THE VEGAN NEWS

SUMMER 2008

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In This Issue:

Summer Recipe(s)

Popeye Cream

Source: Raw Soups, Salads and Smoothies by Frédéric Patenaude

Ingredients

Method

  1. Blend the tomato and orange juice together.
  2. Progressively add the spinach and the other ingredients. Blend, adding some water if necessary. Makes a nice green soup!
Serves: 1

Note: There is also a nice Spinach Salad  recipe in the Summer 2002 issue. I use young perpetual spinach leaves when I make this salad.

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Summer Product Reviews

Fruits by  St. James's Cranberry Tea Bags
Cranberry Tea This tea has a heavenly, almost cherry-like aroma and a nice fruity flavour and is packaged in a most unusual triangular-shaped, see-through teabag!  This caffeine-free tea is made from hibiscus, lemon and orange peels, rosehips and apple and cranberry pieces.   Each box contains 15 tea bags.  Price £1.59.  Look out for this tea in Sainsbury's, or in your local health food store. Highly recommended.

Fair Trade  Divine Cocoa
Here's another tasty drink for you to try out! This fairly-traded, sun-dried, cocoa powder is produced in the tropical rain forest by a co-operative of farmers in Ghana. It contains only 100% Fair Trade cocoa powder and is delicious made with soya milk, although I sometimes make it using just cocoa powder and boiling water.  A 125g tub costs £1.49.  Look out for it in the larger branches of Oxfam.

Borodinsky Organic Rye with Coriander
This rather nice, Russian-inspired, wheat-and-yeast-free loaf of bread is produced by the Village Bakery in Cumbria. It is a sourdough type of rye bread with added coriander seeds, molasses and barley malt and has an almost cake-like texture.  It's excellent for making sandwiches and is very nice toasted too.  A plain version is also available, but the added coriander seeds give it such a nice flavour. The Village Bakery uses renewable energy to run their ovens and I also rather like the compostable, non-genetically modified starch Mater-bi® wrapper.  A 400g loaf costs around £1.60. Look out for this product in your local health food store.  Note: This product is marketed as Vegetarian, probably because the Village Bakery uses egg and dairy milk ingredients on their premises and consequently, it's possible that this product could contain minute traces of these non-vegan ingredients.

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Gardening News

Summer Sowing and Planting Schedule

For more information on what to plant throughout June, July and August please see the GARDENING DIARY.

Here, I would just like to mention a few interesting new gardening products and seeds I've discovered in my catalogues. First of all I would like to draw your attention to the new variety of Tomato plant called Red Robin, which is now being sold by the Organic Gardening Catalogue. These  miniature tomato plants are only 30 cm high and are able to set fruit in fairly low light conditions, so they could be useful for growing indoors in the winter months, perhaps in conjunction with the Aerogarden (see below). The order code is TORR and they cost £1.73 for 15 seeds. You can either order online or by calling: 0845 130 1304. The Organic Gardening Catalogue is also offering a new Fruit Cage Kit for £93.50. This kit includes build-a-balls,  aluminum tubes, pegs and netting. It can also be used to protect brassicas. Although rather expensive, it could perhaps be useful if you don't feel up to constructing your own fruit cage from scratch.

Thompson & Morgan are now offering a new type of butterhead lettuce called Yugoslavian Red, which produces very attractive heads from summer to autumn. This eye-catching, red-tinged lettuce would look equally attractive in the kitchen garden and in the flower border. Price £1.19. You can order online, or by phoning: 01473 695225.  Mini-green Improved is another new lettuce, available from   T & M. This compact, tennis-ball sized, iceberg type of lettuce makes a great 'meal for one' and is ideal for growing in raised beds or in containers on the patio.

Also ideal for growing in containers on the patio is Courgette Black Forest - a climbing courgette that can be grown up a trellis or netting. I'm going to try it out this year and have sown two seeds, both of which have now germinated and are ready for planting out.

Finally, I would just like to mention the Aerogarden. This is a new soil-free way of growing vegetables and herbs indoors, all-year-round. For example it could be used to grow salad leaves, herbs, tomatoes and chili pepers. It's available from Ethical Juicers for  £119.00. However, if you prefer non-electric, indoor growing systems, you may be interested in the new Easy 2 Grow Kit, available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue for £28.50. This watering and feeding system can be used to grow peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. It's made from recycled plastic and can be extended to feed and water up to 6 plants. 

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Growing For Health

The Beets 

Family: Amaranthaceae

Cultivation:

This group of leafy-green vegetables includes Chard, Leaf Beet and True Spinach

Chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla)
Chard can be sown from April to July for a crop of vitamin-and-mineral-rich green leaves, plus a supply of succulent mid-ribs.  Chard is a colourful and ornamental vegetable, which has large, green, crinkled leaves and makes an extremely decorative and attractive addition to the vegetable patch or border. Common varieties include rainbow chard (consisting of a mixture of different coloured mid-ribs), Swiss chard (which has a white midrib), rhubarb chard (this variety has red mid-ribs), canary yellow (with yellow mid-ribs) and oriole orange (orange mid-ribs).  Why not sow a mixture of varieties for an eye catching display!

Leaf Beets - Perpetual Spinach   (Beta vulgaris)
Easy to grow and hardy, perpetual spinach is a biennial plant, which resembles true spinach, but is not as prone to bolting in hot, dry weather. It is a very useful and productive vegetable, although perhaps not so attractive to look at as chard. I always have a supply of perpetual spinach in my vegetable garden and I find that apart from the leaves sometimes being nibbled by slugs it seems to be almost disease and pest resistant. The leaves tend to die back in the winter, but start to produce a crop of new, young, green leaves in the spring, before eventually going to seed in the second year. I make two sowings of perpetual spinach annually, the first in April and the second  in August, which provides me with an all-year-round supply of this very useful and nutritious vegetable. Incidentally, this group also includes Erbette, a leaf beet, which is grown for its small cut-and-come-again green leaves. It resembles perpetual spinach, but is not as hardy.

True Spinach  (Spinacia oleracea)
By making successional sowings of several different varieties it's possible to produce a supply of  home-grown spinach for most of the year. The most commonly used varieties include Giant American and Giant Winter, Bloomsdale, Matador, Monnopa, Mediana and New Zealand Spinach. New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia expansa) is technically not a true spinach, but it is drought resistant, has a long growing season and is easier to grow than true spinach, so I have included it here. True Spinach is an annual and seed is usually sown from March to July. It should be watered well in dry weather. You will need to consult individual seed packets for the exact planting instructions. Personally, I have never had much success with the later-sown, winter varieties of true spinach, even where I live in the south of England and find that a late sowing of perpetual spinach is much more reliable.

Note: All of the beets need to be  harvested regularly in order to encourage new leaf production.
 
Uses:  
For optimum nutrition spinach is best eaten lightly steamed, juiced or used raw in salads whenever possible, in order to preserve it's antioxidants. However, it can also be used in a variety of cooked dishes. Try adding some to quiches, terrines and pies, using it in pizza toppings, pureed in dips, or adding it to soups. It can even be used to colour home-made pasta. Young chard can be eaten raw in salads, but the mature leaves and stalks are usually cooked to reduce their bitter flavour. It is often recommended that the leaves and stems of chard should be cooked separately, but this is not strictly speaking necessary. Note: Due to the high oxalate content of this group of vegetables it is best to avoid cooking them in aluminum pans. Follow both of these links if you are looking for some vegan chard recipes.

Health Benefits:
Both chard and spinach are very high in vitamin K - a vitamin which is important for maintaining bone health and may also help to prevent arthritis.  Lutein and Zeaxanthin are two antioxidants, found in high levels in spinach. They may help to reduce the risk of macular degeneration and cataracts.  A study carried out by Harvard researchers found that people eating the most Lutein and Zeaxanthin - an average of 5.8mg per day -  had a  57 percent decreased risk of macular degeneration, compared with people eating the least.  Foods rich in lutein are also thought to help to prevent cancer.

Nutrition:
Spinach is high in antioxidants, especially when it is eaten raw. It is also high in protein. According to the Vegetarian Resource Group one cup of cooked spinach will provide 13g protein, whereas a cup of cooked soya beans provides only 9.6g protein. The Wikipedia estimates its protein content to be 2.9g/100g.  Spinach is also a useful source of fibre (2.2g/100g) and contains 99mg/100g of calcium, although due to its high oxalate content calcium absorption by the body is only about 5% from spinach. Spinach is also a good source of iron, containing about 2.7mg/100g. In the 1870s,  spinach mistakenly gained a reputation for being very high in iron as its iron content was reported to be ten times higher than this due to an error arising from a misplaced decimal point. In addition, spinach is a rich source of folate, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K and magnesium. The nutritional analysis for Chard is very similar to that of spinach. 

Mail Order Suppliers Include: 

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 In the Wildlife Garden  

Many wildflowers and commonly grown garden plants are beneficial to animals and can be used to attract wildlife into your garden.  Some of the plants, trees and shrubs that are suitable for this purpose have been covered in previous issues and are listed in The Wildflower Index. Plants suitable for growing in a cottage garden are now marked with the letters CTGR in this index.

Cottage Garden Plants

In this section I am going to cover some of the plants that would traditionally be planted in a cottage garden. I intend to focus on the cottage garden plants that are particularly valuable to wildlife. 

Hollyhock (Althaea rosea)
These tall, stately plants have been grown in cottage gardens since the 16th century. They should be planted at the back of a border and require a rich, free-draining soil. They grow best in a sheltered, sunny position such as against a wall or fence and should be supported by stakes when necessary. They are available in a wide range of colours, but not all varieties are attractive to butterflies. Try using Annual Single Choice Mixed (83D) from Chiltern Seeds to attract butterflies. (Tel: 01229 581137.) Bees will also visit the flowers.

Delphinium (Larkspur)  (Delphinium spp.)
 Another classic cottage garden plant. Like hollyhocks, delphiniums should grow well in a sunny, sheltered border in a rich fertile soil. They have spikes of blue, white, or purple flowers, which are attractive to bees and possibly to butterflies. The plant's leaves are eaten by golden plusia moth caterpillars. Delphiniums also require staking.

Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia spp.)
Grown in cottage gardens since about 1707, these tall plants produce a brilliant display of spiky blooms in autumn and are best grown in a sunny position in a mixed border. The blooms are of many colours including red, yellow, cream, pink and salmon and the foliage is grass-like and rather untidy in appearance. Red Hot Poker flowers are sometimes visited by butterflies. Try K. hybrida or K. hybrida 'Fairyland' mixed (Chiltern Seeds, Tel: 01229 581137) for attracting butterflies.

Sunflower (Helianthus decapetalus)
Sunflower Sunflowers are very attractive plants to grow and are usually a real favourite with children. Tall varieties require staking on windy, exposed sites and are best planted at the back of a sunny, sheltered border, perhaps against a fence. Dwarf varieties are now available, some of which are suitable for growing in containers (e.g. Big Smile, available from the Organic Gardening Catalogue). Seeds should be planted annually and could be started off in plant pots on a sunny windowsill indoors. These large, yellow daisy-like flowers, with variously coloured centres, are very attractive to bees and hoverflies and will turn their heads to follow the sun. The seeds are loved by many birds including finches, nuthatches, collared doves, blue tits, waxwings, long-tailed tits and crows and are also eaten by grey squirrels.

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Other Interesting Web sites

The Vegan Society (UK)
An excellent source of information for new vegans, or for anyone who is thinking of going vegan. You can also shop or become a member online.

Beans and Herbs Co UK
This company specialises in bean and herb seeds. It offers many types of rare, heirloom varieties of beans, (both climbers & dwarf varieties), plus a wide range of organic vegetable seeds, herbs, green manures and sprouting seeds. All of the seeds are untreated, not genetically modified and are suitable for growing in a temperate climate. However, orders need to be posted and an order form can be printed out from the web site.
Asian Cook
This Asian cookery site offers a selection of mainly Chinese, Indian and Thai dishes. It includes some non-vegetarian recipes. Follow the link to be taken directly to the Indian vegetarian section, which includes some tasty vegan recipes for dishes such as aloo gobi, pakora, vegetable curry, chickpea masala and a dahl.

Vegan Family House
This web site is run by a vegan family who live in the North East of Scotland. It aims to supply support and information to other vegans. There's a blog and you can subscribe for email updates. There's also a recipe collection, bookstore and a shop offering assorted items such as bags, mugs and T shirts.

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Summer Book Review(s)

Your  Organic Allotment by Ian Spence and Pauline Pears (Gaia books, 2007)

Your Organic Allotment Fresh air, plenty of exercise, companionship, plus loads of ultra-fresh, unpackaged, seasonal, tasty, nutritious, cheaply-produced, organically-grown fruit and vegetables.  And these are just some of the advantages of having you own allotment! 

This attractively set out and comprehensive book clearly explains how to run your allotment plot sustainably using organic growing methods. However, I feel that much of the information provided in this book would also be useful to those who prefer to use vegan organic growing methods.  Relevant topics include: clearing the ground; allotment planning; soil improvement techniques; composting; tools; crop rotation; green manures; mulching; how to attract benefical wildlife and advice on pruning fruit trees and bushes. 

The second part of the book provides detailed instructions on how to grow a wide variety of crops. There's a whole page for each plant, plus an attractive photo and also some indication of how easy or difficult the plant is to grow. This section covers fruit, salad crops and herbs, as well as the many scrumptious vegetables you can grow. Finally, if you do hit problems with pests and diseases there's a useful trouble-shooting guide at the back of the book.  Here, I found a most interesting piece of advice regarding placing comfrey leaves around plants to help to control slugs.  Something that I must try out!  

Price £12.99.  ISBN: 978-1-85675-278-7. Available from Amazon UK for £9.09.

Allotment Gardening: An Organic Guide for Beginners by Susan Berger (Green Books Ltd, 2006)

Allotment Book Find out how to effectively deal with the challenge of taking on an allotment for the first time! This book covers most of the topics already mentioned in the previous book review, but also includes some basic advice on harvesting and storing produce and on seed saving. There's also a useful calendar to help you to work out what you should be doing each month. 

The second part of the book consists of an A-Z of the vegetables, fruit, herbs and the flowers that you can grow on your plot. As well as giving clear cultivation instructions for each plant, there's also a simple recipe to help you to use up your produce.  Most of these recipes are suitable for vegans, or are easily adapted. The final chapter of this book is once again a troubleshooting guide to pests and diseases. This book has a less glossy image than the previous book, but the information it contains seems just as useful. Printed on 100% recycled paper.

Price £9.95.  ISBN: 1-903998-54-9.  It's also available from Amazon UK for £6.97.

Indeed with food prices now starting to soar, there couldn't be a better time to acquire an allotment! Reading one (or both!) of these books should provide you with the knowledge and the inspiration you need to get started. As the Vegan Organic Trust says there's 'No Smiles in Food Miles'.

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