Since we now have a nature lover as a moderator here, lets try something new This is a thread to talk about strange local flora and fauna and your personal experiences with them Today, my aunt got me two kaveet; some google hunting revealed that is a medicinal plant found in some dry regions of South East Asia. Botanical Name Limonia acidissima L. Family RUTACEAE Habit Tree Used In Ayurveda At home it is traditionally prepared by cracking open the hard shell of the fruit, scooping out the inner crunchy, astringent and sour seeds and mixing it with jaggery to form a delightful sweet sour astringent snack Here's what I did with the kaveet today: 1. Cracked it open: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! 2. Scooped out the innards, mashed it with jaggery Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! 3. Served it chilled Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Yummy!
Why not? Its a small world now. Look for elephant apple or wood apple. By itself its not much to write home about, but if you do find it, try munching it my way Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Got any stories to tell?
Well I am a Durian lover...frozen prepacked pieces of durian fruit in a bag, unpack and eat them while its frozen before it stinks.
Very nice thread SAM Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! That looks like a fruit of which I forgot the name. I saw it on Discovery Channel once, I think it was from Africa or Australia. Anyway, they said it was absolutely loaded with vitamin C and tasted rather dry and sour. I'm wondering if it might be the same fruit.. We don't have special species though.. not that I know of anyway. Here's something anyway: As a kid I sometimes gathered elderberries to make elderberry jam, which was kinda good. Interestingly, it has been shown in recent studies that elderberry extract is effective against influenza A and B. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
SAM, something interesting about your fruit (I'm sure you already knew, but it was missing from the op Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!). It is actually a member of the Citrus family. I hardly know any Latin, but I'd say the Latin name of the fruit (Limonia acidissima) could mean 'sour lemon'. As lemons are already pretty sour I'd say that, if I'm right, Limonia acidissima must be incredibly sour.
Yes it is very very sour, you'd be hard pressed to eat it without the jaggery. I've never seen or tasted an elderberry. What is it like?
It's hard to describe. And I haven't eaten it in a very long time.. so. But I guess the taste is vaguely reminiscent of that of Blackberries. Maybe they are a bit more bitter and less sweet. I never ate them as berries though, only as jam (with sugar of course). Also, you don't want to eat any unripe berries, they are toxic.
Boysenberries are probably my favorite berry: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Aside from, perhaps, Wild Huckleberries: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Which, from what I am told, nobody has yet to figure out how to cultivate them. They die when transplanted. I can't confirm that, but it is what I was told.
Are boysenberries the same as blackberries? Are wild huckleberries different from blueberries? I've tasted blackberries and blueberries in the US. But if they are not the same then I haven't tasted the ones you pictured.
No. They taste kind of alike a cross between blackberries and blueberries. Very different. Very sweet.
Apparently so.. but I suspect that they are very closely related, as their geneses overlap. "In taste the berries range from tart to sweet, with a flavor similar to that of a blueberry, especially in blue- and purple-colored varieties." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huckleberry Wild Huckleberries: Huckleberry is a name used in North America for several plants in two closely related genera in the family Ericaceae: Gaylussacia and Vaccinium. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huckleberry Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Blueberries: Blueberries are flowering plants of the genus Vaccinium with dark-blue berries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueberry Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Here in North Texas, we have many pecan trees. With all the rain we've had, it's been a good year for them, and me and squirrels are expecting a bumper crop. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! With them, you can make one of my favorite things...pecan pie! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
elderberries are awesome! I love elderberry pie. We used to go pick chokecheeries when I was a kid. My Mom canned jar after jar of chokecherry jelly. If it didn't set, we had jar after jar of chokecherry syrup for pancakes. We picked A LOT of them. They taste bad right off the shrub unless you pick a very very dark one. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! We also picked wild strawberries, gooseberries, buffalo berries (SOUR!!!), crab apples, wild rhubarb, wild asparagus (which we still pick here in MI), wild onion (mostly so the cows wouldn't eat it), and something my Mom called Indian tea. It was the Greenthread plant she dried and then boiled for tea. We only got that when we went to visit family in New Mexico.
chokecherries where like biting into a banana peel or eating chalk. It just made your mouth dry and it was bitter. Its why my Mom got so many of them. It was one berry us kids weren't going to eat while picking. Gooseberries and wild strawberries never made it home. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
What an interesting thread, SAM! I don't even know where to begin :runaway: Ok, may I introduce you to Musang Luwak (Asian Palm Civet, Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and Kopi Luwak (Luwak Coffee): Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! musang luwak eating luwak coffee berries Luwak coffee is the most expensive coffee I have ever drink. It is indeed said as the most expensive coffee in the world. In Indonesia, the coffee cost about 75 USD/kg, but in international coffee shops, you will find it above 30 USD/cup! What makes it expensive is not only the special aroma (ummmhh.. I cannot describe it!!), but also the rarity.. this coffee is basically the "feces" of the musang luwak (see pictures above): -------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak Kopi Luak or Civet coffee is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets. The civets eat the berries, but the beans inside pass through their system undigested. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, in the Philippines (where the product is called Motit Coffee in the Cordillera, or Kape Alamid in Tagalog areas) and in East Timor (locally called kafé-laku). Local lore in Vietnam has given the name "weasel coffee" to civet coffee, in what is considered the closest recognizable translation to English. --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi kira! I'm glad you like the thread Do let me know if anything I post looks familiar to you! Today is miniature day. This is what we are making in lunch Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Top: native cauliflower [Brassica oleracea], green eggplant [Solanum melongena variety] The caulifower is tiny, about three inches across the top, the green eggplant is sweeter than the purple ones Bottom: Baby fenugreek [barik methi] This is a form of fenugreek grown entirely in sand, to restrict its development, Its about 7 inches from end to end and is crunchy and less bitter than regular fenugreek The fenugreek goes very well with kardi, a kind of baby prawn [ Penaeus, Metapenaeus, Parapenaeopsis sp. ] which is very tender and mega yumms!!! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Here is what we got for 50 cents [yes, 50 cents!] The veggies above all came for less than 50 cents as well, the baby fenugreek being a dozen bunches for 10 cents.
