Exploring the Remarkable Root Beer Leaf: Plating Techniques

by Chef's Garden | Mar 19, 2024 | Culinary Arts

Scientifically called the Piper auritum, the peppery root beer leaf is also called hoja santa—or, the sacred leaf. While being cooked, the flavor of sassafras—along with cloves, nutmeg, mint, and black pepper—carries through the process whether these edible leaves are...

Marvelous Mushroom Leaf: Plating Techniques

by Chef's Garden | Mar 7, 2024 | Botany

The leaves of the mushroom plant, which is indigenous to Papua, New Guinea, allow you to impart the delicious flavor of mushrooms to creative dishes—adding a delightful crunch instead of the traditional texture of mushrooms. Here are three ways that Chef Jamie Simpson...

Unexplored Kohlrabi: Plating Techniques

by Chef's Garden | Jan 24, 2023 | Culinary Exploration

This underrated vegetable adds a wonderfully sweet flavor to dishes along with marvelous texture: juicy and crunchy. Its flavor is comparable to that of cruciferous vegetables. Here, Chef Jamie Simpson uses kohlrabi in three different ways to highlight its...

Cauliflower: Plating Techniques

by Chef's Garden | Nov 8, 2022 | Cooking or Recipes

Farm-fresh cauliflower from The Chef’s Garden comes in a range of gorgeous hues, each with subtly different flavors. Here are delicious ways to serve cauliflower at the bar, in a fine dining setting, and at a country club.   At the Bar: Cauliflower and Hot Chili Jam...

The Slightly Wild Verde Pea Tendril: Plating Techniques

by Chef's Garden | Jun 29, 2022 | Food & Drink

Chef Jamie Simpson of the Culinary Vegetable Institute appreciates how the Verde pea tendril has less leaf with its tendrils winding together in unpredictable ways. “When, for example, I make a salad,” he says, “I want the tendrils to cling together and hold onto...