Purjo - Leek

Pur­jo – Leek
Al­lium por­rum

Ama­ryl­li­da­ce­ae -hei­mo Nar­sis­si­kas­vit

―

Pur­jo on si­pu­lin su­kui­nen maus­te- ja vi­han­nes­kas­vi. Pur­jo kui­ten­kin ero­aa muis­ta si­pu­leis­ta, sil­lä se ei muo­dos­ta var­si­nais­ta si­pu­lia, vaan pit­kän var­si­mai­sen leh­ti­tup­pi­muo­dos­tel­man. Si­pu­lik­si pur­jo on maul­taan mie­to. Pur­jo on ra­vit­se­va ja tuo te­hok­kaas­ti kyl­läi­syy­den tun­teen. Se si­säl­tää pal­jon vet­tä, vi­ta­mii­ne­ja, ku­ten A, C ja K sekä mi­ne­raa­le­ja, ku­ten rau­taa, kal­siu­mia ja mag­ne­siu­mia.

Pur­jo on ko­toi­sin Väli­me­ren alu­eil­ta. Pur­joa on vil­jel­ty jo tu­han­sia vuo­sia ja sen tun­net­tiin myös mui­nai­ses­sa Egyp­tis­sä. Pur­jo tuli Suo­meen kui­ten­kin vas­ta noin 1600-lu­vul­la. Pur­jo yleen­sä kas­va­te­taan tai­mek­si en­nen is­tu­tus­ta, sil­lä Suo­mes­sa sen kas­vu­kau­si on mel­ko pit­kä.

Pur­jo on sii­tä hyvä kas­vis, että sen voi käyt­tää ko­ko­naan ruo­an­lai­tos­sa. Se toi­mii ruois­sa usein raa­ka-ai­nee­na tai maus­tee­na. Usein pur­jon val­mis­tus aloi­te­taan hal­kai­se­mal­la sen var­si pi­tuus­suun­taan al­haal­ta ylös, jon­ka jäl­keen se huuh­del­laan huo­lel­li­ses­ti, jot­ta leh­ti­ty­viin jää­nyt mul­ta ja hiek­ka huuh­tou­tuu pois. Pur­jo so­pii erin­o­mai­ses­ti eri­lai­siin keit­toi­hin, pata­ruo­kiin tai sa­laat­tei­hin, mut­ta se so­pii kei­tet­ty­nä hy­vin myös li­suk­keek­si esi­mer­kik­si ka­lan tai li­han kans­sa.

―

Leek
Al­lium por­rum

The leek is type of oni­on bulb that ins­te­ad of being sphe­ri­cal is elon­ga­ted and in the pro­cess of gro­wing. The ´stem` of the leek is in fact a col­lec­ti­on of tight­ly pac­ked long le­a­ves ar­ran­ged con­cent­ri­cal­ly around each ot­her and fi­nal­ly emer­ging at the top of the plant as the fa­mi­li­ar green le­a­ves of a leek. The lo­wer parts of the le­a­ves are whi­te and the co­lor prog­res­si­ve­ly chan­ges to a pale then fi­nal­ly to a dark green. A good leek is con­si­de­red to have a long ´stem` a lar­ge pro­por­ti­on of which should be whi­te.

Gro­wing high qu­a­li­ty tall leeks re­qui­res a good well ma­nu­red and fer­ti­li­zed lo­a­my soil, it can take around 120 days un­til a leek a ful­ly grown so star­ting ear­ly with 6-8 week old transp­lants is im­por­tant. A tra­di­ti­o­nal met­hod has been to ´earth up` leeks, me­a­ning that as the plant grows earth is built up around it co­ve­ring the lo­wer stem and cau­sing it to re­main whi­te. Mo­dern va­rie­ties have been se­lec­ted to be na­tu­ral­ly tall and whi­te wit­hout nee­ding this.

Nut­ri­ti­o­nal­ly leeks have the fi­ber and many of the vi­ta­mins and mi­ne­rals as­so­ci­a­ted with a ve­ge­tab­le su­per food. They are slight­ly swee­ter and less strong­ly fla­vo­red than nor­mal oni­ons.

At har­ves­ting leeks should be dug and not pul­led from the soil, pul­ling will brui­se the stem due to the grip re­qui­red. Choo­sing the cor­rect va­rie­ty can mean that leeks are able to be sto­red in cold and moist con­di­ti­ons for 2-3 months. Leeks should be sto­red in an up­right po­si­ti­on to avoid ben­ding of the stem.

Qu­a­li­ty prob­lems in leeks inc­lu­de short, thin, or split stems of­ten com­mon in poor­ly grown crops, ble­mis­hes on the stem and le­a­ves due to in­sect and fun­gal da­ma­ge and wil­ted yel­lo­wing poor­ly sto­red stems. A prob­lem har­der to spot is bol­ting (growth of pre­ma­tu­re flo­wer stalk) this oc­curs in some va­rie­ties more than ot­hers and me­ans the nor­mal­ly le­a­fy cen­ter of the stem is rep­la­ced with a gro­wing flo­wer stalk.