Finding new ingredients is always a thrill for me. Whether local or foreign, I always get excited when I come across something unusual, or otherwise previously unavailable in the local market. Even better if they are locally grown. Here are three items that I picked up in what may have looked a bit like a “drug drop” at a Makati mall parking lot… A few days before Christmas, I texted the proprietor of Kitchen Herbs Farm and asked if there was any chance I could get some produce on one of their regular runs to supply some of the city’s top restaurants. Luckily, the drop of time was just a few hours later, and I managed to get lots of greens and these three items. But I had to do the “pick-up” in the parking lot of Greenbelt, armed with my own scale. :) Up top, some dill weed flowers–both beautiful and possessing a slightly more intense dill flavor than just the leaves.
I also got the most amazing baby beets, some just as big as a grape tomato or small sineguelas fruit. The beet greens still attached, these were a great find… Note the relative size of the beets to the teaspoon in the photo.
Finally, I managed to get a kilo of the youngest carrots you have ever seen, and I knew immediately I had the makings of a wonderful salad or several salads over the holidays… Up next, a salad that uses all of these wonderful finds. If you are a restaurant or chef and curious about the other herbs, mini-vegetables and delicious greens available in wholesale quantities from Kitchen Herbs Garden, contact Gejo Jimenez at kitchenherbs@gmail.com for more information.
10 Responses
those beets look gorgeous! and i’ve never seen carrots so small. any idea where to get carrots with the full leaves still attached and heirloom tomatoes? i sometimes need them for photography.
love beets in salads!
Happy New Year!
Thanks MM! Glad you liked the produce. Ha ha! It certainly felt like a “drug drop” at the parking lot, though the merchandise was definitely legit.
I look forward very much to see how you used them in your salad.
Kayenne, (MM, I hope you don’t mind the advertisement), Kitchen Herbs Farm will be back at the Mercato – at the Pinoy Organics area – every Sunday ( 7am – 2pm) starting this coming Sunday, January 9, till March 6 (except Feb 6). I’ll have baby and young carrots with leaves intact, plus other specialty produce.Hope to meet you there.
Hope to see you too, MM!
Delicious salad you must have made, MM , especially since you got baby beets and freshly harvested!! Love beets in all forms – fresh, canned, pickled. There is an earthy clean bite sensation about this veggie.
Amazing developments. So good to be buying local there I bet. Dill pollen, just like fennel pollen!!! Endless possibilities…..
Oh those are Gems !!!
beautiful! the local korean community here has vegetable gardens to supply their restaurants, and they have all sorts of baby veggies -radish, carrots,squash, and many hard to find vegetables. the kimchi made with baby radish (with tops attached) is one of my favorites!
dill flowers are nice and fragrant additions to flower arrangements! the local florists here do it all the time.
Awww, the dill made me long for summer because I know my plant will grow again. Soooo nice on salmon sprinkled with lemon!
where can i buy those small carrots in philippines?