Heirloom VegetableGardening

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A Master Gardener’s Guide to Planting, Seed Saving and Cultural History by William Woys Weaver

Ogden Publications, Inc.Topeka, Kansas

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Asparagus pea, edible flowers and ripe pods.

The purple-podded Blue Coco Bean and White Caseknife Bean.The Caseknife Bean is shown in both the shelly and ripe-pod stages.

Blue Shackamaxon Bean.

Buerre de Rocquencourt wax bean, bottom right,and the Ice Bean, top left.

From left to right: Pawnee Bush Bean, Rio Zape Bean, and Munsi Wolf Bean or Speckled Minisink, a rare Lenape pole bean

from the region of the Delaware Water Gap.

Wild Pigeon Bean, Mostoller Wild Goose Bean, and the Sulphur Bean.

Red Cranberry Pole Bean.

Scotia or Genuine Cornfield Bean growing with Sehsapsing corn.

Shown here as dry beans, from left to right: Speckled Saba or Bushel Bean, Dr. Martin’s Lima Bean, Carolina Lima.

From left to right: White Dutch Runner Bean, Painted Lady Runner Bean, and Black Coat Runner Bean.

Purple Hyacinth Bean showing the brilliantly colored pods.

Bassano or Chioggia Beet

Golden Beet.

Various types of chard or sea kale beet, including the white stemmed Swiss chard, the red Chilean Beet, and Golden Chard.

Hardy Spinach Beet photographed in December.

Various types of chard or sea kale beet, including the white stemmed Swiss chard, the red Chilean Beet, and Golden Chard.

Hardy Spinach Beet photographed in December.

Detail of the flower of the Agua Dulce Broad Bean.

Windsor Broad Bean. The green seeds are harvested as shelly beans at this stage.

Black Tuscan Palm Tree Kale with Silesia lettuce.

Detail of Dwarf German Kale. This variety remains green all winter.

An assortment of cabbages: Red Drumhead, the small, round-headed Cannonball, and the pointed Winnigstädt cabbage.

Couve Tronchuda or Portugal Cabbage. The cooked stems have a taste similar to broccoli.

Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage is most tender when harvested very young, as shown here.

Green Glaze Collards are resistant to cabbage worms.

January King is a savoy cabbage that changes color as it grows.

Jersey Cow Cabbage, shown here as a first year plant about seven feet tall.Purple Vienna kohlrabi. The skins

may be dried and used for winter soup stocks.

Jersey Cow Cabbage, shown here as a first year plant about seven feet tall.Purple Vienna kohlrabi. The skins

may be dried and used for winter soup stocks.

Sea Kale has powdery gray leaves.

Parisian Rondo or Golden Ball carrot, a nineteenth-century variety developed for cold frames.

White Belgian Carrot and Long Red Surrey Carrot.

Red Celery retains its distinct flavor and firm texture even after cooking.

Soup Celery or smallage may be cultivated like parsley.

Chayote requires at least two plants for proper fertilization. The vines produce abundantly all summer.

Ha-Go-Wa or Seneca Hominy Corn is noted for its large round kernels.

Puhwem or Oklahoma Delaware White Corn, shown here with young red silks.

Sehapsing or Oklahoma Delaware Blue Corn is a dark blue-black corn when mature, but it can also be harvested as a sweet corn when young, as shown here.

Puhwem or Oklahoma Delaware White Corn, shown here with young red silks.

Sehapsing or Oklahoma Delaware Blue Corn is a dark blue-black corn when mature, but it can also be harvested as a sweet corn when young, as shown here.

Celtuce or Asparagus lettuce is raised as a summer lettuce both for its leaves and broccoli-like stems.

Speckled lettuce is one of the most popular heirloom varieties grown today.

Tom Thumb lettuce is about the size of a large carnation.

The young pods of martynia or Devil’s Claw may be prepared in cookery like okra.

The Anne Arundel Melon traces back to the 1730s.

Jenny Lind Melon is often described as turban shaped. The small, unripe melons were formerly stuffed for pickling.

Mango or Garden Lemon Melon is a tart-tasting melon that can be used in fruit salads or stir-fries.

Chinese Wolfberry is a perennial vine that yields a bounty of red berriesthat are excellent for drying.

The groundcherry is a summer favorite among the Pennsylvania Dutch, who even make soups with the berries.

Stubby and Cow Horn okra are two heirloom varieties from the nineteenth century. Also shown are two small martynia pods

at the stage when they can be cooked like okra.

Heirloom shallots, from left to right: Small White shallot; in the center, Prince de Bretagne, and White Potato Onion harvested green as “rare-ripes”; Besançon Sweet

Yellow Shallot on the right; and Jersey Shallots on the bottom.Welsh Onions or bunching onions overwinter well and may be used as substitutes for leeks.

Heirloom shallots, from left to right: Small White shallot; in the center, Prince de Bretagne, and White Potato Onion harvested green as “rare-ripes”; Besançon Sweet

Yellow Shallot on the right; and Jersey Shallots on the bottom.Welsh Onions or bunching onions overwinter well and may be used as substitutes for leeks.

Fleener’s Topsetting Onion produces tiny bulbs that are ideal for pearl onions.

Golden orange Jamaican Scotch Bonnet pepper and its more modern relative, the Chocolate Habañero.

Besler’s Cherry Pepper dates from the 1500s.

Buist’s Yellow Cayenne Pepper and the Red Ole Pepperpot pepper are two heirloom varieties from my grandfather’s collection.

The Fish Pepper is an African-American heirloom that began as a mutation in the nineteenth century.

The Goat Horn pepper is thought to be the same as the Long Drooping pepper of Philadelphia seedsman Bernard M’Mahon,

who offered it for sale as early as 1805.

The Pennsylvania Dutch Hinkelhatz pepper appears in both red and yellow forms.

Martin’s Carrot Pepper ripens from orange to red.

Tabasco pepper is highly ornamental but requires a long growing season.

The Texas bird pepper grows wild in southwest Texas and northern Mexico.

Several varieties of heirloom potatoes. On the left, Conestoga. The three large rose-colored potatoes: Bliss’ Triumph.

The pale pink potatoes: Garnet Chile. The long, narrow potatoes are Austrian Kipfelkrumpl. The greenish example in the center is intended to show a potato exposed to sunlight;

such potatoes are poisonous and should never be eaten.

Delicata squash. In storage the fruit turns yellow.

Symmes Blue Hubbard squash sliced in half,

Golden Hubbard squash on the right.

Pattypan or cymling squash can be used at several stages of ripeness. The young green fruit (center) may be eaten raw.

The mature fruit (top and right) can be stored like winter squash.

Improved Variegated Custard Marrow is believed to date from the early 1850s.

Potiron rouge vif d’Étampes was developed in France as a squash for soup stock.

Turk’s cap or turban squash was first mentioned in France in 1818.

China Rose and Philadelphia white box radishes. A perfectly formed China Rose should be shaped like the red radish second from the left.

Early Purple Turnip-Shaped radish varies in color from magenta to deep violet depending on the type of soil.

Madras Podding radish is cultivated for its crisp, crunchy pods.

Large Round Leaved Corn Salad remains green all winter if given protection.

Venetian Rocket reseeds profusely.

Shallot Cress is a form of pepper grass that remains green all winter.

Turkish Rocket, a native of Asia, is one of the hardiest of all winter salad greens.

Winter Cress tastes like watercress and needs no protection over the winter.

Bliton or Horsetooth Amaranth is a vegetable dating from classical antiquity.

Golden Purslane changes from yellow to yellow-green as it matures. Its delightful lemon flavor adds zest to summer salads.

Goosefoot or Lamb’s-Quarters has a flavor similar to walnuts.

Indian Cress was a popular salad green in the eighteenth century.

Joseph’s Coat is often grown as an ornamental but it also can be eaten raw or cooked.

Malabar Spinach has thick, succulent leaves and thrives in hot weather.

Orach is available in several colors. The maroon variety is shown here.

Parà Cress was introduced to North America from Brazil in the 1860s.

Aka Shiso from Japan makes a stunning addition to salads.

Tetragonia or New Zealand Spinach is easy to cultivate and is frost tolerant.

Aka Shiso from Japan makes a stunning addition to salads.

Tetragonia or New Zealand Spinach is easy to cultivate and is frost tolerant.

Two varieties of Heirloom Sweet Potatoes preserved by the Miller family of Littlestown, Pennsylvania.

An assortment of heirloom tomatoes from the garden at Roughwood. From left: Golden Queen, Redfield Beauty, Ciudad Victoria,

Power’s Heirloom, Chalk’s Early Jewel, and Hartman’s Yellow Gooseberry.

Dr. Neal’s or Lambert’s General Grant was first introduced in 1869.

The long, pointed Power’s Heirloom on the far left was crossed with the Large Yellow beside it to create Beauty of Devon, the three tomatoes on the upper right with a pink blush.

Lutescent turns a honey color when ripe. Note the yellowed leaves that are characteristic of this variety.

Plate de Haiti is actually an apple-shaped tomato. It is shown here with Yellow Peach.

Lutescent turns a honey color when ripe. Note the yellowed leaves that are characteristic of this variety.

Plate de Haiti is actually an apple-shaped tomato. It is shown here with Yellow Peach.

Shenandoah and Aunt Ruby’s German Green. Both varieties are shown sliced.

Turnips, from left to right: Purple Top Milan, Orange Jelly, White Egg, and Amber Globe.

Crosnes, an Asian root vegetable, can be eaten raw or cooked.

Evening primrose has a turniplike root that can be harvested all winter.

Skirret must be grown in wet, sandy soil for the best results.

Citron watermelon has a distinctively patterned skin.

Publications of William Woys Weaver

A Quaker Woman’s Cookbook: The Domestic Cookery of Elizabeth Ellicott Lea (Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982)

New Edition: Stackpole Books, 2004

Sauerkraut Yankees: Pennsylvania Dutch Foods & Foodways (Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983)

New Edition: Stackpole Books, 2002

Seventy-Five Receipts from the Larder Invaded (Philadelphia: The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1986)

Cookbook published in connection with an exhibition on Philadelphia cookery

Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes and Sweetmeats (San Francisco: Special Facsimile Publication/The American

Institute of Wine and Food, 1986) Originally written by Eliza Leslie, William Woys Weaver, editor

America Eats: Forms of Edible Folk Art

(New York: Harper & Row, 1989)

The Christmas Cook: Three Centuries of American Yultide Sweets (New York: Harper/Collins, 1990)

Pennsylvania Dutch Country Cooking

(New York: Abbeville Press, 1993)

Heirloom Vegetable Gardening: A Master Gardener’s Guide to Planting Seed Saving, and Cultural History

(New York: Henry Holt, 1997; Second Edition: 1999)

Food and Drink in Medieval Poland: Rediscovering a Cuisine of the Past (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999)

Originally written in Polish in 1963 by Maria Dembinska; revised and adapted by William Woys Weaver

100 Vegetables and Where They Came From

(New York: Algonquin Press, 2000)

Sauer’s Herbal Cures: America’s First Book of Botanic Healing (New York: Routledge, 2001)

Country Scrapple: An American Tradition

(Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2003)

Encyclopedia of Food and Culture (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 2003)

Solomon H. Katz, Editor in Chief, William Woys Weaver, Associate Editor and Art Editor

The Royal Garden of Pefkou: A Study of Fruit Consumption in Medieval Nicosia

(Nicosia, Cyprus: Moufflon Publications, 2006) Greek Edition, December 2007