Northeastern Vegetables

What the plate gets wrong

The picture was generated, and these are its errors of fact, checked against the kitchen and the Lexicon. Read the plate with them.

• Cauliflower prints “Virginia, Oct-Nov”. Cauliflower on a Northeastern plate should be credited to New York, which grows it in quantity for the fall market, keeping the October to November window. The Northeast is the six New England states plus New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and Virginia is a Southern state by the standard Census regions.
• Celery prints “Michigan, Sept-Oct”. Celery on a Northeastern plate should be credited to New York, whose Orange County muck soils grow it from late summer into fall. Michigan is a Midwestern state, not part of the Northeast, and the plate's own map does not include it.
• Collard Greens prints “South Carolina, Nov-Feb”. Collards on a Northeastern plate should be credited to a Northeastern state such as New York or Pennsylvania, as a fall crop harvested from about September until the ground freezes and sweetened by the first frosts. South Carolina is a Southern state, and a November to February field harvest is a Southern winter schedule that Northeastern fields, frozen by January, cannot keep.
• The region prints “OHIO printed three times on the map, with WEST VIRGINIA and VIRGINIA drawn inside the region”. The Northeast is the six New England states plus New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, so Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia do not belong on the map and its state labels should not be taught. Ohio is a Midwestern state and Virginia and West Virginia are Southern states by the standard Census regions, and the map prints Ohio at three different places, so its geography is unreliable.
• Green Beans prints “Michigan, July-Sept”. Green beans on a Northeastern plate should be credited to New York or Pennsylvania, keeping the July to September window. Michigan is a Midwestern state, not part of the Northeast, and New York is one of the country's largest snap bean growers with the same summer season.
• Sweet Corn prints “SWEETCON, printed over a drawing of red and yellow onions”. The card is Sweet Corn; its title is misspelled and its drawing shows onions rather than ears of corn, so read the facts as sweet corn and disregard the picture. No ear or husk is drawn, the bulbs shown match the Onions card two rows above, and the facts (July to September, sweet, juicy, tender) describe corn, not onions.
• Spinach prints “SOMATOES”. The card should read Spinach; the printed name is garbled and names no vegetable. The drawing is a bunch of spinach leaves, the facts (New York, April to June, mild, earthy, fresh) fit spring spinach, and the real Tomatoes card sits two places to the right.