While I was away from home, my vegetable garden grew several feet. This is exciting - except that some veggies decided to bolt. (That is, they produced seed heads.) Most vegetables are inedible once they bolt; they become tough and bitter. For this reason, I had to compost most of my spinach (see the photo, left). However, I was delighted to discover collards (yes, I'm typing about collards again!) taste fine if you snip off the seed head early. They continue to grow new leaves, too.And - lo! - those collard seed heads are edible! They taste a lot like young broccoli. We've been eating them raw, but you could just as easily cook them. All this made me wonder if other bolted vegetables are edible. A quick Google search turned up only one interesting fact: You can eat bolted lettuce stems. Peel and steam them, then add them to a salad, serve them on their own, or add them to a vegetable medley. Delicious!
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