Glorious Greens: A Cornucopia of Vegetables and Herbs
Eating greens is a special treat. Rediscover the history, usage and varieties of greens.
May/June 1999
By Natural Home Staff
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Heads up to bok choi (Brassica rapa), here ‘Dwarf Blue’ curly leaf kale (Brassica oleracea), opposite top, and ‘Lolla Rossa’ red leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa), opposite below, all of which add exceptional texture and taste to springtime dishes.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOE COCA
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Great to grow, easy to eat...
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From garden to galley, from green thumb to blue plate, American gardeners and gourmets are sowing and growing their way into a healthy diet of mixed greens that are great to grow and easy to eat.
It’s a diet that would do popular cartoon icon Popeye proud. However, our knowledge of greens is worlds away even from the days that Popeye sailed into the American lexicon. It’s no longer true that “ . . . garden lettuce with leafy head/Is hard to get as unsliced bread,” as Ogden Nash once complained. Garden lettuce is now available in restaurants, supermarkets, farmers’ markets, and urban, suburban, and country gardens across the nation. And not only lettuce, but all manner of greens—from radicchio to romaine, cabbage to kale, mizuna to mustard. Even five years ago, most of these greens were not grown on a commercial scale, nor offered in many seed catalogs.
A confluence of factors is swelling this rediscovery of greens: interest in eating healthy, fueled by medical research into foodstuffs; an influx of immigrant populations bringing favorite greens with them; the ease of growing most greens, even in small spaces; and food professionals’ desire for plate and palate novelty.
Greens
Brassicas
Savoy cabbage—sweet, hint of hot
Oriental cabbage—sweet, hot
Kale—sweet, earthy
Collard—kale-like, hot
Mustard—tangy, peppery
Mizuna—sweet, bitter aftertaste
Turnip—peppery
Spinach mustard—piquant
Chicories
Endive—nutty, bittersweet
Escarole—nutty, bittersweet
Belgian endive—nutty, bittersweet
Radicchio—nutty, bittersweet
Betas
Spinach—sweet, metallic
Chard—mellow, sweet
Beet—mild, musty
Lettuces
Romaine—sweet, mild
Loose-leaf—sweet, mild
Crisphead—mild, moist
Butterhead—buttery
Herb Greens
Arugula—nutty, peppery, smoky
Cress—peppery
Sorrel—lemony, tart
Perilla—minty, anise-like
Home-Grown Greens
Amaranth—sweet, spinach-like
Garland crysanthemum—pungent, tart
Corn salad (mâche)—mild, sweet
Dandelion—earthy, bitter, hot
Good-King-Henry—mild, metallic
Orach—mild, spinach-like
Grab Bag of Greens
But just what are greens? They can be defined as the succulent leaves and stems, eaten cooked or raw, of herbs, flowers, and vegetables, annual and perennial, in colors ranging from pale jade green to bright magenta, from many different plant families and cultures around the world.
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