Some New Vegetable Varieties 
THE SUCCESSFUL EFFORTS OF GOVERNMENT EXPERTS IN DIS¬ 
COVERING AND CULTIVATING IMPROVED TABLE VEGETABLES 
by Mary Hamilton Talbott 
T HANKS to the experiments of patient investigators, the 
world is not going to eat the same kind of things for¬ 
ever. The palate grows weary of the same old things, year in 
and year out; it demands something new. The soil, too, demands 
something new, for the same old crops, season after season, wear 
it out, so the United States Government has supplied us with 
these new varieties by sending experts to all parts of the world. 
They are a reality in many places now, and by to-morrow will 
be as common as our vegetables are to-day. 
A substitute for the Irish potato is the dasheen, which the 
Government confidently expects will shortly be as much used on 
our tables as that tuber; in appearance it is a cross between a 
large white potato and a sugar beet. It is a 
heavy tuber plant and forms the root of heavy 
groups of leaves strikingly similar to the orna¬ 
mental ‘“elephant ear,” and in many ways it is 
like this plant, too, for tasted raw it will cause 
stinging 
sensation 
enduring. 
The dasheen, a new rival of the ordinary potato, has a rich nutty flavor 
Cooked, however, this unpleasant feature dis¬ 
appears and the dasheen becomes a dish par 
excellence. 
It can be boiled, 
baked, or served in 
any other way that 
the ordinary po¬ 
tato is used. It 
also makes splen¬ 
did stuffing for 
chicken, veal and 
other meats. It 
has the same 
mealy taste as the 
potato, but added 
to this is a rich 
chestnutty flavor. 
It is larger than 
our potato, and if 
carefully tended is 
larger in yield. Another advantage is that it will grow in hot, 
moist regions, under conditions of humidity that would cause its 
cousin to rot, all of which means a decrease in cost. Still another 
advantage lies in the fact that whereas the tops of potatoes are 
worthless as a food, the tops of the dasheen make delicious greens. 
All that is needed in preparing them is the addition of a little soda 
to the water in which they are boiled to remove the acrid taste. 
The dasheen is no longer an experiment. It is now being 
grown on many farms throughout the south and west, and has 
been raised in small quantities in gardens near Washington, D. C. 
Actual tests show them capable of yielding from 400 to 410 
bushels to the acre. 
The chayote, or vegetable pear, is already obtainable in some 
markets of the larger cities of the south. Large, green, and pear- 
shaped, in texture somewhat like a squash, it has a flavor more 
delicate than the cucumber. Its roots, too, are edible, and the 
young stalks are as tender as asparagus. This new vegetable is 
raised without difficulty anywhere on our lowlands near the coast 
below the Carolinas. Its keeping qualities are remarkable; it 
provides a change from the ordinary winter vegetables and can 
be served in many ways. My hostess in the south served them 
after this recipe: “Peel the chayotes, cut them in two, remove 
the seeds and boil an hour and a quarter; then stuff with Dux- 
elle—one finely chopped onion and two shallots stewed in butter 
until brown, to which add some finely chopped mushrooms and 
allow the whole to simmer until the moisture has been thrown 
off by the mushrooms, season with salt, pepper, and bit of chopped 
parsley—and bake in an oven for fifteen minutes, then serve with 
tomato sauce.” Prepared as a salad this vegetable is delicious. 
Asparagus is now a luxury, but the new vegetable, udo, which 
the Government expects will take its place, will be much cheaper, 
as it is more easily raised, more prolific, and it will grow in any 
soil suitable for asparagus. This new 
vegetable comes to us from Japan and 
is as common there as celery is here; 
it has been found to grow readily in 
a wide area in the 
United States. It 
is ready for mar¬ 
ket early in the 
spring, and can 
also be blanched in 
the autumn. When 
cooked one eats 
both the tips and 
stalk, the latter be¬ 
ing without any of 
the stringiness of 
the asparagus; in¬ 
stead it is a soft, 
spongy mass, 
which, strangely 
enough, tastes 
rather different 
from the tips, but 
yet it is quite as 
delicious. There 
are many ways of 
cooking udo, but it is best simply boiled and served like aspara¬ 
gus. America is a land of salads, and this new vegetable will 
therefore find a welcome, for its salad possibilities are numerous. 
Served this way it resembles celery, though it has none of the 
objectionable fibers of the latter. It has a fresh taste like the 
midrib of a lettuce leaf, with a slight but agreeable suggestion 
of pine flavor. Plants of this vegetable are being sent broadcast 
throughout the land to farmers, with instructions as to planting 
and raising, and the Department is emphasizing its advantage of 
having the appearance and taste of two vegetables, its possibility 
of being served twice at the same meal, prepared in different ways. 
The scarlet turnip, or giant radish, also comes from Japan, and 
grows in any soil capable of raising either of these vegetables as 
we know them. It is as large as a very big grapefruit, is un¬ 
usually symmetrical in shape and is a deep crimson from top to 
bottom. One of Uncle Sam’s experts says: “It is pretty enough 
to be used as an ornament.” It can be planted late in the summer, 
after the other garden crops are out of the way, and so rapid is 
its growth that it is ready for the table before winter. There 
are all sorts of ways of preparing the turnip-radish. As a turnip 
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