Author Archives: stephanie rhodes

Catch up day … continuing on from January 1-31 … Days 32 and 33 So this challenge of mine is evolving.  From 31 vegetables in January to 365 Plants in 2021. The rules of the challenge are still rather fluid. I decided to write down every plant I could think of, to get some sortContinue reading “365 Plant Challenge – as yet a moveable feast”

Horray. January is completed. I’ve purchased, cooked (mostly), eaten and researched 31 different vegetables. And I feel all the better for it. I had to take a double course of antibiotics in the autumn. This January I feel that I have gone some way to restoring the health of my microbial community and some ofContinue reading “31 Vegetable Challenge – completed. And why eating a wide range of plants each week is so good for you.”

Day 29 – PAK CHOI – Brassica rapa chinensis A sweet leafy green most commonly used in stir-fries, the pak choi is a relative of the cabbage (also know as: bok choy, horse’s ear, Chinese celery cabbage and white mustard cabbage). Its flavour is somewhere between mild cabbage and spinach. It’s used abundantly in AsianContinue reading “Day 29-31 of 31 Vegetable Challenge.”

So, finally I’ve got around to an update on my 31 Vegetables Challenge for January on this blog. Sometimes life gets in the way of the best laid plans … so I’ve not done very well documenting this challenge on here, because it’s taken me rather a long time to prepare and cook a newContinue reading “Day 11-28 of 31 Vegetable Challenge, hope for a sourdough starter and Seville Orange and Cardamom Gin kit”

This week Tim Spector, alongside a group of international researchers with whom he’s been collaborating, have published an article in the journal “Nature Medicine”. Microbiome connections with host metabolism and habitual diet from 1,098 deeply phenotyped individuals Tim is a Professor in Epidemiology and a health writer at King’s College, London. I’ve mentioned him inContinue reading “Latest research on the microbiome & Joys and Perils of a daily eating challenge.”

Mushrooms MUSHROOM Agaricus bisporus Mushrooms are the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus. I realise that mushrooms aren’t plants.  In fact, they are more like humans than plants.  “Animals and fungi share a common ancestor and branched away from plants at some point about 1.1 billion years ago. It was only later that animals and fungi separatedContinue reading “Day 10 of 31 Vegetable Challenge”

Onions ONIONS Allium cepa “A humble vegetable, but a very important one – almost every meal begins with the peeling of an onion”Riverford A-Z Veg. The common onion is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. Close relatives include: garlic, scallion, shalot, leek, chives, Chinese onion and Walking onions (also known as Egyptian Tree onions).Continue reading “Day 9 of 31 Vegetable Challenge”

Celery CELERY Apium graveolens var. rapaceum Celery (Apium graveolens) is a marshland plant in the family Apiaceae. It is an umbellifer (which are characterised by their disc-shaped umbels, which are made up of many tiny flowers held on short flower stalks), celery is cousin to carrots, fennel, cumin, caraway, celeriac, parsnips, dill, parsley, anise, cow parsley and poison hemlock. Celery flowers attract manyContinue reading “Day 8 of 31 Vegetable Challenge”

Aubergine AUBERGINE Solanum melongena The aubergine (also called eggplant) is a plant and its berry is eaten as a vegetable. The plant is in the Solanaceae plant family which includes nightshade family of plants: the Datura or Jimson weed, aubergine, mandrake, deadly nightshade or belladonna, capsicum (paprika, chile pepper), potato, tobacco, tomato, and petunia. In fact, as many do in this family,Continue reading “Day 7 of 31 Vegetable Challenge”

Fennel FENNEL Foeniculum vulgare Fennel is cultivated, both in its native range and widely elsewhere, for its edible, strongly flavored leaves and fruits. In Italy they grow the most in the world. Finocchio (fennel in Italian) is found in two forms – the slightly fluffy looking herb fennel and the fat, white bulb commonly knownContinue reading “Day 6 of 31 Vegetable Challenge”