SkyJuice's Scribbles: garden

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Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Playing Horticulturalist

Fragrant kenanga (cananga)

Dwarf banana trees

Kalamansi limes

Mengkudu (Indian mulberry/noni). The fruit and leaves have medicinal properties.

Pitahaya bloom

Pitahaya

Unripe pitahaya (dragon fruit)

Bunga kantan (torch ginger bud) and kaduk (piper sarmentosum) leaves

Red & green bird's eye chillies at the backyard.

Bird's eye chillies are very hot with SHU of 50,000 – 100,000. For the uninitiated, SHU stands for Scoville Heat Units, which is used to rate the hotness or piquancy of chillies.

Unripe Habanero chillies of the capsicum family.

Habaneros are exceptionally hot with SHU of 100,000 – 350,000. SHU stands for Scoville Heat Units, which is used to rate the hotness or piquancy of chillies. A new method is HPLC (High–Performance Liquid Chromatography).

In comparison, bird's eye chillies are very hot with SHU of 50,000 – 100,000. Go figure how pungent habaneros are.

Habaneros thrive in hot weather. Overly moist soil and roots will produce bitter–tasting chillies, so the trees should be watered only when dry.

Playing Horticulturalist

Sirih (piper betel) leaves.

The leaves have a special significance in Malay weddings. Traditionally, they're also used to stop nosebleed.

Lemongrass, said to be a cure for cancer.

Mint

Ku chai (Chinese chives)

Pandan (screwpine) leaves, used in dishes and dessert.

Galangal

Kesum (Vietnamese coriander), used for laksa sauce. Laksa is rice noodle with fish sauce.

Curry leaves

Lemuni, an energy booster and good for anti–ageing.

Pegaga air (centella/pennywort/money penny). The Malays eat this as salad with their main meal and drink its juice.

Known as 'food for the brain', pegaga is proven to be good for health and beauty – awet muda (anti–ageing), anti–oxidant, treat skin conditions, reduce one's high blood pressure and body temperature, wound healing, etc.