Photo by cyclonebill.

It seems like the past week local blogs have been focusing on the stranger vegetables available at farmers markets. One thing that I love about farmers markets is that some vegetables, which don’t quite have mainstream appeal to be in grocery stores, are available. I’ve been able to experiment with ingredients that I’d either never heard of or never thought to buy because they’re available at farmers markets.

Top on this list is romanesco broccoli, or as I like to refer to it: fractal broccoli. It’s gorgeous to look at with its perfect fractal shape, and has a similar flavor to cauliflower or broccoli. I like to cook it with curry flavors, roasted (like I enjoy cauliflower or broccoli) but you can cook it however you’d cook cauliflower or broccoli. It is often available this time of the year, though I haven’t seen it yet at my preferred market of 14th/U.

The next alien looking vegetable that is available this time of year is kohlrabi: a turnip from the cabbage family that is similar in flavor to those vegetables, but a bit milder and sweeter. Borderstan’s Alejandra Owens spoke to Robin Shuster (of 14th/U farmers market) and she suggested the following ways to cook it: grate it and make it into a slaw, cook the leafy tops like any leafy green, or slowly simmer to get a texture and flavor similar to a turnip. Kohlrabi can be found at most farmers markets.

Metrocurean was talking about the sunchoke, or Jerusalem artichoke, this week. A knobby, almost ginger root looking vegetable, the sunchoke has a similar consistency to potatoes, but with a sweeter, nuttier flavor. Metrocurean suggests you can cook the sunchoke as a hash with pancetta, deep fry them into chips, eat them raw, sliced thin in a salad, or make a soup. You can find sunchokes at the Dupont Farmers Market as well as the one at 14th/U.