach (Atriplex hortensis, […]
Borneo Greens (Unusual Greens, Part 5)
(Updated 10/8/16: changed title, added tags to photos, removed broken links) The word “unusual” has many uses: odd, abnormal, rare, unconventional. Whereas my previous “unusual greens” posts have been about rare greens, this post is about “amazing” and “exceptional” greens. The reason for this is that the “Borneo greens” aren’t from the Farmers’ Market or […]
Purslane, an Ancient Plant with Omega-3 Fatty Acids (Unusual Greens, Part 4)
(Updated 10/31/16: New image, fixed broken links) Lost and Found According to Elizabeth Schneider’s book Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini, purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is a lost-and-found vegetable. Native Americans ate the plant for centuries, it was popular in renaissance England, and Thoreau even wrote about a dinner of purslane he gathered in the field in […]
Unusual Greens, Part 3 – Sweet Potato Leaves
I have probably seen the leaves of sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) in various Farmers’ Markets many times before, but was formally introduced to them by a fascinating (and quite challenging to shop for) book called Cooking with Asian Leaves. The book provides detailed descriptions of thirty herbs and leaves used in Asian cooking, and two […]
Unusual Greens, Part 2 – What One Farmer Called “Okra Leaves” (But That Aren’t Okra)
(Updated 10/8/16: fixed broken links) In the mass of bunched greens on one table at the Old Oakland Farmers’ Market, I found a type of greens that I had never seen. I asked the farmer what it was, and she told me “okra leaves.” (Update: commenter beautdogs correctly points out that the plant in the […]
Bitter Melon Leaves (Unusual Greens, Part 1)
(Updated 10/8/16: fixed broken links, changed title) As my Eat Local Challenge wound down, I thought I would try something a little different: go to a market in Asia before work. Well, not exactly Asia, but an area in downtown Oakland that has a large population of people of Asian descent (some call it “Chinatown,” […]