What is this vegetable?

ktot · Mon Aug 08, 2011 12:11 pm

Is it possible to post a photo of a vegetable? I bought this at a farmers market but don't remember what the name is. The name on the sign was two words, the first being two or three syllables, the second one syllable with five letters--something like shake or choke or... I'll post a photo if someone will tell me how (I don't see an attachment option on this screen). It's probably a good 2 feet tall, with the top leaves longer than the bottom root. The bottom root looks rough like a kohlrabi but long like a parsnip (though cylindrical, not pointed at the bottom--but it's whitish). The top is long pointed leaves that are smooth and a medium dark green. The man said both the top and bottom are edible and may be eaten cooked or raw. (The bottom part needs to be peeled first of course.) Any ideas what this may be? And again, if there's a way to post a photo, I'll gladly do so.[/img]

DoubleDogFarm · Mon Aug 08, 2011 12:30 pm

Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), also called the sunroot, sunchoke, earth apple or topinambour, is a species of sunflower.

Doesn't quite fit your description.

How to post a picture.
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3724

Eric

ktot · Mon Aug 08, 2011 12:39 pm

Thanks, but definitely not Jerusalem artichoke. I know those well. Have grown them in the past, in fact.

Will check out your picture posting link--thank you.

DoubleDogFarm wrote:Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), also called the sunroot, sunchoke, earth apple or topinambour, is a species of sunflower.

Doesn't quite fit your description.

How to post a picture.
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3724

Eric

DoubleDogFarm · Mon Aug 08, 2011 12:57 pm

I should just wait for the picture but how about Celeriac.

Eric

ktot · Mon Aug 08, 2011 12:58 pm

Hoping this works, here's a picture of the veggie I referred to in my initial post.

https://s1109.photobucket.com/albums/h429/ktotktot/?action=view&current=IMG_1364-1.jpg

The second photo is a bit blurry but has my hand to show the size.

DoubleDogFarm · Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:11 pm

Not sure, the leaves look a little like Dock. Yellow dock, Curly dock ?

[img]https://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h429/ktotktot/IMG_1364-1.jpg[/img]

Eric

ktot · Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:12 pm

Doesn't look like any photos of celariac I found online, but I'd say it's related to that most likely. And that's definitely not what the vendor called it anyway.

DoubleDogFarm wrote:I should just wait for the picture but how about Celeriac.

Eric

DoubleDogFarm · Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:16 pm

We posted about the same time. What about dock?

Eric

ktot · Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:31 pm

The pics I still online still don't look like dock--I did search all three (dock, yellow dock, curly dock).

These leaves don't have stems below the leaves like chard and some of the dock photos show. Also my photo is a little misleading. The leaves are quite crumpled from my carrying it around the farmers market in a sack with a dog in-tow. The leaves got somewhat mashed up. Originally they were quite smooth. Look more at the smooth leaf in the center of the photo than on the more crumpled one at the top of the veggie in the picture.

Also I'm sure about the five letter second name, and am pretty sure the first two letters were both consonants so something-h or something-r or similar, but I realize a veggie may have multiple names so I'll keep checking any suggestions anyone comes up with.

Any more suggestions?

DoubleDogFarm wrote:Not sure, the leaves look a little like Dock. Yellow dock, Curly dock ?

[img]https://i1109.photobucket.com/albums/h429/ktotktot/IMG_1364-1.jpg[/img]

Eric

soil · Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:32 pm

are you sure that's the root? not the stalk of the plant and he picked the bottom leaves making it look/grow like that.

what texture do the leaves have? lettuce like?

ktot · Mon Aug 08, 2011 1:56 pm

I just looked at and felt it again. I believe you are right, that it's not a root but just is the lower part where the leaves were cut off, for whatever reason. The white part does seem to gradually get smaller under the leaves that are still there, until it's just leaves sticking up (if that makes sense--not a very good description, I fear). The bottom looks like it was shaved a bit to a near point, and the very bottom is cut off flat, so that probably is where the plant was cut off from the root and what I have all grew above ground.

I'm hoping to remember to ask the vendor about it when I get to the market again in a few weeks, but unless I happen to see the veggie again (and I fear it may be unavailable by then), I may well forget. And I am just really curious about what it is.

On the leaves' feel--they're smooth. Not slippery/shiny or anything, just kind of a normal smooth feel.

soil wrote:are you sure that's the root? not the stalk of the plant and he picked the bottom leaves making it look/grow like that.

what texture do the leaves have? lettuce like?

TWC015 · Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:04 pm

Can you get another picture showing the leaves in the center of the plant?

It looks like it may be some type of Brassica family of plants. The mark left by old leaves on the stem reminds me of Brassicas.

I don't know the name of the plant though.

ktot · Mon Aug 08, 2011 2:22 pm

Here are more photos I just took, including with the leaves held back. The leaves are getting kind of wilted even though I'm keeping it in the fridge. Probably due to leaving it out over the weekend, but I tried holding one leaf out so you can see what the leaves did look like.

You should be able to see all eight photos at

https://s1109.photobucket.com/albums/h429/ktotktot/?action=view&current=IMG_1379.jpg

TWC015 wrote:Can you get another picture showing the leaves in the center of the plant?

It looks like it may be some type of Brassica family of plants. The mark left by old leaves on the stem reminds me of Brassicas.

I don't know the name of the plant though.

soil · Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:04 pm

I'm going to go with a brassica as well. pretty sure I saw one like that in a seed catalog not too long ago.

ktot · Mon Aug 08, 2011 4:44 pm

I can see the family similarity, but I'm still unable to find any photos online of anything that looks very close at all to my vegetable. I've searched on terms like Brassica vegetable photo and similar. And I'd still like to find out the common name for it (the two word term I just don't remember), so if anyone has any other ideas, please pass them on to me. Thank you.

Also if you happen to remember what seed catalog you saw it in, perhaps I can check their website and see what you saw. You probably leaf through many catalogs, so I won't be surprised if you have no idea what catalog you may have seen it in.

soil wrote:I'm going to go with a brassica as well. pretty sure I saw one like that in a seed catalog not too long ago.