In Season Vegetable for March 2010 – Fresh Leeks.
This close, but more delicately-flavoured, relative of the onion means much to New Zealand. When, as is traditional, that rabid Welsh rugby supporter runs out before an All Black test at Cardiff Arms and ceremoniously plants the leek it does as much to lift the hackles of New Zealanders as of the Welsh. To us the leek, more than the Prince of Wales plumes, means Wales. Interesting that the Romans believed leeks to be beneficial to the vocal chords and that Emperor Nero drank leek soup every day to deepen and clarify his voice for speech-making. How even more appropriate that seems in relationship to the glorious singing of the Welsh en masse. As the patriotic symbol of Wales, it is a reminder of a Welsh victory over the Saxons in 640 AD – a battle in which the Welsh identified themselves by fastening leeks to their caps, a move which prevented them from attacking each other by mistake. Leeks have been the national emblem of Wales since 640 AD.
The leek is a member of the lily family, strong in odour when raw but much milder when cooked. It is a plant of very ancient cultivation. The leek has many of the medicinal properties of garlic, considered a good general stimulant and long seen to be helpful to those afflicted with bronchitis, influenza, insomnia and even low blood pressure. They look a bit like a huge spring onion and have a mild onion flavour. Miniature leeks are sometimes available.
Nutritionally leeks are a very good source of fibre, and also vitamins A, B and C. Contain iron, potassium and calcium. They are cholesterol-free and are very low in fat, salt and calories. They are at their best from March through to November. Although they’re thought of as a winter vegetable, they’re usually available all year round. Sometimes they are hard to get between November and February and this is also the time where this particular vegetable, like a handful of others, go to ‘seed’. This term is given to vegetables that grow a hard stork through the centre of it and is inedible. If you can bear to be without leeks, these are 3 months where you shouldn’t be making them a main part of your menu. They also provide folate and being a member of the onion family they contain the same sulphur compounds which may have anti-cancer effects.
In Season Fruit for March 2010 – Fresh Nashi Pear.
So it is not a pear. And it is not an apple. So what? It has the finest qualities of both and, if I may indulge in a little lyrical waxing, the juice is like water from a sweet mountain stream. When my late Dad first tasted nashi (in Japan in 1981) the fruit “exploded” in his mouth. All that freshness, all that crispness and juice. He was hooked.
Reference to the nashi dates back to a chapter in Nihonshoki, an ancient manuscript of Japan’s Emperor Jito, in 693 AD. It is one of the more favoured of fruits in a country which adores fruit. Quite distinct from the European pear (pyrus communis), the nashi has a number of common names – Asian pear, Oriental pear, Chinese pear, Japanese pear, salad pear, water pear, apple pear.
More than 20 varieties have been introduced into New Zealand from Japan, Korea and the United States. Since 1860, more than 1,000 cultivars have been named. New Zealand horticulturists have been producing for both export and domestic markets and meeting an especially high standard. Although Dad enjoyed the core of the apple and the pear, he couldn’t get to grips with the core of the Nashi – but the rest of it “Oh, boy!” was his summary of this fresh fruit.
Principal varieties for New Zealand are as follows:
SHINSUI – Mid-January. A small-to-medium-sized russet brown; high sugar content with pleasing sweetness.
KOSUI – Late January to early February. Top reputation for flavour, crispness.
SHINSEIKI (new century) – Early-to-mid-February. Smooth, yellow skin and larger fruit. Full flavour.
HOSUI – Mid-to-late-February. Large, golden-brown russet with distinctive pigmentation. A very attractive fruit and fast gained a reputation in Japan as the favoured variety by the mid-nineties. With Kosui, this was Dad’s favourite. Good storage and shelf life.
NIJISSEIKI (20th century) – Late February to early March. Green-yellow smooth skin. Best long-storage variety and largest production variety in Japan. Sensitive skin.
SHINKO – A new release. Two weeks later than Nijisseiki. Russet.
There is also an Asian pear called the Chinese Ya pear. This is a separate fruit and identity altogether. These too however are very juicy. They have not been around in this country as long as the nashi as the Chinese Ya pear is only imported and not commercially grown in New Zealand. It is timely though when the Ya pear begins because when they first arrive late in the year, at their best and peak, our local pears are firmer in retail pricing at this time. Then towards the end of their flush, about February, the nashi starts and then in March most of our normal pear varieties start also. It does pay to start on nashi soon after they are harvested as the Ya are past their best by mid-February and tend to go dark on the inside meaning a very unpleasant mouthful.
The NZ nashi pear season runs from February to May. They are low in calories and high in dietary fibre, including pectin, calcium, phosphorous and potassium. They are 88 per cent juice.
Glenn Forsyth.