At the risk of alienating every individual from the United States of America in this country, can I just suggest that only in the US would anyone deep-fry a brussels sprout? It’s true – brussels sprouts are now taking a dive into the deep fryer as restaurants and food trucks around the States are offering them as a trendy snack or side dish. This astonishing piece of information was revealed in a Culinary Trend Mapping Report, recently released by leading US market research publisher Packaged Facts and the Centre for Culinary Development (CCD).
“The explosion of farmers’ markets with new and different varieties of vegetables has raised American consumers’ vegetable IQs and influenced their lifestyles by encouraging them to add new vegetable-centric products to their diets,” said CCD CEO Kimberly Egan (in what may well be the longest sentence ever spoken about a vegetable).
“And not just as sides, but as green breakfast smoothies, meatless entrées and even desserts made with vegetables that all extend vegetables into new dayparts,” she continued enigmatically. (For those who don’t know what a daypart is, it’s a segment of the day as defined in radio and television broadcasting. Don’t feel bad – I had to look it up.)
The mapping report also shared that “creative and whimsical pastry chefs are now raiding the savory pantry and adding vegetables to their sweet creations, resulting in delicacies such as smoked white chocolate parfaits with fennel mousse and beet cake with fromage frosting.” I thought carrot cake was adventurous. Then I came to the bit about ramps. Google “ramps” and you’ll get descriptions of every off and on-ramp in the country. You may also chance upon Allium tricoccum – the wild leek, or ramp, native to the eastern North American mountains and “the next big thing” in the US.
Evidently they taste like a cross between garlic and onion – perfect, to my way of thinking, for saving time and space in both the vegetable garden and the kitchen. Sadly I haven’t found any here yet and they’re practically an endangered species even – in the US – so in the meantime I’ll go for the next best thing and grow more leeks.
I threw in a few leeks months ago without knowing much about how to grow them, but we’re eating them now and they are superb. Depending where you are, now might be the time to plant. In cool climates, plant from late spring until early autumn. In the subtropics, plant in autumn and in all other areas plant from midsummer to late autumn.
Considering the bizarre weather we’ve been having, I’m completely ignoring this and planting right now, and all going well they’ll be ready to harvest in 100 to 130 days. You can grow them now in seed trays at a depth of about three times the diameter of the seed and 10 to 15cm apart. When they’re about 20cm tall and looking like big blades of grass, plant them in holes or trenches about 20cm deep. Set the seedlings 10 to 15cm apart then add enough soil to just cover the roots. As the plants grow, fill the trench and mound up around the stems.
This encourages them to grow long stems. Keep soil moist and loose, and enrich it with compost as well as some well-rotted manure. You can harvest them whenever you like really, but it’s nice to wait till they have a bit of size. We’ve been taking ours out when they’re about 2cm in diameter and they’ve been beautiful and tender. Don’t just yank them out of the ground or you’ll risk breaking them. Loosen around them with a fork and pull gently.
I’m going to plant heaps, because they tick lots of my vege-gardening boxes. They don’t take up much room, they’re easy to grow, most pests ignore them and they’re patient – as in you can leave them in the ground for ages if you don’t want to harvest them at any given time – and hey, I like the taste.
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