Desert Island Vegetables 7

Growing my own vegetables was stimulated by my love of cooking and the idea of using just picked ingredients. At the time I thought of myself as a pretty good cook but growing my own vegetables has revealed how little I actually knew about my ingredients. I have already mentioned being surprised by how long some vegetables take to grow. Also with many vegetables being on the Supermarket shelves all year round it is difficult to develop a sense of the seasons.

Another big education has been discovering different varieties in vegetables that I previously thought of generically. My next choice of vegetable to take to a fantasy island is a good example of this. Previously I thought of Garlic as being just Garlic although some bulbs seemed purpler. This assumption was reinforced by cookbooks that list garlic as a general ingredient.

Looking into growing my own I discovered that there is much more to garlic than I imagined. Not only can you choose between varieties for autumn or spring planting but also there are two main types, softneck and hardneck. Because softneck garlic stores better it is the one you will almost certainly buy from a Supermarket. Also with China growing 75% of the world’s garlic it could have travelled quite some distance.

Each type taste differently with each having advocates that consider theirs to taste better. To add more choice there is ranges of varieties within each type that together offer over six hundred cultivated garlic varieties worldwide.

If having all these varieties isn’t enough another often under considered fact is that where you grow your vegetables will also influence it’s growth and taste. This influence of geography, geology, climate and horticultural practice is often known by the French word Terrior or sense of place. Although widely used in discussing attributes of vineyards and their wines every plant to some degree responds to it’s environment.

Discovering varieties that thrive in your garden is either a case of trial and error or research – asking nearby growers for their experience is a good way to gain knowledge.

There are many benefits to growing your own vegetables but this widening of my knowledge and appreciation for ingredients I use in my cooking has been a welcome surprise.