This makes for a good gift idea! Don’t you think? Or a DIY marvel! Customise the herbs you want in your pot. But if I were you, I would suggest putting name tags. I can easily confuse one herb for the other.

Image credit: www.harryanddavid.com

Post from: Blisstree

From garden to kitchen

My favorite mode of gardening is Wintersowing (FAQs written by Trudi Davidoff, who popularized winter sowing can be found here.) However, last winter was one of our busiest, and I neglected my seed sowing until late February and March. Finally got some seeds started, but then we took a vacation in April and by the time we got back a lot of them had died on me, including some culantro (Vietnamese coriander) that I was hoping to grow this year. I do have some left that I need to plant out (some squashes and a couple of herbs), but I had to get some help quick! Natural Gardening Company to the rescue! I placed my order 2 weeks ago and they came yesterday. Now I’ve got my Thai peppers and Ping Tung Long eggplant, as well as various organic heirloom tomatoes, etc. The great thing about growing these vegetables yourself is #1, you can control the stuff that goes in them (fertilizer, sprays, etc.), and #2, you save money.

Simply Thrifty has more gardening-while-saving-money-tips for you. See this post on bulb swapping. It works not only for flowering bulbs, but others as well — think garlic! Garlic is really easy to grow, especially if you go with the hardneck varieties. Now’s the time to look for people to swap with so that by October/November, or whenever planting time is in your zone, you’ve got your stash ready and you just have to plant those cloves. If you don’t have a local bulb swap to join, look into online swapping. There are seed and plant exchanges at Gardenweb, and you can also look for them at e-lists like YahooGroups.

Simply Thrifty also has tips on what to do with the water in which you blanch your veggies and how to grow your own veggies without spending a fortune.

Time to dig!

Post from: Blisstree

Asian Vegetables in the Garden

Bernardo Dizon, author of Practical Guide to Backyard and Orchard Farming, now has his own website, offering exotic fruit trees for backyard orchardists. There is quite a variety, including chico, a.k.a. sapodilla (Sc. Achras sapota), the famous durian, jackfruit, lanzones (lansium domesticum), lychee, longan, macopa (a personal favorite), mangosteen, and rambutan (okay, so drstel is not a fruit).

Ka Bernie is a multi-awarded agriculturist and has given so much to the farming community — and he still has so much to teach us. Those of you who are in the Philippines and looking to grow some of these fruits in your backyard or farm, you can e-mail Ka Bernie at ka_bernie_dizonATyahooDOTcomDOTph.

If you are looking to learn more about growing exotic fruit, you may want to check out the rarefruit Yahoogroup as well.

Post from: Blisstree

Dizon Exotic Fruit Trees

For some reason, these berries are on everyone’s radar these days — raw foodists, celebrities, juice fans, herbalists — even Madonna. Supposedly, these berries are almost magical and have been prescribed for just about any illness there is. Unfortunately, there isn’t much conclusive data to go around — do let me know if I’m wrong on this. Cathy Wong, who is the about.com expert on alternative medicine, has this Q&A on Goji berries.

According to The Raw Food Gourmet, Gabrielle Chavez:

Goji berries became popular among the western health elite when researchers identified in its juice the highest antioxidant value of anything yet tested. they are delicious in trail mixes, added to bars and cookies, or eaten out of hand. Be careful of your source. Exporters sometimes add red dye to mask poor quality and then warning labels about boiling the fruit before consuming it, which is not an option for a raw fooder.

Hmmm….

Dr. Weil, one of my go-to guys when I’ve got a question related to alternative medicine has this to say about the Goji berry drinks. And here’s the FDA’s warning to one vendor about making health claims for goji berries online.

If you are exploring raw food, one book that may be worth checking out is
– from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein. I’m not a raw foodist, as I’m sure you can tell, but one of these days I’ll share with you a couple of finds from this book.

Meanwhile, check out this funny headline:
HIMALAYAN FRUIT THAT PEPS YOUR SEX DRIVE, SLOWS AGEING, FIGHTS CANCER.. AND KILLS CELLULITE!
EXCLUSIVE START QUEUING EARLY AT THE SHOPS TOMORROW. LOL.

Are you like me, curious enough to look into the possibility of growing these berries yourself? There’s lots of talk at Gardenweb (this is just one thread) for those wanting to try these berries in their yard. Apparently the goji berry bush is also known as matrimony vine? I’m still trying to sort out the names. Plants for a Future has a database on Lycium barbarum, also referred to in some places as Lycium chinense. And in others as Lycium tibetica. Just the names alone are enough to give you a headache. Richter’s sells seeds and plants, as does Timpanogos Nursery which seems to be another popular site for gojiberry-farmer-wannabes. Here’s what it looks like.

Taking it one step further — in case you’re looking to invest, Tianyu Xiangda in China sells everything made from goji berries, such as tea, coffee and oil. Or you can wait for my current favorite chocolate company, Vosges, to make their IPO. Vosges makes a chocolate bar with Goji berries. I still prefer their Wasabi and black sesame combination, though.

As for the berries themselves? A bit on the chewy side. There’s a tang about it that reminds you of raisins, but too subtle to make an impression. The sweetness isn’t enough to wow you either. I’ll still take cranberries and sultanas over these anytime, although the antioxidant claims, etc. make it quite attractive to add to my trail mix every now and then. As with all things, consume in moderation. Oh, and yeah, I got mine at Whole Foods in the bulk section. You should be able to get them at any health food store — Woodstock also distributes them.

Post from: Blisstree

Goji Berries

Two-Minute Calamari from Foodatista, not exactly Asian but I’m already thinking of some twist that would make it so….

And ah, this Sea Bass at Dessert First just looks heavenly. No recipe included but it doesn’t look that difficult to replicate, is it? That picture is enough to make one’s mouth water, even at 3:43 a.m.

There’s also a Korean recipe for Chatjuk (Pine Nut and Rice Porridge) that I’ve been wanting to try. Hmmm…. something special for breakfast!

And here’s one from DrWeil.com: Spicy Garlic Broccoli with Pine Nuts — the recipe is from one of my favorite Asian cookbooks: Nina Simonds’ A Spoonful of Ginger!

Pine nuts, a.k.a. pignoli or pinion, are the edible seeds of certain pine trees (the most known being “stone pine”). The nuts come from inside the pinecones, making harvesting labor-intensive, hence the cost. The Chinese pine nut has a stronger flavor compared to the Italian pine nut, but both varieties are delicious. In Korea, pine nuts have been called “Wizard’s Elixir” because of its nutritious content. Korean pine nuts (Pinus koraiensis), incidentally, have received much attention lately due to its appetite-suppressing properties. Hmm…. so does that mean, if you eat those delicious Korean pine nuts, you can actually stop at one handful? Or two?

Nutritional composition of the pine nut: 6% water, 31% protein, 47% oil, 12% carbohydrates

More Information from Goods From The Woods (pinenut.com).

I have pine trees in my yard but I have yet to determine if they would produce anything edible. If not, I’m thinking of replacing them with trees from Rhora’s Nursery.

Post from: Blisstree

Ingredient Spotlight: Chinese Pine Nuts

This reminded me that I had planned to get myself some wasabi rhizomes last year. The sudden move precluded that, but now that we’re settled in our new home, I am itching to grow some in the backyard. A search for the vendor from whom I was planning to order turned up fruitless. I don’t know if they’ve gone out of business. I had to dig some more before I finally found a vendor, and I must admit I am selfish enough that I’m considering not posting their name or business here. Why? I have not had the privilege of tasting REAL wasabi, and I don’t want you guys to buy all the stuff before I’ve had the chance to order it and grow it myself.

What’s the big deal, you might say. Well, there has been a shortage of real wasabi for sometime now. There isn’t enough of the real thing to go around and satisfy the demand for it. The wasabi that we get when we eat at Japanese restaurants or prepare at home is not the real thing at all. Most wasabi preparations that are available to the general consumer — whether paste or powder — are actually made from a mixture of Western horseradish and mustard. Some include seaweed, some have MSG, maybe cornstarch, and as to be expected, some green food coloring.

Wasabia japonica belongs to the brassica family. It is a perennial herb, a.k.a. Japanese horseradish, and is not related to Western horseradish, though there are flavor similarities. Whatever it is that triggers pain, for one:). In Japan they grow wild or by mountain streams. Cultivation is difficult, which is why it’s particularly of interest to me — I like a good challenge. According to Alan Davidson’s The Oxford Companion to food, the name means “mountain hollyhock”. Wasabia japonica is available only from a few select vendors here in North America, and the price can be pretty steep.

Here’s more information from Gernot Katzer.

Would you like to grow some yourself? If you live in Canada, you can order from Pacific Coast Wasabi/Wasabia. Real Wasabi also sells it.
Pacific Farms in Oregon used to sell them, but they no longer do. They still have valuable information on their website though, about growing your own wasabi. New Zealand Wasabi Limited has growing and licensing information on their website.

My find of the day is a place called The Frogfarm. I just spoke to the owner and they just had a shipment come in. He suggests waiting about 3 weeks to place my order, so the plants get the chance to get themselves established. If you do place an order, leave me some, will you?

Post from: Blisstree

Ingredient Spotlight: Wasabi

Post from: Blisstree

Park Seed for Asian vegetable and herb seeds

I’ll still be trading, so let me know if you’re interested.

Post from: Blisstree

Seed Companies, for your Asian Garden needs

My personal seed exchange list can be found here. It is not an updated list, but if you’re interested in trading with me, feel free to send me an e-mail. This year I am especially interested in growing more Asian herbs and veggies — so if you’ve got some seeds, I’d love to trade with you!

Post from: Blisstree

Asian Herb and Vegetable Garden