THE PUMPKINS AND ROOT CROPS AND POTATOES in the barn said, “That’s enough of this nonsense, Margaret” yesterday—enough of sitting patiently in there as they have since harvest earlier in the fall. Nights are in the 20s, and the barn’s getting too cool. But where to stash them all safely now? A new fast, freezeable vegetable curry recipe to the rescue, this one featuring sweet potatoes.
First, the disclaimer: This is only the second batch of curry I have ever made, after a lesson imparted just weeks ago from a friend. I am no expert, but it’s easy, highly adaptable in flavor according to your hand with the spices, and it sure does taste good. If you are a professional chef, please no laughing; I offer this to encourage other curry wannabes to just suspend fear and try a potful as I did.
Also please note: What follows is more guide than precise recipe. I cook by feel and taste. The amounts below yield about one-third of an 8-quart stockpot (what I think of as a spaghetti pot) of finished curry, so prep an appropriate amount of vegetables. If you like a finer texture, dice accordingly; I like chunky (and too-fine dices don’t hold up as well after cooking, freezing, and reheating).
Before committing to a jar of each, I purchased small baggies of the various spices in the bulk section of my health-food store; Indian groceries have the best selection of all, along with condiments like chutney. Or you could just buy “curry powder” or paste, but where’s the fun or full fragrance in that?
Now on to turn those winter squash and the rest of the greens and such into vegetable stock…
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A cherry plum, sweet, thin-skinned and very prolific (you’ll also find it sold under ‘Red Grape Sugar Plum’). It was in the top three of our recent taste test and everyone liked it for its strong tomato flavour that’s sweet but not overly so, and its firm not mushy texture. It has a slight acidity running through it which all sweet tomatoes need. It ripens quite late compared to ‘Sungold’ and produces for a long period of time. It’s lovely in a mixed salad with the larger varieties.
You may have already noticed that rice prices are higher than normal, which is largely due to the impacts of the war in Ukraine and erratic weather for the leading global suppliers of the grain. Now, India, the world’s largest exporter of rice, just banned nearly half of its overall shipments in order to reduce its domestic prices following heavy rains, which impacted the rice harvest. You might be asking, “What does this mean for me?”—we’ve got you covered. The good news is, if you’re worried about how the ongoing global rice shortage could impact your plate, you’re not alone, but you don’t need to panic.
Cardamom vs Coriander – well, there might be a lot to talk about, especially when you want to clear the air of – Is Coriander The Same As Cardamom. Let’s find out!
St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, is a popular celebration in the United States, due to the number of Americans, 10.5%, with Irish heritage. One million Irish emigrated to North America, Australia, or other parts of Great Britain in the mid-1800s because of the potato disease now known as late blight. Late blight, caused by the water mold, Phytophthora infestans, destroyed the Irish potato crops in 1845 through 1849 and caused the Irish Potato Famine. Another one million people died from hunger or disease.
The sweet potato is a starchy, sweet-tasting root vegetable. They have a thin, brown skin on the outside with colored flesh inside, typically orange in color, but other varieties are white, purple or yellow. You can eat sweet potatoes whole or peeled; the leaves of the plant are also edible. While called ‘potatoes’, sweet and white potatoes are not actually related. Botanically, the sweet potato belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, whereas the white potato is part of the nightshade family.
It’s late summer and crabgrass weeds have invaded some lawns. Unfortunately, crabgrass is very difficult to control with most herbicides once it develops a few tillers or branches. There are several species of crabgrass (Digitaria spp.): tropical crabgrass, smooth crabgrass, India crabgrass, large crabgrass, Southern crabgrass, and blanket crabgrass. All of them are summer annuals that germinate primarily in spring, grow during the summer, set seeds, and then die with the first frost.
Are you frustrated because there are dandelions and other weeds in your lawn? Did you know that dandelion flowers provide one of the first springtime sources of pollen for bees, butterflies, and other pollinating insects?
Sweet potatoes, any way you serve them, are yummy and very nutritious. They are one thing that you can plant in the garden from April until the first of July, so you still have time to get them in the ground. I received some slips of ‘Bradshaw’ sweet potato recently and am looking forward to growing them in the garden at the Clemson Extension office. David Bradshaw was one of the most beloved professors in the Horticulture Department, and he was very involved with organic and heirloom plants at the South Carolina Botanical Garden. The sweet potato was developed from the Mahon Yam (which is really a sweet potato) by Dr. Bradshaw and given to one of my classmates who has grown it for many years, saving a few each year to grow out the slips.
Unlike white potatoes, where you plant a “seed potato” whose eyes are starting to sprout, with sweet potatoes you start with bits of vine called slips. Glenn Drowns of Sand Hill Preservation Center in Iowa, who lists more than 100 sweet-potato varieties in his amazing catalog, explains the origin of the word slip:“A slip is a single plant (with small roots) that is sprouted on the sweet potato root and then slipped off so that you may plant it in the garden to grow a sweet potato plant.”Each slip doesn’t look like much when it arrives—a piece of vine with some roots and maybe a leaf or two, usually a little pale and worse for the wear after days in transit. But it will quickly rebound if planted promptly according to some basic guidelines (that’s the above-ground bit of one a day or two after planting,