GardenCuizine: Garden Spotlight

Showing posts with label Garden Spotlight. Show all posts

Monday, September 10, 2012

Whole grain Job's Tears | fascinating natural bead for jewelry #GardenCuizine #gardenchat

Job's Tears

The Most Fascinating Plant

in Our Garden

Adults and children find Job's Tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) a fascinating plant. The seeds are large and easily planted by children, making Job's Tears a good selection in a Children's Garden. Botanically and as a natural food source, Job's Tears is a member of the family Poaceae (grass family) and is considered a gluten-free, whole grain.

We grow Job's Tears in pots on a sunny porch. To me, the tall green blades look similar to lemon grass. By the end of the summer at around this time (early September), perfectly round bead seeds emerge like magic.

The seeds develop a hard outer shell and are much too difficult to hull the quantity needed for use as a whole grain. Hulled Job's Tears (hato mugi) grain can be found in Korean specialty markets.

When left on the plant to mature, green seeds the size of canna seeds - about 1/4-inch in diameter - eventually turn darker in color. Homegrown seeds can then be picked, dried and saved to grow more plants the following season or used as actual beads in jewelry making.

Over 30,000 people have read my article on Dave's Gardens!

Check it out ~ Includes photos of handmade Jewelry
Job's Tears, A Fascinating Plant

Friday, September 7, 2012

My Kind of Hot Chocolate * Jamaican Hot Chocolate Peppers! #GardenCuizine

Jamaican

Hot Chocolate Peppers

In early Spring this plant didn't look so hot. Today, it's smoking hot with Capsicum chinense Jamaican Hot peppers ready for harvest! The flames of Jamaican Hots are right up there with super hot 100,000+ Scoville unit heat of Habanero chili and Scotch Bonnet hot peppers.

Jamaican Hots need a long growing season before the fruits turn shiny, chocolate brown in color. We always bring a few select potted, gourmet, pepper plants indoors in the Fall to allow any leftover green peppers to finish ripening. The plants remain indoors until Spring at which time we put them back out in full sun. Some years yield better than others.

Jamaican Hots are only 1 1/2 to 2-inches long and resemble prunes in size and shape. Their strong smoky, Caribbean flavor makes a great addition to salsa or hot sauce.

Related Link
Jamaican Hot Chocolate

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Garden Spotlight: Chiltepin Peppers * Hot Stuff in a berry-sized Pepper! #GardenCuizine

South Jersey Garden Spotlight
Chiltepin Peppers
Shown growing in USDA Zone 7a (formerly zone 6b)

Chiltepin Peppers (Capsicum annuum var. aviculare) look like berries; they can be easily dried and used ground or crushed to add flavor to your favorite foods. A little goes a long way; don't let their size fool you. The little peppers are hot stuff at 50,000-100,000 Scoville units - compared to Jalapeno peppers at 3,500 to 8,000 Scoville units .

Hot pepper heat varies depending on several factors, including the region where grown and growing conditions. The Scoville organoleptic scale is a measure of the capsaicinoid compound that makes hot peppers hot (0 to 16 million units). Pharmacist Wilbur Scoville created the scale in 1912.

Chiltepin Peppers, also known as Bird Peppers, are a food source for birds in some regions. But in our South Jersey garden, we've never had that concern. Perhaps, because the majority ripen indoors in the fall. Chiltepin plants need a long growing season. We grow our Chiltepins in pots and usually bring them indoors when frost threatens.

To harvest, wait until the peppers are red and ripe, then pick off the plant and let dry out. We dry Chiltepins inside on a plate, then when completely dry, store in spice jars. Bird pepper skins are thin enough that they dry nicely, without getting moldy inside.

Clinical studies have shown dietary capsaicin to have properties that may benefit weight loss and lower fasting glucose and leptin levels.

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