Continuing along on our journey through the land of weird foods you’ll find in the farmer’s market, this week we’ll taste a green of many names:  mizuna.  Mizuna also goes by the names of Japanese greens, Japanese mustard, and California peppergrass.  Botanically, it is classified as Brassica rapa.  B. rapa is commonly known as “field mustard” or “turnip mustard” and includes cultivars such as tatsoi, napa cabbage, turnips, and rapini.   

When my friend Katie showed up at my door with a bouquet of freshly-sliced mizuna leaves and told me what she’d brought me, I gave her a look of disbelief.  When I plucked a leaf and popped it in my mouth, however, I was pleasantly surprised.  The intricate, delicately shaped leaf had a flavor to match. More...

We’ve come a long way as a society since the 16th century. Women (in America, at least) are now able to drive cars, own property, vote… and eat artichokes.

This last may seem like an odd inclusion on the list, but as an avid artichoke fan, I shudder to think that I may not have been able to enjoy the oddly-shaped thistle. Artichokes were considered aphrodisiacs for a long while, and only eaten by men (Henry the Eighth was famous for his love of them). 

Thankfully, Catherine de Medici changed all that when she married Henry II, King of France. When she moved to France from Italy, she brought along her servants, her trousseau, and her passion for artichokes, causing a bit of a scandal. Luckily, we can all hop on over to any supermarket and find artichokes most of the year round. Nearly 100% of the artichokes consumed in America are produced in California (especially the northern part of the state), which makes them a relatively low contributor to your carbon footprint. More...