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Vegetables

Squash soup in a bowl
Fall 2022

Latah squash recipes

Latah squash is a Kirkland family treasure. The heirloom variety has been passed down for several generations.

Now, thanks to the efforts of Brad Jaeckel, manager of Eggert Family Organic Farm at Washington State University Pullman, seeds of the beloved cucurbit are available to gardening enthusiasts and farmers through a regional cooperative. Or, if you’re lucky enough to live on or near the Palouse, buy the whole fruit in person at Eggert Family Organic Farm or Affinity Farm in Moscow, Idaho, which also cultivates the rich, dense squash with bright orange as well as its seeds.

Joanne and Larry Kirkland are self-described … » More …

Asparagus stalks roasted with pepper
Spring 2022

Asparagus recipes

This spring, serve roasted asparagus as a side, accompanying lamb or salmon.

Or combine it with a protein like chicken, other veggies, and grains such as orzo or penne pasta, farro or quinoa to make a hearty bowl such as the Springtime Asparagus, Arugula, and Chicken Bowl described below.

Here, Jamie Callison, executive chef at Washington State University’s School of Hospitality Business Management at Carson College, and his co-author of The Crimson Spoon, Linda Burner Augustine (’83 Home Econ., Honors), share recipes spotlighting this quintessential spring ingredient. So does Betsy Rogers (’89 Comm.), who owns and operates Ovens to Betsy, a … » More …

Beet cross section
Spring 2018

Beets

Not everyone will love a beet, but it has long been a vegetable of love.

The deep red of a beet and its earthy sweetness speak to some people, who adore the vegetable in all kinds of dishes. Beets have a lot of healthy qualities, too, and even potential chemical uses in solar panels.

That’s not to say beets don’t have detractors. That same earthiness, produced by the substance geosmin, puts off some palates.

The beet—Beta vulgaris, also known as garden beet, blood turnip, beetroot, or red beet—was cultivated in ancient Greece and Rome, but there are stories of beets in the Hanging Gardens of … » More …

Spring 2017

Leeks

All Ray de Vries asks is that we enjoy leeks three times a day. The Skagit Valley farmer known as the Leek King is not being selfish, though. He’ll also tell you how to grow leeks so you can eat them all year round—and that everyone in the Pacific Northwest should grow them. “We’ve got the perfect climate,” he says.

The de Vries family got into leeks after Ray’s dad, Ralph, retired from dairy farming and planted a large produce garden. Ralph went to Seattle’s Produce Row and asked sellers what they needed. “We need leeks! As big as you can grow ’em!”

So that’s … » More …

“Pori”, or Leeks, Tucuinum sanitatis, 1380s, National Library of Vienna
Spring 2017

All about leeks

Leek Facts

The Central Asian home of leeks and the other alliums is a global Center of Diversity. Useful to both crop-plant breeders and conservation organizations, these centers were first proposed by Russian botanist Nikolai Vavilov in the 1930s. Knowing where a plant’s wild relatives hail from enables breeders to bring new genetics into a line, or conservationists to work to preserve that area to ensure genetic diversity for the future.

Chemist Eric Block, author of Garlic and Other Alliums: The Lore and the Science, calls the Central Asian home of the alliums “a tough neighborhood” where plants must fend off … » More …