October Harvest

Started to harvest some edamame this week. Edamame means "twig beans" as the pods grow in clusters from short twigs attached to the main stem. Edamame is the name used in English nowadays, but in fact edamame are just immature soy beans. They are boiled lightly in the pods and then eaten mostly as a type of "bar snack", though I read that in the West they are served at expensive Japanese restaurants. I prefer to let the beans grow full term when they become Kuramame, black beans. The crows took most of the beans I planted, so I tried starting some in pots and they succsessfully transplanted, so that's the way I'll do it next year.

Still picking tons of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Eggplants grow so easily and are so prolific that people don't know how to use them all and many just rot in the gardens. The best way I have found to preserve them is with this Sri Lankan Eggplant Pickle recipe. It's a lot of work, but well worth the effort.

June harvest (part 2)

Here's a further look at what we have been picking from our gardens in June.

Green peppers are one of the plants that do so well that people allow them to rot in the garden as there are just too many. I bought 2 freezers to keep all our excess vegetables available year round, so we don't let them rot. Called "pima" in Japan, they were introduced by the Portugese in the 16th Century, although did not become popular until after WWII.

Another plant that usually produces more than people need is the eggplant/aubergine. Introduced from China about 1,500 years ago, the Japanese word for them, 'Nasu", means grows quickly. My favorite way to preserve the excess is with a Sri Lankan pickle recipe.

I tend to favor veggies that grow easily with little maintenance, and green beans/French beans fit that description. Known as "ingen" in Japan, apparently named after a zen monk named Ingen who introduced them to Japan in the middle of the 19th Century.

June Harvest part 1