What’s that green stuff?
You don’t often think of the Desert Southwest as being an agricultural center, but here in Yuma AZ, right on the Mexico and California borders, we grow massive quantities of things like lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and citrus fruits.
We also grow kale and flowering kale here — that pretty dark green, purple or white garnish you see often in restaurants.
One of the reasons they use kale as a garnish is that it has staying power. It can sit on a buffet at room temperature for hours without wilting, and it’s easily arranged on a platter to make anything look fancy. It’s usually widely available most of the year, and the price is not a big concern, because you don’t need much to dress up a dish.
Right now the season for these things is just getting started, and there’s a serious lack this year of people to pick the stuff. So much so, they’re advertising on the radio for field workers, which I’ve never seen in 20 years of living here.
Look for skyrocketing prices on all kinds of produce this winter!
garnish, cooking, produce, commodities
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