Food and Drink

Although intended as cattle feed, the mangold can be surprisingly fit for human consumption if disguised in the following ways:

Mangold Pie

Make some shortcrust pastry (180 g flour, 125 g butter, 3 tbls cold water) and roll it out to cover the bottom of a pie dish. Pre bake for 10 minutes at 200 degrees centigrade, remove from oven. Chop fresh spinach or the green leaves from your mangolds. Peel and crush a clove of garlic. Peel and chop a small onion. Fry the garlic and the onion until soft, remove from the heat and add the chopped spinach or mangold.  Turn the onion and spinach mix out into the pie case. Sprinkle some grated
cheese on top of the spinach and onions.

Beat 2 eggs with 200 ml of milk, add salt and pepper to taste and just a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg. Feel free to add a few spoonfuls of cottage cheese, sour cream or crumbled blue cheese to the egg mix. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the onion, spinach and grated cheese. Sprinkle some more grated cheese on top. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 200 degrees centigrade.

Mangold Tops in Vegetarian Lasagne

Make 2 different sauces to layer alternatively through the lasagne.  A red sauce with crushed tomatoes, carrots sliced like matchsticks, fried chopped onion, garlic and fresh basil.  A green one with lots of chopped spinach or chopped mangold leaves, in a roux sauce made with milk, flour, butter, salt, pepper and just a hint of nutmeg. Between the layers of sauce and lasagne add grated cheese and/or fresh cheese (ricotta or cottage cheese) and sprinkle grated cheese on top.

Mangold Wine

4 to 5 lb. Mangolds
8 oz. Chopped Sultanas
2 1/2 lb. Sugar
1 gallon Water

Thoroughly scrub, then dice the mangolds and boil until they are tender, strain on to the sugar, chopped sultanas and the fruit rinds.  Stir thoroughly and when cool add the fruit juice, the nutrient and the yeast. Ferment and mature in the usual way.