Food for Free: Pumpkins - Don't forget the Leaf harvest

I love to grow plants that have more than one edible part and plants that can be perrenialised. That is why I find space for plants ranging from Skirret to Mauka, Oca, Eddoe and scorzonera.

Nothing however can match the cropping potential of pumpkin and it's cousins not even my ever reliable sweet potato which is staple to our late spring to late autumn salads.

 Yet most people compost burn or otherwise dispose of the majority of their crop.

I am of course talking about leaves. If ever there was a food for free it has to be the endless tonnage of leaves pumped out by this family. While many have discovered the delights of a stuffed, baked and battered courgette, squash and pumpkin flower, they still dump the leaves.

We grow great pumpkins if I can make that immodest boast.

Over the years we have tweaked them for eating raw, baking, roasting, drying and grinding. But the thing we love most about pumpkin growing is the Leaf. It is one of the most plentiful and long season crop even where fruit setting is poor.

This year we have been harvesting since May and still have viable leaf runs we will probably be cropping well into October.

Pumpkin leaves, are a great immune system booster, Low in calories, it is a good source of calcium, iron rich, great source of protein, vitamins A and C. What's not to like?

 OK, I admit on first glance they are not the most promising looking foodstuff. The range of gourds we grow take that prize for

leaves. With their soft velvet texture a good wash is all they need before they are good to go. Tasty and mild, they are great in soups stews as fillings and in batters but I don't find them as versatile as their prickly relative.

With a little preparation pumpkins really are a truly tasty veg.  Apart from the usual soups, stews and fillings, pumpkins crisp up a treat in the oven and make a quick and easy crispy fried alternative to seaweed.

After a thorough wash we peel the strings from stem and leaf veins. This is simple and straightforward. Breaking the end of the stem starts the process and the string runs along the stem to the end of the veins.

Rolled up and chopped the leaves are perfectly usable at this stage, however I find them too 'wet' and feel much of their unique flavour is lost in subsequent cooking. Also when frying or oven baking they never seen to crisp adequately. That is why I rub and squeeze to remove the liquid as part of my general preparation.

Added to hot oil this fries to a crispy crunchy topping for all sort of dishes or 

something to snack on sprinkled with salt and or black pepper.  

There are so many easy dishes from pumpkin. Another quick and tasty one is to saute a sliced onion, add a roast garlic, a finely chopped chilli and two medium sized tomatoes peeled and deseeded. (easy way to peel tomatoes is to pop in a bowl of boiling water and let them sit for a minute or two) allow tomatoes to break down them add a splash of lemon and several handfuls of pumpkin leaves and turn flame down, cook for about 5 minutes, add the liquid reserved from the pumpkin prep and salt to your taste then simmer for another 2 minutes or just add dress salt before serving. 

The other alternative at this stage is to add 2 large spoonfuls of peanut butter and allow to simmer for a further few minutes then add salt to your taste and allow another minute. 

Often we grow plants with just one aim in mind and sometimes we are so focused on the tuber or fruit we miss much of the edibles right under our nose.