Greetings

[rmvanderspek]

Hi everyone,

I'm Robert from the northern part of The Netherlands. Berltsum to be exact (the pronunciation is a bit easier than you'd think; i guess it would be something like 'bell-som'). We've just moved here and now finally have the garden I've always dreamed of. We've got some 800m2 with old fruit trees. Enough space for relaxing and some vegetable growing. I'm not aiming on being self-sufficient, though I enjoy eating vegetables from our own garden. I'd like to grow vegetables which are a bit different than the once in the supermarket (either so-called 'ancient species' or races which aren't grown for mass production due to lower yield). By the way: some vegetables which are 'ancient' in Holland, are quite common in Great Britain. Like the parsnip for instance.

Anyway; I like the information on this website. And I joined this forum because I'd like to find a certain serie we watched on a Holiday back a few years ago. I think it must have been 'The Real Good Life', and I only ever saw one episode, while we where heading back to Holland the next week. We only get BBC1 and 2 over here. I will start a topic about this in the appropriate section (link). But as I have registered, I thought I'd might just as well get the most out of this forum!

Thanks,

Robert

[Green Aura]

Hi Robert, welcome to Ish.

I saw your other post - I don't remember the programme but I'm sure someone will. But The Good Life is, I think, on You Tube. I love that - my family bought me the boxed set a few years ago and I have sneaky sessions when no-one's looking.

Have a good look round, there's tons of info in the forum, and don't forget to have a look at the blog site (click on the Ish logo at the top).

Enjoy.

[rmvanderspek]

Thanks for the warm welcome

[ina]

Hi Robert

yes, parsnip is still not well known (or considered old fashioned) "on the Continent" - but the UK is catching up with other stuff that was common in Germany, for example... Kohlrabi. Is now quite widely available here, too - although they usually mis-spell it (kohl rabi), and mis-pronounce it (coal rabbi anybody???).

Can you think of any Dutch veg that's not so common here? I quite like to grow some unusual stuff, too.

Oh, and welcome, of course.

[rmvanderspek]

Thanks Ina!

I'm not sure if we have any unusual stuff. Something I did hardly see in the UK is Curly Kale. Which is eaten a lot in Holland (mixed with mashed potatoes). Furthermore it is quite difficult to say what we have that you don't. When you walk through a supermarket your attention is drawn to the things you are unfamiliar with, more than to the things you're missing.

What kind of unusual stuff are you growing?

[ina]

Curly kale is quite common here (Scotland) - might be locally different. Due to the climate kale grows rather well in this area. So do neeps (Swedish turnips). At the moment I don't really have anything very unusual... I try different kinds of kale.

[Annemieke]

Hi Robert, welcome here.
I am Dutch too, and moved to Britain around 1981, so it's nice to meet a compatriot. Haven't been back for quite a few years!
My (English) husband and I have always grown our own veg, for a short while we even had an organic gardening business but that fell by the wayside for various reasons. But we have two allotments and a large garden, so we don't have to buy much!
Re kale: when we moved to Somerset in the autumn, some thirty years ago, we found that our whole garden had been put down to kale. The landlord had sown it for his sheep, and we had a good time eating kale all winter and being very healthy 'coz kale is marvellous. It is still our mainstay, we have masses every year, different varieties. I love boerekoolstamppot!
Another Dutch veg which you don't see here much is endive. I also love andijviestamppot, so I grow escarole endive, which comes nearest to the Dutch version, and is suitable for cooking as opposed to only for putting in salads like the Brits tend to do. It's also called Batavian endive.
I'm sure there is more but I can't think of anything at the moment.
Whereabouts have you settled?
Love, Annemieke.

[rmvanderspek]

Thanks again for the warm welcome. You're name gave you away Annemieke. I didn't have to read your text to know you were Dutch I guess your neighbours have some difficulty pronouncing your name!
We have settled in Friesland in a small village near to the Waddenzee (sea). So we have lots of heavy clay in our garden. It's supposed to be rich, but the drainage is awful. We will have to see which plants will grow best, and which ones we'd better leave out next year!

So what part of The Netherlands are you from? And why haven't you been back for quite some time?

[ina]

I remember the clay fields along the North Sea coast in Germany - definitely cabbage growing area! I think you'll be fine with lots of brassica. My purple sprouting broccoli is just coming along in the garden, and I still have curly and black kale, so this can keep you going all year round, too.

[rmvanderspek]

Okay, thanks for the suggestion. I have some broccoli under glass, so let's see how it will turn out. I also have some carrots, but I guess that will be a disaster!

[ina]

They tend to prefer lighter soil... I've never had much success with them, either - but then I never have a lot of success with radishes, and they are (allegedly) the easiest to grow!

[Annemieke]

I'm a Groninger. And I haven't been back much because I only travel when I really have to. Apart from gardening, I spend my time writing the 'Food for Thought' blog to encourage people to eat (and grow) seasonal and local foods with health advise. So I'm a homebody really.

There is another veg which you don't find in Britain unless you visit me: ramenas, or black radish! A mainstay for us and it grows so easily each winter. For the Brits: this is a large radish, round or carrot-shaped, which you can enjoy raw throughout the winter. I just have slices with my bread, but you can grate them in a salad or indeed cook them if you are that way inclined, but then you might has well have boring old swede. We sow them in August or late July, and they keep in the ground happily till they sprout, around now. The only important things is never to keep them in plastic or in the fridge. In a shed in paper bags is best.
To tide you over from the pink things to the black, we grow mooli, white radish or daikon, all the same thing: a large white radish which you eat in the autumn till the black ones are ready around December.
Love, A!

[ina]

I know black radish, but have never grown them... Will see if I can get seeds and try them! I love mooli and all types of radish.

And can we have your recipe for stamppot, please?

[doofaloofa]

Hi RM

Welcome

i have a joke for you

What cheese is made backwards?

[Annemieke]

We get our black radish and most other seeds from Garden Organic (http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk).
The two stamppots I mentioned go as follows roughly:

DUTCH ENDIVE POTATO MASH [Andijviestamppot] servings: 4-5
1kg potatoes, ab. 250gr endive if that, large onion, 150gr bacon in cubes, vinegar, milk, butter, salt, pepper.
Cook potatoes in salted water. Chop endive quite finely, drain well. Fry bacon gently in butter, so the fats come out. Mash potatoes when done. Put endive and pepper on mash and pour fried bacon with fat over it, mix. Add salt if needed. If dry, add milk or butter. Season with salt, pepper and a bit of vinegar if necessary. Let heat  through, but the endive must stay more or less raw. 
Or:
MASH with RAW ESCAROLE and CHEESE serves 4 hungry people
2k floury potatoes, 3dl milk, 400g escarole, 200g grated mature cheese, 4 tblsp butter, nutmeg.
Cook potatoes and make into a dry mash with the hot milk. Wash escarole, dry well and slice into fine strips. Mix with mash and let everything heat up again. Add cheese, butter and nutmeg. Serve when cheese gets stringy.

BOEREKOOLSTAMPPOT
1k potatoes, 600g cleaned and cut kale, 25g butter, 1 tblsp vinegar.
Chop potatoes, put in pan with some salted water. When it boils put the finely chopped kale on top. They should be done at the same time. Drain any water that’s left, add a bit of milk, warm through, mash with butter. Should be served with smoked sausage but any sausage is fine. Traditionally everyone serves themselves and makes a little hole in the top to add some vinegar.
You may want to adjust the quantities according to your liking.

It goes without saying that there are as many recipes as there are Dutch cooks: you can look up some more on the internet!