What’s in Season: Heart-shaped Claytonia at Hilltop Hanover Farm Stand

Top left and right, Claytonia growing greenhouse at Hilltop Hanover. Bottom left and right, the Farm Stand at Hilltop Hanover, Wilson Chang in the greenhouse. AMY SOWDER PHOTOS

By AMY SOWDER

C runching across the icy field, Wilson Chang and Adam Choper led the way to the greenhouse at Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center in Yorktown Heights. 

Glitter, the one-horned goat, bleated her greeting from her pen upon hearing human voices. 

“Everything we’re growing in the greenhouse now was able to freeze solid, thaw out and continue to grow. These winter greens are very, very hardy,” said Chang, the farm’s assistant director, as he opened the door to a 64-degree Fahrenheit interior.

Not only are these greens resilient, but they taste great, the farmers said. The greens ramp up their sugar production to protect them during freezes.

“They’re extra delicious in winter,” said Choper, farm director. “Winter is my favorite time for greens. It happens with other vegetables, like cabbage and carrots — they taste like candy.”

Under the irrigation sprinklers within the white-domed walls, the farmers stretched their legs across the four-rowed beds of sweet spinach to reach the Claytonia bed on the far side. Three rows of heart-shaped bunches in different stages of growth will comprise 30 to 40 pounds at harvest.

They harvest the Claytonia about every two weeks, to sell at the on-site indoor farm stand that opens the first Saturday of each month during winter, and for donation to nonprofit organizations on alternate two-week periods. This crop was seeded in September and planted in October, Chang said. 

Winter greens like Claytonia grow slower in winter than they do in warmer temperatures, so what would normally take four to six weeks to grow could take about 10 weeks in winter.

Daniel Morales, farm manager, added a row of insulation 18-inches underground, outside the row of Claytonia bordering the greenhouse, because the cold moves in through the ground, too. Sometimes at night, the Claytonia is blanketed in a filmy white covering that feels like a dryer sheet.

“Every covering moves you one zone south,” Chang said, referring to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s hardiness zones that designate the average annual extreme minimum winter temperature. Each zone, from 1 to 13, differs by 10 degrees. 

Claytonia perfoliata, also called miner’s lettuce, is often confused with another plant in the same genus — Claytonia virginica, also called spring beauty, which is native to the East Coast and is a beautiful spring-blooming ephemeral.

Hilltop Hanover’s culinary Claytonia is native to the West Coast, where it occurs in the wild and grows in early spring. It’s high in vitamin C and calcium, making it useful to fend off scurvy and malnutrition after a long winter, Chang said.

As for eating it, Claytonia is “fantastic as a salad green or sautéed,” Chang said.

Morales sautés it with garlic and onion. Choper likes it best in a salad. Another suggestion is to use Claytonia for spanakopita, the Greek savory pastry typically using spinach and feta inside layers of flaky phyllo dough.

At the farm stand on the first Saturday of January, the Claytonia sold out, Choper said. That was about 30 bunches.

Take heart, Hilltop Hanover staff say, because amid the naked branches, browned fields and bone-chilling air that is February in northern Westchester, there remain a few hopeful beds of plump, delicious greens, thanks to farmers and their volunteers.

Hilltop has many free and fee-based programs, workshops and events for adults and children too, from native plant seed propagation workshops, volunteer day, gardening for beginners, crafts, live music and more.

The next farm stand day is Saturday, March 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center is located at 1271 Hanover St., Yorktown Heights. For more information, visit hilltophanoverfarm.org.