Colin Spencer
Vegetable Book

 

Published in Britain, 1995
by Conran Octopus, Limited,
37 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9HN

Text © Colin Spencer, 1995
Photography © Linda Burgess, 1995
Design & Layout © Conran Octopus, 1995

ISBN 1 85029 654 6

Book Cover


Vegetables have moved to the centre of the culinary stage in the recent years. Even among non-vegetarians, the attitude that they are mere accompaniments is long gone. They are now very much seen as the heart of a meal, with meat and poultry almost relegated to being just another type of flavouring ingredient.

In the spirit of this revolution, Colin Spencer brings us a fresh look at this fascinating subject, discussing both which vegetables are available and how to get the best from them. Each root, leaf, stem, and tuber is lovingly examined: its history amusingly related; its properties, varieties and foibles investigated. Dishes both classic and innovative, using vegetables as main courses as well as side dishes, are provided to pique the interest in the exotic or provide a fresh look at an old friend.

Detailed entries arranged by horticultural family present over 100 vegetables, and more than 300 accompanying recipes over the full spectrum from comfortingly familiar favourites to intriguingly original combinations. Vegetables and recipes are all stunningly illustrated with full-colour photography by Linda Burgess.

Gomba

   

SOME WORDS FROM THE INTRODUCTION

Over the last ten years or so we have learnt to value vegetables more highly, not only for their singular flavours but also for their nutritional value as an essential part of a healthy diet. ……

Because of air-freight and the demands of ethnic groups within our societies, the vegetable market now reflects world trade. Upon a display shelf or market stall one can now travel from Paris to Tokyo, from California to Israel, from Madrid to Sydney. Such a polyglot display can even be off-putting in its richness. What is a "yam"? After all, in the USA they call sweet potatoes "yams", but surely they are different families altogether. The same vegetable is called an "eddo" on one stall and "dasheen" on another. And what on earth is "elephant's ear"? The answers are all in this pages. ……..

Every vegetable has a history. Some like taro, are so ancient that no wild variety exists today; others date from just before cultivation began; others are astonishingly recent - the Swede or the orange carrot, for example. …….

Why, for example, should we always think the consumption of garlic and onions so vulgar? Why have so many vegetables been considered aphrodisiac? …..

Did the Ancient World know something we don't? They certainly valued the medicinal quality of vegetables and herbs in a way, which we have almost lost. How interesting, too, to discover so many of their techniques forgotten in the West, but still carried on in the East. ……..

We could not have survived without plants, for most of all they sheltered us from elements. …. Forest was shelter for humankind: it was dry, shady and cool. In colder climes , the forest was warmer - the forest was home. It was also the larder: so much of what we still eat now was eaten then. ………

The other fascinating aspect of the early gatherers is how much experimentation was needed, for so many of the food families have toxic parts or members. Take the Solanaceae or potato family, how many people died from the berries of deadly nightshade? How many found out that tomato leaves and stems, potato leaves and green patches on the potatoes themselves are poisonous? …………

The older members of any small group must have been greatly valued, for it was they with their experience who could memorise the edible parts of a plant and where it was likely to grow and at what time of year. ……….

The World Health Organisation Committee wrote in the WHO Report on Diet and Chronic Diseases (1990), "vegetables and fruits are low in energy, but high in fibre, vitamins and minerals. They play protective role in preventing the development of cancers". ……….

Read this book to gather all the information you need for healthier and tastier life. Lot of knowledge and an entertaining literary product is in one book. Really colourful photography to show you plants you read about and dishes you may like to prepare.

 

Torta

   

Here is the contents:

Subject

Page
INTRODUCTION

9

THE ONION FAMILY

Onion
Garlic
Leek
Leek
Chive
Welsh onion
Rocambole
Chinese chive
Asparagus

15

THE BEET FAMILY

Spinach
Swiss chard
Beetroot
Orache
Good King Henry
Marsh Samphire or Glasswort
Quinoa
New Zealand Spinach

43

THE LETTUCE FAMILY

Lettuce
Chicory
Endive
Dandelion
Globe Artichoke
Cardoon
Jerusalem Artichoke
Salsify and Scorzonera
Rhubarb
Sorrel
Purslane

61

THE CABBAGE FAMILY

Cabbage
Brussels sprout
Kale or Curly Kale
Cauliflower
Sprouting Broccoli
Calabrese
Kohlrabi
Turnip
Swede
Chinese Cabbage or Pe-tsai
Chinese Mustard Greens
Pak-choi
Mizuna Greens
Watercress
Land Cress
Garden Cress
Radish
Large White Radish
or Daikon or Mooli
Black Raddish
Horseradish
Japanese Horseradish
Rocket
Sweet Rocket
Yellow Racket or Winter Cress
Sea-kale

87

THE SQUASH FAMILY

Pumpkin
Vegetable Marrow and Courgette
Vegetable Spagetti
Chayote
Cucumber
Gherkin
Chinese Bitter Melon
Smooth and Angled Loofahs
Bottle Guard

131

THE BEAN FAMILY

Broad Bean
Pea
Haricot Beans
Lima or Butter Bean
Chick Pea
Lentil
Soybean or Soya Bean
Adjuki Bean
Mung Bean
Alfalfa

151

THE POTATO FAMILY

Potato
Tomato
Aubergine
Sweet Pepper
Chilli Pepper

179

THE PARSLEY FAMILY

Carrot
Celery
Alexanders
Celeriac
Fennel
Parsnip
Skirret
Parsley
Hamburg Parsley
Rock Samphire

211

TROPICAL and EXOTIC VEGETABLES

Sweetcorn
Okra
Sweet potato
Taro
Yams
Avocado

237

MUSHROOMS and TRUFFLES

   Mushrooms:
Cultivated Mushrooms
Field Mushrooms
Parasol Mushrooms
Oyster Mushrooms
Cep
Chanterelle
Giant Puffball
Morel
   Truffles:
Black or Périgold Truffle
Summer Truffle
White or Piedmont Truffle

263

SOME FLAVORINGS

278

SUPPLIERS

278

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

278

BIBLIOGRAPHY & LIST OF SOURCES

279

INDEX

284

 

And here are some information and recipes from the book as a sample from this standard work:

   

Cékla

   

BEETROOT

Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris

We tend not to value this root, relating it to cold salad or pickles. I wonder why, for its flavour is delicious and its colour remarkable. It makes the most stunning soup - botsch - and when eaten small as a hot vegetable is an excellent foil to game. I suspect that the beetroot's habit of oozing its cardinal red dye over everything may be a deterrent to its popularity. There are however, ways and means of guarding against this and they should be taken so that we can enjoy the vegetable more.

We know that the Greeks merely ate the leaves, but the root then was treasured for its medicinal qualities. The Romans cultivated the root and began eating it at table. Apicius gives the recipe for a beetroot salad to be dressed with mustard, oil and vinegar. Beetroot plants like salt and so they are a useful crop for growing on reclaimed land near the sea. The beetroot is important economically, for its siblings, the sugar beet and the mangel-wurzel, both played dramatic parts in recent history. Even since the sixteenth century it was known that some roots contained sugar, but Europe's appetite for the sweet stuff used to be minuscule compared to nowadays. In 1788 the French were only consuming one kilo of sugar per person per year, while in America today the consumption is one kilo per person per week.

In 1747 a German chemist, A. S. Margraaf, isolated sugar from beets. The sugar beet looks like a large white parsnip, each one can be 900 gr / 2 lb in weight and 30 cm / 1 ft in length. In 1776 the first factory to process sugar from beet began working and twenty years later another factory in Austria was opened by a pupil of Margraaf's. The process was not particularly efficient, however, only 2 to 3 per cent of sugar was extracted from the roots. It took war and a naval blockade for the sugar beet industry to take off in a big way. The English blockaded the Napoleonic France, cutting the country off from its sugar cane supplies. Napoleon ordered 70 000 acresto be planted with sugar beet. In 1812 Benjamin Delessert, a French financier, opened a refinery in Paris to process the beets. The development of sugar beet used the white variety and by 1880 beet sugar was more widely consumed, than cane sugar in Europe, except for Britain. Production of beet sugar in Britain only began seriously in 1924 when the Treasury granted a huge subsidy to its manufacture.

The Mangel-wurzel - for long a subject of rustic schoolboy jokes - is a reddish orange in colour, not unlike a swede, and is grown as winter fodder for cattle. Its name is merely German for beetroot; it had grown in Germany and Holland ever since the 1650s and from there it spread to northern France where, in times of famine, it was eaten by people as well as cattle. ………

…………

CHOOSING, PREPARING AND STORING

Buy your beetroots small, if possible. Also buy them as fresh as you can and with their leaves attached, so that you can see how fresh they are. The leaves will sag after the first day.

Beetroots store well, up to a few weeks if necessary. After that they will certainly start to get soft and will not be worth cooking.

To prepare beetroots : wash the earth off them, without breaking the skin, then twist or cut the leaves off leaving about 10 centimetres / 4 inch of stalk (otherwise the colour will run) and don't cut off the tapering root.

…………

 

Leves

   

FRESH GREEN PEA SOUP

· For six ·

Ingredients

· 900 gr/2 lb peas in their pods

· 1,5 litres/2,5 pt vegetable soup

· 1 sprig of mint

· 1/2 tsp sea salt

· 1/2 tsp sugar

· 300 ml/1/2 pt buttermilk, smetana,
or single cream

· mint leaves to garnish

1. Pod the peas and cook the pods in half of the stock for 5 minutes. Leave to cool, then liquidize and pass through a strainer. Reserve the liquor and throw away the pod debris.

2. Cook the peas in the rest of the stock with the mint, salt and sugar, for 3 minutes. Leave to cool, discard the sprig of mint and liquidize. Combine this mixture with the pod liquor.

3. Taste for seasoning, and then mix in the buttermilk, smetana or single cream.

4. Refrigerate if serving the soup iced and decorate with the mint leaves. If serving the soup hot, reheat with care and take off the flame before it boils.


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