Nutmeg

One of my classmates used to live in Lim Chu Kang area and and i once kept pestering her to show me a nutmeg cos she said there's a nutmeg tree near her house. In Penang, they serve nutmeg syrup drink which is so refreshing on a hot day.

It is actually very easy to make nutmeg syrup. You first need abt 3 kg of the nutmeg fruit, slice the fruits into 2; then slice the flesh into thin slices; put them all into a pot; put a lot of rock sugar (just dump the whole bag in); add water to just cover the fruit slices; bring to the boil and then lower the heat but let it keep at it for abt 20 mins; turn off the gas and wait for it to cool.

You've got concentrated nutmeg juice (nearly a syrup). A thick syrup can be obtained by the steaming method but in my opinion too complicated for the average joe.

If you prefer a stronger flovour, do not skin the fruit and add in the seed together with the red membrane around the seed.

Pink Lemon Grass

While orchid hunting in CTC market recently, i happened to see a very interesting variety of Lemon Grass that i have not seen in Singapore. The leaves are the same but the stalk is deep pink in colour. I am growing one in my backyard now and it has thrown out 4 new growths. Hope to get a large cluster soon.

Cucuma elata flower

My cucuma elata ginger produced a very nice flower stalk recently. This plant is among one of those that managed to escape my "search and destroy" operation a year ago.

The story started from Bangkok three years ago where i bought $5 worth of different types of ginger roots from CTC market, including thai tumeric (different from the local ones in the market). Some cost 10baht while some are 20baht per piece. I put all of them into 3 big planters outside my house and before i knew it i have lots of different gingers sprouting all over the place. Very interesting at first but soon i lost interest and decided to clear the place for rosella, barbados cherry, mulberry and other herbs. So i decided to dig out the ginger roots.

Not as easy as i thought because i did not realise how big the roots have gotten. I dug out enough roots to fill 3 NTUC bags! And some of the escapees produced another round of ginger plants a few months later.

Since they are so lucky i decided to leave them alone so now i still have a few of those that got away.

Scotch bonnet is ripe

The scotch bonnets are ripe now. Must handle with care cos it is very hot!!! My fingers burn for a while when i accidentally touched an opened chili.





Close-up of the chili.

Pollinating the Chili Flower

This is how i ensure the chili flowers don't get pollinated by pollen from other varieties. I hope the seeds will be genetically uncontaminated.

Updates on Scotch Bonnet

The first fruit has grown bigger now and the lobes are more pronounced.

There are also more fruits on the plant now.

Scotch Bonnet

The beautiful flower of the Scotch Bonnet Chili. The flower is larger than the usual chili padi flower.

The fruit is forming. It is a bit angular, not rounded like in usual chili.

The plant is healthy now. Not sure if it will just suddenly die off like some other chili plants.