The Union Square Greenmarket was pretty apple and squash-heavy this morning (no clementines yet here in New York) but we did find one unexpected gem. What are these caterpillar-like vegetables?
Farmers' Market Report: Crosnes
New York
They are called crosnes (pronounced CRONE), named after the town in France where they were first grown after being imported from China. They are also called Chinese artichokes. Crosnes are tubers that are in season during the winter and have a nutty, artichoke-like flavor, according to the handout the farmer gave us.
These little vegetables are smaller than your pinky finger and have a quirky shape- we weirdly thought of miniature, fat baby thighs. See that hand moving around in the bin? It was scooping up huge handfuls (almost half the crosnes on display) for a guy who sounded like he was taking them back to his restaurant. This was at 8:30 a.m., so you may need to arrive early to get your share.
The farmer told us we could eat crosnes raw, in a salad, sauté them with some butter, or roast them in the oven. The printed material he gave us (which came from Chow) says to rub with kosher salt to remove the skin, but it also notes that most of the flavor is in the skin, so it's a little confusing. We don't think we'd bother trying to remove it.
Have you ever eaten crosnes?
Related: Seasonal Spotlight: Jerusalem Artichokes a.k.a. Sunchokes
(Images: Elizabeth Passarella)
Tags
NYC Farmers' Market Report, Winter, Ingredients - Vegetables, crosnesRelated Links
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I worked for a French chef who grew them in his garden. He would bring them into the restaurant and we would sautee them in butter. Kind of a like a little sunchoke.
view art's profile
Yeah, I've only had these once in a dish I got at a fancy restaurant, but I've never seen them for sale to the humble public. How cool!
Art, was the chef you worked for living in the US at the time? I think I may look into growing them next year...
view EmmaC's profile
I used to buy 'em at my old farmers market in So Cal. Delicious and nutty! I sauteed em in brown butter and served them with pinenuts and pasta. A little sage and pecorino- and hooray!
And I didn't remove the skin. too much work!! Just a quick rinse under the sink is all it takes.
view spotonmeg's profile
do you chop them up before sauteeing or just throw them in the pan whole?
view sebnmg's profile
Hoo boy, I really thought the Kitchn wa going to start my day off with a post about maggots... I need my coffee now.
view melanie's profile
Yes, EmmaC, the chef was living in Chicago (area) at the time. He's French and I would imagine he brought them back from France with him. But they grew just fine in our Midwestern climate.
view art's profile
Hmmm, I think I've had a stir-fried version of these in Taiwan, but they definitely looks way more like bugs than these....
view joyosity's profile