Kitchen Garden Forum

There are some things you only get from growing your own...

Tonight I will be making a salad from the last of the purple sprouting .... Ok, so you can buy this, but it will be mixed with freshly picked garlic scapes !

What an absolute treat and I hate waste. Are there any other by products that people consider a treat which others might put on the compost heap, or that you can't buy?

Pawty

Personally, I use carrot tops, and parsley to make a parsley wine , add a bit of yeast and it develops a really deep flavour and a slight sparkle

Now, I dont drink these days, so its only made as a gift for the family members who do.

I haven't tried it but I am going to this year - coleslaw made from the calabrese stem. I believe there are a few ideas for using it, so will enjoy trying some of them as I like a bit of crunch in food. It's also an out of season thing as well as I always note how much of the big chunks of stem you pay for in the shops.

I'll leave the garlic scapes for you Pawty, found them a bit stringy, (probably left them too long on the planet though), but I have one PSB plant left just budding now which I am monitoring closely as it will go over quickly I think.

Like the carrot top & parley wine idea Dan Numbers, but find brewing & wine making alchemy a bit scary - many an explosion experienced in the past & pretty poor tasting muck at times as well!

Westi

Westi wrote:Like the carrot top & parley wine idea Dan Numbers, but find brewing & wine making alchemy a bit scary - many an explosion experienced in the past & pretty poor tasting muck at times as well!

Westi

It can be a nightmare that's for sure. A relative of mine used to sell home made alcohol on the local market, so I've been learning the dark art from a very young age lol

The garlic scapes were sooo good. They were very young - I like to take flower heads off as soon as I see them.

Dan - I'm not saying I'm a wine conesseaur but carrot top and parsley?? Sounds a bit like one of those health smoothies but one that'll make you pass out in an hour at least when your drinking it you can use the 'it's one of my five a day so it's ok arguement'. Think I'll stick to grapes on that one .......