Vegetables

[Caran]

Thinking back to my childhood, the veggies we ate were only peas, carrots, cauliflower and cabbage. So when I got married that is what we had. Until husband decided to grow veg. He presented me with a batch of runner beans. I had never seen them before so I shelled them, picked out the little beans and boiled them, throwing away all the rest of them. That did not go down well.
Anyone else dropped a clanger like that.

[RobNorth]

Mamyalynne
I've heard this before, but this should make them more expensive than the "garden peas" which are just canned, with zero processing....and are twice the price....

[Buenchico]

^^^ 'Processed peas' generally use larger, and less sweet, varieies of peas than you'll find sold as 'garden peas'. The higher yields of those types of peas mean that, even after the processing costs have been added on, the product can still be sold relatively cheaply.

[OldBather2]

I think it all depends on where you lived.As a child (born 1947) I lived in a city,and only had a small (paved) yard,so all our veggies tended to be tinned,or later frozen.When (aged 10) I went to stay with a relative in the country,I was astounded at the different veggies we ate,I learned to love vegetables then,and have done so ever since,

[ummmm]

I remember the same veggies growing up. I actually remember the first time I seen sweetcorn.

My aunt was a chef so every time she came to visit we'd be introduced to a new food.

[Quoi]

Nobody has mentioned squashes yet. My dad grew runner beans in the garden in the 60's but we still had a very limited selection of veg.
Now, I never let a roast meal go by now without some sort of home grown roasted squash in it. I read that acorn squashes used to be very popular but the supermarkets wouldnt stock them so they went out of fashion. There are so many different ones other than butternuts and the texture is like the smoothest of smooth mashed potato but without being watery.

[mikey4444]

My Mother bought some mangetout peas many years ago and said they were a terrible faff, and not worth shelling, as the peas were far too small !

[ummmm]

I remember being served marrow and being excited about trying it. So disappointed.

[douglas9401]

Butternut squash is just natures way of introducing us to the taste of soil.

[Quoi]

I know what you mean douglas but thats like the flavour of tomatoes now - its really weak because of the way they are grown but if you grow your own (or roast them) you find out what it should taste like. Supermarket butternuts are the same - the flavour comes when they are allowed to ripen and they have the weakest flavour of the squashes in my opinion.
Crown prince is my personal favorite variety but the turks turban is close - both need to ripen to get the flavour 2-3 months after harvest - I am still eating mine from last year because they store better than butternuts.

[theshedman]

When I was working in the middle east many years ago we had someone with us who obviously hadn't cooked before but said he would try to cook our meal for us. He took a very long time so couple of us went in to see what he was up to and were shocked to see him cooking the frozen peas one at a time. We asked what he was up to and he showed us the packet and instructions said to cook seperately which he was doing. Gave us a laugh at the time but it does show that the instructions given on packets can cause problems.

[Smowball]

When I got my first house and was desperate to please with the first meal I cooked in it I found a recipe for garlic chick m which said to use 10 cloves of garlic. Yep, I though a bulb was a clove....... apparently people eyes were almost watering with the smell as soon as I opened the oven door!

[waterboatman]

Morning smow xxx I love it! :-D We all do things like that. I've done plenty!

[Smowball]

Oops post should have said chicken! Yes well at least it would have killed any vampires !!

[waterboatman]

You ain't kidding! :o}

[Chipchopper]

I remember thinking it was cruel, when my mum showed my how to dig the eyes out of the potatoes

[EcclesCake]

I'm a child of the seventies and my mum was considered by our neighbours to be somewhat avant garde with her cooking.

She was a regular at Berwick St market and would come home with all sorts of exotic fruit and veg. The only massive fail I can recall was lychees which I still cannot eat as they remind me of eyeballs!

Her curry was famous, thankfully she didn't put sultanas in but she did add grated apple for some strange reason.

Her method for cooking cabbage was bizarre, boil it half to death, drain in a colander and then attack it with the edge of a saucer to chop it further. A bone china saucer was kept safe for the purpose of assaulting the cabbage, if it broke I doubt she would have been able to serve cabbage again ;-)

[pastafreak]

It's a shame supermarkets don't stock more varieties of squash. They have a long shelf life so it's not as if they will go "off". I've not had acorn in ages...They are always easy to get in the States.