Harvest Monday, September 22, 2014 – Smooth-skin Luffa + Lutz Beet + San Marzano Tomato + Asian Pear

Did not pull up the luffa plant as mentioned in my 9/15/14 post.

Baby Smooth-skin Luffa

Was getting ready to clip the luffa vines when I noticed 2 baby luffas that looked like they will grow to edible size so decided to leave the plant alone.

Then I saw a ready-to-eat luffa (photo below).

Smooth-skin Luffa

Smooth-skin Luffa

There were actually 2 ready-to-eat luffas. Was not taking any chances of them becoming past their prime, cut them from the vine immediately.

Smooth-skin Luffa Cross Section (left photo)

Perfect texture, unlike the one mentioned in the 9/15 post (photo below).

 

 

Not knowing whether these would be bitter or not, decided to do a taste test. Dropped a slice of each in some broth and yes, they were bitter.

This really puzzled me so went on line for answers.

Luffa which belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family will produce bitter fruit (cucumber too) due to dry conditions or temperature fluctuation which we had (August temperature was below normal, the first week of September was way above normal and the 2nd week was below normal).

Hopefully we will not have a repeat of temperature fluctuation and although it’s been very dry I watered the plant well so will see if the 2 baby luffas in the first photo taste good when they reach edible stage.

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Lutz Beet
Weighed 1½+ pounds, lutz beet doing exceptional well this year
It went home with a friend

A friend stopped by while I was harvesting, knowing she does not have a garden and I have more lutz beets in the garden gave this one to her (she sure was at the right place at the right time).

My friend called the next day to tell me she went home and made beet soup and how sweet and tender the beet was (she did not offer me a bowl of the soup). She sautéed the leaves and used as a side, they were tender.

Lutz is my favorite beet. A long season variety, plant in early spring to grow through fall, harvest anytime at any size during that period. As you can see from the above photo, it can grow to gigantic size yet does not become woody/tough and still remains sweet. Did I mention low maintenance as well? A winner indeed!

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San Marzano Tomato

Too many San Marzano tomato. Made a few batches of sauces, all labeled and frozen for later use. Lacking freezer space, decided to oven dry the above tomatoes. They will take up less freezer space. Will use them, in the future as needed, to enrich and add texture to the tomato sauce. Other uses include adding to salads, pasta dishes and as pizza topping,

Tomatoes ready for the oven, had 2 trays.

Tomatoes after baking at 250°F for 4½ hours. They have shrunk a lot are dry to the touch but still pulpy. For drier texture bake for another hour or 2.

Once cooled, packaged in freezer bags, dated, labeled and placed in the freezer.

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Had inter-planted my fall Swiss chard seedlings among the spring planted ones. The fall seedlings are doing well and need more space while the spring planted ones are getting leggy.

Pulled all the spring planted chards so now the fall chard seedlings can grow and spread.
The row of plants in front of the chard are the transplanted carrot of which I will post an update later.

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Asian Pears

Asian Pears

Due to the harsh winter and the amount of snow we had, could not get into the garden at the end of February/early March to spray the pear tree with horticulture oil so many of the pears have blemishes (pear at left and right) or are wormy.

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Other harvests for the week include: Chinese chives, leeks, sweet potato leaves, carrots, cherry tomatoes, few strawberries each day and  last of the figs.

…   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …   …  …   … Copyright © by Norma Chang. All Rights Reserved. Do not use/repost any photos and/or articles without permission.

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