Harvest Monday - October 31, 2011

These ginger roots are rather small compare to last year's harvest.

I made the mistake of leaving them in a shady corner and forgot to fertilize them.

Celtuce grows well in our region, I've been able to harvest both spring and fall crops this year.

White daikon, Asian red radish, carrots, and Beauty Heart radish.

I picked the last watermelon few days ago, harvested all of the purple beans, cherry tomatoes and eggplants.  There are flowers buds on the sugar snap peas, I'm not sure we get to eat any because night temp is dipping to freezing point and first hard freeze is in the horizon.  We just came back from vacation and I'm leaving again for another trip in couple days, the veggie garden is waiting to be cleaned up >__<"

Drop by Daphne's Dandelions host of Harvest Monday to see more garden harvests around the globe.

Brandied Kumquat

Wash fruits and make a small cross cut at the blossom end, blanch in boiling water for about one minute, drained and pack into a clean jar, then pour hot brandy syrup into the jar.

(Brandy syrup -- 1/2 cup water + 3/4 cup sugar + 2 tbsp brandy + pinch of salt.)

These preserved kumquat is quite versatile, it can be mashed up to make sauce for roasted duck or chicken, use as glaze for BBQ ribs, sliced and dry for snacks, make tea or cold drinks with it, and can be used in baking.  Generally I use it for tea and dipping sauce for roast duck.

This week Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard is hosted by Jody of Spring Garden Acre, head over there to see more preserving ideas from other gardeners.

Harvest Monday - October 17, 2011

Purple beans, long beans, mini napa cabbage thinning, Shanghai bok choy, eggplants, and radishes.

We have had some freezing temperatures in recent weeks, the beans, eggplants, cherry tomatoes, and one last watermelon are still hanging in there, I'm amazed at how resilient they are.


Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions head over there to see more garden harvests from around the globe.

Pickled Beauty Heart Radish

Beauty Heart Radish (心裡美蘿蔔), some call it Watermelon Radish.

It's beautiful no matter how you slice it.

To use raw in salad  --  grate, shred, or thinly slice, and toss with your favorite salad dressing. 

Or you can pickle the radish for snacks or serve with grilled meats.

Sprinkle radish with some salt and set aside for 5-8 minutes, then rinse off salt and drain,

at the mean time make pickling sauce with -- 1 part sugar + 0.75 part rice vinegar + pinch of salt. 

  You may add other spices to the sauce as you wish, I only use fresh peppers for this pickle.

 Pack jar with radish and any herb/spice then pour the pickling sauce into the jar.

 I put some fresh yellow peppers at the bottom, 

you can see a bit of yellow at the lower right corner.

Blogger friend Robin is hosting Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard on preserving garden harvest, head over there to see more home food preservation ideas.

Harvest Monday - October 10, 2011

Winter radishes:  (right) Beauty Heart, (left) white daikon

Chinese red dates jujube, kumquat, and mini napa cabbage thinnings.

  I also harvested purple snap beans, bitter melons, chile peppers, 

cherry tomatoes, and more eggplants. 

 

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne's Dandelions drop by her place to see more harvest by other gardeners.

Green Bean and Farro Salad

Dressing:  miso dressing + a dab of mayo + few drops of lemon juice.

Cooked green beans and farro, red onions, cherry tomatoes, red peppers, and basil.

All vegetables came from our garden except farro (emmer wheat).

I'm attempting to add some whole grains to our salads instead of the usual leafy greens, out of all the whole grains I tried farro is most versatile and it is my number one favorite, I like it best in soups and salads, and I've been sneaking some farro into our rice cooker recently, so far so good, we like the taste of mixed rice. 

Harvest Monday - October 3, 2011

New fall crops:  Shanghai Bok Choy, Napa Cabbage thinnings, and Royal Burgundy Snap Beans.

Summer crops continue to produce:  Ichiban eggplants, long beans, peppers, and cherry tomatoes.

I've been craving for some leafy greens all summer, now the weather finally cools down and the first planting of Asian greens and lettuces are taking off, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will not become some critters' salad bar.

Drop by Daphne's Dandelions host of Harvest Monday for more harvests by other gardeners around the globe.