Victoria Cosford
I’d never heard of kangkung until Ryan Bruin mentioned it to me. This was during our first chat and it was, he said, his favourite vegetable. More commonly referred to as water spinach, it’s a semi-aquatic tropical plant grown for its tender shoots, and is widely cultivated in South East Asia. Ryan, a prodigious source of agricultural information for a man his (youthful) age, tells me that it’s become popular in the last two years. ‘People are embracing seasonal vegetables’, he says, ‘and cooking more Asian dishes.’ And becoming better educated, of course. ‘It’s so easy to grow in this area’, he adds. ‘It loves the Australian summer.’
Ryan says to ‘treat it like spinach. It’s the king of stir-fries, with chilli and garlic.’ He tells me it’s got a circular stem you can chop up and eat as well. ‘There’s a lot of bang for your buck when you buy it.’
At the ever-popular Summit Organics stall – where the great green bunches of mint, parsley and sage are suggesting to me salsa verde, or pesto – we’re discussing what’s in season. ‘Brown onions’, Ryan tells me. ‘Tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini. Kangkung. Green beans.’ He says that the leafy greens are starting to slow down: English spinach, silverbeet and chard ‘are on the way out.’ Instead, ‘if you want to eat spinach, you have to be adventurous. Branch out and try Egyptian or Ceylon spinach.’ I ask what distinguishes the latter from common-or-garden spinach. ‘Ceylon has a creaminess to it’, he replies. ‘It goes so well with eggs, or in bakes.’
It’s been ‘a good year for tomatoes’, he continues, ‘and I’d be shot by my parents if I didn’t mention basil’, which is exactly what you should be planting right now. Oh, and kangkung!
Summit Organics are at New Brighton Farmers Market every Tuesday from 8 to 11am and at Mullumbimby Farmers Market every Friday from 7 to 11am.
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