Hello, All!

I came across a recipe for stir-fried or wilted tatsoi (small
leaf variety of bok choy, I gather) as an accompaniment. Not
being able to find it, tho' I have some ideas for further
searching, I used small leaf spinach and it seemed pretty good.
Is it worthwhile trying to find tatsoi?

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland, USA

"James Silverton" <not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.net> wrote
> I came across a recipe for stir-fried or wilted tatsoi (small leaf variety
> of bok choy, I gather) as an accompaniment. Not being able to find it,
> tho' I have some ideas for further searching, I used small leaf spinach
> and it seemed pretty good. Is it worthwhile trying to find tatsoi?
>
> James Silverton
> Potomac, Maryland, USA

Try finding tatsoi / tatsui in "natural" or "health" food stores with good
produce departments (like Whole Foods) or higher end greengrocers with
somewhat exotic produce. For some years it's been one of the Asian veggies
adopted by the healthy hippie crowd. I've also seen it at farmers markets.
You're unlikely to see it at a regular supermarket, and I don't think it's a
regular at the Asian markets I've shopped at, though I may have seen it once
in a while.

As to whether it's worth it? I don't know if it's better than spinach, but
it is different and you might as well try it. It shouldn't be that hard to
find in your area

"ggull" > wrote in message
...
<snip>
> Is it worthwhile trying to find tatsoi?
> >
> > James Silverton
> > Potomac, Maryland, USA
<snip>
> As to whether it's worth it? I don't know if it's better than spinach,
but
> it is different and you might as well try it. It shouldn't be that hard
to
> find in your area

Ah my favourite 2 Chinese veg people on this newsgroup! ; ) where's... Dan?
i think it's Dan...

I've grown & eaten tatsoi... i think!? it was in a variety pack of Chinese
veg seeds & i can only guess that the one i'm referring to now (from memory)
is tatsoi... it's kind of like a small round-ish leaf version of bok choi
but w/o much of a big white stem, either that or i didn't water it enough &
it was stunted in growth. Tastes a little like bok choi but maybe more
'green' or maybe because it was fresh from the garden, who knows. Appearance
wise... looks like a single oval/round leaf bok choi about 2inches big. The
variety seed pack were sent to me as a free trial pack as i had bought
various seeds from the seed supplier including our good & elusive friend -
DaoMiu/peashoots. My verdict... i won't be buying any of these again as i've
learnt from my 3 years of growing them... it's too much work for a plate
full of veg! The only ones i might consider growing again is baby pak
choi/bok choi. These have a fairly quick turn around & if you stick to
watering & feeding them twice a day... you can get a good bumper crop in a
few months that might last quite a few meals. The more you feed these, the
bigger & juicier the stems are & in terms of growing patch vs how many bowls
of veg you get... it's a fairly good yield. You guys might have
remembered... i slaved over the DaoMiu & only got 1 plate of veg out of it!!

As for Tatsoi.. buy it & try it if you can find it but baby spinach or any
other young baby leaf veg will be fine.

My 2 shovel load compost worth of commentary... ; )

DC.

"DC." > wrote et...
> "ggull" > wrote ...
>> Is it worthwhile trying to find tatsoi?
>> > James Silverton
>> As to whether it's worth it? I don't know if it's better than spinach,
> but
>> it is different and you might as well try it. It shouldn't be that hard
> to
>> find in your area
>
> Ah my favourite 2 Chinese veg people on this newsgroup! ; ) where's...
> Dan?
> i think it's Dan...
Glad to see you join in too, DC. Last I heard, Dan seemed to be kind of
busy,

> I've grown & eaten tatsoi... i think!?
<snip> it's kind of like a small round-ish leaf version of bok choi
> but w/o much of a big white stem,
Sounds like what I've seen sold as tatsoi.

>. Appearance
> wise... looks like a single oval/round leaf bok choi about 2inches big.
What I've seen has been about 5 or 6 inches long, stem plus leaf. But as
you say, mostly leaf, stem not really a 'separate' vegetable the way it is
with bok choy.

....our good & elusive friend -
> DaoMiu/peashoots. My verdict... i won't be buying any of these again as
> i've
> learnt from my 3 years of growing them... it's too much work for a plate
> full of veg! ..... You guys might have
> remembered... i slaved over the DaoMiu & only got 1 plate of veg out of
> it!!

Yes, I remember that sad tale! I'll have to take some pictures of the
"gonzo" pea tendrils I get from the Hmong farmers, and figure some way to
post them so I can give a link. Or maybe just email to anyone interested.
Is there a binaries ng that would be appropriate? They're really quite
different from pea shoots I see at the Asian supermarket.

"ggull" > wrote in message
...
<snip>
> Yes, I remember that sad tale!

maybe i'm just a bad gardener/veg. grower... you know the ones... get into
the garden on the first day of spring do about an hours work then leave it
till autumn ; )

> I'll have to take some pictures of the
> "gonzo" pea tendrils I get from the Hmong farmers, and figure some way to
> post them so I can give a link. Or maybe just email to anyone interested.
> Is there a binaries ng that would be appropriate? They're really quite
> different from pea shoots I see at the Asian supermarket.

i use the free photo album on my yahoo account & provide a link here if you
just want to show pics. Alternatively... you can post to alt.binaries.food
& we can all see & talk about it, you'll see a few people like nick cramer,
FG & myself there with weekly food picture posts... the others, they lurk &
make a few comments once in a while. It's always good to just lurk for a
couple of days to see what's going on before posting. And if you do decide
to post, may i suggest a short series, starting with the Hmong farmers at
their stalls(i'd like to see what it's like), then the vegs. you buy from
them & finally the end result on the plate. That would be a good set of pics
to start with. I've been hanging round alt.bin.food for about 2 years now &
i don't think anyone has ever mentioned or taken pics of the Hmong farmer
markets!
DC.

"DC." > wrote in message ...
: "ggull" > wrote in message
: ...
: <snip>
: > Yes, I remember that sad tale!
:
: maybe i'm just a bad gardener/veg. grower... you know the ones... get into
: the garden on the first day of spring do about an hours work then leave it
: till autumn ; )
:
: > I'll have to take some pictures of the
: > "gonzo" pea tendrils I get from the Hmong farmers, and figure some way to
: > post them so I can give a link. Or maybe just email to anyone interested.
: > Is there a binaries ng that would be appropriate? They're really quite
: > different from pea shoots I see at the Asian supermarket.
:
: i use the free photo album on my yahoo account & provide a link here if you
: just want to show pics. Alternatively... you can post to alt.binaries.food
: & we can all see & talk about it, you'll see a few people like nick cramer,
: FG & myself there with weekly food picture posts... the others, they lurk &
: make a few comments once in a while. It's always good to just lurk for a
: couple of days to see what's going on before posting. And if you do decide
: to post, may i suggest a short series, starting with the Hmong farmers at
: their stalls(i'd like to see what it's like), then the vegs. you buy from
: them & finally the end result on the plate. That would be a good set of pics
: to start with. I've been hanging round alt.bin.food for about 2 years now &
: i don't think anyone has ever mentioned or taken pics of the Hmong farmer
: markets!
: DC.
:
:
:

James Silverton wrote:
> I came across a recipe for stir-fried or wilted tatsoi (small
> leaf variety of bok choy, I gather) as an accompaniment.

FYI "tat" means "collapsed". It grows like a flattened bok choi, but I
think it tastes different than bok choi. Haven't had it in a long
while.

> Is it worthwhile trying to find tatsoi?

It's more a curiosity thing. Tastewise it wasn't that memorable.

"DC." > wrote
> maybe i'm just a bad gardener/veg. grower... you know the ones... get into
> the garden on the first day of spring do about an hours work then leave it
> till autumn ; )
Me, I've got a perfect brown thumb ;-). And when I start talking to plants,
I know I'm due for some R&R.

> ... you can post to alt.binaries.food
> & we can all see & talk about it, <snip> It's always good to just lurk for
> a
> couple of days to see what's going on before posting. And if you do decide
> to post, may i suggest a short series, starting with the Hmong farmers at
> their stalls(i'd like to see what it's like), then the vegs. you buy from
> them & finally the end result on the plate. That would be a good set of
> pics
> to start with. I've been hanging round alt.bin.food for about 2 years now
> &
> i don't think anyone has ever mentioned or taken pics of the Hmong farmer
> markets!

The series sounds like a good idea. I'll try to take some pics this week,
though my dig cam is just a point and pray type (the SLR is on the "someday
when I'm rich" wish list). Probably no people, at least close up, since the
older Hmong, at least, are shy of picture taking. But I could get their
booth and array of veg's and closeups of a few. Not sure how instructive a
mess of cooked greens would be, but I can try.

BTW, it's not a whole market of Hmong farmers, it's just one booth, fairly
small, at a general farmers market. And they've proved popular enough, I
guess, that they aren't even all Hmong any more ... at one market the booth
is the Wang (or Chang?) family farm, same basic produce and layout. Maybe
a Mr. Wang married into the Hmong?

"ggull" > wrote in message
...
<snip>
> Me, I've got a perfect brown thumb ;-). And when I start talking to
plants,
> I know I'm due for some R&R.

LOL.

<snip>
> The series sounds like a good idea. I'll try to take some pics this week,
> though my dig cam is just a point and pray type (the SLR is on the
"someday
> when I'm rich" wish list).

No worries... most of us on a.b.f have similar cameras. Once you hang
around long enough, you'll know what a *nick* shot is... i'll leave that for
you to find out! ; )

> older Hmong, at least, are shy of picture taking. But I could get their
> booth and array of veg's and closeups of a few. Not sure how instructive
a
> mess of cooked greens would be, but I can try.

lurk on a.b.f for a while... you'll see that not every pic posted there is
of the coffee table cookbook standard... & a mess of cooked greens would fit
in nicely.

> BTW, it's not a whole market of Hmong farmers, it's just one booth, fairly
> small, at a general farmers market.

Oh OK.. there i was thinking about 30-40 Hmongs but anything is better then
nothing. I'd just like to see what kind of vegs. you get on a farmers market
over in the States. I'll try & take some of London's fruit & veg & farmer's
market pics too.

see you on a.b.f soon!

DC.

"DC." > wrote
> see you on a.b.f soon!

I'll see what I can get up later this week or the weekend (assuming the
weather holds out for tomorrows market). Glad I recently got high-speed
internet :-).

BTW, the markets in this area (Boston) aren't any great shakes compared to
some other areas of the US, such as California and Vermont. This isn't
really a great agricultural area (people used to speak of "farming rocks",
referring to the crop of rocks that would come up through the soil every
spring and have to be cleared). So don't take any pictures I post as
"typical of the US".

"DC." > wrote:
> [ . . . ]
> No worries... most of us on a.b.f have similar cameras. Once you hang
> around long enough, you'll know what a *nick* shot is... i'll leave that
> for you to find out! ; )
>
You basturt! I'll get you for that! ;-|

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled War on Terror Veterans and
their families:
http://saluteheroes.org/ & http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !

> wrote in message
...
<snip>
> You basturt! I'll get you for that! ;-|

Why... if it ain't the master of Cramertography himself ! how you doing
nick? heheee...we've all been there, my early pics were all nick shots too
; )

DC.

"ggull" > wrote in message
...
<snip>
> This isn't
> really a great agricultural area (people used to speak of "farming rocks",
> referring to the crop of rocks that would come up through the soil every
> spring and have to be cleared). So don't take any pictures I post as
> "typical of the US".

Yes what's with the farming of rocks? we get that over here too... we spent
one weekend a couple of years ago preparing our patch for veg growing, dug
the patch over up to about 12" deep & cleared away rocks & crocks but the
following year, we found more surfacing? i think we must have very big
earthworms or something, bringing up subterranean rocks & bits of broken
crock & glass!

DC.