Here in northern California, many different types of foods can grow throughout the fall, winter, and spring, especially greens. Right now, some of our summer crops are still producing, such as heirloom tomatoes, bell peppers, and summer squash, which are doing well despite the rain and cool night temperatures we have been experiencing lately. We do have space in our garden for fall plants, so last week, I went to a local farmer’s market, and purchased some plant starts, including red and green leaf lettuce, bok choy, and frisée greens. Here is a picture of these plants now growing in our garden:
This Sunday, we returned from a weekend out of town teaching our Science of Raw Food Nutrition I class (it was fun, as always!) to find that our starts had almost doubled in size! Right now, it appears that the frisée greens have the lead over the bok choy and lettuce, but later in the season we will see which of our greens will be the ultimate champion size-wise.
Nutritionally speaking, all of these plants have their attributes. Bok choy is often praised for its mineral content, but what about much less heard-of frisée greens?
Here are some nutrient highlights of frisée greens:
| 3 cups chopped frisée greens (150 g) | Adult Daily Values | |
| Calories | 25.5 | |
| Calcium | 78 mg | 1000 – 1200 mg |
| Iron | 1.24 mg | 8 – 18 mg |
| Zinc | 1.18 mg | 8 – 11 mg |
Young bok choy and frisée greens:
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