Topic: South African Vegetables/Fruit for Casey Lee

[springbok]

Got a list from my huisgenoot cook book :)

Beetroot
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Green Beans
Green Mealies
Green Peas
Marrow
Parsnips
Potatoes
Onions
Spinach
Squash (gem
Sweet Potatoes
Turnips

The above are listed as common veg.

Endive
Jerusalem Artichokes
French/Globe Artichokes
Celeriac
Broccoli
ChouChou
Brinjal
Kohlrabi
New Zealand Spinach
Okra
Purslane
Leeks
Red Cabbage
Brussel sprouts
Asparagus
Chicory

The above are listed as not so common vegetables

Fruit I think we had lots of different ones.. here is a list :)

Strawberries
Apples
Avocados
Grapes
Oranges
PawPaws
Bananas
Grapefruit
Pineapples
Muskmelons *Spanspek*
Watermelons
Quinces
Apricots
Figs
Peaches
Granadilla
Guava
Naartjie
Pampelmoes *Shaddock*
Kumquats
Prickly pears
Lychees
Maroelas
Loganberries
Pomegranates
Cape Gooseberries


Hope the above helps :)  My mom is going to look in her afrikaans cook books.

[Jeannine]

 Springbok, I am not Casey Lee but have been hoping to see this list.

Yes that is what I found in my South African book too, eveything that is there we grow here in the veggies line, I was quite surprised and was expecting something different, actually having said that I don't recognise Chou  Chou?

 Would your Mum also give us the name of the Afrikaans cookbook, I would love to see that. XX Jeannine

[Eristic]

You can buy chou chou in all the London grocers stores. It's like a pale green pear with a puckered face at the blunt end. It is a member of the gourd family (Sechium edule) and has one big seed inside that will germinate viviparously. For this reason and to pacify Western markets the young fruit is stabbed with a knife to ruin the seed, producing the puckered face in the process.

I did find one with a germinating seed once and grew it outside quite successfully although winter set in before it flowered. I may try another in the polytunnel.

[caseylee]

thank you for that, its amazing how it all comes back to you when you see it written down.  A good sa cookbook for Jeannine is called cooked and enjoy it, I have a copy of it now as its tradition in my family is that when the girls turn 21 they get this book, and my mom bought it for me just before I left.  Its excellant recipes all come home cooking and so easy to do.  Try the koeksister I am a pro at them now and they are gorgeous.

[springbok]

So true on that cook book, I got it when I was sixteen!!.. LOL.

I use it all the time!  :D