Close up of Crosnes

One of the fun things about shopping at the local farmers market is discovering new things. At first glance, it looks like there are a lot of apples, cheeses, breads, and some meat. However, if you look carefully at each stand and examine the names of the fruits and vegetables, you see that there are vegetables you have never tried, apple strains you have never heard of, and herbs that you thought only grew in other places.
I did not quite know what I was going to eat for lunch the other day. I had just gotten back from Italy and was excited to eat some home-cooked veggies. I love Italian food, but I had been in pasta overload, and was missing some fresh vegetables. I found some beautiful sunchokes and smoked trout, and was trying to figure out the best way to use them in something light and healthy. Then I cam across some Crosnes. It looked like a crate full of little white worms, something that you would go to the doctor to get out of your system. But I was intrigued. I asked the women what they were, and they described them as small little tubers. I love tubers: sweet potatoes, yucca, taro, potatoes of all shapes and sizes, sunchokes- well, why not try another one? I took them home and looked them up online. It turns out that they are native to China, but the French imported them in the late 19th century, and they got their name from a town in their adoptive country.
They are small little tan tubers, and combined with smoked trout and sunchokes, I knew that I would need some color on my plate. I decided to jazz up my salad with some grated carrots, cilantro and thinly sliced watermelon radish. In the end I had a gorgeous salad that looked like a party on my plate.
Anyway, the point of this entry is to say that I had never had Crosnes before, and had no idea what they were before a week ago. But I bought them and tried them, and now my world is just a little bit bigger. So go to the markets, read all the signs and find something new to try. Do not be afraid!