Kenai and me harvesting Tomatillos
Tomatillos! Those little green tomato like fruits with the husks on the outside are essential to dishes like Chile Verde and green salsa. I love their tart taste and their ability to help thicken stews. I recently found out they are also surprisingly full of nutrition. Low in calories (one cup of chopped tomatillos has just 42 calories), tomatillos have fiber, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins.
Unlike tomatoes, tomatillos do not contain lycopene (the pigment that makes tomatoes red). But, according to Men’s Journal, tomatillos are a good source of a family of antioxidants known as withanolides. Ixocarpalactone-A is one of the withanolides in tomatillos that is known to have anti-bacterial and anti-cancer properties. In addition to antioxidant vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E, the fruit contains flavonoids such as beta-carotene, zeaxanthin and lutein, which are associated with protecting vision, especially macular degeneration. Tomatillos contain more minerals that regular tomatoes, including copper, iron, phosphorous, manganese and others.
Tomatillos are surprisingly easy to grow in my vertical aeroponic growing system. The main trick is to have more than one plant coming out of each net basket, because tomatillos must have a “neighboring” plant polinate their blossoms. I am always astounded at the hundreds and hundreds of blossoms produced by each plant.
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