Smashing winter mash
Sometimes, success in the garden is knowing when to give up and turn to the market instead.
great comfort in the weather doing what it is supposed to do. Winter storms are hard on stock and crops but a good frost is relished by many a food producer.
For three years I wished for a frost to help my foolishly planted redcurrant along. My annual crop of 12 berries was never enough. When we sold that house the currant was happily left behind to produce poorly for someone else.
Planting the wrong plant for the conditions and area is an enthusiasm-based problem I have quite regularly. I scour websites of other vegetable gardeners for the secret. I already know the secret. Grow plants that suit your climate!
Heritage plants tend to come from seeds that have been successful and therefore kept on in areas where they naturally thrive. This is why reading the seed packet or talking to the tree grower is handy; just because it is a heritage New Zealand plant does not mean it will suit all of New Zealand’s growing climates. Looking for heritage plants for a particular region is the best solution.
For example I know that there is a heritage apricot suited to my Auckland back garden and for once I won’t bother growing anything else. Similarly I am quite confident that with the right advice I can find an almond variety to grow too.
When my experiments fail, though, I try to find the positive in defeat.
Buying beautifully grown New Zealand produce from local stores, stalls and markets is my favourite way of getting over a failure or around a gap in my garden. Beyond my reach in my elevated warm Auckland garden are brussels sprouts and good sweet parsnips. I have successfully grown beautiful looking parsnips before – even their leaves were a pleasure to behold. Sadly though,
For three years I wished for a frost to help my foolishly planted redcurrant.
they are always vaguely tasteless and not a patch on bought ones. Parsnips are sweetened by a frost and are therefore best where a good frost is found. Finally I have conceded that it is actually better for me to buy these at my local farmers’ market than to persevere and stop enjoying them on the table.
Researching on the web and calling growers has led to some great finds. Recently I spoke with Gill Smith of Riverina Almonds in my quest to turn my Parsnip and Almond Mash 100 per cent local. New Zealand is not the best place for growing almonds, as they like to be both free of frost while flowering (July/August) and to have low humidity, but there is the odd pocket of perfect (most of the time).
Although I can’t make it to the Marlborough farmers’ market or Taste Nature in Dunedin where Smith nuts are sold, it is exciting to know they are being produced at a commercial level here.
For my last book Now is the Season (New Holland 2011), I created a parsnip soup recipe that was thickened and sweetened with ground almonds. The almonds are a great foil for the slightly spongy texture and mild astringency of the parsnip and give the soup a great mouth-feel.
In a mash, the bumpiness of ground almonds would be odd but I still long for that creamy-almond background so I added almond milk.
If buying almond milk look for unsweetened. Of course if you are an extremist locavore you could travel to Marlborough for some almonds, or grow and harvest your own locally suited almond trees (see treecrops.co.nz for more info).