In honor of National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables month, we thought we’d amuse and perhaps frighten you with a few pictures of some crazy, scary vegetables from our gardens and farmers markets. Don’t be afraid to eat them though! We’ll show you how to make delicious and attractive meals with the ugliest of vegetables.
Have you ever seen a heart-shaped radish? What better way to say I love you? Really!
Radishes say, “I love and care for you,” by providing your body with many health benefits! How? In short, radishes support the liver (detoxification), the urinary tract, the kidneys, digestion, the elimination system, weight loss, and healthy skin. They’re high in potassium, ascorbic acid, Vitamin C, folate and magnesium. Go to Radical Radishes to learn more about this amazing vegetable.
Add them to Vietnamese Spring Roll Salad, or make a Radish and Cream Cheese Sandwich.
Gardens can be full of surprises–funny ones and ugly ones:
Make dinnertime fun and nutritious! Bake a dragon potato (top left photo) and fill with salad (or your favorite filling).
Sometimes, the crazy vegetables are not ugly at all, but very beautiful, like these carrots:
Even if you don’t garden, a trip to the grocery store or farmers market can be entertaining. Have you ever eaten kohlrabi?
Don’t be intimidated. They’re really quite easy to cut and eat. See: How to Cut Kohlrabi.
Add raw slices or dices of kohlrabi to coleslaw, salads and crudité platters. Serve with Creamy 5-Spice Dressing/Dip, if you want something really different.
Kohlrabi is equally tasty when cooked. You can roast, steam or mash them.
We love to snatch up fiddlehead ferns in the early spring, since the window of availability is very small. We just steam or sauté them, then toss with butter and lemon juice.
Or, add them to boiled new potatoes:
What about this space-age looking vegetable? Do you know its name?
We’ve seen it called Romanesco Broccoli or Cauliflower, and we’ve used it as a substitute for either one. It’s especially pretty in our recipe for Cauliflower with Capers.
Or add it to our Turkish Spiced Lamb.
We could go on and on, but we’ll wrap it up for now. Look for our updates (sign up for our email notifications) as we add more recipes and tips for using unusual vegetables in your everyday meals.
