No clue how that got stuck in my head that it was perennial, but somehow it did and now I am chastened to say that it's really a bloody ol' annual. Maybe I was reading up on too many perennial vegetables, and getting it mixed up with something like Good King Henry (because they sound so alike...) but I made a mistake and I apologize for my stupidity if I accidentally mislead anyone there.
Back to mâche/rapunzel though.
All in all, growing this vegetable was not so successful as I'd like, not in the 'it-didn't-grow-for-me' way but in the 'I-didn't-use-it-much-because-I-didn't-force-myself-to-eat-salads-more' way.
This is a cool weather green that seemed to grow very very slowly in the winter when it did sprout and then warm weather came upon us so quickly that this thing bolted like the dickens and got yellow-y and un-worthwhile to eat fast.
While there were plentiful little cute leaves to eat, I loathed to eat them because they seemed so tiny and though I had also heard you could eat the heads whole like some smaller lettuce varieties, the idea of extinguishing my plants in 3 bites was not very agreeable to me.
So, instead the leaves went somewhat to waste (which I hate) except for the fact that I guess that energy went into making surprise...
....SEEDS for me!
So, maybe I will grow mâche (rapunzel) again and try to utilize it better now that I can feed a whole herd of goats with the amount of seed I saved.
I noted too, when brushing up my knowledge, that you can use it in omelettes and OMELETTEs are right up my eatin' alley.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1370492
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/62221/
http://www.floridata.com/ref/v/vale_loc.cfm
2 comments:
Forgive my ignorance, but it seems to me people are just eating leaves and if they don't fall down and die, then said leaf becomes a vegetable.
There seems to be more seeds than leaves so perhaps someone should try eating the seeds... then perhaps the seeds could be used in lieu of leaves especially during warmer weather :o)
Just a thought.
Anna
Hey Anna, interesting point. I need to get my head out of the box! Many people too are unaware that you can eat broccoli and cauliflower leaves, and not just the big ol' head of buds/flowers. I may experiment with this... toasting them perhaps? Though maybe an experiment for next season because a stupid storm blew quite a few seeds away before I could harvest them >_<
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