Unusual fruits and vegetables

[mitchellwarren]

Just today, I came across and bought black apricots. They were tagged grown in the U.S. I've gotta say they were amazingly delicious, sweet, juicy and full of flavor. They tasted like a very, very good regular apricot but the flesh was just a little sweeter and the skin , which was indeed almost black, was just a little tarter. The whole thing was brimming with juice. Well worth the fancy price.

Also, I saw but did not buy, fresh garbanzo beans. Anyone know how to handle these?

[SuzySushi]

Also, I saw but did not buy, fresh garbanzo beans.  Anyone know how to handle these?

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Her you go: an article I recall reading in The Los Angeles Times a few years ago.

[sazji]

Also, I saw but did not buy, fresh garbanzo beans.  Anyone know how to handle these?

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Here during certain times of the year vendors with cards sell whole garbanzo plants covered with the fresh beans, usually one or two to a pod. People buy them and eat them fresh as is. They are very nice. I've never tried cooking them but that might be good too.

[v. gautam]

Try eating the tender tips of the garbanzo plants as well. They are pleasantly tangy-sour. Could be added to a raw salad [after washing with pot. permanganate or short 10 second pulses in the microwave to sterilize], or to a cooked dish, like pea shoots. Added to red split lentil soup at the end to cook briefly, like spinach.

Then use the left-over plants for green manure in your garden--observe the rhizobial nodules on the roots, if sold with roots. Or give them to someone who has a small flock of urban dairy animals or poultry.

Edited July 2, 2008 by v. gautam (log)