What is the most underrated vegetable in your opinion
What is the most underrated vegetable in your opinion
I would have to go with turnips. Incredibly versatile and nutritious root, plus delicious greens to fry up
People say they hate cabbage all the time, but cabbage is really great. You can make slaw with it, you can ferment it into sauerkraut or kimchi, you can steam it for a side or to put in a sandwich, you can add it to any kind of filling or stuffing, or you can roll other stuff inside it, you can boil it in a soup, it gives a great flavor to vegetable broth, it's really nutritious and it keeps for much longer than other leafy greens.
Seems weird to me to hate cabbage, but I suppose there is a certain association with certain very bland cooking? Idk.
I garnered a very low opinion of pretty much all vegetables during childhood that persisted well into adulthood, because I grew up in a household that only ever prepared them one of two ways: raw, or boiled.
Doesn't matter what it was. Carrots, peas, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, green beans... the two exceptions being onions (which may have been fried on occasion) or potatoes (which culinarily aren't in the same category). If it was boiled, there'd be a half-assed attempt to make it taste like something again by melting a knob of butter on it and salting it. That's it.
When that's the extent of your culinary range, cabbage has no reason to enter the house, so for us it never did. We just assumed it would be shit if you prepared it that way. And we were probably right. Boiled cabbage is what the poor Bucket family was said to have eaten every day in Willy Wonka. Doesn't paint a glamorous picture.
I'm only just now coming around to the concept of vegetables tasting good when you, like, y'know, actually cook them well. Haven't given cabbage a fair shake yet, though.
I’ve become a cabbage hater. Cabbage soup smells like cabbage farts and it actually makes me gag.
And farts.
I love most vegetables, but cabbage isn't one of them. I don't like any of the things you just mentioned.
Cut it stripes, some salt, fry in a pan and you can throw it over a lot of dishes.
Botanical fun fact: cabbage is just a variant of Brassica oleracea, which includes like every tasty vegetable on the planet: cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, kohlrabi, kale, collards, all kinds of cabbage shapes, colours and sizes, and more.
If you haven’t tried cabbage and ham pie, you should. It’s the Irish cousin of shepherds pie and it’s incredible.
I'm a big fan of certain cabbage like napa. Also cole slaw with purple cabbage is pretty great.
Raw cabbage is also super interesting as an ingredient, it's actually spicy as fuck.
I quite like Brussels sprouts.
Definitely!
I've got my kids eating them steamed and plain!
With some rich gravy covering it. Naturally.
Brussel sprouts. Lots of people hate them because they got them overcooked as children but they are so pretty and so delicious if prepared properly.
Fun fact: Brussel sprouts taste better now because the bitterness was intentionally selectively bred out of them in the '90s. They were, apparently, only bitter for a period of time because the ones that were easiest to mechanically harvest were bitter. Pre-mechanical harvesting, less bitter varieties were more popular.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/do-brussels-sprouts-taste-better-now-yes-here-s-why-01ghed9q8dr8
Dang. That answers a question I didn't even know how to ask. Thanks!
Went to a friend's house one day, she put salt and pepper on a tray of brussel sprouts, put in broiler for a short time. Changed my mind forever, delicious.
My dad used to sautee them with bits of bacon or prosciutto. I don't eat pork anymore, but god damn do I miss those Brussels sprouts.
Oh man cauliflower. I used to think cauliflower was broccoli's ugly sister but no way. Cauliflower is cheap, easy to grow, nutritious, and versatile.
Thanks for reminding me there’s half in my fridge I forgot about. I don’t think it’s too late!
Actually on that, a good veg needs to last long in the fridge. Cauliflower hits that brief.
Germany, I'm guessing? I'm jealous, here it's one of the most expensive vegetables.
Australia. I take need to leave this .de instance.
I like beets for the same reason, but cabbage is underrated in its versatility. I'm making Romanian sarmale tomorrow with pork/beef/rice cabbage rolls: https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/sarmale/ . Much better than dolmas and the cabbage adds so much body and flavour to the dish.
I had never really used cabbage to wrap things. Thanks for the tip and idea
Popcorn
As a couch potato, I agree
I appreciate your enjoyment of turnips, but those ain't got shit on parsnips. Parsnips are amazing!
If you want a treat, mash chopped and boiled parsnips and carrots together for Thanksgiving instead of potatoes.
Parsnips are the devil's carrot. I have hated them with a passion since childhood.
So I read why they dropped out of popularity in Southern Europe following the arrival of the potato. It's because to be actually tasty and sweet, the parsnip plant needs to be hit by a hard frost - which presumably just doesn't happen in Southern Europe, and is probably why I can't very tasty parsnips these days in England - because we get fewer hard frosts.
I was with you until you did potatoes dirty.
I feel like most of them. People hate on broccoli, but I think it's amazing. Zucchini is one of my favorites.
Courgettes / zucchini I can eat them raw, shredded, souped, fried, the lot
And you can have them for free in Canada when the season is right. Seriously, there's jokes about people only locking their door to keep unwanted zucchinis out.
I wish I liked them. They seem so useful and plentiful, but they taste so utterly interesting to me. Yes, if they are slathered in oil and perfectly grilled and seasoned, they are fine. But then again what isn't.
That’s a fair point. All veggies are good when oiled and grilled
Are they underrated though. Most people seem to like them
Zucchini is also good grilled. Good stuff
Moringa leaves. The tree's hardy and ecologically sustainable. The drumstick fruits and the pods are edible but the leaves are the most nutritious. It also has the highest protein among leafy greens.
In south and south east asia, we consider it medicinal. But actually, it's just nutritious. We feed them in soup form to malnourished people and nursing mothers.
I just looked this one up. I have never had this vegetable before
Celery. Chop it up finely and add to sauces and stews; great in bolognaise for added umami flavour.
Also carrots, cooked and blended into sauces and gravy, adds sweetness. And don’t forget carrot cake, which surprisingly does not taste of carrots, but they give it a real moistness.
Green beans. My wife keeps growing different kinds of beans and I find myself yearning for the perfect green pods. Scarlet Runner was surprisingly fantastic last year, eaten green. This year she grew Yard Long beans and those were wonderful too.
My wife grew purple green beans this year! Taste was the same but it was fun! Love them raw just picked and raw frozen and boiled with butter and salt, all! Store frozen green beans just aren’t the same, especially for snacking.
Shallots. It’s an onion-garlic but tastes better.
Jicama is delicious cut up into little strips and eaten raw. Never cooked with it though
I found some jicama sliced thin like a corn tortilla at Trader Joe’s. They’re surprisingly good for many things. They’d be an awesome basis for a canapé.
Bitter melon. Love the stuff. Stir fry with burned garlic and oyster sauce.
Betel leaves too. Stir fry them with beef slices and black pepper, and maybe some sauce.
I have a bunch of bitter melon growing in my yard as a weed. I didn't even know people ate it
Rutabaga! Buttery and delicious. I can't understand why people don't like it.
Marvelous agree wholeheartedly with you
Salsify! It's a root vegetable that needs colder weather to do its best, it tastes deliciously like oysters, tons of umami flavor. It allegedly grows well on the prairie, just not on my prairie. I'm going to keep trying to grow it in zone 6b.