That’s a fairly recent “rebranding”/renaming of Amaranth. Callaloo, as a vegetable is nebulous; it’s a cooked dish which can be made using a wide variety of greens. In the Caribbean, Aroids are often used, especially Xanthosoma brasiliense. I recently got some small plants in, and will try to take photos.
Yet another source of callaloo greens come from a couple species of perennial Phytolacca, related to the North American Pokeweeds. The berries can be used to control snails and slugs!
A commercial grower about an hour away grows “Callaloo”, but it’s an Aroid. So that name has become confusing, especially when in different regions.
The Aroids and tropical Phytolacca do best in humid, tropical areas while Amaranths can be grown in milder climates. The first two are perennials and the latter eventually goes to seed and dies within a year. I’m not a fan of amaranth greens, unless well seasoned or mixed with other greens; they’re pretty bland. They often should be used sparingly or pre-blanched to remove high levels of nitrates and/or oxalates. There are hundreds, if not thousands of amaranth varieties.
I do enjoy the toasted, popped seeds of the white-seeded amaranths. Love Lies Bleeding is a beautiful ornamental/edible.
Thats true only of the Angled Loofah, Luffa acutangula. While the Angled Luffa is mostly grown for food, (I never had a mature one good for sponges), the Smooth Luffa can also be eaten when young. Both can become terribly bitter if water-stressed. In this case, they should not be eaten.
We’re starting to get quite a few zucchini and summer squash, so I’m trying out different ways of preparing them as a snack or quick-and-easy side dish.
Here roasted (EVOO, S&P) and served with a buttermilk chive dressing. Tasty. No leftovers.
Tomorrow I’ll try panko-coated and air-fried (with same dressing).
Here’s what I use (more or less, depending on what’s on hand):
1/2 c. buttermilk
2-4 T. mayonaisse, to desired thickness
1 T. red wine vinegar
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 T. minched fresh chives
1/4 t. Morton’s kosher salt
These are very young still, but look promising; the new leaves are more pointed, like a spearhead. This accounts for one of two synonyms: X. hastifolia, “spear leaf”.
Another tropical I’m playing with is Pandan, Pandanus amaryllifolius. It’s used as a flavoring and green coloring herb mainly in SE Asia.
They’re from two, different sources. The one on the right is paler, and may be virused, as there are faint blotches on the leaves. The darker green one was originally tissue cultured.
Pandan information is all over the web. What is unclear, exactly, is how to maximize the basmati-rice-vanilla-ish flavor. In some cases, the flavor is much stronger and the variables unknown. Bruising and wilting the foliage helps, but there’s wide variation in flavor intensity. These are too young to harvest much or tinker with. There’s under a peach tree, getting direct sun in the morning and some shade during midday.
Many thanks! It’s good to find new ways to serve up squash. I’ve got a lot of freeze dried squash “chips”, and that dressing sounds like a great way to jazz them up. (I should have roasted them first.)
Agreed. When I downloaded the image and took a closer look, the fruits look exactly like immature loofahs. They also appear too old to eat. If they get yellow, often with irregular stripes and spots, they’re destined for sponges. I’ve got at least two large onion bags, with dozens of sponge luffas. It’s really hard to get all the seeds out! You need to swing and bang them around outside. The next year, luffas come up all over the yard.
I made a batch of panko-crusted zuccs this morning in the air fryer. Served up with the same sauce, the added crunch was very nice, but I’m not sure it was a whole lot better than just plain roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Pandan is very popular in Toronto lately. In cakes, cookies, lattes, filled croissants, Hong Kong-style French toast.
One Chowhound friend made a pandan poundcake for our Cake Day one year, as well as some other pandan cakes for various potlucks. She wasn’t growing her own pandan, though.
The light-grown dill is going into all sorts of things, and getting dried at low temperatures for much superior dried dill. Some is getting pickled, concentrated dill vinegar.
My Lithuanian Mom taught us about pink soup, where fresh dill is essential.
It’s shockingly pink! Served cold, it’s made with an unusual medley of ingredients:
fresh: cucumber, dill, lemon juice
cooked (or canned beets)
Buttermilk and yoghurt
Thanks- I’ve only grown the ribbed ones, for sponges. Didn’t know there were other kinds, or had forgotten. Any more I can’t grow any gourds, they’re too thirsty for me, except the ones I grew at work, but an early freeze ruined the three fruits before they were ready.
I haven’t tried those dishes, yet. but, they sound good. Pickled cucumbers are used to make pink soup in at least one Baltic country. In many places, using pickled cucumbers works because they mature during warm weather and beets are best harvested after it gets chilly.
Good haul this weekend. I asked earlier what to do with those way-too-old beans, and I will be cooking some of the mature seeds (an experiment!) and planting others in the spring.
