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Post by templeton on Nov 15, 2015 16:59:18 GMT -5
On a whim, off to Tamil Nadu and Kerala soon. Any tips, or requests?
T
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Post by richardw on Nov 16, 2015 23:39:01 GMT -5
How long ya going for T
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Post by steev on Nov 17, 2015 1:00:09 GMT -5
I thought Kerala was the tip; are there more?
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Nov 17, 2015 3:28:05 GMT -5
On a whim, off to Tamil Nadu and Kerala soon. Any tips, or requests? T I think there were some people here that were interested in unusual legumes from india. Unless i am remembering wrong. Perhaps interesting herbs?? |
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Post by raymondo on Nov 17, 2015 16:18:18 GMT -5
Visited Tamil Nadu and Kerala in 2005. Loved it, especially Kerala. I'd recommend TN first and finish with Kerala because it's much more relaxed, laid back, fewer people trying to sell you stuff. I'd happily go back.
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Post by blueadzuki on Nov 17, 2015 19:40:29 GMT -5
I'd prefer not to overburden you with a long list, not only because it would be hard to remember, but because the odds of most things from Southern India actually GROWING well for me is remote (even assuming any could get to me through customs). But off the top of my head, I can think of three things that I would be appreciative if you could keep an eye out for,
1. While wandering around the web I have heard of a kind of pulse called kala vanata (black peas). If you could do a little enquiry into those, it would be much appreciated. Even if you can't actually find some, it would be helpful to me to find out if they are merely regular peas with marmorated skins (similar to maple or carlin peas) (in which case I already have them via my finds in bags, or if they are a legitimate different strain of pea or other legume (possibly those super tiny peas I used to find in lentils back when I was in college)
2. You may be able to scare up some interesting strains of grasspea being sold for food (the Hindi for the seeds is khesari) that might be worth bringing back, for ornamental purposes if nothing else (apparently, note is made of flower color of grasspeas in identifying varieties, and grasspeas can come in as many colors as sweet peas, so you may scare up something of note I'd LOVE a red flowered one)
3. If you happen to find a store/stand selling Ayurivedic herbs, you should be able to acquire some seeds/dried fruits of the "Red Makoi" "fragrant tomato" (actually a red fruited form of Solanum nigrum) which are supposed to be particularly good for eating (according to wikepedia, Kerala is one of the major places where it is popular.)
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Post by steev on Nov 17, 2015 21:12:12 GMT -5
That Red Makoi does sound interesting.
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Post by templeton on Nov 18, 2015 5:42:31 GMT -5
I was in the middle of marking assignments last friday, got bored, ended up on webjet, noted cheap flights, thought there was time for a good 4 week trip somewhere and still get home for christmas, got home and asked ms T if she wanted to go to india, Yep.. Next thursday? Ahhh, .......YEP!
I did kerala in the 70s, but dont remember much...for some reason or other...
blue, I'll keep my eyes open, and do a few markets looking for legumes. Pm me an address just in case. I'll take and post pics first...
Ray, my thoughts exactly. Flying into chennai, out of cochi. Just heard there are massive floods in chennai, so not exactly sure where we are going to end up on friday...
a few beaches, a bit of birding, a few more beaches, and dosa, markets, dosa,markets ,dosa...
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Post by Al on Nov 28, 2015 18:10:10 GMT -5
Holidayed in Goa a few years ago & had an interesting visit to a spice farm, the knowledgeable guide had studied in Ayurvedic tradition. The spices grown were culinary & medicinal grown in what seemed like a forest garden. Coconut tree climbing demonstration by old man was most impressive, I only managed to chimmy 3 or 4 feet up the trunk. If I returned to the region I'd seek out tea bush seed, surprisingly tea can be grown successfully in Scotland.
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Post by blueadzuki on Nov 29, 2015 7:02:35 GMT -5
Not really all THAT surprising, I meant they grow tea in Georgia (and I mean the country, not the state). And most of the really famous really expensive teas are grown on the tops of very tall craggy mountains (some so inaccessible you supposedly need to use trained monkeys to do the actual picking) There's even a tea plantation in Charleston, SC.
If you got a choice, I've heard the assamica subspecies is somewhat more hardy than the standard sinensis (though the tea produced is a less fine grade)
And unfortunately tea doesn't breed true from seed, so if you want a specific tea, you need cuttings not branches (if it did, I'd probably have a pot with a tielohan bush in my living room!)
And fermenting correctly takes some skill, so you may be stuck with only green tea.
Oh and if it does really well and you have a lot of extra seeds, tea nuts can be pressed to make an EXCELLENT cooking oil (considered the finest stir frying oil on earth)
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Post by steev on Nov 30, 2015 0:10:08 GMT -5
I've had a potted tea plant for years, waiting to plant on the farm; it's currently in bloom.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Nov 30, 2015 20:00:45 GMT -5
1. While wandering around the web I have heard of a kind of pulse called kala vanata (black peas). If you could do a little enquiry into those, it would be much appreciated. Even if you can't actually find some, it would be helpful to me to find out if they are merely regular peas with marmorated skins (similar to maple or carlin peas) (in which case I already have them via my finds in bags, or if they are a legitimate different strain of pea or other legume (possibly those super tiny peas I used to find in lentils back when I was in college) According to this person the Kala Vanata is some form of real dry peas. Based on pictures i would venture a guess that they are a smaller and older variety of pea. You are right that that they do look similar to Maple peas, but instead of brown or yellowish they appear green with the mottled color. While i don't have Maple i do have an unnamed umbellatum-type that has the brown mottled pattern. www.vegrecipesofindia.com/kala-vatana-amti-black-peas-curry/ |
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Post by steev on Dec 1, 2015 2:12:57 GMT -5
Dude! Are you really going to be chasing out these obscure seeds, when you can be sucking up great food? Not to say you don't owe the greater community, but isn't this your vacation?
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Post by blueadzuki on Dec 1, 2015 7:19:52 GMT -5
1. While wandering around the web I have heard of a kind of pulse called kala vanata (black peas). If you could do a little enquiry into those, it would be much appreciated. Even if you can't actually find some, it would be helpful to me to find out if they are merely regular peas with marmorated skins (similar to maple or carlin peas) (in which case I already have them via my finds in bags, or if they are a legitimate different strain of pea or other legume (possibly those super tiny peas I used to find in lentils back when I was in college) According to this person the Kala Vanata is some form of real dry peas. Based on pictures i would venture a guess that they are a smaller and older variety of pea. You are right that that they do look similar to Maple peas, but instead of brown or yellowish they appear green with the mottled color. While i don't have Maple i do have an unnamed umbellatum-type that has the brown mottled pattern. www.vegrecipesofindia.com/kala-vatana-amti-black-peas-curry/I've seen that picture as well, when I was doing my inquiries. The problem is that 1. I can't seem to find a picture of kala vanata when they are dry (which is how I would actually see them) and different sites give different pictures. A lot of pictures show something that is VERY similar to a maple pea, give or take the greener color (the green is usually seed coat green, but there are green inside ones too, since that sorts independently) . Then there is THIS picture which looks more like the VERY tiny (about lentil sized) peas I used to find in Lnetil bags back in college, with the characteristic extreme crowding (if you look at the photo most of the peas are very flattened on both ends). That's sort of the one I'm after (those super tiny peas make super tiny plants that while they have super tiny pods also grow super fast (so I can go from seed to seed in about 30-45 days) which is handy for me with my variable climate. I've even seen one picture online that seemed to show EXTREMELY small peas, small enough that a handful of them fit in the depression of a wooden spoon, which led me for a while to think maybe the "vintels" I was finding in lentils were kala vanata. However it now seems more likely that it was simply a wooden bowl with a handle being used which happened to look an awful lot like an enormous wooden spoon (I have planted the vintels since then and they are indisputably vetches, not peas, so unless the term is used for both, they can't be kala vanata. Bonus: if you look very carefully in the middle lower left of the picture, you can see a grasspea seed that got mixed into the peas (it's a bit yellower than the peas) |
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Post by 12540dumont on Dec 3, 2015 3:17:16 GMT -5
Herbs herbs herbs....please.
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