A New Green on the Block

Here's another reason to seek out local foods. If you frequent the weekly farmers' markets, your patronage and support will encourage them to offer new and varied products. When they do, you'll have a chance to try foods that you may have never seen before, much less tasted.

I grew up with my Aunty Thelma's daikon-ba, pickled daikon shoots, on hot rice with a sprinkling of soy sauce. Sometimes with hot green tea added for what's known as chazuke.

My aunt grew vegetables in a designated "patch", along side her driveway and around her grey, two-story house.  Wherever she deemed the soil rich enough and the sunlight sufficient for her eggplants, string beans, daikon, etc., she planted an edible landscape and served up some of the most delicious food offerings this side of heaven!

So now, when someone offers me a sealed, plastic bag full of green stuff that I am not familiar with, my taste buds grapple. Is this something we like? Can we associate it with something good that we've had in the past? The curly leaf mustard greens on sale at Manuka Farms' booth today, fit the bill.  It was crispy and slightly bitter, like the raw onion slices that I love in my salads and because I knew that it was grown in Big Island soil, I thought of Thelma as I chewed and salivated.

Mustard Greens: Nutritional Facts

Photo: CookThink

Comments

[richard rennie]

that looks scrumptious. thank you barbara. perhaps, i'll meet you in person for asana practice or face recognition, and it may be that i have met you during my various times here or somewhere.

the united states is beautiful in many ways -- like hawai'i -- yoga is about opening. the current state of affairs is primarily about open houses and many seem to be in foreclosure.

thank you for telling me about your present meeting times.

peace and aloha --
richard