I sowed seeds of pumpkins (kalabasa) along with winged beans (sigarilyas) and hyacinth beans (bataw) about a week and this is how they look like. The larger leaf is the pumpkin, the ones on the left is hyacinth beans, and the farthest left are the winged beans.
Banana – (Musaceae) is by far the most widely known fruit in the world and the most cultivated. The varieties of banana is so wide it is divided into 10 groups from the cavendish type to cooking bananas called plantains but the Philippines also have the cooking banana variety we call “saba” or “popo’ulu” in…
My garden neighbor planted some corn in his garden and he had some leftover seeds. He was nice enough to offer if I want them. I gladly accepted right away and plant them. He said he got the seeds from Japan when he was there. I figure it would be nice if I can have…
The bittermelon plant in my garden really took off so fast because of the recent rains that we had. I actually had been gathering the fruits as well as the leaves which we use in soups like mung bean soup and chicken tinola which locals call Chicken Paraya. I have done a little research on…
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…
Ubi or purple yam to me is a reminder of the Holidays in the Philippines. Christmas, Fiesta, and New Years is not complete without making a dessert called “halayang ubi” made of this delectable roots. This dessert can also be used as topping for Halo-halo and can be made into ice-cream. This picture was taken…
Caribbean hot peppers also known as Scotch Bonnet (because of their shape) is found mainly in the Caribbean Islands but widely used in West African dishes. The peppers are scaled at 445,000 Scoville units and a cousin of habanero peppers. Its name was derived from the city of Cuba called La Habana, or Havana in…