Leafy vegetable comparison

I have trouble growing spinach over summer, and I'm not great with lettuce, so trialed a few leafy vegetables that may be able to replace them.  It is currently winter here, which is not the greatest time to grow much, but it is the only time that there is space in the vegetable garden, so winter is when I ran my little trial.  

While most are very common, I have not grown a lot of these vegetables before, so this comparison was a lot of fun.  I will need to set aside some space to grow these in the summer garden, and see how they hold up to the heat as well as see how they cope with cabbage white butterflies.  They all survived frosts and temperatures down to -8C with no observable damage.  

These seeds were all planted in the garden on 09/04/2023, two months later (11/06/2023) I took the comparison picture below.  

From left to right: Spinach, Yakuna savoy, Senposai, Tokyo Bekana, Hon Tsai Tai, Bok Choy 

Various leaf vegetables, seed planted on the same day

In August, four months after planting the seeds, I took the comparison photo below.  All of the plants other than spinach are flowering.  Some leaves on each plant are far larger than the ones in the photo, while others are smaller, I tried to pick an average sized leaf from each variety.  The senposai for example has several massive leaves per plant, a bunch of leaves similar to the photo, and a few smaller leaves.

I didn't remember to include a tape measure in the photos.  To give you some idea of perspective, the spinach leaf is about the same size in both photos but with a longer stalk.   

From left to right are: Spinach, Yakuna savoy, Senposai, Tokyo Bekana, Hon Tsai Tai, Bok Choy.

Comparison after four months of growth

I grew spinach partly to act as something to compare the other leaves against, and partly because it only seems to do well here over the cooler months.

I will ty to briefly compare these, going from left to right in the photo.

Spinach Oriental Summer Jade: inconsistent growth rates between individual plants, some plants were large while others were tiny.  On average it seems to be a productive variety but takes up a fair amount of garden space.  This spinach has arrow shaped leaves that from a distance look a lot like sorrel.  Flat leaves don't trap dirt as much as regular crinkled spinach.  This taste like regular spinach (ie it's nice enough) and is meant to hold up well to summer heat.  

Yakuna savoy: this one took time to grow, and is growing far too slowly for my liking.  The plants were still all tiny while all the other vegetables had become rather large.  These are meant to be very resistant of extreme temperatures.  I didn't like the taste, it is mildly spicy and I found it a bit too cabbagy/mustardy/something for my liking.  It never got large as it bolted to flower as soon as the weather warmed.  They may do better if planted earlier or growing in warmer weather.  

Senposai: this is a cross between komatsuna and cabbage.  Fast growing plants and can become rather large.  These plants are vigorous growers, take up a lot of room, and produce a lot of food.  I don't like this (or any cabbage) raw, but it makes a good cabbage substitute when cooked.  I plan to keep growing this as it is one of my favourites.  

Tokyo Bekana: this is an Asian cabbage that looks like lettuce.  I had hoped it would taste more like lettuce than it does.  In a mixed salad this would do ok, and it can be used any way a cabbage would be used.  These fast growing plants are not slowed down by frosts and look really nice in the garden.  They don't take much room to grow a lot of these.  I plan to grow more of these.  

Hon Tsai Tai: this is a flowering choy that is grown for broccoli like flower heads, and the leaves are usually only really used as a secondary crop which is a waste.  The leaves taste almost sweet, and I prefer them to most of the others listed here.  These grew very fast, and look a bit raggedy and messy in the garden.  This one flowered through the depths of winter and was very pretty when in flower.  I like how sweet these are, and plan to grow more.

Baby Bok Choy: this is one of the prettiest looking vegetables I have grown.  These taste ok raw, and became sweet after hit by some frosts.  These are good cooked and I am told they are great in fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kimchi.  These grow very fast and I love how they look in the garden.  These are compact and productive plants, a lot of plants can be grown in a very small area.  I need to grow more bok choy.  At this stage I'm not sure which variety is best for my needs.  Perhaps one day I will grow out a bunch of types and see which I prefer.

Tokyo bekana and Senposai 

Bok Choy and Spinach

All of the above leafy vegetables grew reasonably well over winter.  All of them are meant to be very nutritious and all are far more nutritious than lettuce.  

All of them would be great as green manure, and all of them are adored by chickens and are very nutritious, meaning if you don't get around to eating them or if you dislike their taste they would certainly not be wasted.  

It didn't take long for them to grow large

Not much space is wasted 

Leaf vegetable comparison 

All of them, other than senposai, are commonly available in Australia.  They all grow easily from seed.  All are simple enough to save seed from if you isolate them to prevent crossing.  Or you could let them cross, and plant out mixed up seed.  

Poultry manure benefits in the garden

Ever since I was a kid growing vegetables I would dig out manure from the chicken house and add it to the vegetable garden.  Poultry manure and sheep manure were the only fertiliser I had access to back then, and they seemed to do the job.  

Even when I was young I knew (from experience) that if I used poultry manure straight away it would burn plants.  Instead, I would dig it into the garden, and let it sit over winter to do whatever it needed to do.  When the weather had warmed enough that I could plant out summer crops the poultry manure had aged enough not to cause any damage.  It worked well and I did this for years.  

I few years ago I bought some soil to top up a few raised garden beds.  This new soil is dreadful.  One of its many issues is that plants growing in it show obvious signs of nutrient deficiencies.   

Poultry manure is great fertiliser

These days I probably could buy fertiliser if I wanted to, but I don’t want to.  I grow everything organically.  To increase soil fertility I still use poultry manure from my chickens, I also use home made compost, vermicompost, and green manure.  

I have a few chickens and clean out the chicken house from time to time.  I added their manure to the soil to age over winter.  I wondered if poultry manure would be enough to fix the nutrient deficiency in my soil, or if I also need to add something else.  

I used to know a few soil scientists who I would love to talk to about this topic, sadly I have lost contact with them so have to work out this problem by myself.  I don’t remember what nutrients are in poultry manure, or if it is missing anything important for plant growth, so I did some research.  I figured this may be helpful to someone else so decided to put it in this blog post.  

Poultry turn weeds and insects into fertiliser

 
The thirteen essential nutrients for plants growth are nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulphur (S), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), chlorine (Cl), boron (B), iron (Fe), and molybdenum (Mo).  According to everything I read, poultry manure contains all 13 of these main nutrients needed by plants.  Poultry manure contains roughly 3-5% nitrogen, 1.5-3.5% phosphorus, 1.5-3% potassium, and a considerable amount of each of the micronutrients.  This means that mixing poultry manure through the soil should add everything that is missing in amounts that are worthwhile.  Adding poultry manure should go a long way to fixing any nutrient deficiencies of my soil.  

Some nutrients may be present in the soil in good amounts, but are not available if the pH is too high or too low.  The soil in my raised garden beds is currently a bit too high.  The pH of poultry manure is usually 6-7.  Adding poultry manure certainly won't correct my pH problem, but also won't make it any worse.  

 

Even these cuties produce a lot of waste

When I clean out my chicken house, I am not just scooping pure manure.  What I am digging out is probably better called 'chicken litter'.  Chicken litter contains feathers and straw and things that are mixed in with the manure.  This not only provides essential macro and micronutrients, it is also rich in carbon.  All of this is good for soil health.  

Nitrogen comes in a few forms, and this is important to know.  The 'inorganic forms' of nitrogen (ammonium and nitrate) can be immediately used by plants, while 'organic forms' of nitrogen (I am using the scientific definition of an ‘organic compound’) must be mineralized (converted in form by soil bacteria) before it is available to plants.  Don't be confused by this, I am not talking about farming organically vs using synthetic fertilisers, I am talking about organic compounds and their need to be mineralised prior to being available to plants.  

From what I read it appears that most of the nitrogen in poultry litter is in an organic form (about 89%), but poultry litter also contains ammonium (about 9%) and a small amount of nitrate (about 2%).  Poultry litter contains 3-5% nitrogen, of which about 11% is immediately available to plants, while the rest is slowly converted to usable forms by soil bacteria.  This nitrogen becomes available to plants as they need it throughout the growing season.  This is all good for my soil.  

As well as adding all the nutrients required for plant growth, adding poultry manure to the soil generally tends to attract earthworms and other soil life.  I grow everything organically, and try to encourage some of this soil life.  These soil dwelling critters seem to make the soil better in a number of ways.  

Based my research (and from years of personal experience), it appears that poultry manure/chicken litter is excellent to use in the vegetable garden as long as it is properly aged.  Poultry manure works well as a quick acting fertiliser, a slow release fertiliser, it improves soil structure, and increases soil health.  

I have a few chickens.  As well as laying cheap and nutritious eggs, eating food scraps, disposing of pests, and being happy little friends for my kids, my chickens are producing manure every single day.  I may as well use this manure for something good.  

Daffodil seed grown

I wrote an earlier post on how I was growing daffodils from seed.  At that stage I had one seed grown daffodil that had flowered.  That is a strong plant, it grows long stems with multiple highly fragrant flowers, and the bulb divides quite well.   

As well as that vigorous daffodil I had a few of its siblings that had not yet flowered.  Perhaps they were not as vigorous, perhaps they had too much competition where I planted them.  They had not yet bloomed, and were not dividing as much.  Most were slightly shorter plants, but this may even out once they mature.  

Recently one of these less vigorous seed grown daffodils flowered.  They are completely white, quite fragrant, and look nothing like its sibling.  The petals are much pointier than the yellow one.

First flowers from my daffodil seedling

As you can see below, compared to its sibling the plant is smaller, and the flower stalk is shorter.  

As this is the first time it has flowered, it is expected that it will be a bit smaller.  It is difficult to know what this will be like next year.  Maybe it will have more flowers per stalk, maybe the flower stalks will be taller, perhaps each flower will be slightly larger, I don't know yet.  

The yellow daffodil and white daffodil are siblings

I am not yet sure what I think of this new white daffodil.  I will certainly let it grow for another year to see how it performs.  From there I can decide if I want to keep it or not.  I tend to get a bit sentimental with things I grew from seed, so perhaps I will keep it even if I am not impressed with it.  

The yellow one on the other hand is one of the most vigorous daffodil I have grown.  It flowered a few years earlier than its siblings, and each year it seems to divide into several flowering sized bulbs.  

You may notice that there are not many flower stalks of the yellow daffodil.  That is because I cut the flowers once they open and bring them inside so we can enjoy them and their fragrance.  

I let strawberries grow among the daffodils.  While that seemed like a good idea at the time I am not sure if that was a great idea as it makes management a bit tricky.  

Yellow seed grown daffodil is very vigorous

I keep thinking that I should name and divide my yellow seed grown daffodil, then offer some of its bulbs for sale.  I also have a few impressive daffodils that I did not breed (such as Marieke) that I keep thinking I should divide and offer for sale.  If I ever do this I will try to list them on my for sale page.  

Oriental Summer Jade Spinach days to maturity

This winter I am growing a bunch of different leaf vegetables.  Among these leafy vegetables was spinach, as this always performs well for me over winter.  

Normally I get whatever variety of spinach seed that is available, and for no particular reason I rarely save spinach seed myself.  This year I chose Oriental Summer Jade spinach.  

I chose this variety as I don't have much luck growing spinach over summer, and this variety is meant to handle the heat well.  I am growing it over winter at the moment, and it is performing as well as any other variety I have grown.  

The days from planting the seed in the garden until picking the leaves is below.  Being in Australia, the date is written Day/Month/Year.

Days to maturity Spinach Oriental Summer Jade (Spinacia oleracea)

Planted in garden      09/04/2023   Day 0

Germinate                 16/04/2023   Day 7

Baby leaf                  14/05/2023   Day 35
Larger leaf                We have been picking leaves of increasing size ever since the baby leaf stage

Oriental Summer Jade Spinach

For some reason I don't often get around to saving spinach seed, which I always regret after a few years when I plant the last of my seed and need to buy more.  Spinach tends to be dioecious, which means some plants are female and other plants are male.  There aren't a lot of vegetables like this.  Occasionally some spinach plants, and some varieties of spinach, are monoecious with female and male flowers on the same plant.  

For a long list of days from planting a seed until harvest of many different vegetables and berries, please look at my Guide on Days to Vegetable Harvest.  As above, I recorded days from planting the seed until harvesting.

What do tearless onions taste like

I wrote a previous blog post about Happy Chop Tearless onions being released in Australia.  As mentioned in my previous post, this is not a GMO and is not an F1 hybrid, it is a stable variety that is meant to breed true to type.  

There are two things I wanted to know about tearless onions: are tearless onions really tearless, and how do tearless onions taste.  

I have since been able to buy some tearless onions, eat them, and thought I would write a review of them.  Unlike the previous post, I took all of these photos.  

What do tearless onions taste like

Are tearless onions really tearless?

I can confirm that the tearless onions were tearless.  I cut them, I handled the cut pieces, I ate some raw as well as ate some cooked, and they were indeed tearless.  Even rubbing a little onion juice below my eye did not cause any irritation.  They are completely tearless.  

Tearless brown onion

What do tearless onions taste like? 

When eaten raw, tearless onions taste very sweet, and a little oniony.  My kids ate some raw, and kept coming back for more.  They were crunchy, almost like eating a mildly onion tasting apple.  They were really enjoyable raw.  I plan to grow some so my kids can eat them raw - never thought I would say that about an onion.  

I fried some tearless onion to see what they were like.  My house smelled like cooking onion, the texture was the same as any onion, all of which is good.  The taste was mild and not very oniony when they were cooked.  They were still quite sweet at this stage, but the onion taste was very mild.  

I have not grown any yet, so cannot comment on how the leaves taste.  I am guessing that they would be sweet and milder than onion chives.  I need to grow some out before I can know for sure.  

Tearless onion

Onion base growing roots

As you can see in the photos above, I cut the base off the onion we ate, and am attempting to sprout it.  So far the roots are growing well, and the leaves have not done much growing yet.  Often, sprouting the base of an onion will flower and set seed.  This variety is said to breed true to type as it is a stable variety and not an F1, so I hope to grow more of these rather than having to buy them.  

So, now you know what tearless onions taste like.  What fun!

Solanum acroscopicum - wild potato relative

I sometimes grow potatoes from true seeds, each seed grown potato is unique and can create a completely new potato variety.  I do a little potato breeding, and have developed some nice varieties that taste better than anything you can buy from the markets and better than any variety you have grown at home.  

Supermarket potatoes, and most heirloom potatoes, are tetraploids.  I grow some tetraploids, which yield high but lack any great flavour (I grow some tetraploids which taste almost as good as a diploid).  

I grow some diploid potatoes, which taste incredible and often have remarkable colouration, but often tend to have lower yields and smaller tubers (some of my lines are yielding higher than some tetraploids).  

As well as these, I also grow a wild potato, Solanum acroscopicum.  I don't think it has a common name.  This potato is very rare, and not many people in Australia grow Solanum acroscopicum.

Solanum acroscopicum flower 

Solanum acroscopicum produces tubers with white skin and white flesh, mostly round or oblong, and small to medium size.  The skin is smooth and simple to clean (or simple to peel, if you are so inclined).  The taste is good but about as uninteresting as regular potatoes.  

Small yields of unimpressive tasting potatoes that don't have vivid colours makes it sound like it is not worth growing.  Even so, this variety has a few features that make it well worth growing.  It is great in smaller spaces, the plant looks nice, and its certainly worth considering in breeding projects due to its disease resistance.  

Solanum acroscopicum grows large, pretty flowers.  This plant would not look out of place in a flower garden.  I keep forgetting to take photos when it is covered in blooms (or when there are other flowers I can hold next to it for comparison).  Growing food in a flower garden is a good idea.  

Solanum acroscopicum flowers

The plant looks like a potato plant, but with pointier leaves.  The leaves mostly point upwards, which helps keep the plant looking compact.  It grows rather short, neat/compact plants that do not tend to sprawl unless they are shaded.  Being such a compact and neat plant also makes it look good in a flower garden even when not in flower.  

It dumps all of the tubers very closely together directly under the plant, and very close to the soil surface.  It is a good idea to hill soil around them as they grow to prevent light getting to the tubers.  You don't have to search for the tubers, they are all together rather neatly.  Unlike most potato varieties where you always miss some when harvesting, it is simple to get every tuber as they are all so close together.  

Solanum acroscopicum - tubers get a little larger than this

Being such a compact plant, and dumping the tubers so close together and close to the soil surface, make it better suited to growing in pots than any potato variety I have ever grown.  Even growing in soil in the vegetable patch, there is far less digging as the tubers are all right there, all bunched together.

I am told that this species is much lower in toxic alkaloids than regular potatoes.  I have never eaten them when green, and do not encourage people to do this.  I only include the next sentence for informational purposes.  I have been told that it is so low in solanine that this can be eaten when green, when regular potatoes are highly toxic and would cause severe stomach cramps and intense vomiting.  This is important: if you try eating them green please be careful, please only eat a little at first to see how you go, and if it tastes bitter stop eating.  I don't eat them green, and I don't encourage other people to eat them green, but if you are going to do this please be careful.

Solanum acroscopicum growing in a pot of soil

Solanum acroscopicum has genetic resistance to many potato diseases and tolerates light frost better than many other potato varieties.  From what I have read, this species seems unaffected by things that would destroy regular potatoes.  If you are into potato breeding, this variety would be useful to consider due to its disease resistance.  

I grow everything organically, so am interesting in plants that are resistant to pests and diseases.  This makes it suitable to breeding, or for growing in the flower garden where you may not look after it all that well.  

Wild potato

I have grown these for a few years and have tried to share them with some enthusiasts who I have encouraged to share them further.  Hopefully they don't go locally extinct in Australia.  

I have reached a point where I will sell some seed tubers for growing (not true seed) through my for sale page when they are in season.  I am not sure what the rules are in each state for sending potatoes from NSW for growing, so you may need to look this up if you want any.  If you are in a state that does not allow them, I may be able to send ware potatoes for eating.  Again, not really sure about this so you would need to look up what is allowable in your state.

Protein comparisons in food

I don't think I eat enough protein.  My body craves more protein.  Protein is expensive.  You also need to ensure all the essential amino acids are present, either in that food or a combination of foods you eat, otherwise your body can't utilise the protein you eat.   

I looked into protein shakes to increase my protein intake.  They taste nice and they take less effort and time than cooking food, but they can be expensive.  The best whey protein (high quality, high protein, at a lower price) I can find provides 32 grams of protein per serving.  I wonder how that compares to meat, eggs, or even vegetables and grains.  

Below I have compared the protein powder to several meats, eggs, vegetables, and grains.  For reference, I included the websites where I found the details.  This post was mostly made as a way for me to keep these numbers handy.  

Picture from https://customequinenutrition.com/blogs/nutrients/intro-to-protein-amino-acids

I am interested in the grams of protein, so I included this in the comparison.  I noted if the food contains an incomplete protein, as this is very important.  Leucine is an essential amino acid that is important for building muscle, repairing muscle, and it is metabolised in muscle fibers, so I included it in the comparison.  I am also interested in iron content as I struggle to get enough iron.  Even though it makes no difference to me, I know a lot of people care about calories, so I included the amount of calories of each food.  

To give the comparisons some perspective, the recommended daily intake for a male about my size and age is roughly:

Protein 50 g
Leucine 2.4 g
Iron 8 mg
Energy 2,000 kcal

To make the comparison as useful as possible, I am comparing 100 grams of each food, except for the protein powder which is one 40g serving.  

Protein Powder

Protein Powder per 40 g serve

https://www.uprotein.com.au/100-whey-protein-powder-enzymes-2kgs/
Protein 32.6 g
Leucine 3.39 g
Iron 0.74 mg
Energy 149 kcal

Meat

Note: meat based proteins are considered to be complete proteins as they contain good amounts of all essential amino acids
Note: about 14% to 18% of iron is usually bioavailable from meat

Chicken per 100 g 

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/171477/nutrients
Protein 27.3 g
Leucine 2.33 g
Iron 1.04 mg
Energy 165 kcal

Beef per 100 g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/174032/nutrients
Protein 25.9 g - some cuts as low as 13.6 g
Leucine 1.45 g
Iron 2.6 mg
Energy 250 kcal

Rabbit per 100 g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/174348/nutrients
Protein 33 g
Leucine 2.57 g
Iron 4.85 mg
Energy 173 kcal

Quail per 100 g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169902/nutrients
Protein 25.1 g
Leucine unknown
Iron 4.43 mg
Energy 227 kcal

Squab per 100g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169905/nutrients
Protein 23.9 g
Leucine unknown
Iron 5.91 mg
Energy 213 kcal

Eggs

(note: eggs are high in all of the essential amino acids and are considered to be a complete protein)

Chicken egg boiled per 100g 

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/173424/nutrients
Protein 12.6 g
Leucine 1.08 g
Iron 1.19 mg
Energy 155 kcal

Quail egg per 100 g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/172191/nutrients
Protein 13 g
Leucine 1.15 g
Iron 3.65 mg
Energy 158 kcal

Vegetables and Grains

Note: many plant based proteins are considered to be incomplete proteins as they are low in one or more essential amino acids
Note: Plant based iron is not as bioavailable as animal based iron, for example less than 2% of the iron in spinach is bioavailable

Spinach per 100g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/168462/nutrients
Protein 2.86 g (not a complete protein)
Leucine 0.223 g
Iron 2.71 mg
Energy 23 kcal

Grape leaf per 100g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/168575/nutrients
Protein 5.6g (not a complete protein)
Leucine unknown
Iron 2.63 mg
Energy 93 kcal

Dandelion leaf per 100g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169226/nutrients
Protein 2.7 g (not sure if it is complete or not)
Leucine unknown
Iron 3.1 mg
Energy 45 kcal

Watercress per 100g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170068/nutrients
Protein 2.3 g (not complete protein)
Leucine 0.166 g
Iron 0.2 mg
Energy 11 kcal

Soy bean (sprouted and steamed) per 100g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/168460/nutrients
Protein  8.47 g
Leucine 0.607 g
Iron 1.31 mg
Energy 81 kcal

Peas per 100g 

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170419/nutrients
Protein  5.42 g (not a complete protein)
Leucine 0.323 g
Iron 1.47 mg
Energy 81 kcal

Lima beans per 100 g 

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/174253/nutrients
Protein 7.8 g (not a complete protein)
Leucine 0.673 g
Iron 2.39 mg
Energy 115 kcal

Corn per 100 g 

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/169998/nutrients
Protein 3.27 g (not a complete protein)
Leucine 0.348 g
Iron 0.52 mg
Energy 86 kcal

Buckwheat per 100g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/170286/nutrients
Protein 13.2 g
Leucine 0.832 g
Iron 2.2 mg
Energy 343 kcal

Rice per 100g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/168930/nutrients
Protein 2.38 g (not a complete protein)
Leucine 0.197 g
Iron 0.2 g
Energy 130 kcal

Wheat per 100g

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/168944/nutrients
Protein 9.61 g (not a complete protein)
Leucine unknown
Iron 3.71 mg
Energy 332 kcal 

Results

In the above comparison, out of all the meats rabbit meat has the highest percentage of protein.  Rabbit meat contained the highest amount of leucine among the foods compared.  As far as iron content goes, squab is the stand out, followed by rabbit.  Rabbit meat is also low in fat.  

Unfortunately rabbit meat is very expensive here, and very difficult to find, so I would either have to breed rabbits or choose another meat.  In that case I would choose chicken.  Chicken is a cheaper meat, it is readily available, it is high in protein, and it is high in leucine.  

Buckwheat is incredibly nutritious for a plant based food.  Buckwheat is high in protein, it's one of the few plant based foods that is considered to be a complete protein, it's high in iron, and it's gluten free.  Nutritionally, buckwheat is pretty comparable to egg.  The protein in buckwheat is absorbed better than the protein in egg, which is almost unbelievable for a plant based food.  Sadly, in Australia buckwheat is not commonly eaten and is difficult to find.  Presumably this is largely based on political reasons as it is a very healthy food.  

Days to harvest Hon Tsai Tai

I grew some purple stemmed Hon Tsai Tai (Brassica rapa) this year and recorded the number of days from planting the seed until harvest.  

Recording the days from planting the seed until harvest is far more useful for home gardeners than the ambiguous 'days to maturity' which has different meanings depending on who is recording it and is often starts being counted from transplants of an unknown age.  

Hon tsai tai is a nutritious vegetable that can be harvested as a leaf vegetable, or for flower stalks that are used in a similar way to broccoli, so I recorded the days from seed to both.  

This quick growing vegetable is sometimes called flowering choy as it is a type of bok choy that is usually grown for the edible flower stalks.  The leaves taste like bok choy, but are a bit sweet.  I have eaten the flower stalks raw when the first flowers were just opening, and they tasted really nice.  I expected some of the stalk to be a bit fibrous at this stage, but they were tender and perfect.  

I grew this during the winter, night temperatures have dropped to -8C and the days have mostly been overcast and cold.  If grown in spring, I think the days to harvest would probably have been a lot less.   

Hon Tsai Tai (Brassica rapa) - purple stem 

Planted in garden      09/04/2023   Day 0

Germinate                 14/04/2023   Day 5

Baby leaf                  14/05/2023    Day 35

Flower stalks            01/07/2023    Day 83

Hon Tsai Tai - larger leaf

Baby bok choy and Hon Tsai Tai - baby leaf

Hon Tsai Tai and Bok Choy can and will cross pollinate, which means care must be taken if saving seed.  It should also be possible to intentionally cross the two, do a little culling/back crossing/rouging out of undesirable plants, and develop a vivid purple stemmed bok choy.  

I have a few breeding projects on at the moment, add while I would love to develop a tightly packed purple stemmed bok choy I am not sure if I have the space, time, or energy to put into another project.  Then again, I could leave a few of each to flower, cross at random, and self seed, then cull heavily...  

Have a look at my Guide on Days to Vegetable Harvest to see a full list of days to harvest various vegetables and berries in my garden.  As above, I recorded days from planting the seed until harvesting.

Tearless onions in Australia

'Tearless' onions are now available in Australia 

A quote from the paper - Production and characterization of tearless and non-pungent onion | Scientific Reports (nature.com):

We believe that these tearless, non-pungent onions not only will wipe tears away from the kitchen and the food processing facilities, but also will add a new dimension to the enjoyment of onion recipes around the world.

What fun.  I wonder if you could eat these raw like an apple.  I also wonder if the taste would be watered down significantly.  The US has been selling tearless onions since 2018, I am not sure if it is the same as these or if they have a different variety.  Perhaps someone from the US can comment and let me know if tearless onions are worth trying.  

These 'tearless onions' were not Genetically Modified.  These were bred from inducing a mutation, and then selecting and culling and self pollinating until the new variety bred true to type.  

To summarise how these tearless onions were bred:

• They irradiated seeds from “Super-Kitamomiji” onions and planted 1,500 seeds.  From these they selected the best 9 plants and culled the rest. 
• These were allowed to flower and set seed.  From these the researchers planted about 350 seeds.  Selected the best 18 plants and culled the rest. 
• These were allowed to flower and set seed.  From these they planted 1,078 seeds.  Selected the best 2 plants and culled the rest.
• These two plants were allowed to flower and set seed.  They appear to breed true to type.  
• They now have 2 lines of tearless onions that are being produced commercially.

As you can see, breeding a new anything takes large numbers, and several generations.  

One variety of tearless onions is to be sold in NSW and VIC Woolworths starting tomorrow!  I have no idea how they taste, the news says they are sweeter than regular onions.  

I want to get some, plant them, collect seed, and…you can probably guess the rest, plant breeding is a slippery slope. 

Tearless onions - not my photo

Edit to add: after writing this post I bought some tearless onions and got to taste them.  I wrote a blog post of what tearless onions taste like.  I also grew some of these onions, allowed them to flower.  Once the seed is ready I plan to offer it on my for sale page for home gardeners who would like to grow tearless onions themselves.  

Buckwheat nutritional information

Much like a seahorse is not a horse, buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is not related to wheat (Triticum aestivum).  Other than their common names, and that they are both edible, buckwheat and wheat don't have much in common.  

While buckwheat and wheat are both angiosperms (vascular flowering plants), that is almost where the similarity ends.  Wheat is a monocot, while buckwheat is a dicot, as far as flowering plants go you can't get much more different than that.

Both plants are edible, both can be eaten in similar ways.  Both are popular breakfast foods, as well as being popular for animal feed, and both feed a tremendous number of humans across the world every day.  Both have edible leaves and stems, but I want to discuss the seed/fruit of buckwheat.  

Wheat contains gluten, buckwheat does not.  Wheat is low in several essential amino acids (eg lysine and threonine) and is not considered to be complete protein.  

Buckwheat contains high quality complete protein with decent quantities of all of the essential amino acids.  Buckwheat is rich in limiting amino acids like lysine and arginine, which are in shortest supply in plant-based diets and is pretty rare among plant foods.  For this reason, buckwheat is considered to be a complete protein. 

Some buckwheat that I grew

Buckwheat nutritional value

It is difficult finding nutritional data on anything that is overly consistent.  Sometimes these differences come down to what exactly is being tested, or different varieties, or seasonal variations, or even how the test was conducted.  For this reason I try to look up several sources of information.  Regardless of the source, you will notice that buckwheat is incredibly nutritious for a plant based food.

I found a website that listed the following nutritional value per 100g of buckwheat:  

Principle	Nutrient Value	Percent of RDA
Energy	343 Kcal	17%
Carbohydrates	71.50 g	55%
Protein	13.25 g	24%
Total Fat	3.40 g	17%
Cholesterol	0 mg	0%
Dietary Fiber	10 g	26%
Vitamins
Folates (B9)	30 µg	7.5%
Niacin (B3)	7.020 mg	44%
Pantothenic acid	12.33 mg	25%
Riboflavin (B2)	0.425 mg	33%
Thiamin (B1)	0.101 mg	8.5%
Vitamin A	0 IU	0%
Electrolytes
Sodium	1 mg	<1%
Potassium	460 mg	10%
Minerals
Calcium	18 mg	2%
Copper	1.100 mg	122%
Iron	2.20 mg	27.5%
Magnesium	231 mg	58%
Manganese	1.300 mg	56.5%
Phosphorus	347 mg	50%
Selenium	8.3 µg	15%
Zinc	2.40 mg	22%
Amino acids
Lysine	672 mg	32%
Methionine	172 mg	24%
Tryptophan	192 mg	69%

Buckwheat nutrition compared to Grains

I also found a comparison of the nutritional value of buckwheat, rice, wheat, and maize.  I have highlighted the highest value in each row to make it easier to read. 

By in large, buckwheat appears to be more nutritious than any of the true grains that were tested in that sample:

Comparison of nutrition: Buckwheat, Rice, Wheat, and Maize

Buckwheat vitamins compared to wheat

To give a little perspective I looked up the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) of a few vitamins and minerals that are present in buckwheat and listed the equivalent in wheat.  As you can see, buckwheat is far more nutritious than wheat.

Vitamin E (tocopherol) buckwheat 40mg, wheat <1mg, RDI 15-20mg with safe upper limit 1,000mg
Thiamin (B1) buckwheat 3.3mg, wheat 0.5mg, RDI 1.5mg
Riboflavin (B2) buckwheat 10.8mg, wheat 0.2mg, RDI 1.8mg
Niacin (B3) buckwheat 18, wheat 5.5, RDI 20 

Pantothenic acid (B5) buckwheat 11mg, wheat <1mg, RDI 10mg with safe upper limit of 1,000mg
Magnesium, buckwheat 390mg, wheat 138mg, RDI 400mg

Choline, buckwheat 440mg, wheat 14mg, RDI 550mg

Vitamin K (phylloquinone) buckwheat 7.00 µg, wheat 0.3 µg, RDI 80 µg

Vitamin A (retinol) like all grains, none.

Buckwheat compared to Oats

Oats (Avena sativa) are another popular breakfast food.  Oat is a monocot and is similar to wheat in many ways.  Unlike wheat, oats do not contain gluten.  Oats, much like buckwheat, are meant to naturally lower total cholesterol levels and improve HDL to LDL cholesterol ratio.  

I use buckwheat to make kasha for my breakfast each morning, which is similar to how many people eat steel cut oats.  I tried eating oaten kasha for some time, but found I was getting hungry early in the day.  When I make kasha using buckwheat I feel full for longer, which is nice.

I fount a web page with the following comparison table of buckwheat and oats.  Once again buckwheat comes out as an impressively nutritious food.  These results indicate that buckwheat is more nutritious than oats.  

per 100g	Buckwheat	Oatmeal
Calories	343	68
Carbohydrates	71.5 g	11.67 g
Fat	3.4 g	1.36 g
Dietary fiber	10 g	1.7 g
Protein	13.25 g	2.37 g
Calcium	18 mg	80 mg
Iron	2.2 mg	5.96 mg
Magnesium	231 mg	26 mg
Phosphorus	347 mg	77 mg
Potassium	460 mg	61 mg
Sodium	1 mg	49 mg
Zink	2.4 mg	0.62 mg
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)	0.425 mg	0.215 mg
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)	7.02 mg	3.025 mg
Vitamin B5	1.233 mg	0.317 mg
Vitamin B9 (Folic acid)	30 mg	39 mg

Buckwheat Glycemic index compared to grains

I have a little trouble with blood sugar, so wherever possible I prefer foods that have a low Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL).

I found a peer reviewed paper comparing the GI and GL of buckwheat, barley, millet, spelt, bulgur, and couscous.  GI and GL are often used to assess diet quality in relation to the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer development.

The lowest GI was found for buckwheat (34.7±8.2%) and barley (31.3±13.4%). The GL for these groats was 8.1±1.9 and 8.0±3.4, respectively.  The GI for millet, spelt and bulgur amounted to 56.2±20.6%, 69.8±35.0%, 64.5±36.8%, respectively, while for couscous amounted to 99.0± 36.0%.  The highest GL was observed for couscous (24.7±9.0).

The groats tested in that study classified barley and buckwheat as low GI food, millet and bulgur as medium GI food, spelt and couscous as a high GI food.  The study concluded that buckwheat and barley should be chosen the most often among these products, while the intake of couscous should be limited, especially by people with diabetes.  

Buckwheat is comparable to egg protein

100g of egg (about two eggs) contains about 13 grams of protein, which is similar to the amount of protein in buckwheat.  Both buckwheat and egg are eaten by people who are into fitness, strength training, and body builders.  

The absorbability of egg protein varies depending on how it is cooked, and is cited in literature as being between 50% and 90%.  The absorbability of the protein in buckwheat also varies in literature, possibly also due to cooking methods, and is often cited as being around 93%.  

Both buckwheat and egg contain good levels of all of the essential amino acids and are considered to be complete proteins.  

Conclusion

Buckwheat is incredibly nutritious for a plant based food.  If more people in this country ate buckwheat as an every day staple food they would be healthier and stronger.  

Buckwheat would be a valuable staple food in the diet of anyone who does not eat animal based foods or does not eat may animal based foods.  Buckwheat is simple to store, it tastes good, and can be used in a wide range of ways.  

I used to eat wheatbix each morning for breakfast.  Then the local shops ran out and I could not buy it for a few months, so I switched to oats, and then to buckwheat.  Since switching to buckwheat I have gained strength, I have lost fat, I have gained weight (presumably muscle) and am now staying up in the 'healthy' BMI range, my cholesterol levels have dropped, my HDL to LDL cholesterol ratio is now in the ideal range, my blood sugar levels are more stable, and I am less hungry.  

I wrote other blog posts on growing buckwheat as a cover crop, and (according to research) buckwheat as a nitrogen fixer.  There seems to be little academic research on the topic of buckwheat and nitrogen fixation outside of papers published in Russia and the previous Soviet nations, but what research I have read is absolutely fascinating.  

I find the limited research into buckwheat odd considering the economic value of buckwheat, the amount of people it feeds (the FAO says buckwheat is a major food crop in the world), and how incredibly nutritious buckwheat is.  Given how much more nutritious buckwheat is compared to most other grains, I find it odd how limited its consumption is in Western nations where it remains a specialty food rather than a daily staple.  I assume this is mostly due to political reasons.