Bataw or Lablab is a relative of the purple-hyacinth bean. It is a very versatile bean because you can use it in almost all type of cooking that requires beans. I particularly like to cook it stirfry with pork and shrimp.
It takes a while before the seeds germinate after sowing but when it does grow, it is prolific. You will always have bataw beans for the rest of the summer and beyond. The bees love the purple flowers.
We call these delectable green vegetable Baguio beans because they are mostly grown in the Mountain Province where the temperature is cooler than the lowlands in the Philippines and Baguio City is the most popular destination during the hot summer months.
Malunggay/ moringa (Moringa Oleifera) is also known as horseradish tree because the roots taste just like horseradish. It is also called drumstick tree because the fruit or bean pod is long. The fruit is segmented in a triangle and has lot of seeds inside. In the Philippines, we used the fruit or beans as vegetable. …
We call the jackfruit “langka” in the Philippines. I consider it as the biggest fruit ever. When I was young, we nicknamed it “hog” because sometimes it grows as big as a pig. I remember my grandma’s jackfruit tree in the farm and the fruit almost touches the ground. I also remember eating the fruits…
Lablab -Bataw – Parda – Hyacinth bean (Dolichos Lablab) is one of my favorite vegetables. I like to cook it with pork and shrimp with “sotanghon” or cellophane noodles. I don’t have it in my garden now but when I did, it grew like crazy. It is a vine and needs trellis or fence to…
Amaranth Kulitis
Amaranthus is the botanical term for the genus amaranth, a short lived perennial plant that used to be only known as ornamentals and now being cultivated as leafy green vegetables comparable to kale in nutritional value.
I have a sayote plant that volunteered to grow in my garden. Since it’s a volunteer, it’s not placed in a proper spot where I can place a trellis. So I just let it be and just put a couple of wire fence for it to trail up to the fence of the garden. Three…