From Curly Kale to Turks Turban Squashes

The Best of British Veg -- and the Reasons Why

Curly Kale What a history! In 19th-century Scotland, kail was used as a generic term for 'dinner' and all kitchens featured a kail-pot for cooking. Early in the 20th-century, Kailyard (kale field) was a disparaging term used to describe a school of Scottish writers, including Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie, whose writing featured sentimental nostalgia for rural Scottish life.

One of the few green vegetables that is more abundant and flavourful during the colder months of the year, Kale is packed with vitamin and Iron. Cn be substituted for cabbage or spinach and makes a super side dish when blanched or sautéed with garlic (a sprinkling of chopped, roasted cobnuts is a lovely addition). It also makes an excellent ingredient in hearty, warming soups such as Scotch Broth.

Kale has been cultivated for over 2,000 years. In much of Europe it was the most widely eaten green vegetable until the Middle Ages when cabbages became more popular. Historically it has been particularly important in colder regions due to its resistance to frost.

Swede Didn't become an important European crop until the 18th-century. But it was popular in England, and France, for 100 years before that.

Its unpolished appearance belies its fine texture and distinctive, sweet tasting flesh, which can also be used to add interest to stews or in a variety of twists on mashed potato. Beautiful mashed and used as a topping for a cottage pie. Or roasted gently. Or simply cooked in boiling salted water and tossed with butter and black pepper. Roasted or mashed, Swede makes a simple and tasty side dish.

Good mineral content including calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and manganese. It is low in saturated fat and relatively high in sugars. It also provides some fibre and vitamins A and C.

Beetroot -- The beetroot's reputation in this country has been ruined by one thing alone - malt vinegar, a lethal culinary weapon that kills off the flavour of anything it comes into contact with (apart from its affinity with pickled onions and its ability to counteract the fattiness of fish and chips). So the poor old Beetroot is often despised as a consequence of formerly being confined to the pickle jar. Yet cooked as a vegetable, or in a salad, it has a superb earthy flavour and a wonderful rich, vibrant colour.

Believed to be derived from a wild species native to the seashores of Europe. It's a beautiful deep scarlet or burgundy colour and adds a dash of vibrancy to any winter dish. It's commonly used as a side dish to the traditional roast, in salads or in sauces. The young leaves of the beetroot can also be used in salads.

There are two good methods of cooking Beetroot - one is long and slow in the oven, which is suitable for larger, Beetroot; and the other for small bunches of fresh Beetroot.

Baking's beet's fantastic. Use even-sized beetroot. Pre-heat oven 325 F (170°C). Prep leaving the trailing root intact but trimming the green stalk so only 1 inch (2.5 cm) is left. Wash well under cold running water; wrap the Beetroot in a parcel of double foil, sealing well. Bake on the middle shelf of the pre-heated oven for a couple of hours. When it's cooked, you should be able to ease the skin away with your thumbs.

For boiled beetroot, take a bunch of small beetroot, prepare as above and place it in a medium saucepan, then add salt a little sugar and enough boiling water to barely cover. Simmer, covered, for 20-30 minutes, until the skin eases away when pushed with your thumbs.

Celeriac Another member of the parsley family and is closely related to celery. Although it looks superficially like a turnip, the taste is much more similar to that of celery. Celeriac is often used in soups and stews but can also be used grated in salads. Alternatively it can be baked or boiled and used as a side vegetable. It's quite an unusual vegetable and isn't very widely available.
The best time to look for Celeriac is in October when the main crop hits the markets. Peeled Celeriac will darken so toss it in lemon juice or add a little juice to the cooking water. When choosing your celeriac try to go for roots that are less than four inches diameter, as the smaller, younger roots tend to be much more tender and less woody.

Parsnips Britain's staple root vegetable until the potato ousted it in the 16th- century. Parsnips are much better after the first frost. Cold weather is partly responsible for its delicious flavour, as the cold helps to turn the starches into sugars. Extremely popular in the Middle Ages, owing to its high carbohydrate content, sweet flavour and nutritious flesh. High in potassium, calcium and vitamin A.

Carrots It's just a tap-root, but everyone thinks it's a cure-all. Greeks called it 'Philtron' and used it as a love medicine--making men more ardent and women more yielding. In the Middle Ages, doctors prescribed them for everything from sexual maladies to snakebite The folk belief that carrots enable one to see in the dark was use to convince the Germans that British Royal Air Force pilots could see in the dark --to disguise its use of radar during World War II. The Germans bought it because their folk wisdom included the same myth.

But new research has uncovered one reason why what you eat may protect you from breast cancer. Among a group of women with a family history of breast cancer, those who began eating more vegetables and less beef and pork, had less damage to their DNA, the genetic material that controls the function of all your cells.

The Dutch took the original red, purple, black, yellow, and white varieties were hybridised to today's bright orange, with its potent dose of beta-carotene. From there, carrots moved to England, during Elizabethan times. Some Elizabethans ate the roots as food; others used their feathery stalks to decorate their hair, their hats, their dresses, and their coats.

Squashes

All of these traditional varieties of Squash are grown organically by Clive Ovenden of Marsh farm in Kent, exclusively for 4oC Their flesh contains small amounts of starch, sugars, protein and fat as well as vitamin B complex, some carotenes and vitamin C. Some species have seeds rich in oil and protein.

The oldest archaeological remains of these plants, dating back some 7000 years, originate in Mexico. Since ancient times, different peoples worldwide have used squash fruits to treat a plethora of ailments and complaints from freckles to snakebites. More recently, some have been investigated as potential treatments for diabetes and HIV infection.

The fruit diversity is quite astonishing, with shapes ranging from globose to pear-shaped, elongated or flattened; with smooth, warted, ribbed or furrowed skin and colours from green, white and blue-grey to yellow, orange or red.

Harlequin Squash -- Looks like a green and cream striped pumpkin with a sunken top. Smooth medium-starchy green-yellow flesh with a sweet, slightly potato-ish taste. Excellent pureed or oven-roasted, moistened with vegetable stock and blended for a velvety soup.

Acorn & Cream of the Crop -- Dark green Acorn and Cream Of The Crop, with its creamy skin, both taste lightly nutty and have firm pale yellow-green flesh.

Potato Squash -- looks like a small ribbed cream and green marrow, but has very starchy, sweet-potato-like pale yellow flesh. Great baked with nut oil and salt, but excellent boiled and with butter and black pepper too.

Spaghetti Marrow -- Looks like short, greenish-white skinned marrows. Boil whole until tender to the touch then split open to reveal flesh, which breaks up into strands like spaghetti. Pop under the grill with a rich tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. Also available will be orange-skinned Oranghetti and striped Stripetti both versions of the same variety.

Turks Turban -- Handsome stripy turban-cum-cottage-loaf shaped fruits with a slightly more robust texture than a marrow and a delicate turnip taste.