ANGLED LOOFAH

My husband is the vegetable gardening enthusiast.  I am more for the flowers and decorative plants.  One of the vegetables he is growing at the moment is the angled loofah (also known as Luffa acutangula, Angled Luffa, Ridged Luffa, Vegetable Gourd).  

This is quite an easy vegetable to cultivate.  It grows fast and bears fruit within 3 weeks of having climbed up the trellis.  It develops many branches in the course of its life, so that means lots of fruuit!

From Dr Ong Hean Chooi's book on Vegetables (Utusan Pubications,2003), it is said to contain iron, phosporus, calcium, vitamin A,B, niacin and vitamin C.

The young leaves, flowers and shoots can be eaten - fried, curried or as part of soup.  The loofah has to be eaten while still young as the older it gets, the more bitter it becomes, as well as causing diarrhoe.  

For herbal uses:

The seeds are used to induce vomitting, and the leaves can be used eleviate skin problems.


HOW TO COOK ANGLED LOOFAH IN 5 MINUTES

This is our home-grown angled loofah.

The skinned loofah

Cut it any which way you like. This vegetable is so versatile that you can add whatever you feel like  adding - it's that friendly.  Cook it with chicken meat, beef, prawns (fresh or dried) or tofu.  It actually changes taste with each different accompaniment.I'm cooking mine with an egg plus onions, garlic and red chillies. So simple, so fast and yet so tasty!

Ready to stir fry.

Spices and eggs done

Loofah joins the party!

... and we're done in 5!  Ready for a yummy meal!

OUR FUNNY PAPAYA TREES

Some of our papaya trees grow rather peculiarly ~

This one has to be supported because it's too heavily laden.

                                             1)

                               
                                            2)

These two grow at the corner and side of brick work!

Ever seen papaya like these?

 These are conisidered 'male' papaya trees and will not bear fruit, only flowers.  These are eaten as vegetables but beware, they are very bitter, and must be cooked in a special way.

Last but not least, don't give up on your dying papaya tree!

Our papaya tree was on the verge of dying.  We lobbed off the top and it sprouted so many branches we had to remove some.  See? We have more papaya fruit!

Update on the DRAGON FRUIT

I got pictures of the Dragon Fruit in bloom!

Note: The white flowers will wilt and drop off, leaving the base which will develop into the Dragon Fruit.

TRUMPET FLOWERS (?)

When I first saw these blooms at somebody's garden, I was captivated by them. They were larger than any flowers I had ever seen, and the owner told me that they were called 'trumpet flowers'.  Indeed, they looked like trumpets because of their shape.  I asked for cuttings in exchange for my own plants, but unfortunately they did not grow.  Fortunately however, my friend's did and I am now a proud owner of a blooming pot of trumpet flowers.  I may have to move them out of the pot soon, and plant them in the garden.  They seem to love the sun.

I have looked up pictures of trumpet flowers on the internet, but I have not seen any pictures that are similar to these, so maybe they're not the real trumpet flowers.   Here are pictures that I took today.  

PS.  I discovered that they turn more yellow with each passing day, and each bloom lasts more than a week!

HIBISCUS

What's a HERBS, FRUITS AND FLOWERS blog without flowers?  So here are some of my hibiscus plants that are flowering at the moment. 

In case you're interested, here's a some info on the plant.

Hibiscus is a bushy annual plant. Parts of the flower are used to make a popular drink in Egypt called Karkade. Various parts of the plant are also used to make jams, spices, soups, and sauces. The flowers are used to make medicine.

Hibiscus is used for treating loss of appetite, colds, heart and nerve diseases, upper respiratory tract pain and swelling (inflammation), fluid retention, stomach irritation, and disorders of circulation; for dissolving phlegm; as a gentle laxative; and as a diuretic to increase urine output.

In foods and beverages, hibiscus is used as a flavoring. It is also used to improve the odor, flavor, or appearance of tea mixtures.

How does it work?

The fruit acids in hibiscus may work like a laxative. Some researchers think that other chemicals in hibiscus might be able to lower blood pressure; decrease spasms in the stomach, intestines, and uterus; and work like antibiotics to kill bacteria and worms.

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-211-HIBISCUS.aspx?activeIngredientId=211&activeIngredientName=HIBISCUS

Every plant seems to have a use in aiding us.  It's a matter of if you're brave enough to try it as our ancestors did.  Most of us run to the nearest doctor's clinic or hospital for every sign of ill health.  


But here's something very interesting about the leaves!

Hibiscus leaves have a blackening characteristic that is sometimes used to make black dyes for products such as mascara and shoe polish. Mild shampoos and conditioners made with the leaves are said to be effective for softening the scalp and hair. Baby shampoos and healing lotions also may contain them.
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-the-uses-of-hibiscus-leaves.htm

Here are 2 more links to  more info about the hibiscus with regards to making natural hair shampoo.  Very interesting!

http://suziehq.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Make-Paste-Shampoo-from-Fresh-Hibiscus-Flowers-and-Leaves

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Shampoo-With-Hibiscus-Flowers-and-Leaves

Now I understand why my ex-colleague's family used it when she was growing up in India!



vkm

T'was a beautiful sunrise on my morning walk so I took pictures ...

It's got nothing to do with herbs, fruits and flowers but it just so happens that I enjoy taking photographs especially landscape ones. 

DRAGON FRUIT

I have no idea who’s reading this blog.   I started writing it three days after my birthday which means it’s probably another new turn in my life ! I’m doing it just for fun/self satisfaction and to indulge my love for writing.  If anybody is reading this right now, I say

 ‘h-e-l-l-o, greetings from Kuala Penyu, Sabah, nice to meet you!’

Anyway, today I’m posting pictures of my dragon fruit (also known as pitaya elsewhere) fruiting for the first time. I had bought a couple of plants a year ago (I always buy two of each plant in case one dies) when it was just about a foot high, and how they have grown!  From the picture, you can see that they have multiplied many times.   

This is one fruit that I really enjoy eating.    Blended with papaya, banana and yogurt, I can never have enough of it!  Dragon fruit can be quite costly from the market, but luckily for me, there is a big plantation nearby and all I have to do is give Mrs Lai a call to see if she has ripe fruit.  I get a very good price from her and sometimes I even get some free, bless her.

In case you’re not familiar with the fruit and its health benefits (so many!), just google it, but for starters, here’s an excerpt from one website :

Because of the multiple scales on the outside of it, dragon fruit was originally known as pitaya. This night-flowering cactus plant is also known as strawberry pear, mood flower, skogkaktus, pa-ni-ni, catobarse and long gou. Originating in Mexico and South America, this fruit is now also grown commercially in Asia. There are a few different varieties of dragon fruit. While some are dark pink, others are yellow or white. They have a taste similar to that of kiwi fruit, pear and watermelon. Health benefits of this unusual fruit range from improving memory to boosting the body's metabolism.

Because of its ability to lower blood glucose levels naturally, those suffering from diabetes can also benefit from eating dragon fruit. Its high protein content makes it beneficial for those needing to boost metabolism. Its Calcium content enables it to assist with strengthening teeth and bones naturally. Having a high fibre content, it is ideal for those suffering from constipation or irregular bowel movements. It possesses natural skin moisturizing properties.

Dragon fruit is also known to be a natural appetite stimulant, making it a good choice for anyone recovering from a loss of appetite after illness. It is an excellent antioxidant, which helps prevent the spread of free radicals within the body. It is able to lower cholesterol levels and high blood pressure naturally. It has also been shown to help those suffering from respiratory infections and asthma.

Besides calcium, this spiky fruit contains a host of other nutrients such as Vitamin C, Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), carotene, phosphorus, Vitamin B1 (Thiamine), iron, protein, Vitamin B3 (Niacin), carbohydrates, fibre and Vitamin C. It contains a small amount of ash and is approximately 83% moisture.

The Vitamin C in dragon fruit enables it to help build the immune system and heal bruises and cuts naturally. It also acts as a natural detoxing agent, because it is able to help the body neutralize substances like heavy metals.

This versatile fruit can be served whole, in salads, on homemade pizza and as a beverage if squeezed. It can also be used to make spreads, jams and preserves.
http://www.naturalnews.com/034163_dragon_fruit_health_benefits.html

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW: After eating a lot of dragon fruit (meaning 2 or more at one time) of the dark pink variety, I noticed ‘blood’ when I went to the loo.  Luckily my sis-in-law had already warned me in advance about the result of eating dragon fruit otherwise I would have had a shock!   So be informed.

From 2 mother plants to so many branches!

Fruit not yet bloomed

Another fruit not yet bloomed

Unfortunately I did not manage to capture the flowering which happened

while I was away.  What is left after the flowering is the actual fruit 

which looks like it's going to be rather large!

Until the next time ...

vkm

GRAVIOLA/SOURSOP

My husband and I decided we would plant some graviola or soursop trees (Annona muricata L) or durian belanda as it is called locally.  Why it is called Dutch Durian is a mystery to me. It’s neither Dutch nor a durian!  So many people testify as to its herbal usefulness - including being a potent cure for cancer - that we could no longer resist planting a couple in the garden.  In any case, I love the taste of this funny fruit, although my husband doesn’t care much for  it.  He says it tastes funny-strange, kind of sweet and kind of sour and it has a slightly strong  smell, though nowhere near the strong smell of the real durians.  I suppose it’s all due to childhood upbringing  –  I used to eat it when I was growing up, and he didn’t. 

Whether the part where it helps to cure cancer is true or not is probably yet to be proven, although  I have heard of friends whose friends (!) have been cured by drinking tea made out of soursop leaves.  Certainly googling soursop + cancer will get you many articles about it.

The traditional uses of this plant includes using the leaves as a tea  drink (15 leaves) twice a day (morning and evening) to lower high blood pressure.  Drinking the water from boiled  leaves  is also said to increase a nursing mother’s milk, relief coughs and vomiting.  In the old days, parents would put the leaves inside a child’s pillow to encourage a good night’s sleep.

As for the fruit, it is can be eaten fresh as it is, but I have eaten it as fruit sorbet and it’s super delicious!  Some restaurants serve ice cream and top it with pureed  soursop, or even fresh soursop drinks.

One year after buying and planting a couple of fruit trees, we are now eating ‘the fruit of our labour’.   Here is a pictorial story of our soursop/graviola on its journey to providing us with delicious fruit .

                                                               

                                                                         Flowering                                                                                          

                                                                       Growing.

Still growing.  Notice the dark green color. 

This fruit has turned lighter in color and as it ripens, will turn more yellowish.

vkm

VISITOR WITH A CLEVER CAMOUFLAGE

Just wanted to share this picure of a beautiful moth resting on my potted plant with its clever camouflage.

A RECIPE FOR EASING JOINT PAINS

I had been experiencing  some pain in the joints, and as I don’t want to see the doc who will definitely prescribe painkillers and other medicines,  I was trying to think of an alternative way to heal myself when I suddenly remembered an old traditional recipe. It’s a concoction of turmeric, ginger, lime juice and honey, blended together and drank fresh. 

I got the recipe from my sister who had got it from an old lady at the tamu (local weekly open market).  My sister was amazed at how healthy she was although it was obvious that she was a ‘senior citizen’.  She was still carrying her goods consisting of pineapples and tapioca and sweet potatoes to the weekly market in her wakid (a large wicker kind of basket carried on the back).  With prompting, she revealed that she had been taking the special drink for years.

We have turmeric in the garden so there’s no problem about getting fresh supply.  We also have a few lime trees that are bearing fruit at the moment. Looking into our pantry, I found that we also had ginger and a bottle of honey ... so yes, I got cracking.

The recipe called for about 2 inches of turmeric and the same for ginger which I pounded together.  I got the trusty blender out and poured 2 mugful of water into it, added the pounded turmeric and ginger, poured 3 tablespoons of honey and 3 tablespoons of lime juice and let the blender go for a couple of minutes.  I stopped it just to check if the taste was balanced, and added honey or lime juice as needed and blended for another 2 minutes.

This time I only made enough for 2 mugs, but in the past I had made more and kept it in the fridge.  It actually tastes better when taken cold.

Here are a few facts about the ingredients involved:

TURMERIC : In  http://www.whfoods.com it says that it’s a potent yet safe  anti-inflammatory relief for rheumatoid arthritis. 

Clinical studies have substantiated that curcumin also exerts very powerful antioxidant effects. As an antioxidant, curcumin is able to neutralize free radicals, chemicals that can travel through the body and cause great amounts of damage to healthy cells and cell membranes. This is important in many diseases, such as arthritis, where free radicals are responsible for the painful joint inflammation and eventual damage to the joints. Turmeric's combination of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects explains why many people with joint disease find relief when they use the spice regularly. In a recent study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, curcumin was compared to phenylbutazone and produced comparable improvements in shortened duration of morning stiffness, lengthened walking time, and reduced joint swelling.

                                                                    FRESH TURMERIC

                                                     
                                                     
                                               
                                                  TURMERIC PLANTS IN THE GARDEN

Who doesn’t know about GINGER?   It is used in almost every kitchen in the world but more so in some parts of the world who use it as a healing herb.

Ginger is commonly used to treat various types of “stomach problems,” including motion sickness, morning sickness, colic, upset stomach, gas, diarrhea, nausea caused by cancer treatment, nausea and vomiting after surgery, as well as loss of appetite.

Other uses include pain relief from arthritis or muscle soreness, menstrual pain, upper respiratory tract infections, cough, and bronchitis. Ginger is also sometimes used for chest pain, low back pain, and stomach pain. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/961.html

                                                                   FRESH GINGER

THE POUNDED TURMERIC AND GINGER

LIME : It is a good appetizer and digestive. It helps cure arthritis, rheumatism, prostrate and colon cancer, cholera, arteriosclerosis, diabetes, fatigue, heart diseases and even very high fever (contrary to popular belief). The best part of it is that it has no negative side effects! http://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/fruit/health-benefits-of-lime.html

                                                                        FRESH LIME

                                              OUR OWN LIME FROM THE BACKYARD

HONEY :  I won’t even bother to look up honey ...  e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y knows how good it is!

The finished product :

For me, after adding the honey and lime, the taste becomes so balanced and super delicious that I forget all about the goodness of the concoction!

~ Stay healthy! ~  

vkm

LADY'S FINGERS

In my last entry, I wrote about brinjals.  This time it's the Lady's Fingers turn.  Interestingly, a friend who wanted to teach her  young children about growing vegetables and plants (smart mum!) planted two varieties for a start – brinjals and lady’s fingers.  It turned out she was also included in the learning program – she had never known that while the brinjal fruit grow down  the lady’s fingers grow up!

I love eating lady’s fingers when they’re simply boiled until soft.  The secret is in the sauce that you eat them with.  My son has learned to make the best sauce I’ve ever tasted, and it consists of frying red onions (shallots) and garlic until they’re perfectly done (crispy but not burnt) adding oyster sauce and sweet soya sauce until they thicken.  The combination is poured over the boiled lady’s fingers.  Simply delicious.  My husband’s favourite is fried diced lady’s fingers with dried prawns and chillies.   All good reasons to plant our own!

In Professor Ong Hean Chooi’s Vegetable book, he says that the seeds can be a replacement for coffee (!)  While he doesn’t give details, I guess he means treating the matured seeds much as the real coffee beans, which is frying them until they turn dark and then grinding them.  The fruit is high in calcium. 

I once received an email saying that Lady’s fingers have been found to be very effective for curing diabetes.  The vegetable is sliced and put into a mug and left overnight.  The mucus that comes from the vegetable will ooze out into the water.  The next morning, throw out the vegetable (or cook it!) and just drink the jelly-like residue.  No particular smell or offending taste.  I've done that a few times, but left them in the mug only for a few hours in the day time, not overnight.  I can't say if it works or not because thankfully,  I don't have diabetes, but I find the jelly-like drink pleasant and there's no harm in it anyway.   In fact, it may help to keep my skin soft, because in the Vegetable book, Professor Ong says that the mucus is good for cooling and softening the skin.  

Great stuff.  Lady's fingers, bendi, kacang lendir (Abelmoschus Esculentus (L) Moech)

GROWING BRINJALS

For years I have had an interest in herbs which, I am sure, had rubbed off from my late mother.  She  knew something about roots and vines that were good for relieving aches and pains and 'wind'.  She would be off to the forest nearby to look for them especially when one of her children or daughters-in-law was about to deliver a child.  Now that she's gone, I wish that I had made more effort to learn from her about the specific plants she knew about.  Anyway, the good thing is that there are many sources available, whether local or foreign, about the uses of herbs.  Her house was also always surrounded by beautiful flowering flowers, and even at the age of over 70 years, she was still planting vegetables for her own consumption and even had extra for visitors!

So now in my retirement years, I find myself having more time to look closely into herbs, fruit and flowers as sources of food health and healing.  I think the list is endless, but it would be better for me to just stick to the ones that can be found locally.  I find the many books written by Professor Ong Hean Chooi of the Institute of Biological Science of the University of Malaya extremely informative. His health and healing series includes Fruit, Vegetables, Wild Plants and Spices & Condiments  among others. Every plant or fruit is researched scientifically and puts my mind at rest as to the fact that there is no guesswork involved.  For instance, the research on the brinjal plant  (of which my hubby has planted many) rather surprised me.   If you said it contained iron, calcium, vitamin B and C,  I would probably say 'yes of course', but who would have known that the brinjal contains 92% water (to me it's just spongy) 4% carbohydrate, 1.6% protein, 0.2 fat?  Not me anyway.  That's how  detailed the books are.  As an example, in the Vegetable book, the descriptiion of the brinjal goes like this:

Brinjal (Botanical name : Solanum Melongena L)

~ Why is it called Eggplant, again? ~

Can be eaten baked, barbecued, fried, boiled, steamed or curried.  

Fruit :  Eaten as an antidote for ingestion of poisonous mushrooms and used for the treatment of piles. 

Fresh or dried leaves : Boiled or made into tea to reduce high cholesterol.  May also work for the treatment of diabetes and bronchitis.

Dried roots, leaves or any part of the plant  :  To stop bleeding on any part of the body.

My husband's lush brinjal garden

We normally get our seeds from the local vendor and raise the next generation of plants from their offsprings.  It's so much easier of we prepare the place where the plants are to grow and then sow a few seeds directly.  If we have more than one in each bed, we remove them and plant them elsewhere.

They germinate within a week, and from then on, we just water them daily, depending on the weather. We do a lot of mulching, so fertilizers are sparingly used.  As for the insects that spoil the vegetables, we try to use a variety of methods to keep them away.  One is to use a 'lure', which is a concoction of sugar and honey,  which is boiled with water so that they become slightly thick.  We dip a piece of cotton wool into the mixture, and hang the piece of wool inside a drinking water bottle.  The bottle would have been pierced fist to make a small window for the insects to go in, and the bottle filled with enough water to cover the base (about 3cm).  This bottle is hung a short distance (not too close to the plants) away from  plants.  The insects are divertted from the plants and are lured to the sweet smell of the sugar and honey, enter the bottle and are trapped inside.

Apart from this, we make our own natural insecticide by using  tobacco water (tobacco soaked in water for a few hours) and spraying the vegetables and plants with them.  We are lucky enough to have locals who sell locally produced tobacco (meant for those who chew tobacco).

I have also tried soaking neem  leaves for a few weeks in a container until they break down and we have neem pesticide!



My first post ends here, more in the next. 

To your health! 

Vicky