Wednesday 28 November 2007

NEW SEEDS

Last Saturday the SA Seedsavers came to my place for a visit and some people brought some interesting seeds to share. I will put them on the Seeds To Share page.

Rob, from the Rare Fruit Society, brought these fruits to eat and I have picked out the seeds:
Jaboticaba
The jaboticaba is a slow-growing bush native to southern Brazil. Its compact nature makes it an ideal backyard tree that provides large quantities of delicious, sweet fruits.
Jaboticaba has a purple-black, tough skin with a translucent flesh and is similar in texture to a grape. The fruit have an average size of 2.5 cm in diameter, but can vary from 1.5 cm to 3.5 cm depending on crop size and on the availability of water and nutrients.
Taste is sweet and slightly aromatic with a pleasant grape-like flavour.

Someone's parents who live in Warooka, on the Yorke Peninsula, grows this perenial squash.
Chilacayote
The most important use of Cucurbita ficifolia is for its fat- and protein-rich seeds. They are used along with honey to make palanquetas, a dessert.
The second most important use is for its
fruit. The immature fruit is cooked as a vegetable, while the mature fruit is sweet, and used to make confectionery and beverages, sometimes alcoholic.
The
flowers, leaves and young shoots are used as greens. The vine and fruit are used for fodder.
In Chile, marmalade is often made out of "Alcayota".


There are also some Portuguese broad beans but not enough to share, this time. I will have to grow them next year and collect enought ot share, if they are good.

Bill, from Biopark Farm that we visited in June, brought all sorts of lovely stuff, some of which I will put on the share page too, but not now - I have to go to Wednesday gardening and I can't be late again because of this darn blog or I will be expelled !

Now I have put them on the Seeds to Share page, with lots of other seeds collected last week by the Wednesday gardeners. That was a pretty skippity doo day.

1 comment:

Chook said...

Thanks for having us at your place and sharing your garden with us, even though you'd only just got home from your holiday. It was a wonderful day and I learnt heaps!