Rancho Gordo: Vegetable Varieties: Herbs, Grains and Leaves

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My business partner grows this delicious wild rice in Yolo county and I was frankly surprised how much different quality, fresh wild rice tastes. It has an almost tea-like scent when raw and a distinct nuttiness when fully cooked. For years I'd just add a little to regular rice as it cooked and enjoyed the color and texture, but at that point, wild rice isn't fully-cooked. You really owe it to yourself to cook it all the way through and enjoy the true wild rice taste and texture.

Here's a great treat: the entire plant is a gorgeous deep reddish-purple, used by the Hopis as a ceremonial food dye to produce red cornbread. The young plants can be eaten as greens, the immature flower bracts can be used as a flower dye, and the edible black seeds can be ground to make a high protein flour.

Unusual variety of amaranth from southern Mexico. A great tasting grain strain with tan seeds and thick green cockscomb-like tops.

Beautiful, large red, upright flower spikes and the bronze-green foliage make this Mexican heirloom a real knockout in the vegetable garden. Tasty leaves are tender when picked young. From Opopeo, Mexico.

A member of the mustard family, this peppery seasoning is a native to Iran, though common in Ethiopia and Egypt. Rich in calcium, phosphate, iron, and copper as well as vitamins A,B, and C. True watercress is impractical in the arid Napa Valley during summer so I'm hoping this and the Upland Cress will help fill the void.

Also called "Mexican Tea", this aromatic herb enhances black beans and aids digestion. Medicinally, known to kill intestinal worms. A must-have when cooking beans. Handy in a quesadilla, too!

During summer's heat, growing regular cilantro is impractical. You get a few leaves and then it bolts, making it bitter and inedible. Culantro, on the other hand, is native to Central America, but now cultivated throughout Southeast Asia and Latin America. The leaves are tough, but when chopped they are quite tasty. Unlike other corianders, this variety dries well, retaining good color and flavor, and it can stand some. This promises to be an exciting new crop for Rancho Gordo!

A wild, edible plant related to spinach, the leaves are a striking combination of lilac, purple and magenta. Tasty raw in salads or steamed like spinach.

Young tender plants are a pleasant spinach substitute when boiled and served with butter. Rich source of vitamins A and C. This is the green most Mexicans think of as a true quelite, even though the term quelite derives from the Nahuatl word qui- litl, which means edible herb.

A lovely green found in the markets of Oxaca.

Related to quinoa, the leaves are similar to spinach when cooked
and apparently turn red as the season winds down.

Fabulous herb from Mexico. This is really a type of coriander, only stronger. Leaves possess huge oil glands which give papalo its potent flavor and scent. The flavor gets stronger the older the leaves get. In Mexico, used fresh with soups and stews, grilled meats, beans and salads, much like cilantro. Papalo is not cooked, only used fresh or added at the last moment. If you are a cilantro aficionado, this is a must!

A wild green from Piedras Verdes, Sonora, Mexico.

Twice as strong as traditional bay laurel.

So much flavor in such a small leaf!
Also known as "fresh coriander", it works well in Mexican and Asian dishes.
A few chopped leaves added to most anything are a welcome addition.

A lovely type of chard with deep red stems and veins, contrasting with dark green crumpled leaves.

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