comes from the labouring classes pre-supermarket days...
when your store of food was becoming exhausted, one had, as one says, to become both frugal and creative...
but there are a lot of people nowadays who rely on the supermarket only...
in the UK... for the majority of people from all classes...
they have no idea how to keep a home produced larder...
the skills are neither taught nor handed down.
It is really a shame.
It has become a WI and upper-middle-class hobby...
but here in France... and in the US...
you can get everything you need for bottling...
[canning in States-speak]...
from the local hardware stores.
Even some of our older fellow allotmenteers...
who had lived through the war as teen-agers...
the idea of over-wintering crops was not even considered...
most left bare sandy soil for the winter, which leached out any nutrients...
or just had a few rows of over-wintering broad beans and onions...
crops that won't come good for a couple of months yet.
Those of us who grew cabbage, kales and chard...
and had winter root crops...
were looked upon with both surprise and amusement...
I often wonder what would happen if supermarkets suddenly vanished!?
I learnt the majority of what I know from my maternal grandmother...
my grandfather had left well before the war...
and she had to bring up three kids on her own...
with very little money!
She...
and my mother...
were wonders at both keeping a harvest safe and at frugal cooking.
As for tasty "Hungry Gap" greens, we will be growing Ken's Collard Greens every year from now onward...
very sweet flavoured...
 |
| Collard Greens... just beginning to sprout. |
similar to Red Russian Kale...
also growing well at the moment.
 |
| Red Russian Kale |
We often sow Chinese Mustard Greens in late summer....
these give a pick of young leaves all winter.
Red Mustard for colour and "Green in Snow" for a more peppery flavour.
There are still Red Cabbage out in the potager...
wonderful cooked with apple, raisins and red wine.
All of these, and the Brussel Sprouts that were too small to pick...
give wonderful sprouts to steam...
or eat in winter salads towards the end of March.
If you cut the Summer cabbages rather than pulling, then cross-cut the stump that's left...
you should have some sweet "Spring" cabbage by now.
You cross-cut the stump immediately after you've cut the cabbage off, using the same knife...
we always try and leave a ring of the outer leaves.
That usually means four buds are left to sprout...
initially developing as small cabbages and then...
at around the same time as most plants are putting out shoots...
each mini cabbage [if you haven't already picked and eaten them] throws out a flower shoot from each axil.
These snap off and can be steamed...
a mix of different shoots give a variety of flavours... from peppery to sweet.
And, as they have been steamed... a selection of colour too.
Worry not if the flowers have broken open... the flowers are all edible.
The flower shoots of rocket can be added at this time, too.
This wonderful selection of sprouts are often referred to as "Poor Man's Asparagus".
 |
| Some sprouts from Black Tuscan Kale... very expensive in the shops as each leaf has to be hand picked!! |
Also maturing now will be the Purple and the White Sprouting Broccoli... wonderful stuff!
If the winter has been kind, or if you have kept it sheltered...
any of last summer's Tenderstem Broccoli may well give a second flush around now.
 |
| Broccoli sprouts |
If you don't like cabbage... there are carrots, parsnip and swede still in the ground...
 |
| Fresh parsnips and carrots... |
the chard [or blête] should be starting its spring flush too.
The potatoes, shallots and onions should still be in store...
but remember to check the spuds for sprouts...
they take too much energy from the spud...
and can change the flavour as starch is turned to sugar for growth...
and then there are the previous year's dried or frozen pulses, the stored pumpkins, the fresh leeks...
as well as rocket...
 |
| Rocket flowers.... excellent!! |
and wild sorrel or the larger garden variety...
as well as, still on the wild side, the young nettles that are now sprouting like fury...
they make an iron rich spinach substitute.
try this mixed with fresh goats cheese as a sandwich spread.
And don't forget hop shoots and bracken fronds, either...
And then again...
dig some Jerusalem Artichokes and make a soup with them, onions and créme fraiche...
a real warmer!
All can be used to "fill" the "Hungry Gap".
So, you see...
it is not difficult to bridge the gap...
and wonderful food can be eaten if you've chosen your crops carefully...
and take advantage of the cheaper cuts of meat that the butcher has on offer.
With sorrel, if you can pick enough of the older leaves, you can make a superb, lemony flavoured, green mash...
[used with a really good floury spud - Remarka or King Edward]...
called stoemp in Flemish...
very tasty, looks wonderful on the plate too...
lime green mash!
An Early Spring recipe.
This serves two...
Fry up or grill a couple of bacon chops, sweated gently to extract some of their fat, and put aside to keep warm.
Fry a sliced onion or a couple of shallots in the fat... when soft, keep warm... but leave in the pan!
Put a good portion of stoemp on two plates and make a well in the mash...
Place a chop beside the mash and put the heat back on under the onions and bacon fat...
add any fat that leached out of the chops while keeping them warm.
When spitting nicely, remove from the heat and pour the fat into the well in the piles of mash...
the onions can go on the mash as well.... or be put on top of the chops.
Serve with steamed shoots from bolting greens... and put a good knob of butter on them to melt down...
add salt and pepper to taste... these shoots are eaten like asparagus.
To drink...
not wine... but beer...
a glass of Chimay Blue...
or a Tripel Karmelite.
