A pygmy elephant, maybe

Happy Mexican Independence Day! In honor of the day, I cooked nopalitos and verdolagas today at Veggielution. I’ve never harvested cactus paddles before, so I chose only the two youngest, most tender ones. I think I can probably go a little more mature next time, although I didn’t have a vegetable peeler today, so I had to leave the skin on (after tweezing off the little spines.) The purslane had gone to seed, so the leaves were smaller than on new plants, but it was all cooked with fried onions and garlic and chili, so it was hard to go wrong, except that everything cooked down so much that I could have made twice as much.

The sweet corn in the acre is a midget variety, a stark contrast to the 14-foot stalks that tower over the original plot, and occasionally crash down on volunteers. Having the ears so low, and having 6 100-foot rows did not make for optimal pollination, so most of the ears were only partly formed. I took home what I could find.

I cut off the kernels and froze them for the fundraising dinner. (Have you bought your ticket yet?) I have about a gallon of kernels, which I’ll probably use for soup.

We have a lot of wild chard at Veggielution, and Annie today suggested using it for chard chips for the appetizer section of our program. I didn’t actually kiss her for that suggestion, but I threatened to.

Time to send out more wine begging letters. I also need a local source for olive oil. Any ideas closer than McEvoy?