Winter Melon
May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada, acknowledging the long and rich history of Asian Canadians and their contributions to Canada. Vancouver is blessed with a large, diverse, and vibrant Asian community; in fact, 20% of our population is Asian (Chinese, East Indian and Filipino making up most of that percentage). All this adds up to diverse communities, fascinating stories, fabulous festivals and fantastic food. Really. Vancouver has phenomenal Asian restaurants. You should come visit.
In my East Vancouver neighbourhood, many a garden is devoted to the production of vegetables. Many times, I can’t identify what exactly is growing, which is kind of cool. You think you’ve seen everything, and then someone’s growing luffas and it’s like, dude.
I’ve got a bit of a thing for growing unusual edibles (in fact, with the room my tomatillos, edamame, and saffron take up, I’m running out of room for oh, you know, peas and salad greens. Things I eat on a regular basis.) But combined with my fiance’s obsession with Asian food and cooking, it seems I’m just destined to grow Asian veggies.
My friend Emma, who is of Chinese heritage, has fond memories of her parents’ garden (read the extended entry for a handed-down recipe!). They grew basically all the family’s vegetables, including gai lan, kohlrabi, bok choy, long green beans, snow peas and snow pea shoots, winter melon (dong gua), fuzzy melon, cilantro, Chinese chives, “and some dark leafy green stuff that grew around the fence.” Says Emma, “I don’t know what it was called but we used it in a soup that called for liver too. Ew! But the soup was very tasty.”
Here in Vancouver, I could probably swap seeds with my neighbours or buy from the large selection of “oriental vegetables” West Coast Seeds carries. On the web, there’s the excellent Evergreen Seeds, carrying a wide variety of Asian edibles. Here are my picks, which meet my dual requirement of being tasty and pretty :
The Hyacinth (Lablab) Bean. Gorgeous, isn’t she?
This edible Amaranth (Yin Tsai or Chinese Spinich) looks like it could double as a foliage plant. This one is called ‘Red Stripe’ but check out ‘Asia Red’ as well.
I’ve only ever seen these Yardlong beans as the Spicy Beans at our local Szechuan restaurant. Tasty… These ones are called ‘Stickless Wonder’. Wonderful.
(All photos from Evergreen Seeds)
Emma’s Winter Melon Soup
It is customary to serve broth-like soup at every Chinese meal — no pop, milk or even water for us. It had to be hot soup or nothing! This one is my favourite soup. We grew tons of winter melon and had this soup about once a week. My mom always knew this soup would bring a smile to my face. She’d say, “Guess what I’m making?” and I’d know right away it was my favourite Winter Melon Soup. My mom made sure that I knew how to make three things before I moved out of the house: basic white rice, congee and winter melon soup.
1/2 lb winter melon (that has seeds, pulp, and skin removed), cut into matchbook size chunks) Hairy melon (also known as fuzzy melon) can be used interchangeably.
Large stock pot of water
2 cups homemade chicken broth
4 Chinese dried black mushrooms
3 slices ginger
1/4 cup cooked ham, diced
1/4 cup dried shrimp
Salt and pepper to taste
Simmer winter melon in a large stockpot of boiling water for about 20 mins. Add chicken broth (homemade), Chinese dried black mushrooms (that have been soaked in cold water until reconstituted), ginger, 1/4 cup dried shrimp, and cooked ham. Simmer at low heat for 20 – 30 mins.
Hanna in Cleveland says
I am going to try edemame this year in my garden. I buy them at the local Asian market all the time so I thought I would give it a shot.
Maybe next year I will try some other Asian veggies. All the ones you wrote about look tasty.
Heavy Petal says
Hi, Hanna! I love edamame, but this will be the first year I’ve grown it, too. Let’s touch base at the end of the summer and see how we each did.
Dianne Dyck says
Hi from St. Catharines Ontatio. I grow amaranthus too. My love lies bleeding has been 8 foot and higher some years. I just learned today that it was edible. I enjoyed it as a flower plant in my eye catching gardens. I get lots of ooh’s and ahs’ from passers bye. This year I tried other amaranthus, the tri-colour ones. They too are a great hit with the folks who walk by in my neighbourhood. These beauties are also very edible. I plan to grow more of it for its food qualities in the back yard next year. The seeds are very useful and healthy. It self sews and grows like a weed. Now I can thin them out onto my dinner plate – the greens eating like spinich and the seeds for in my breads and in my hot cereals. Have a great day.
Maryam in Marrakesh says
It all looks gorgeous. I am desperate to start an organic kitchen garden but just don’t know where to start. I live in Marrakesh. Are there any good books you would recommend?
Andrea says
Maryam,
Love your blog, and glad to see you’re into organic gardening too! I’ve always been a jump-in-and-try-it kind of gal… I started with herbs, which proved easy enough, and progressed to beans, peas, tomatoes, and of course, the more exotic veggies I’ve blogged about.
My advice would be to start small – try a few varieties of herbs, perhaps – so you don’t get discouraged. Add compost or manure to encourage growth, and use a mixture of liquid soap and water to combat pests. That’s my basic-as-it-gets advice on organic gardening!
Maryam in Marrakech says
Okay, I am going to start small and build confidence. And we are not lacking in manure around here;-) It is still quite warm here (ie we are still in t-shirts) but it will become cold soon. Can I still plant now?
PS thank you for the kind comments on my blogs. I would love to link blogs if you are interested. I can pop you into my list.
Andrea says
Maryam,
I forgot to qualify that manure statement by saying it must be well-rotted (having sat and composted for one year+) otherwise it will “burn” the plants. And you don’t want that!
Lettuces of all sorts, spinach, radishes, beans and garlic can all be planted here now. And you could certainly buy seedlings of other types and try those out too. Let me know how it goes!
I’m adding you to my blogroll :)
Maryam in Marrakech says
Oh you are ever so helpful! My husband was laughing when I told him about the manure.
I think seedlings are the way to go. While we have just purchased a large piece of land, we won’t be living there for some time and I am afraid the workers will eat what I plant. Is there anything that can be planted in pots besides herbs?
And thanks for the blogroll link, you are so sweet.
Andrea says
I’m trying to think of something you can’t grow in pots! Really, the possibilities are endless. I’ve got tomatillos, fennel, soybeans, lettuce and zucchini all growing in pots. The only drawback to container planting is that they dry out faster than plantings in the ground. I add a lot of mulch (compost top dressing) to retain water and I still have to water daily.
Maryam in Marrakech says
Yippee! Pots it is. Do I put them in direct sun?
Andrea says
Yep. Most veggies and herbs need full sun. Just watch them at first to make sure it’s not too hot (I’m not sure what the climate’s like in Morocco right now, but I’m guessing it’s hot!)
Lance C. Roseman says
Greetings:
Maryam, a good starting point before desinging any garden in drylands is to use this…
http://www.barkingfrogspermaculture.org/publications.htm
resource and go to the ‘free public domain’ series of pamphlets. There are some really, kick arse sections on dryland gardening. Good luck and good gardening.
This blog is awesome! I read it whenever it is updated. I/m a Permaculture design Consultant living in Roberts Creek, with my roots being in East Van. Bueno!