Fruit/Veg of the day

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David Dickinson

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #135 on: July 16, 2021, 09:39:41 PM »
In Italy anything from the "cabbage" family will have various local names and they all tend to get mixed up anyway. Consequently, it can be a real problem to understand exactly what you are going to get in a restaurant! In Rome, if you are offered "broccoletti", dig deeper.   Are you being offered:

cut up Green Cauliflower (cavolfiore verde)
 https://ilsicano.com/99-medium_default/broccoli-siciliani.jpg

cut up Broccolo Romano
https://www.ortofrutticolalamapaola.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/prodotti_broccolo-romano3.jpg

Broccoli siciliani
https://www.biosolidale.it/public/articoli/brsi_0.jpg

Broccoletti Romaneschi
http://www.ortodigiobbi.com/agricoltori/media/com_hikashop/upload/broccoletti.jpg

or

Brocoletti Cima di Rapa?
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/191511690365-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

If you haven't tasted pasta  with either  broccolo romano or cime di rapa then, sorry folks, you haven't lived.

I have a small garden in Rome, Italy. Some open soil, some concrete, some paved. Temperatures in winter occasionally down to 0°C. Summer temperatures up to 40°C in the shade. There are never watering restrictions but, of course, there is little natural water for much of June, July and August.

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Fermi

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #136 on: July 17, 2021, 02:57:02 AM »
Hi David,
Brocoletti Cima di Rapa is something we first discovered a few years ago.
I found a packet of seed which we'd saved and sowed it quite thickly thinking that the viability would have diminished over the intervening years. Looks like every seed has germinated! We'll have to thin out vigorously!
cheers
fermi
« Last Edit: September 09, 2021, 09:37:43 AM by Fermi »
Mr F de Sousa, Central Victoria, Australia
member of AGS, SRGC, NARGS
working as a physio to support my gardening habit!

David Dickinson

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #137 on: July 17, 2021, 07:04:05 PM »
Hi Fermi

Cime di Rapa can come with a health warning. The long fibres play havoc with the digestive system in some.  If you are having them with pasta and you are susceptible, there is an easy solution. Drain them well  and refry them in olive oil with garlic and chilli. Then put them in a blender and render them into a pesto-consistency paste to mix with your pasta.

I tend to cook them with very little water. If you prefer the boiling method, save the water to cook your pasta in!
I have a small garden in Rome, Italy. Some open soil, some concrete, some paved. Temperatures in winter occasionally down to 0°C. Summer temperatures up to 40°C in the shade. There are never watering restrictions but, of course, there is little natural water for much of June, July and August.

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Charithea

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #138 on: July 18, 2021, 10:26:04 AM »
What an interesting subject the broccoli turned out to be.  While doing my degree in London years ago,  I worked 3 evenings a week in a Sainsbury supermarket.  After an hour of passing items through the check out I used to get bored so and I would try and find things to keep me going. I remember telling customers that the 'Broccoli' florets obeyed the Fibonacci rule!  David, I have tried all the types of broccoli except Brocolotti Cima di Rapa.  I eat most of my vegetable raw or lightly cooked so that would not be cooked by me. I am posting some photos  of our vegetables. The ones with all the greenery is my nephew's vegetable garden.  His late father used to grow veg in his London garden but my nephew  has never ever dug a hole to plant anything.  He has returned to Cyprus and to our surprise he has taken to growing veg.  He is very proud of his success.
I garden in Cyprus, in a flat old farming field, alt. approx. 30 m asl.

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Charithea

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #139 on: August 28, 2021, 03:10:39 PM »
While photographing the Cerinthe I thought to send a photo of our pomegranate trees that are full of fruit.  Every year we share our fruit with the birds but the last few years the tree rats  are having  most of the fruit.  I can not cut them yet because they don't mature until October and since I don't like putting down any poison  I just complain a lot. Finally a photo of our two pumpkins.
I garden in Cyprus, in a flat old farming field, alt. approx. 30 m asl.

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Charithea

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seasonal fruit
« Reply #140 on: August 28, 2021, 03:45:00 PM »
These photographs were taken  on the third week of August on the Troodos mountain area.  The fruit of the Rosa canina (Troodos Botanic Garden) is ripe and the otherCastanea sativa seen  in Kyperounta are still growing.  Both are wonderful sights for me as they Chestnuts don' grow at our low altitude and the Rosa canina although it grows here never reaches the beauty of the ones up the mountains.
I garden in Cyprus, in a flat old farming field, alt. approx. 30 m asl.

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John J

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #141 on: August 29, 2021, 07:26:44 AM »
Our Strawberry guavas, Psidium cattleianum, are beginning to ripen.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

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Fermi

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #142 on: September 09, 2021, 09:49:09 AM »
Hi David,
Brocoletti Cima di Rapa is something we first discovered a few years ago.
I found a packet of seed which we'd saved and sowed it quite thickly thinking that the viability would have diminished over the intervening years. Looks like every seed has germinated! We'll have to thin out vigorously!
Just picked a few Brocoletti Cima di Rapa, young Silverbeet (Chard) and coriander to cook for our dinner
cheers
fermi
Mr F de Sousa, Central Victoria, Australia
member of AGS, SRGC, NARGS
working as a physio to support my gardening habit!

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Charithea

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #143 on: September 09, 2021, 04:11:15 PM »
They look so fresh.  Soon we should be able to buy  fresher looking veg.  Enjoy them.
I garden in Cyprus, in a flat old farming field, alt. approx. 30 m asl.

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John J

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #144 on: September 13, 2021, 06:07:26 AM »
Not the fruit but the flower of one of our Dragon fruit. The bees certainly seem to appreciate it.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

Hilary

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #145 on: September 13, 2021, 06:32:20 AM »
Dragon fruit !
Something to look up early in the morning !
I was thrilled to find I even had a photo of them, long unidentified
A market in  Vienna in October  2006
The Dragon fruit are those bright red things on the bottom right of the photo
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

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John J

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #146 on: September 13, 2021, 09:26:24 AM »
Those are the ones, Hilary. Have you tried them?
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

Hilary

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #147 on: September 13, 2021, 11:14:28 AM »
No we have never eaten Dragon fruit but every time we go to Spain, note the optimism here,  we eat Chirimoya,, the green fruit next to the Dragon fruit in the photo.
MGS member
Living in Korinthos, Greece.
No garden but two balconies, one facing south and the other north.
Most of my plants are succulents which need little care

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John J

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #148 on: September 13, 2021, 12:01:51 PM »
Yes, I know the Cherimoya, often referred to as Custard Apple. There are also Star fruit in your photo that we used to get in Singapore, they sometimes appear in shops over here but we haven't bothered with them. One fruit from Singapore that I would like to get, but have never seen outside the Far East, are Rambutans. Our daughter was 4/5 years old when we were there and she loved them.
Cyprus Branch Head. Gardens in a field 40 m above sea level with reasonably fertile clay soil.
"Aphrodite emerged from the sea and came ashore and at her feet all manner of plants sprang forth" John Deacon (13thC AD)

David Dickinson

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Re: Fruit/Veg of the day
« Reply #149 on: September 13, 2021, 12:28:17 PM »
When I lived in Malaysia rambutans were amongst my favourite fruit too. For some inexplicable reason, the fruit in Kuala Lumpur was nearly always sold unripe, even on the street stalls selling ready-cut portions to eat on the go. On the coast it was a different story with beautiful ripe, juicy and tasty fruit available everywhere.

The nearest taste I can get to rambutans or lychees here are nespole. Funnily enough, they too have a large seed and little flesh. Wondering if they were related I googled it. Nothing came up but there is a page, in Italian, where the nutritional values of the two fruits are compared. Unexpected pair of fruits to compare!

https://fruits.nutriarena.com/it/rambutan-e-nespole-benefici/comparison-69-55-3
I have a small garden in Rome, Italy. Some open soil, some concrete, some paved. Temperatures in winter occasionally down to 0°C. Summer temperatures up to 40°C in the shade. There are never watering restrictions but, of course, there is little natural water for much of June, July and August.