A United States site revealed the alleged existence of square watermelons, Parisian round carrots, red kernel corn (apparently looks rather stunning), violetta artichokes (purple), and golden chard.
None of those particularly appealed, but I found a Kiwi site offering a more interesting, and presumably attainable, selection.
So if you're keen to be
first out of the stalls with something unusual, you could try carrots in purple, white, yellow and red. Apparently they've existed for centuries, and whatever they look like they still taste like carrots.
Another one is black salsify, sometimes called the vegetable oyster. It's not the best-looking vege on the block, but it is renowned for its distinctive, oyster-like flavour.
Parsnips have become a trendy veg of choice in their own right, and now there's burdock root minto shirohada, which is grown like parsnips and has a crisp, nutty flavour. It's good in Japanese dishes.
Asparagus pea produces heaps of winged pods for about 10 weeks if picked regularly and kept well-watered. Steamed, they taste - as you would expect - similar to asparagus.
