Brassicas in layman's terms

   Okay, so I mentioned a word in one of my other posts that some of you may not know being newbies to the garden or even being long time gardeners who haven't ever really explored the word and the meaning behind it. Brassicas. I am fairly new to this whole gardening experience as well and I will admit I heard the word for the first time about five months ago while watching my all time favorite YouTube channel and thought to myself... Brassica? What in the world is a brassica? So from there I went searching to find out more about this newly profound word that is so widely known in the gardening world. I wanted to know as much as I could about gardening, still do. It didn't take much to type into my phones browser What are brassicas? but I didn't stop there. I continued to read the definition then I went on to read all about genus and species and so on until I found myself scouring the internet looking for what vegetables fall in this category and what those vegetables taste like or look like when they grow and are fully grown. I soaked up as much knowledge as I could about this one small simple word. Now I want to put my research in my own words here as to what I have found on the subject of brassicas for anyone of you who does not know what they are or anyone who would like a bit more information about them all in one place.

             Have you ever tried Kale chip? Yum!!

   Brassicas are cold hearty plants in the mustard family. Some are weeds, some flowers, and the ones that are an important part of agriculture are vegetables. Cold hearty makes them perfect for colder temperatures and in this case most of them can withstand temperatures as cold as 20 degrees Fahrenheit with out cover. That being said, the brassicas I have planned for my garden will be some of the first planted. I have a list of some of the vegetables (probably not all because lets face it, there is a large world of plants out there and I'm most certainly not a horticulturalist) and I will go over some very common ones (around north america) as well as a few that are a surprise to me but definitely not to everyone. 

   Some of the more commonly known brassicas are cabbage, wild cabbage, black mustard seed, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, radishes, and collard greens. I am most certainly new to kale. I have tried it and found it to be very bitter when eaten in its raw leafy form. From there I tried it again in smoothies where I was able to intake its rich nutrients without really tasting it. I then heard from my favorite YouTube channel that their kids loved it in chip form so I searched for a recipe and turned my kale into chips and that's when I found a way I and my children enjoyed them. I have learned not to give up on a vegetable after trying it only one way by way of trial and error. Take Brussels sprouts, the first time my husband finally talked me into trying them we had them steamed and I decided that I could live my life without ever tasting them again and be just fine. Years later we tried a diet and it called for roasted Brussels sprouts and all though I had it already in my mind I was going to hate dinner that night I stuck to it and tried them. I loved them! Trying them a new way made a huge difference. 

   Now for some surprise brassicas to me there are turnips, kohlrabi, Chinese cabbage, rutabaga, bok choy, watercress, arugula, horseradish root, garden cress, rapini, Chinese broccoli, tatsoi, daikon, and Napa cabbage. Horseradish root is also used to make wasabi. Tatsoi is is also known as spoon mustard. Daikon resembles a white stretched out radish and is similar in flavor. When I say surprise to me it is not because I didn't expect them to make it on the list per say, it is somewhat because I had no clue what a lot of these plants even were. Where I live you do not see many exotic plants/vegetables in the grocery stores. I also did not grow up on a farm or have gardening passed down to me although I wish I had. Seeing so many vegetables that are really out there makes growing them to me even more special! Not knowing about all of these hidden treasures is probably because growing up I was a very picky eater like my mom was. Getting married to the man I call my best friend has changed that so much over the last nine years. He has had me try many new things that I have found that I love. Open your mind and try new things! Follow me on the journey to this years garden also check out my Instagram!