Cucumber Fruit

Papayas are very common here in Hawaii but most of them are for eating as fruits. Meanwhile we use the green papaya as vegetable. It is a different variety of papaya not like the “Solo” or “Sunrise”. This type is more elongated in shape and actually bigger than the Hawaiian variety. Just like the Thai…

Cucumber or pipino as we call it in the Philippines is my favorite salad vegetable. I also make pickle out of it. But I really don’t have luck in growing cucumbers. Last month, a friend of mine gave me some seeds which he said came from Sri Lanka. I immediately planted it and see how…

Beans sprouts from Mung Beans-(Phaseolus aureus) – came from the seeds of the plant we call munggo or”vigna radiata”. These plants have long been cultivated in India, China, Thailand, Philippines and other Asian countries. Japan on the other hand cultivates soy bean sprouts(glycine max) and they call bean sprouts “moyashi”. In the Philippines, beans sprouts…

Patola is what we call the luffa gourd. There are two types of this gourd but I am only familiar with the one that has angles or ridges on the skin. This is the specie called Luffa Acutangula. The other specie must have been introduced in the Philippines at a later date. We call it…

Bixa Orellana Achuete is probably the most important ingredient in the Filipino cuisine. The bright red color that imparts in the food makes the food more palatable and presentable. It is most used in recipes that we inherited from the Spaniards like the dish we call “menudo” or the famous “paella”. Achuete is an evergreen,…

Shallots in the Philippines is called Sibuyas Tagalog or Sibuyas Iloko. Sibuyas is a word derived from Spanish word “cebolla” which means onion. I like this type of onions fresh mix with tomatoes and used as a side dish for grilled fish, especially milkfish. But anything grilled like pork or chicken or even beef will…