{"id":7595,"date":"2025-12-18T09:22:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T09:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/astridlindgrenshembygd.se\/?p=7595"},"modified":"2025-12-18T09:22:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T09:22:50","slug":"farska-tomater-fran-fjolarets-skord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/astridlindgrenshembygd.se\/en\/farska-tomater-fran-fjolarets-skord\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh tomatoes from last year's harvest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hillevi:<\/em>
\nAnyone else still have fresh tomatoes lying around on the kitchen counter?<\/p>\n

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\nRed in Yellow out after this beautiful and delicious pienollo tomato that we still eat.<\/em><\/p>\n

For me, this whole pienollo tomato thing is relatively new. The Italian name really just means that these are tomatoes that you hang up. They are hung up to ripen slowly indoors after harvest and can then be eaten during the winter. In Swedish, they are often called \u201deternal tomatoes\u201d.<\/p>\n

I have tried a few different varieties. Some do not tolerate storage at all in my experience, even though they are sold as pienollo. But now I have found a favorite. This variety is called \u201dRed in Yellow out\u201d and looks just like that, which also makes it very decorative when it hangs like golden clusters on the curtain rod during the dark season. The tomatoes are round and large. The ones in the picture are the last, smallest ones.<\/p>\n

It feels incredibly luxurious at this time of year to add fresh tomato slices to your pizza or omelet. Saut\u00e9ing onion and garlic and then adding the tomato slices to the hot pan at the end is also a delicious side dish reminiscent of summer.<\/p>\n

It's not a salad tomato. I've tried a few varieties that would work for salads but they couldn't be stored. In a way, quite logical. It's the sun's rays as the plant ripens that create the sweet and sour taste we're looking for in a salad. Something should also distinguish the seasons!<\/p>\n

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Grow more legumes<\/a><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
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This year I have grown more legumes than before and it has been a good year for peas and beans. More legumes means a higher degree of self-sufficiency since legumes are among the things we still buy in the store. Different varieties give a long harvest period and there is also food for the winter in the form of dried black beans and snow peas.<\/p>\n

Legumes are full of nutrients, not only protein, but also important minerals and resistant starch that is good for the intestinal flora.<\/p>\n

Legumes also contain some substances that are not so good for digestion. But these are destroyed when heated. That is why you should always cook peas, beans and broad beans. The only exceptions are sugar snap peas and very young snow peas. There are no exceptions for beans. Broad beans should not be eaten raw either.<\/p>\n

While legumes are tasty, filling and nutritious, the plants are also soil improvers when grown. Not only because they cooperate with nitrogen-fixing bacteria that enrich the soil with nitrogen for the next crop, but also because legumes stimulate the formation of mycorrhiza, long thin fungal hyphae that will remain in the soil and help the next crop with the nutrient and water supply in a symbiotic interaction. We receive this service under one condition: That we do not tear apart the invisibly thin mycorrhiza hyphae with soil cultivation, such as turning the soil or \u2013 even worse \u2013 milling\u2026 (don\u2019t do that!).<\/p>\n

Peas<\/h1>\n

Peas have been grown in our country since ancient times. They are adapted to our climate and can therefore be sown early in the season. They can tolerate cold soil but must never be deprived of water.<\/p>\n

Sweet peas<\/h2>\n

Sweet peas are grown for their sweet pods. This year I have grown three varieties that have ripened one after the other: The fast yellow sweet pea M\u00e4rta which is so easy to pick because the colour differs from the foliage, the fine eyed sweet pea Boaryd and Lokf\u00f6rare Bergf\u00e4lts j\u00e4tte\u00e4rt which has huge pods that never become stringy. All of these are local old varieties collected through the Seed Appeal where individuals have submitted seeds for peas that have been passed down in the family.<\/p>\n

Wild pea, Stone pea, Marguerite<\/h2>\n

Peas grown for their green seeds are called snap peas and are what we buy when we buy frozen peas at the store. But the homegrown older varieties are a completely different taste experience and are also more filling!<\/p>\n

New for me this year is the Stens\u00e4rten Norrhult. The Stens\u00e4rten is a variety of the pea that was bred in the 19th century and produces taller plants and larger peas. The special thing about Norrhult is that the family that grew this pea is from S\u00f6dra Vi here outside Vimmerby and that I received the seeds personally from the gold pea prize winner Elsa's daughter Wiola who happened to visit my neighbor this spring. I thank you and bow! The peas are really worth growing, tasty, healthy and rich.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For several years now I have also been growing the M\u00e4rg\u00e4rten Adel\u00f6v. This is also an old variety from Sm\u00e5land that is grown for the immature seeds. Adel\u00f6v has even larger and very sweet peas. The pods are so well-fed that the peas really crowd inside the pod!<\/p>\n

Grey pea, Blue pea<\/h2>\n

A practical way to store peas for the winter is to let them ripen completely on the plant and then thresh the dry peas. This is how our yellow soup peas are produced. For the home grower, I recommend the tall varieties that give a large harvest in a small area.<\/p>\n

For a few years now I have been growing Bishop's peas. A really good peas with an incredibly concentrated and nutritious texture. Peas are very good for making hummus, for example. Simply boiled in salted water, a few tablespoons on the plate are enough to provide protein and a wonderful feeling of satiety to any vegetarian plate.<\/p>\n

New for me this year is the Gotland Blue Pea. It is a delight to the eye with its blue-purple pods. The seeds are slightly smaller than the Bishop's and it remains to be seen what they taste like.<\/p>\n

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M\u00e4rta, the yellow sugar pea, can also be used as a grey pea. I haven't tried that yet but that's how it has been used historically. The seeds are quite small, we'll see how they taste.<\/p>\n

The different ways peas can be eaten are forgiving for those who don't have time to harvest everything at their optimal stage. Of course, we always save plenty of pods to dry on the plant for seed. But if it happens that the snow peas have also matured on the bush, more than what is needed as seed, there is always the option of boiling the seeds and treating them as snow peas!<\/p>\n

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From top left: Bishop's grey pea, Gotland blue pea, Boaryd's eye sugar pea (note that it incorrectly said M\u00e4rta here before, the seeds from the sugar grey pea M\u00e4rta look more like the Gotland blue pea, just without the blue-purple color)<\/em>\r\nSecond row from left: Marguerite Adel\u00f6v in mature and immature stages<\/em>\r\nThird row from left: Stone tern Norrhult from S\u00f6dra Vi in mature and immature stages<\/em><\/pre>\n
Beans<\/h1>\n
The beans (except broad beans) all originate from South America and have a short cultivation history in our country. They are more sensitive to cold and many varieties require a longer warm season than we have in our latitudes. But there are also varieties worth growing for us here in Sm\u00e5land.<\/p>\n
Break beans \u2013 high and low<\/h2>\n
This year I grew a super-fast snap bean, \u201dSpeedy\u201d. It wasn\u2019t exactly a delicacy, but it produced ready-made \u201dHaricot Verts\u201d in the greenhouse before the other beans had even started to bloom. Of course, it was still better than anything the store offers in the way of beans.<\/p>\n
If you want a fast bean variety, you have to go for the bush beans. The climbing sturgeon beans can give a much higher yield per square meter but require more time to develop the plant before it can start delivering. If frost comes early, you may not have a harvest. It's a trade-off.<\/p>\n
An important reason why I still choose sturgeon beans is that it looks so beautiful in the garden with the space-creating climbing plants. Another is that they are easy to pick and don't risk mold in a damp autumn because they hang airy high above the ground.<\/p>\n
A reliable variety is Blaue Hilde. It is extremely rich in yield, tasty, and even the rather coarse pods can be eaten without becoming stringy.<\/p>\n
Kentucky Wax is a climbing wax bean worth growing and Neckark\u00f6nigin is a green snap bean.<\/p>\n
The star of my bean crop, however, is Sigrid's bean from Loftahammar. (It's so fun with all these local connections!). Sigrid's bean is green, short and a bit lumpy. It has a slightly lower yield than the other varieties but is the tastiest!<\/p>\n
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The tastier the vegetables, the easier the cooking. We don't have to bother with complicated procedures in the kitchen. Simply steam Sigrid's beans and serve with a little oil and herb salt on top!<\/p>\n
Flower beans, rose beans, purple beans<\/h2>\n
In Sweden, runner beans are grown, as the name suggests, mostly for their flowers. It's a shame because there is potentially a lot of food to be had here. The pods, which grow large, should be harvested young. We cut them into small pieces and boil them in hearty autumn stews. In England, there is a completely different tradition of growing these for food, and they are called "runner beans" there.<\/p>\n
This year I have a new acquaintance in the garden. It is a flowering bean that I got from a childhood friend's mother who got it from her English mother-in-law when she got married in the 50s. It has beautiful light pink flowers and produces beans that are large and green but not as coarse as the varieties I have previously grown. It looks promising and I will now try to find out what the variety is called. I may be the only one growing this variety in Sweden...<\/p>\n
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Spirit beans<\/h2>\n
In my greenhouse, borlotti beans are climbing, creating a jungle-like atmosphere. They are late, the first small fruit bodies are now starting to appear and many flowers are still there. Borlotti beans can be eaten in three ways: 1) whole pods, 2) sprouted fresh seeds, 3) sprouted dried seeds, all cooked of course. I don't eat the pods, we have snap beans for that during the summer. But when the seeds have formed in September, we cook the sprouted fresh seeds. It's a real delicacy!! What we don't have time to eat during the autumn is left to hang and dry on the plant. Then the beans are threshed out and stored as dry cooking beans.<\/p>\n
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I also have low-growing borlotti beans. The use is the same but the low-growing ones are a little faster and therefore do well outdoors.<\/p>\n
The crowning glory is a Swedish liquor bean. It is called Mor Kristin's bean. Mor Kristin lived in the Kisa region. So here too we have a variety adapted to our climate, which means that it is a little faster than the Italian borlotti. Mor Kristin's bean is good, rich and is used in the same way as borlotti beans. Next year it may replace borlotti completely here, when I have managed to multiply enough of the seeds that I received from Mor Kristin's sister's grandson!!<\/p>\n
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Seed<\/h1>\n
A practical feature is that peas and beans are self-fertile. Therefore, it is easy to take your own seed and in this way, valuable varieties have been passed down from generation to generation without crossing.<\/p>\n
An exception here is the broad bean, which I haven't talked about at all above. The broad bean is a must for the self-sufficient person. (See previous blog posts<\/a>) It is a separate species and does not originate from South America like the other beans. It is not a pea either, but it is similar in that it can withstand cold climates and likes to be sown early. The broad bean is to some extent a cross-fertilizer, which is why I only grow a single variety and also make sure that my neighbors grow the same variety (provide them with seeds) to avoid unwanted crosses. By selecting for desired characteristics, I can get a strain that is adapted to this location after just a few years.<\/p>\n
Most of the varieties I mentioned above can be obtained by becoming a member of the association SESAM, the association for seed production and protection of cultivated plants in Sweden.<\/p>\n
What are your favorite varieties of legumes? Feel free to write in the comments section or in the FB group Cultivation as a lifestyle.<\/p>\n
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What are you sowing right now?<\/a><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
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The question surprised me when it came via text message the other night. How could the sender know that I was just sitting there fiddling with small seeds and the seed tray in the kitchen at the beginning of July when everything was finally going to be planted out and ready?<\/p>\n
The last thing I sowed outdoors was actually carrots. I usually sow a late batch of carrots around midsummer and they usually turn out the best. I'm always surprised that they actually have time to grow back in the fall.<\/p>\n
What I was doing when the text message appeared was sowing head cabbage that we will eat during the spring-winter season. Varieties that can overwinter outside.<\/p>\n
This winter growing thing is not as easy as it sounds. No matter how much we insulate or heat up, the winter light from November to March is not enough for photosynthesis and thus nothing grows. That's why I'm sowing now. My cabbage plants will grow during the summer and autumn and then be ready to harvest under the snow.<\/p>\n
By growing small plants in the tray, I can make optimal use of the space. Where the first potatoes have already been harvested, lettuce plants are now growing, and then cabbage plants take their place.<\/p>\n
Last year was the first time I tried this with winter cabbage. However, it should be said that I am several weeks later with the planting of the winter cabbage this year compared to last year. Hopefully not too late.<\/p>\n
The important thing to keep in mind when sowing this time of year is to choose varieties with a short development time. The cabbage heads should be ready to grow by the end of October. Reputable seed companies state the development time in days. If the cabbage is to be left outside over the winter, the variety also needs to be frost-resistant, which the seed company should also be able to provide information about. Here is what I have just sown:<\/p>\n