All parts of plant tasty, author says

— An apple infamously did the trick for Adam and Eve, but for Willi Galloway, it was the seedpod of a forgotten radish that opened her eyes. It was that crunchy, spicy pod, tossed back as an impromptu snack, that changed the Portland, Ore.-based writer and editor’s perspective on kitchen gardening.

“I looked around, suddenly aware of all sorts of roots, leaves, blossoms and seeds I’d never before considered as food, and asked myself a simple question: What else can I eat?” she recalls in the introduction to Grow Cook Eat: A Food Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening (Sasquatch, $29.95), her new book that outlines her discoveries.

It is a “full-circle” handbook, ranging from preparing the soil and planting seeds to harvesting, storing and cooking the produce grown in a garden.

While the book includes 50 recipes that could, of course, be made with vegetables, fruits and herbs bought at the market, it is the growing cycle that’s key in Galloway’s view.

“To grow food is to really know food. Not just in the sense of knowing where the vegetables on your plate come from, but how their appearance, flavor and texture change as they grow,” she writes in the book, adding a few sentences later: “Gardening gives you a chance to re-acquaint yourself with food you thought you knew - like radishes.”

What does Galloway do with those radishes? The sprouts end up in salads. Some of the roots are pulled when marble size, others at the larger size so often found in the grocery store. The greens get cooked like spinach, the flowers are a garnish, the pods are snacks.

Galloway’s tone, in print and in an interview, is enthusiastic and sensible. Even the inevitable thinning of seedlings - something that can bring a pang to some gardeners’ hearts - is turned into a positive.

“Think of thinnings as the first crop,” she said. “Any sprout tastes good in a grilled cheese, and they look pretty as a garnish.”

Galloway, who writes the blog DigginFood.com and dispenses advice on Seattle’s public radio station, gets a lot of questions about harvesting.

“[People] are so worried about doing it at the wrong time,” she said. “They’re waiting until the food looks like it belongs in a supermarket. They’re harvesting beets when the beets are really huge and throwing out the greens. They’ve never grown food before, so they never know what to do with it.”

She wants readers to leaf through the book, find something that looks good to them and try growing it.

TIPS FROM WILLI GALLOWAY

Grow what you like to eat.

If space is tight, grow only what you eat a lot of. For Galloway, that means lots of salad greens, tomatoes and squash.

Grow the pricey stuff (if you like it, that is). “A box of salad at the market will cost $5. A seed packet is $2.95 and you will be able to eat greens for months,” she said.

Grow herbs. “Herbs make foods taste so much better and are so cheap to grow,” Galloway said.

Listen and learn. “The best way to become a better gardener is to talk to other gardeners and look at their gardens,” she said.

HomeStyle, Pages 34 on 06/23/2012

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