Friday, July 27, 2007

the tomatillo



The husk tomato is a food staple in Mexican cooking. As the main ingredient in green salsa, it's utilized in dishes from enchiladas to chilaquiles. Pancho's mother purees a green salsa with avocado, making a thick, smooth sauce which is great on fried fish or eggs.

Having never grown this type of plant before, the cultivation was a total experiment. I was concerned that the soil in my garden bed would not be sandy enough for these southern-grown seedlings to root and prosper, but I combined them with jalepeno and poblano pepper plants, and put sage and basil in the gaps, hoping that the mix would create an environment that would allow the plants to nutritionally support each other. Well, I don't know if it's the combination planting, or the compost rich soil, but the tomatillo plants are doing fabulously. The grow tall, like tomatoes, but spread into bushes, attaching their branches to each other in a web of long green stalks and pretty yellow blossoms.

The pic shows the beginning formation of the outer husk that the tomatillo will eventually grow into. At this stage, I have about 35 hollow husks, hanging like chinese lanterns off the long stalks.

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