Safara Fisher

It became apparent to me when I was in Whole Foods this week how many of us would like to eat more vegetables but don’t because we’re just not sure about them.  We walk into grocery stores and see mounds and mounds of vegetables and probably if you are a lot like most of us, choose the vegetables that are familiar to you.

Perhaps they are the common everyday vegetables, your broccoli, zucchini, carrots and salad greens.  These are the ones you find plentiful on menus of most restaurants across the country.  But what of those vegetables that may have been left off your grocery list either because you were not aware of them or their appearance didn’t spell “come eat me I’m easy to cook.”

Take the kabocha or ambercup squash.  The kabocha squash can be found often alongside the acorn or butternut squash. They often get overlooked because they are usually green with brown stripes and spherical in shape making them look almost somewhat unripe.  Their skins can be a bit scale or rough, though I think they are just as beautiful alongside their friendly other more popular varieties of squash and pumpkins.  The ambercup squash is a beautiful color of orange, red skin, a bit of yellow may peak in between the deep hues of the warm tones and together they make for  a beautiful colored vegetable.  It is hard to the touch and round or oval in shape.

Recently, when I was on the checkout line to buy ambercup squash two women commented how beautiful “that” vegetable was and asked what it is while, at the same time inquired how do you prepare it. When they touched it, they acknowledged that it was hard and said that it was for this reason that they had stayed away from it.

I suggested they steam it as a more nutritious method to the common roasting method used for potatoes and root vegetables.  Steaming softens the skin as well so if cutting it seems overwhelming its a good place to begin with it whole, then they could always peel it and steam it some more.  With that their faces lit of and one lady said she would look forward to trying it the next time she is in.

This encounter is not the first that I have had, and is not exclusive to the varieties of squash as I have had similar inquires about kale.  What I would like to suggest is that you pick up a vegetable or two that you have been interested in but afraid to experiment or you may just not know what to do with it.

Let it be a moment of exploration.  See what you can find out about it and go for it.  You just may have discovered the most unfamiliar vegetable has now become your favorite to your taste buds and you will never pass it by again.

What vegetable have you recently tried, share your experiment with us.