ONE of the pleasures of growing some of your own food is getting beyond the supermarket shelves and inviting a new world of flavour into the kitchen. Every year, I grow two things that are new to me, a tradition that, over time, has introduced me to kai lan, Babington’s leek, yacon, Egyptian walking onion, parsley root and so many more. Happily, there are an increasing number of nurseries stocking more of these unfamiliar vegetables. Here, I’ve selected a handful of my favourite unusual treats and I hope that, once you’ve tried them, you might be moved to keep going.
Romanesco
I’ve given up on growing cauliflower: get everything right with it and it can still blow the day you turn your back. Romanesco—a cauliflower,
