White House garden blooms year-round

The White House kitchen garden will be planted this week with winter crops, including spinach, lettuce, carrots, mustard greens, chard and cabbage, according to a post on the White House blog by Sam Kass, assistant chef and food initiative coordinator.

The garden is a cornerstone of First Lady Michelle Obama's national campaign to encourage healthy eating habits.  Kass reports that the garden has produced 1,007 lbs. of produce this year, joking that the garden is "the most delicious idea the First Lady has had yet!"

The garden's growing season will be extended through the use of a hoop house, a plastic tent stretched over metal bars, designed to trap heat from the sun while protecting crops from freezing (photo courtesy of Obamafoodorama).

Kass is most looking forward to cooking the winter spinach, because "winter spinach is extra sweet, because sugar doesn’t freeze so spinach produces extra sugars in the winter to protect itself from frost. It tastes almost like candy."

Should be a perfect ingredient for White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford’s famous "no cream creamed spinach," which substitutes a spinach puree for cream.