Rosella (Hibiscus sabdariffa)

The flower bud of Rosella. The flower is typical hibiscus type and lasts only a day.

The buds can be harvested and made into a nice refreshing ribena-like drink. The Taiwanese drink it a lot in Karaokes to soothe their throat.

If i can, i will mix in a few Barbados cherries. This alters the sourness slightly and makes the drink even more refreshing.

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My orchids:

http://joestw.blogspot.com/

Dioscorea japonica

This is the leaf of Dioscorea japonica (japanese yam) which i got from a friend in Penang. Every year, near chinese new year she would obtain a few of the root from a relative and use it to cook a desert similar to Cheng T'ng. The root would be washed, skinned and sliced. Only one leaf is shown cos i just re-planted the vine into the pot after digging up the yam for cooking.

Left: This is the root that i dug up from my pot after planting for a year.

Below: Another view of the root.

Etlingera elatior white torch

This is the plant of the white torch. I purchased a stem cutting from CTC market together with some other colleagues. Theirs did not survive. The plant had grown into a big clump now.

Close-up of the flower bud which was about a week old and still opening.

The fully opened flower showing the pure complete whiteness of the flower.

This is the red torch, for comparison.

Barbados cherries again

The cherry plant.









A harvest of cherries.

Other Fruits

This cherry-like fruit is called Barbados Cherry(Malpighia punicifolia L.). It is rather sour but according to articles on the web it is suppose to be the fruit with the second highest level of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) behind the fruit of rose hips(Rosa rugosa) .
For more info on this plant please visit:-
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/barbados_cherry.html


This is the familiar Thai guava variety with larger fruit. The seller told me that rounder fruits are sweeter.

Here is a pineapple plant sprouting two side shoots after the unripe fruit was eaten by a monkey.

This is a Thai coconut that i brought back from Mr. Lim Song's orchid farm in Penang. I gave one plant earlier to my colleague Mr. Andrew Tan and it had already fruited. I planted mine a year or two later so i am still waiting. According to Mr. Lim, you need to give it lots of salt when it is this size and then soon you will get fruits and this Thai variety fruits early so you actually have to bend down to pluck the fruits!!

This is a view of the Thai coconut beside a local coconut tree.

This is a black sugar cane. This is better than the green type because even the nodes are tender. Sweetness level is the same.

This is obviously a cross between the Longan and Mata Kuching (Cat's Eye). Although the seller at the nursery labelled it as Longan. The fruit can be as big as a Longan but the taste is that of Mata Kuching. The flesh is much thicker than Mata Kuching, very sweet but too soft.

My orchid collections are at:-

http://joestw.blogspot.com/

Good Stuff From The Ground

Torch Ginger (Etlingera elatior), the flower that Singaporean hawkers use for Rojak and essential ingredient in many nonya dishes.

The two new growths are of the same height but the one on the left is a flower spike but the one on the right is a new shoot.

The beautiful flower if the flower bud is allowed to open instead of being used for cooking.

Even the little red sunbird thinks so too.

Another good stuff!! Japanese sweet potato. Very sweet and good texture without fibres.

Bananas

A bunch of Pisang 'Rajah'.

Above: Close-up of the bunch.

Left: The plant of Pisang 'Rajah'

This is a red banana variety with a more spicy flavour.