12 delicious organic winter vegetables and how to cook them

Dark greens
These include organic cabbages, purple and white sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spring greens, Swiss chard, spinach beet and vivid green and purple kales. When freshly harvested, all are generally superb. All, too, contain fistfuls of vitamins and antioxidants. Always a favourite gardener’s vegetable, and popular on the continent thanks to box schemes, organic Swiss chard is becoming more common in the UK and is now being grown for supermarkets. Organic Brussels sprouts often come attached to their stalks – a sure sign of freshness. Organic cabbages will store well for a week or so in the refrigerator. Other greens should be eaten in their prime. You may well find the odd insect lurking within, so remember to check them carefully.
Cook’s tip. All greens should be cooked either very quickly – shredding and stir-frying is fast and easy – or long and slowly. For something different, briefly blanch Swiss chard or any kind of broccoli, drain, then cook very slowly in olive oil, chilli and garlic. Season with salt, drizzle with extra olive oil and eat as a side dish.

Leeks
One of the best winter vegetables, organic leeks often come with more green flat (leaves) and, if freshly dug, will probably need careful washing. They are available from early autumn onwards. The outer tough green flags on leeks should be discarded, but the inner green leaves can be cooked with the white part.
Cook’s tip. For a delicious and easy dish, slice the leeks and cook very slowly in organic olive oil with chopped organic red pepper for 40 minutes, or until meltingly soft, adding a little chopped rosemary if you wish.

Mushrooms
The development of organic cultivated mushrooms has been a great success, though changes to European Union regulation may mean we shall shortly have fewer available. At the moment, they are an organic stalwart, readily available all year round, and a good first choice for everyone. Varieties include organic brown caps, buttons, pleurotes and shiitake (grown on logs). Apart from the latter, they are cultivated naturally on composted straw in specialised mushroom sheds and take five to six weeks to grow. Cultivating mushrooms organically requires the highest standards with the spent compost being recycled for use as a soil conditioner and fertiliser.
Cook’s tip. Mushrooms need to breathe because they deteriorate quickly when stored in plastic wrap or bags. Take them out of their wrapping and store in a brown paper bag in the refrigerator or loose on a plate lined with kitchen paper.

The differences that count
• In organic mushroom production there is a total absence of the many different chemicals that are approved for use in conventional mushroom-growing sheds.
• Up to four times as many people are employed to monitor organic mushrooms.
• Any sign of disease is removed by hand.
• Only biodegradable disinfectants are used to clean the sheds between crops.