THE POWER OF PURPLE VEGETABLES
These colourful beans, cauliflower, tomatoes and carrots are guaranteed to brighten up your veg patch and your dinner table, says
Purple veg is an Instagrammer’s dream – from black tomatoes and peppers, to deep violet climbing beans, mauve cauliflowers, and plum-coloured carrots.
Here’s a selection of candidates worth considering...
Tomatoes
There are many dark purple tomatoes on the market. Among them is ‘Black Cherry’ (pictured), which is almost black, while a true purple comes in the form of ‘Indigo Rose’. If you want to plump for an American heirloom variety, you could do worse than ‘Purple Cherokee’.
■ Good to know: If you have a small space, try a compact bush tomato you can grow in a pot. For larger areas, you could go for a cordon type (single stemmed, requiring a single cane).
Carrots
Recommended varieties such as ‘Purple Dragon’, ‘Purple Haze’ and ‘Purple Sun’, all widely available from seed specialists including Chiltern Seeds (chilternseeds.co.uk), Premier Seeds Direct (premierseeds direct.com), Marshalls (marshalls garden.com), Thompson & Morgan (thompson-morgan.com) and Suttons (suttons.co.uk).
■ Good to know: Scrub purple carrots rather than peeling them, and eat them raw to retain the antioxidants in the coloured skin.
Broccoli
Purple sprouting broccoli is expensive in the supermarket, yet easy to grow – and packs a colourful punch with its rich purple florets.
Suttons has just launched ‘Purplelicious’, which unusually features purple stems topped with green florets. It will be making its debut at RHS shows this season.
■ Good to know: ‘Purplelicious’ is a compact variety, and quicker growing than traditional purple sprouting broccoli.
Cauliflower
Purple cauliflowers will zing up your vegetable patch and create a talking point around the dinner table. The colour comes from anthocyanins – the antioxidants found in red wine – making purple cauliflower more nutritious, says Suttons, which has introduced ‘Depurple’, with buttery sweet, lavender-blue florets.
■ Good to know: Sprinkle the florets with lemon juice before cooking, to retain the colour.
Asparagus
Try ‘Pacific Purple’ (pictured) – stringless spears that are tastier than some green varieties. Steam lightly or eat raw, to stop the colour being lost. ■ Good to know: You’ll have to wait around three years for a good crop.
Don’t cut the spears in the first or second years, to allow the plants to build up strength for the future.
Potatoes
‘Purple Majesty’ (pictured), has deep violetcoloured flesh, and makes a good jacket or salad potato. Try sweet potato ‘Erato Violet’ (J Parker’s, jparkers.co.uk), a unique variety that produces strong violet-red skins.
■ Good to know: The attractive colour of the ‘Erato Violet’ remains after cooking, and has a rich and sweet flavour.
Aubergines
While these vegetables tend to be almost black-skinned, you can grow lighter purple varieties. Aubergine ‘Purple Knight’ (Marshalls, marshallsgarden.com; Pennard Plants, pennardplants.com), for example, produces an early harvest of long, banana-shaped purple fruits which are delicious roasted, sauteed or baked.
■ Good to know: Sow between February and May, but don’t plant out till May or June as they won’t tolerate frost.
Beans and peas
Whether you want purple flowers or fruits, seed companies can provide you with a wealth of choice – from the climbing French bean ‘A Cosse Violette’ (producing narrow, stringless, 25cm-long dark purple pods) to the snow pea, Mange Tout ‘Shiraz’ (the first commercial variety with purple pods). More compact than a regular pea, it has striking purple flowers and flat, dark purple pods, with a sweet flavour.
■ Good to know: Purple French beans turn green when cooked.